Stupid Asha.

It was Friday evening, in other words, the day Rae was supposed to tutor Darren. Instead, she was lying face down onto her pillow.

Rae had never been one to go moony-eyed over a boy, but now that Asha had put the idea in her head, she was having second thoughts about what to say, what to do, how to do her hair, even whether or not she should go and, of course, if she should take a second shower. Scratch that, her family had already used up too much of their rations.

She was almost considering calling Asha, but she knew how that conversation would go:

"Do you think I should go?"

"On what? Your date?"

"It not be a date!"

"Oh yes it be—"

You get the idea.

After 10 minutes of pacing around in her room, Rae decided to suck it up and proceed to an even greater challenge. Her mother.

She ran down the stairs two steps at a time, desperately hoping her mother had been called for an emergency at work, but alas, there she was. She looked buried in work at the dining table, where she sat, typing extremely fast.

"Mom, I be going out, okay?" Rae tried to sound casual, hoping her mother was too busy to notice her. But that was the thing about mothers, they could always see right through you.

Anne Casey looked up from her laptop and narrowed her eyes. "Where be?"

"Um, you know...", Rae stumbled over her words, trying to find something other to do with her hands than wring them, "to a friends house. Tutoring."

"Tutoring?", she looked bemused, "Huh. I never thought you be interested in— good for you, Rae. Be back before dinner."

She nodded hurriedly and was almost out the door when Mrs. Casey looked up again. "Oh and check on Ethan before you be going. He be locking himself in again." 

"But mom, he doesn't want to talk to me!"

"Yes he does..." Rae opened her mouth to argue, but it was a lost cause, her mother had already gone back to work, "And make sure he be eating his pills. He took his lunch upstairs—"

With a sigh, Rae trudged up the stairs, hoping to check on him quickly and head out before it got too late. Darren was probably waiting for her...

"Ethan!", she knocked impatiently on his locked door, "Let me in! I don't have time for this right now! A friend be waiting for me—"

"Then go!" His voice was filled with bitterness. Rae backed off instinctively. Ethan was usually distant, but never mean.

"I can't... mom-mom wanted me to check on you."

"For the last time, I be fine!"

"Then why are you locking yourself in?"

"I-I... homework." He gave a feeble sigh and Rae heard the door unlock just before it swung open. There stood Ethan. And immediately, she knew something was wrong. He was still in his school clothes, and his hair was messy and his eyes poofy.

"You were... crying." Rae entered into Ethan's neat room, her face etched with concern as if she had never heard of human emotion before.

Ethan crossed his arms and sat down on the edge of the bed, his legs swinging. "No, it be allergies."

"Oh really?". Rae sat down beside him, not sure if she should put her arm around him. She decided to put her hand on his shoulder. "And what be the cause of these allergies?"

"You know, pollen, polyester, lactose."

He sounded so much like his normal self, Rae just had to laugh. "Really, though."

Ethan shook his head, "It be stupid... just be some kids being—"

"Jerks?"

"Yeah." There was an awkward silence where Rae tried to figure out how to help, but it seemed Ethan didn't need it, for a minute later, he seemed over it. "Enough about me. Where you be going?"

Rae felt her heart clench again, even though what she was saying was true. "Tutoring— for a friend."

"Tutoring?", Ethan's eyes narrowed, and Rae was amazed by how much he looked like their mother. "I never be thinking—"

"You don't think I'm smart enough." She knew it was true.

"No, no." Ethan said too quickly, "It just be... you never be interested in school and—" he looked at something above her head, "your hair be done up. You never do your hair up."

"I can do my hair up if I want to." She tried to sound offended, but Ethan just narrowed his eyes further, "What? It's all true!"

"No— it not be that." He bit the inside of his lip like he was seeing Rae for the first time. "You be sounding different."

"Do I?" Rae's hand flies to her mouth, as if looking for a piece of plastic.

"Yeah— the way you speak. It be sounding complete... a larger vocabulary."

Rae couldn't dare let herself believe it, but... but could it be true? Could she unknowingly be learning the Colourful language from books? Could she be like the Lin for the next generation?

"Oh.", was all she said.

"I like it." For a second they both smiled at each other, until Rae jolted off the bed, realizing that she was still late.

"I got to go... going to miss my transit... are you sure you be okay?"

"Yes, yes!", Ethan practically shoved her out the door, "Now be going so I can do my work!"

Rae still felt something wrong there, but she didn't have time to ponder. With a quick 'Bye!', to her mother, she bolted out the door and (for the second time that week) ran the whole way to the transit station.

But it was no use, the transit had already left, and judging by how far away Darren's house was, it would take a while until the next one came. Disappointed, but trying not to mess this up, Rae decided to people watch around the station.

She didn't spend much time there, so it was really the first time she realized how big it was and how many people used it. The children often boarded from the outside to go to school, so she never got to see this side of the building. There was a sort of a rhythm to it.

People got on, and they got off, never stopping to take a look around them, never pausing to catch a breath. The lights of the transits dimmed as they left the station and brightened again as another transit replaced it.

It wasn't until Rae made sure there was only an unconscious (sleeping, not dead... at least not probably) old man near her before she let the hum of the engines coax her to sleep as well.
__________________________________________
A.N: FINALLLYYYY I CAN MAKE RAE TALK NORMALLY.

You be having no idea how much this story be effecting my life! I be talking like this now!

My mom be thinking I be crazy!