Jackie dashed through the mansion sitting room, little more than a blonde blur. She could be heard rummaging around in the den, but from the top of the stairs, Ayda hadn't the slightest idea what she could be doing. Jackie didn't stay in one spot for long. She ran from the den to the kitchen, again little more than a streak. Even Ayda with all her enhanced vision and reflexes couldn't fully make her out.

"Come on, Ayda!" Jacqueline called. "You're gonna be late!" Her voice snapped the younger girl back to reality. Slowly, she began to descend the stairs.

"How can I be late?" She wondered aloud. "I'm not actually going anywhere."

"It was a figure of speech!" Jackie shouted back, sounding just a little distressed. Ayda pondered this for a moment.

"No, I don't think it was." She hit the bottom of the stairs. "But maybe my English isn't all that great."

"Of course it was," responded Jacqueline, markedly quieter.

"I'll take your word for it," Ayda muttered. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school, anyway?" She asked of Jackie.

"This isn't about me, Ayda," Jacqueline said.

A moment later she appeared in the door from the kitchen to the sitting area. She wore her private school uniform, a feminine cut burgundy blazer, white skirt, black stockings and matching shoes. A stack of folded white towels rested on her forearms. She assumed a cockeyed stance, as if to bring attention to the fact that she was ready for school.

"You have to make a good impression."

"I don't think cleaning the house will help me do that," challenged Ayda. Jacqueline was about to offer a rebuttal, but the appearance of her mother at the top of the stairs cut her off.

"I have to agree with Ayda this time, honey," Emma said as she made her way down.

"But they're gonna be here any minute now!" Jacqueline wasn't even trying to calm down.

"It's sweet you're so concerned, but your sister will be fine," insisted Emma.

"I can deal with a little homeschooling," added Ayda. "I've been through worse before.

"Still though,"Jackie began. She looked from her mother, to Ayda, and back again, attempting to collect her thoughts.

She seemed about to say something but once again was cut short, but this time by the doorbell. All three heads turned to the sound, focusing in on the entrance to the homestead. Jacqueline's eyes grew to the circumference of baseballs. She had been operating on a tight schedule before, but now was officially and completely out of time. Jacqueline peered around the room, unsure of how to proceed or what she was supposed to do with the towels in her hands.

"That must be them," Emma commented. She slipped past her daughters and made for the door.

Jacqueline dashed up the stairs. Again, Ayda found herself impressed at the blonde's speed. Her sister could be a track star if sports interested her in the slightest. She had bigger problems at the moment, though, as Emma opened the door. Light spilled in from the morning outside. Ayda tried to get a look at the bell ringer but couldn't quite see, both for the rearward illumination and Emma standing in the way.

"Hi," Emma greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey there," a disembodied female voice answered. They embraced briefly.

"It's good to see you again," said Emma.

"You too," the other woman responded, completing the exchange of pleasantries.

"Please, come in." Emma turned to permit the visitors entrance with a gesture to the interior of the home. They crossed the precipice and Ayda's heart sank, for there were two guests instead of just one.

The first newcomer was a tall, thin woman in her late thirties with long dark hair pulled into a tight braid, but she was not the problem. No, the issue at hand was the sandy blond boy at her left. He was about Ayda's age, and just a tad shorter. From his buttoned up posture, he was either nervous or anxious. Ayda couldn't really tell. The two of them locked eyes, and he took a small step back.

"Ayda," began Emma, "this is Karen. She'll be your tutor."

"It's good to meet you," Karen said, holding out her hand. Ayda accepted the gesture. The shake was quick and a bit limp. "This is my son, Rudolph," Karen gestured toward the lad. "Rudy, say 'hi.'"

Rudolph gave a quick wave, and Ayda returned it in kind. The entire situation made her a little uncomfortable. The woman she could deal with, but no one told her there'd be a boy involved.

"I hope you don't mind me bringing him along," Karen continued. "He has the day off from school today and the sitter canceled, so..."

"Oh, it's no problem at all," Emma batted away the notion. In the same moment, Jacqueline appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Sorry, give me a minute," she called down. The blonde hurried down the stairs to join the others. "I'm Jackie, Ayda's sister." She shook hands with Karen. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Steiner."

"No-no, The pleasure is all mine," Karen said. Jacqueline moved on to Rudolph, bending over just slightly so their faces were even.

"And you must be the teacher's aide," she said with a bright smile. There was yet another handshake, but Jacqueline made sure to keep this one swift, as Rudolph was already uncomfortable enough.

