it's not always easy (josh)

[skyemarie]

If you ever called Karina Parsons dumb, you would be mistaking much at all. You see, Karina was never the brightest one of the bunch, that title belonged to her older brother Joseph, who was a year older than her. She probably could be if she tried, but Karina preferred going out and enjoying the frivilous things in life instead of focusing on school, which is what really mattered. She didn't really understand why the elementals had to go to school anyways. She believed that they should be able to use their powers in any way they can instead of having to learn about them in school for two years before they even get to start using them in practical ways.

Right now, a fifteen year old Karina was sitting underneath a tree in a park reading over her notes for "How to understand the water element" she groaned as she read them over one last time. she felt like she already knew enough about the water element in order for things to suffice. However, she kept studying and looking through her notebook. The last thing she wanted to do was fail grade 9. Even though she hated school, the thought of failing scared her. She had never heard of a kid that failed grade 9 and she didn't want to be the first, that would be highly embarassing. Not to mention, it would bring endless ridicule from her older brother who always seemed to torment her, even since he had figured out that she was a water elemental.

Karina blinked multiple times as she felt her eyes starting to close. She couldn't fall asleep now! She needed to study and ace this exam. Going into her final with a 45% probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Now, she needed at least a 60% to pass and she wasn't exactly confident that she would get that high of a grade. She wanted to ask for help, but she's too stubborn to do so. Plus, she didn't want to seem like an idiot, even though not asking made her seem like one even more. So now, she was cramming, just begging her brain to retain enough information so she didn't have to repeat the year.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Exam week was always a stressful time for everyone at the Academy. The weeks leading up to it were just as bad as people scrambled to put in some last minute revision. Just yesterday Joshua had stayed up half the night going over the year's worth of Biology notes for all his classes in the course. He was pretty sure that he'd do alright with both his majors (History and Biology, respectively) but there was always that concern in the back of his mind. It was a good thing that he was a confident and self-assured person else he'd have been among the panicking group of the Academy. As it were, he cruised the streets of Maple Hollow in his Lamborghini and stopped at Timmies to purchase some straight black coffee and wake himself up a little. I've still got a full day ahead of me. He wondered if Nell would be studying as much as he had. Maybe. She was a hard worker even if she didn't enjoy it as much as he did. He had a natural gift for learning, absorbing things like a sponge. He was well-read thanks to the fact that he spent more time with his books than his (few) friends.

But where should he spend the day? Joshua was not really someone that could just sit around and do nothing all day but he couldn't think of something that needed doing. He could always go back to the apartment or to the local library to study. The Academy's library was probably packed and he didn't want to mingle with all the other people at the moment. Nah. He'd done enough studying last night he believed. He tried to put in as many hours for revision and such as he could with exams coming up but it bored even Joshua if he tried too hard. He pulled into the lot of the local park after driving around a little more, deciding he could walk around and finish his coffee and the egg salad sandwich that he'd ordered himself at Timmies. He would have passed straight by the person sitting under the tree if her appearance hadn't caused him to falter. Don't I know her? It took a moment to place a name to the face but after a second he remembered that she was called Karina. They were not well acquainted but a name was better than nothing.

He cleared his throat to get her attention, not wanting to startle her too terribly. He knew that some people got really intense when they were focused and shocking her out of what she was doing might not have been the best idea. He was unaware of her academic plight and so he merely said, "Hey Karina, what are you up to?" She appeared to be reading notes of some sort but as he was not too nosy Joshua was polite enough not to ogle the papers and try to find out what they were about. People looking at his work or papers when he was pouring over them often irked the Fire graduate and thus he respected the privacy of others. He knew that the girl was a Water elemental, as well, but that didn't bother him as much as it would have once upon a time. He had once been opposed to all their kind but after meeting Nell and betraying his old alliance, that had changed.

[skyemarie]

If you said that Karina was frusturated, you would be bang on. She hated the fact that she was so near to failing school that she had to get a 60 on this exam to pass the course. Why couldn't I just be smart like Joe and then I wouldn't have to worry about this! she thought to herself as she turned the page of her notebook. For some reason, she didn't remember learning about any of this stuff in class. That was probably because she was too busy painting her nails or sleeping when she was supposed to be learning, but she would never admit that to anyone. Instead, she just blamed it on her teachers saying that they weren't good and they were the reasons why she was failing when in reality, it was just Karina's fault, and she knew it.

After a few more minutes of studying, Karina heard footsteps from behind her and eventually a voice. She turned around and saw Joshua Dale standing behind her. Josh was currently dating one of Karina's good friends Nell, so they got along alright. She was a bit scared of him at first, seeing as he is a fire elemental graduate and she is afraid of fire, but she eventually warmed up to him; no pun intended. " Hey Josh, nothing much, just studying. I'm definitely going to fail" she said with a hint of worry in her voice. She scooted over to make room for him before going back to her books.

ooc: sooo crappy, but it's all i had muse for :/

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

In stark contrast to Karina's slacking, Joshua had always approached academics with the utmost seriousness. His natural gift for learning sometimes felt like his one true talent, the thing he was good at. Everyone had a skill with which they could make something of their life and his intelligence just happened to be what spurred him forward. The aspiring doctor had never struggled with school work, not even during his unfortunate time with the gang and it was a good thing, too--he did not have anything else going for him. He wasn't sociable enough to persuade his way into a career in medicine and even though his family were rich it wasn't exactly a place you could buy your way into, either. Money didn't teach you how things went down in the operating room.

