Meeting new friends -- Fall 1993

I was sitting in the main area of the Family of Intellect and I could not figure out what I was doing with the Astrology homework.  I mean, why did I have to chart out the moons of Jupiter?  Why did it matter?  I sighed and sat back, not entirely sure who all the people in the family were.  It was only the first month of school anyways.  I saw that there were a couple of girls laughing together near me.  I got along better with girls but that was because when it came to boys it reminded me of Lincoln and I felt a pang of guilt every time I thought of my brother.  So I tried to push him out of my mind.  I stood up and went over to them.

"Can I ask you lot some questions?" I asked, a bit nervous.

I looked up from my schoolbook and smiled at the boy.  "Hey," I said to him brightly.  "Sure you can... it's about the homework, right?"  I was not sure if I wanted to answer any other type of questions.  Dad had raised me to be a bit leery of other people -- just because of his secret identity.

I was unsure of Madelyn's tone, but I smiled brightly at the boy.  "What do you need help with?" I asked, moving some oef my things so he could set down his books.

I was a bit off put by the one girl, but the second one seemed kinder.  "Oh, well, it's just... I'm so utterly confused by all of this astronomy nonsense," I said, not sugarcoating any of it.  "I'm Austin, by the way."  I realized that knowing each other's names might be a good thing.

"Lyn," I said to him easily, knowing that I  could at least be polite.  I chuckled slightly adn nodded.  "Yeah... this is really confusing.'

I could tell that Lyn was rather wary of Austin, but I merely rolled my eyes internally about that.  "Here," I said, digging in my bag, "I made a cheat sheet that you can copy down... it might help you."

I was so grateful that Fiona was being helpful; Lyn seemed a little wary and put off by me.  When Fiona gave me the cheat sheet, I saw how easy it looked.  "Oh, wow, thanks," I said to her.  "I'll copy it and give it back to you... I have a feeling this is going to help tons."

I looked between the two of them.  "Is that the chart you showed me?" I questioned, hoping she did not add anything new to it.

I smiled at Lyn. "It is indeed... am I the only one between us that understand this?" I asked, chuckling a little bit, shaking my head.