"Well, I hate to run off so quickly," Emma bluntly moved the situation along, "but we really need to get Jackie to school. Come on, dear."

"Okay," Jackie said. Breaking away from the group, she fell in behind her mother.

Ayda could feel her heart rate skyrocket. She peered at each person individually, going over them all several times. Was it suddenly hotter in the room?

"You mean you're not staying?" She called after her departing family members with a single step in their direction. Emma turned to her with a soft expression.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it," she said gently. "You can trust Karen. She's a friend of mine."

"You have nothing to be afraid of, Ayda," Karen added. "I promise I don't bite." The dark-haired woman smiled in the most comforting way she knew how.

Ayda hung her head, She wasn't exactly enthused over the situation, but knew there was little choice in the matter. It wasn't that she felt intimidated by Karen, or Rudy, for that matter. They posed absolutely zero threat to someone like her. It was the fact that she didn't know them, that they were new people, which made her uneasy.

"Okay," Ayda agreed begrudgingly.

"Okay," nodded Emma. "Come on, Jackie."

Jacqueline spared a hug for her sister. The embrace was quick, just a light squeeze, but it consoled Ayda more than anything else up to that point.

"You'll do great. Study hard, alright?" Jacqueline said. Ayda gave a quick nod. Jackie beamed once more, lightly brushed Ayda's shoulder, and then disappeared with her mother behind the front door before Ayda really had time to react.

The atmosphere in the room shifted dramatically. Emma and Jackie left far quicker than Ayda had expected them to. Left alone with Karen and her son, she hadn't he faintest idea what to do with herself. She could practically reach out and punch the awkwardness stretching between them. Punching something seemed like a good idea, actually. It would help relieve some of the stress.

"Why don't we move into the den, Ayda?" Karen suggested. "I think that'd be more comfortable." She didn't give either child a chance to decide before making her own way off to the right. Rudolph remained close behind. Ayda glanced at the front door, and then went along as well.

The upside down L shaped den was just as immaculately decorated as the rest of the home. Dark hardwood ran south to north along the floor. The far wall was lined with eight windows, each separated by thin strips of wall. Around the corner to the right were a brown leather couch and an accompanying easy chair perpendicular to it. Both were canted on an angle to face the white marble fireplace. In front of the couch lay a simple, square, dark wood coffee table.

Karen and her son went over to the sitting area. The older woman sat down on the left end of the couch. She set her bag on the table and began rummaging through it, but didn't get very far. Rudolph stood at her side, hands in his pockets. Ayda watched all of this from behind the couch a few feet away.

"Why don't you got sit in the chair and play on your phone, honey?" Karen requested of the boy. He nodded and began toward his indicated destination. "Thank you for being so patient with me today."

"I wish the sitter hadn't canceled," Rudolph said offhandedly as he sat down.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Just tough it out for one day, alright?" Karen did her best to cheer him up. It didn't seem to take all that well, though, as Rudolph just picked his smart phone from his pocket and began pressing the screen. Her son occupied, Karen turned her attentions to the student. She patted the cushion next to her.

"Come on, Ayda. Have a seat," she requested before returning to her bag.

Ayda followed instructions. Sitting next to some strange woman, she all of a sudden didn't know what to do with her hands. Vacant of a better option, she hunched forward and clasped them between her knees, shoulders tensed uncomfortably.

"I know you're nervous, but you really don't have to be," said Karen. "I've been doing this since before you were born."

Ayda couldn't tell if this statement was supposed to make her feel at ease or not. She never doubted the woman knew her craft. Expertise was not the issue. The problem was Karen herself, and being left alone with her, an unknown factor she had no reason to trust. Ayda decided to remain silent, mostly for a lack of anything to say.

"I understand you have a lot to catch up on." Karen finally found the thing she had been looking for. A thick red book was laid on the table. Across the top read one word in big purple letters, Math.

"What did they tell you?" Ayda couldn't help from becoming a little bit defensive. Again, just as with Jackie on her first day in America, she felt her story was her own to tell. No one else had the right to talk about it.

"You're parents? Just that you were taken out of school when you were six and you have a lot to catch up on." Karen paused. "Is that right?"

Ayda nodded, resisting the temptation to say sort of. That concern out of the way, Karen continued on speaking.

"They want you to get into the same school as Jacqueline, if only for a couple years," she said. "Would that interest you?"

Ayda perked right up at that. She'd always wanted to go to school just like a normal girl, and the prospect of attending a fancy private school excited her greatly. She nodded.

"I thought you might say that, but that means we have a lot of ground to cover. Do you think you're up to the task?" Karen grinned.

