Huey P. Long Lecture Hall

[GGJ5]

The lecture hall is where all the large classes are held... the ones with over 100 students in a class. Professors all share this room, usually just standing behind the tiny desk at the front and pointing to their PowerPoint with their little red laser pen. More often than not, the classes held in the lecture hall are for freshman or upperclassmen who put off their freshman courses until they couldn't avoid them anymore.

[More than Music]

OOC: Planned Lucas/Cassie. :3
BIC:

Lucas Rydell

So he had to do his math classes again. Whatever. It wasn't like they were really interesting. Plus, no one was really sitting close to him this time, so he couldn't chat to get through the class. The professor had already called him out about talking twice anyway, but he didn't want to get in trouble or anything. Seriously.

'Everybody loves a bad boy, but I can't keep it up. It's too much work. So I'd rather not get it started. Anyway, then I'll get taken for the kid that gets in trouble just for the attention... I can get attention by just leaning against a wall and yelling at a random person. I don't want to have another talk with one of the boring post-parents here. Seriously, they give adults a bad name. Where are all the cool adults?'

Tapping his foot a little, Lucas tried to get that new song he'd heard the other day out of his head. Friday-something. It was by... The Cure. Catchy as anything. What did it mean anyway? Why love someone just one day of the week?

He glanced up at the professor. Yeah, he didn't even bother trying to figure out how he was doing those math problems. Even if he could use them in real life, he probably wouldn't. It was just too much trouble.

'I'm a college kid. I wanna have some fun!'

There was someone a foot or two away that he didn't know. After a moment or two of thought, he decided he could take a chance with the professor ratting on him, so he scooted closer to the girl, rearranging his papers a little. He glanced over, seeing a perturbed look on her face. She was pretty but not flashy, except for her red hair. But it looked like a natural red, so that made it cool. Lucas leaned over, checking her expression again. She looked like she was having trouble.

"Somethin' wrong, darlin'?" he whispered with a smirk, watching her from the corner of his eye. "Math is infamous for making people think too hard, you know." He leaned back a bit, crossing one foot over the other. He wanted to put his feet on the desk, but he knew that would get him attention from the professor. And he didn't want to get kicked out of the class.

Again.

There was a little chipmunk-version of Doctor Ramsey's voice in the back of his mind, chattering at him like a worried nanny -- as usual -- but Lucas ignored it. Hey, there was a cute girl sitting here. If he couldn't help her, he could at least amuse her, and that was productive. Wasn't it? Of course it was! Anyway, he wouldn't get by doing just what Doctor Ramsey would approve of. That would be like only doing what Dad thought.

'Can you say 'pointless', everybody? Of course you can. Yeah, I need to take what they say into account. Duh. I don't know everything. But I'd like a little more time to be stupid, thank you. Then I can act like an adult, and get on with my life. But not yet, you know? Not yet.'

"Where are you?" he asked her, smiling nicely. "Or are you just kinda left in the dust too?" He tried to lean back a little more without getting bugged by the person behind him. "I'm Lucas Rydell. Or, as my friend says, 'Loser Rydell.' But I'm a nicer guy than he is. Promise."

[The Phantom of Paris]

Cassandra "Cassie" Wright

In a perfect world, Cassie wouldn't have to struggle to make it in this math class. She'd been pleasantly surprised to learn that an art education major only needed to take the most basic math course offered in order to fulfill her graduation requirements, which meant that she could basically fall back on whatever she'd managed to learn in her high school methods to coast through the class and successfully BS her way through the rest of it. Sure, she wasn't applying herself the way she probably should, but it wasn't as if she was failing the course. She had a solid B, and that was enough for her at the moment. It was all she cared to get, especially after Mardi Gras.