It was mildly surprising to find someone studying outside on such a chilly day but then again, sometimes it was better to read a book outside in the clear air as opposed to the stuffy interior of a library. Josh was a Fire elemental and so the cold was hardly ever a problem for him as long as there were no mortals around. The pessimistic comment about failure did not immediately convince him. Not realising that Karina really was in deep water when it came to her academy education, Josh arched a brow. "Oh? What makes you say that?" He found in his experience that a lot of people moaned about 'failing' when really their grades were fine. He never worried that he was going to fail, per say, just that he wouldn't get the grade he wanted. Rather than trying to compete with others, Joshua aimed for the highest mark he thought it possible for him to achieve. It sounded nice in theory until you considered exactly how high Josh set his standards.

"Maybe I could help," he suggested in an off-handed tone, waving a casual hand as he sat down. He was not at all pretentious about his intelligence but he hadn't skated through school with no hard work involved. He was good at prioritizing and studying. "You're in ninth grade, right? What are you studying for?" His tone was starting to slip into a more serious and almost business-like air. This was actually how he'd befriended Nell, strangely enough. They'd went from wrong-footed acquaintances to study partners, to friends and eventually to where they were now. Josh was more relaxed when he had something to focus conversation around, like school.

[skyemarie]

[/b][/color] she said with a fair bit of fear in her low voice. Karina acted like she hated school, when really she only did because she wasn't the best student. If she had been doing well and you had asked her what she thought, she probably would say that she enjoyed it immensely. "Could you help? That would be great." she said with a smile when he offered. She knew then that she had made the right choice allowing herself to become close to Josh even though he was a fire elemental.[/size][/blockquote][/ul][/justify]

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Having not realised that she was already failing as opposed to just worried that she might, Joshua shifted his opinion on the situation to something a little less doubtful. He was a very serious person by nature and thus hearing that someone was about to fail and needed a crash course in whatever they happened to be studying caught his attention. He helped his little sister out with her homework quite a lot. As a social butterfly, the young Annabel was eager to make friends and often forgot about her schoolwork, which was where he came in. Karina was not his sister, but the same principles applied. If Joshua thought that there was something he could do to help her then he definitely wasn't going to stand back and watch her struggle. "By how much?" He asked the question not to offend the Water elemental but instead to judge exactly how much work they were going to need to do in order to catch her up to her classmates. There wasn't a terribly long time for studying left to go but he was confident that Karina could pull it off if she really wanted to. She might not pass with flying colours at the top of the class, that would be an absolute miracle, but she could at least pass. That was what she wanted, right?

Given that he knew her grade, Joshua figured that the exam would be mostly about theory rather than actually manipulating one's powers, which was a definite plus. As a graduate he had studied theory of all five elements, all students did, but you could only put that theory to the test if you actually had the gift for it. He could spend the entire day explaining the theory to manipulating the flames that bent so easily to his will but at the end of it, Karina would be a Water elemental. He couldn't accurately describe the tingling feeling of heat unless someone had felt it themselves. ("Not uncomfortable, not burning, just... warm. A rush of warmth."). And hey, maybe it felt different for everyone. Maybe the use of his powers was only partially physical and mostly psychological. He couldn't explain it and he doubted anyone else could, either, so he was glad they'd be working out of textbooks. He could explain a lot more by reading it out of a book than anything else. "It's been a while since I've studied Basic Theory," he admitted, seeing as he was almost in his junior year of college and this was ninth grade stuff, "but I'm sure I can help." He used the word 'sure' without even thinking--confidence sometimes expressed itself unknowingly.

Adapting an air of concentration, he met Karina's gaze with his steel-gray one. His expression was intense with how little he smiled but it was not unfriendly. "Alright, so what works better for you when learning something?" He knew that everyone was different. Some people enjoyed getting their hands dirty and actually experiencing things for themselves and others preferred to read about them thoroughly before any practical application came into play. If he knew what way she'd prefer him to explain something, he'd likely do better at explaining it. Joshua was a very booksmart person and took directions well. If you gave him a list of instructions he'd figure it out pretty quickly but if you made him take the long way round he'd probably move slower. He was intelligent enough that he could adapt to different styles of learning but even Josh had his preferences. "Oh, and what are you having the most trouble with? Best to focus on that since it'll probably give you the most issues during exams." Joshua himself didn't really have a least favourite subject, unless of course you counted physical education. He'd never really enjoyed gym since it was mostly sports-oriented and he was a bookish guy.