Now, Ayda may not have ever actually been to a school, but she wasn't born yesterday, either. She knew Karen was playing to her emotions, here, using a natural childhood desire to create some sort of common goal. However, Ayda couldn't have cared less. A great fire grew within her, burning with determination. Again she nodded, this time full of gusto.

"That's the spirit," commended Karen. "Thankfully, private lessons like this allow us a bit more freedom in the lesson plan. We can focus on exactly what you need help with and hopefully move along quite a lot faster than kids in a traditional academic setting."

"Can we really compress six years of school that much?" Ayda had to ask. Although optimistic, she was skeptical about the entire situation. It seemed a gargantuan task.

"Well, you'd be surprised how much of school is just review. We can cut all of that out, and get to the tests a lot faster. Which, brings me to our first order of business."

Karen cracked open the red book and began flipping through the pages. When she reached the desired part, near the beginning of the tome, she transitioned to her bag once again. The woman extracted a yellow pencil and a numbered piece of white lined paper, both of which were handed to Ayda.

"I'd like to start with a pop quiz, just to get a feel for where you're at."

"No one told me there'd be a test." Ayda glared at the book with disgust. Her first ever lesson wasn't going very well. Though she'd never taken a quiz before, some instinct deep down told her to loath them.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. You're gonna have to take on in each core subject, I'm afraid. No one likes tests, but I need to see what you already know, so I can figure out what you need to learn."

Ayda sighed. Of course, that made absolutely perfect sense. While Ayda accepted the necessary inevitability of such assessments, that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

"Am I gonna be graded or anything?" It seemed unfair to potentially grade her on things she might not have ever encountered.

"No, of course not," Karen shook her head. "This is just so I can get a feel for where you're at."

Good. That was a tremendous load of Ayda's shoulders. Just a little aptitude test. No pressure, right? She took the pencil between her fingers and leaned forward, ready to get started. Absently, she was surprised her hand still remembered how to hold a pencil. Just like riding a bike... which she couldn't do.

"Alright, how does this work?" Ayda asked, looking from the piece of paper to the book. Karen also leaned forward, pointing out each section as she spoke of them.

"See how the examples in the book are all numbered?" She began. "Those numbers correspond with the ones on the paper. Copy down each problem, and then solve it to the best of your ability. Don't worry about showing your work or anything."

"So, I don't have to do all of them?"

"No, just the ones I picked out for you."

Ayda shrugged and put her pencil down on the paper. It seemed simple enough. Out of courtesy, Karen stood and began walking around the room so Ayda could have some space to work in peace.

Her biological parents had done their best to teach her a little bit of basic math. The test Ayda took now was nothing she hadn't seen before, just a bunch of basic addition and subtraction. As she got to work, she wondered just what she had been so worried about. This was easy, the kind of work you'd give to a kindergartener. But, Ayda couldn't be offended by it. Again, it was all just to ferret out her current skill level. Karen had given her something akin to the level of education she assumed Ayda had received, and the dark-haired woman wasn't too far off the money.

There weren't many questions, only about thirty. The choice in which ones were taken from the book seemed mostly random. It made sense to Ayda that, as she progressed further down the page, the material would become gradually harder, but that was not the case at all. The difficulty was completely inconsistent, with later questions being much harder than some of those from before, and vice-versa. Ayda knew not to linger on it, lest she distract herself, but she'd have to try and figure out the reasoning behind it later.

In what felt like no time at all, Ayda had finished all of the given problems. She sat up.

"Done," she declared.

"Okay, let me take a look." Karen sat down next to Ayda and took the paper in one hand. Her eyes swiftly made their way down the page. Ayda looked on, proud of her work. She felt confident. It had been a simple task, child's play. She awaited her eventual praise. However, it wouldn't come.

"Alright, well, it's good, but there's definitely room for improvement," Karen mused lightly.

Ayda's shoulders slumped, her expression sagged. She thought she did well, but clearly what was not the case. From his chair, Rudolph chortled. Ayda shot him an acrid glower which he didn't see. Another outburst like that, and he'd find out what that stupid phone of his tasted like.

"But, there's nothing wrong with that," Karen quickly recovered the situation. "That's the whole reason we're doing this, right? To see what you're good at? Why don't we go over the answers together, and then we'll move on to Language Arts?"

Feeling disheartened, Ayda leaned in closer to Karen so she could better see the test. The older woman started in on one of the questions Ayda had answered incorrectly, which just so happened to be the first example. While not quite as confident as just moments ago, Ayda was sure the next subject would go much smoother. She already spoke English, after all. How hard could it be?