Cassie hadn't been in school during her last traumatic event, Mike's attack, so until now she had never really understood Shelby for retreating from society the way that she had following the Wrights' divorce. Now, though, it didn't seem as crazy as it had before. Cassie wouldn't describe her feelings in the aftermath of Mardi Gras as 'shock' or 'depression' or the other words that doctors and therapists often used, but she knew that what had happened the night of the shooting had forever changed her, just as it had changed all of them. There would never be any forgetting that night, there would only be the struggle to move past it, to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to put them back together so they could keep on living them. All of them would carry that night around with them for the rest of their lives--everyone from Yukito and Erin and Liv and poor Jodie's family, who had been effected the most, to Preston and Shelby, who had been lucky enough to not be there, to not have to witness it. But even with all this, Cassie knew she wasn't in shock, and was in no danger of completely retreating from the world. Instead, she was more guarded, more careful. It was if she was viewing the world from behind a gauzy curtain now, the events still right there before her eyes only now with herself more distanced from it. Distance meant safety, and even now the distance was slowly shortening as she recovered. Soon, she would be almost back to the way she was before Mardi Gras.

But not yet.

"Somethin' wrong, darlin'?" came a whispered male voice close to her ear. Cassie visibly jumped at the sudden noise, but thankfully not enough to attract too much attention to herself. "Math is infamous for making people think too hard, you know."

Cassie managed a weak smile at the handsome brunette boy that had moved close to her, giving her a friendly smile filled with ease. She recognized the personality traits of some of the guys she'd gone to high school with--he was probably one of those guys who was convinced that they could fly through life based on their good looks alone and had an ego the size of Texas.

Like Clarence, an annoying voice in her head piped up, but she ignored it.

"I wasn't really paying attention to the math," Cassie admitted.

"Where are you? Or are you just kinda left in the dust too?"" the guy asked, prompting Cassie to look down at her paper. Somewhere along the line during the lecture, she'd abandoned doing her work and taking notes in favor of doodling little sketches all over the page, so now her paper was a weird mix of numbers, stars, and small portraits of her friends and people in the class. "I have absolutely no idea."

The guy leaned back in his chair, exemplifying the cocky attitude Cassie had predicted for him. "I'm Lucas Rydell. Or, as my friend says, 'Loser Rydell.' But I'm a nicer guy than he is. Promise."

Cassie managed a little laugh at that. "I hope you are. I'm Cassie. And right now I'm wondering just where all this useless math is going to fit in when I'm teaching art to little kids four years from now."

[More than Music]

Lucas Rydell

When he leaned over to ask the girl what was up, she must've not seen him coming, because she jumped. He smiled, suppressing a laugh as much as he could. It wouldn't be good to get another evil glare from the professor, who was working away at the equation he'd started a minute ago. "Math is infamous for making people think too hard, you know."

She smiled a bit, but it looked hard. Oh. One of those girls. The ones who worried too much and smiled too little. And she looked like a freshman too. Oh boy. A challenge. "I wasn't really paying attention to the math," she said, quietly.

Lucas nodded, his smile turning into a smirk. Well, at least she was honest. "No problem. Where are you? Or are you just kinda left in the dust too?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

Since she was staring at it, Lucas guessed it wasn't rude to look at her paper. It was covered in little drawings and faces that looked a little too nice to be doodles. "Dude, not fair," he whispered, coughing to cover up a laugh, hiding behind his forearm. "I doodle on my papers all the time, and nothing ever turns out like that."

He leaned back a bit, noticing her relax a bit at the gesture. "I'm Lucas Rydell. Or, as my friend says, 'Loser Rydell.' But I'm a nicer guy than he is. Promise."

She laughed a little, and Lucas saw the professor look over, so he put his hand over his mouth guiltily. One roll of the eyes and the class was back in session, so Lucas beamed. Good one, Lucas.

"I hope you are. I'm Cassie."

"Cassie..." He pursed his lips. "Nice name."

"And right now I'm wondering just where all this useless math is going to fit in when I'm teaching art to little kids four years from now."

He raised both eyebrows. "You already know where you're headed? Cheat. I'm still stuck." Lucas winked to show he was kidding... sort of. "But, seriously, math isn't useless. Just the way they teach it is. I would totally dig learning math in a job setting. Then it would at least be interesting, you know?" He shrugged, looking over. "Here, see, right there." He put his finger on an equation. "What you're doing is the opposite of what you should be. No big, Doctor Ramsey was a total jerk to me about messing that up." He nudged her with his shoulder. "But yeah, you're dividing instead of multiplying. Don't worry, I didn't even try that one... and this one. You need to flip it over. I mean it."

Withdrawing, he folded his hands behind his head. "See? Boring. Useless, no. I mean, you already use geometry in art. Trig is no big." He winked again. "Like, look at this room. There's trig all over in here. If you're curious, you'll use math all over the place. Doctor Ramsey, my mom's friend, he aced this because he was living next to a construction site at one point, and ended up asking them all sorts of questions and stared at the plans and stuff." He shrugged. "He's meaner, but he's better at examples than me."

[The Phantom of Paris]

Cassandra "Cassie" Wright

"Cassie..." the boy, Lucas Rydell, said thoughtfully after Cassie had introduced himself. He seemed to drag out the two syllables of her name deliberately, as if he were tasting it and was now pondering how it felt to say it out loud. "Nice name." Cassie gave a tiny smile accompanied by a shrug. Lucas was the second boy she'd met recently to comment on how she had a 'pretty' name, but Cassie had never considered it to be pretty herself. Cassie was just boring attempt to make an already boring name a bit more unique. It in itself was nothing special. Compared to some of her friends, her name was dull and lifeless, easily forgotten and tossed aside. Lilith. Juliet. Alayna, Cassie's friend from art history class. Even Erin and Shelby, both of whom claimed to find their names just as boring as Cassie found hers, actually had more interesting names than Cassie did.

So if it's so boring, why did you make it a point to say how pretty you think it is, Mr. Lucas "Loser" Rydell? Are you just trying to hit on me or something? If you're looking for math help, flattery will get you nowhere. I'm more lost than you are at this point.

Still, she decided to give him a chance instead of just telling him to get lost so she could drift off again while she pretended to focus. "And right now I'm wondering just where all this useless math is going to fit in when I'm teaching art to little kids four years from now."

Lucas, for some reason, looked surprised at Cassie's words. "You already know where you're headed? Cheat. I'm still stuck." Cassie laughed quietly once she realized what he meant, shaking her head. "Oh, yeah. I didn't know how rare it was to already know what you want to major in, but apparently I'm one of the chosen few with any sort of idea among this year's crop of freshman. My advisor wasn't too happy about it, actually--she wanted me to take a few more liberal arts classes, get more well-rounded, before I declared art education as my major. But I can't really help it. It's what I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember.

"But, seriously, math isn't useless."

She raised an eyebrow. "I beg to differ."

"Just the way they teach it is. I would totally dig learning math in a job setting. Then it would at least be interesting, you know?"

Cassie shook her head. "But when are we ever going to use this in a job setting? I mean, even accountants aren't going to need to ever know how to calculate how far a pumpkin is going to fly when it's launched through the air. I remember doing problems like that all the time in high school. Friggin' parabolas. And don't get me started on imaginary numbers. If they don't exist in the real world, why do I need to care about them?"


Lucas leaned over Cassie's paper, his eyes scanning the few things she'd managed to copy down. "Here, see, right there. What you're doing is the opposite of what you should be. No big, Doctor Ramsey was a total jerk to me about messing that up." He didn't offer any explanation as to who Doctor Ramsey was, and Cassie didn't ask. She was too busy trying to process what was going on and figure out exactly what this guy wanted from her. What sort of person starts spouting off a whole bunch of personal information like that, dropping names I've never heard of while he corrects my math? "But yeah, you're dividing instead of multiplying. Don't worry, I didn't even try that one..."

So why are you giving me advice?

..."and this one. You need to flip it over. I mean it."

Taking her paper back, Cassie erased the work she'd already done and tried his suggestion, but she didn't bother finishing the problem. "See? Boring. Useless, no. I mean, you already use geometry in art. Trig is no big." He offered her up a wink. "Like, look at this room. There's trig all over in here. If you're curious, you'll use math all over the place."

Cassie gave another shrug, getting a little fed up with this guy and his cocky attitude. "I guess I'm not curious, then. Not for math, anyway."

"Doctor Ramsey, my mom's friend, he aced this because he was living next to a construction site at one point, and ended up asking them all sorts of questions and stared at the plans and stuff. He's meaner, but he's better at examples than me."

"Well, that must be nice, having someone who can help you out with problems like that. Although I do have to ask, since you seem to know what you're doing, why you're helping me with my work instead of doing your own. You'd save yourself a lot of headaches, believe me."