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The Derivative  Chapter 8: Sports

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 7

“Do I even need to ask?” David snapped. Uncle Charlie just smiled smugly turning his hand around. The entire table groaned in annoyance. 

“It’s not what it looks like, promise” Don spoke up. 

“You brother hustling us?” one of Don’s friends Mike muttered. 

“I’ve only played once before” Charlie informed as they collected the cards to deal another round of poker. “I actually have a one in eight chance of hitting a set when I’m holding a pocket pair. I’m about 50/50 to draw a flush with suited cards in my hand, two off the draw. I also count my outs I- I multiply by two. I add one. That’s roughly my percentage of hitting.” he explained. 

“Card math” I muttered over my father’s shoulder as I walked past the table. Leaning over to snag some chips out of the snack bowl. 

“Mr. Eppes you need to take my seat, your son is killing us” David declared as Alan brought out more chips. 

“No, not me” Gramps objected “the only other time Charlie played, I learned my lesson about gambling with a mathematician” 

“Hey could I-” 

“No” Don cut me off “Ms. I-can’t-help-but-card-count” 

“Not my fault I was born with perfect visual memory” I muttered as my father got up and headed to the kitchen. 

“Hey weren’t we playing with bottle caps?” Charlie pointed out to his father.

“Yeah or else you’d have walked away with the pink slip to my car” Alan informed. 

“You know, there is some element of chance here” Charlie explained “you know I- I may just be getting lucky.” 

“Or you're just unlucky,” David joked to Mike. 

“That’s funny Sinclair keep that up. It comes back to me when baseball starts” Mike countered taking a swig of his beer as dad returned and handed me a Mountain Dew as he sat down with his glass of water. 

“Baseball?” Charlie questioned “”the FBI have a team?” 

“Yeah, we got a whole league.” David explained “there’s, uh, LAPD, Sheriffs’ department” 

“D.A.’s got the killer squad” Mike commented “Now that Kraft’s in San Diego, you guys don’t have a power hitter.” 

“What about Don?” Charlie suggested. 

“It’s not my thing” Don objected 

“Oh, you play?” Mike inquired. 

“Don went to college on a baseball scholarship,” Charlie informed. “What are you talking about? You played pro second base.” 

“Single A about a million years ago” Don muttered. 

“That’s great. It means you’re this year’s ringer.” Mike grumbled. 

“Nope. I’m sorry.” Don objected quickly “not interest buddy” 

“Come on, you gotta do it” David asked hopefully as Don’s phone rang. 

“Excuse me” he murmured to us answering it. “Eppes… we’ll be right there” he declared, getting to his feet. 

I sighed and shuffled back toward the kitchen where Alan was. “Looks like I’m spending the night,” I informed. 

He looked up at me confused “really? Why?” 

Just then Don popped into the doorway pulling on a jacket “hey dad I just got called in can she stay here tonight?” 

I gave my grandfather a look who sighed “yes of course” 

“Thanks,” Don murmured heading out. 

______________

3rd POV. 

“I’ve never seen him before,” Mr. Bayle declared, handing Don back the photo of Salazar. 

“Are you sure?” the agent asked. 

“Yeah” the man confirmed. 

“I mean, maybe he did some work for you guys around here.” Don persisted. 

“Yeah, he could have. I wouldn’t know” Bayle explained “Lisa was in charge of all that.” 

“I’m just trying to figure out if there’s any possibility that this man knew your wife.” Don insisted as they stepped from the other man’s kitchen into his living room. 

“Why?” Bayle inquired with a shrug as he stopped to face Don. 

“You’re not going to want to hear this” Don prefaced reluctantly “but there are some questions about Cliff Howard’s conviction” 

“The bastard said he did it,” Bayle scoffed. 

“I know,” Don nodded. 

“I haven’t seen you in a year” Bayle continued “I haven’t seen you since you interrogated me for 48 hours.” 

“Sir..” Don tried to speak up but the other man continued. 

“I had to call the funeral home handcuffed to a table.” 

“I was pursuing your wife’s murder wherever it took me” Don attempted to explain his actions. “So help me..” he paused shaking his head and biting his lip and Bayle took the moment to speak again.

“Now you want to tear these wounds open again.” 

“I don’t want to do that,” Don objected adamantly. 

Both men paused to breathe and Don’s eyes wandered over to the mantel where he spotted a picture he recognized he shuffled over to point at it “that’s your, uh, your daughter. What’s her name? Paula?” he asked, trying to remember. 

“Yes” Jonas answered, his voice still tense with emotion. 

“Right. May I?” Don gestured to the photo. 

“Go ahead,” Bayle allowed. Don took the photo from the mantel and looked at the young girl. “She’s a sophomore now.” 

“Yeah, so is my daughter,” Don admitted. 

“You have a daughter?” Jonas asked, surprised. 

Don nodded “her names Abby.” he chuckled slightly with a bittersweet spike in his gut “yeah she came to live with me not too long ago after her mother died, car crash” 

“I’m sorry” Bayle murmured, shifting on his feet. 

Don replaced the photo and turned to face the other man. “Jonas, don’t you want to know the truth about your wife’s death?” 

“Cliff Howard is the truth,” Bayle insisted. 

______________

Abby POV. 

“Okay tell me I’m crazy” Larry declared, setting his pencil down and rubbing his face with his hands. “I think I’ve just found a way to express Calabi-Yau manifolds in a way that goes beyond the existence of a nonvanishing harmonic spinor.” 

“You're crazy,” I muttered, taking another bite of my food. 

“Ch- Charles” Larry whined when he received no response from his fellow mathematician. 

“Has he been out there all night?” Uncle C questioned turning away from the window he had been gazing out of. Watching my father play basketball. 

“Well, on the bright side it seems like Don’s taken up an interest in sports again.” Alan commented. 

Charlie sighed taking the seat next to me “it’s like the evidence proves him right and wrong at the same time” 

“Oh, yeah, the old paradox of Schroedinger’s cat.” Larry murmured. 

“Is that that persian that keeps hiding out in our garage?” Alan inquired. 

“No, that's the Myers down the street’s cat” I muttered, taking a sip of my drink. 

“It’s an intellectual exercise,” Charlie explained. 

“I knew that,” Alan lied. 

“Okay this is vastly simplified” Larry prompted “there’s a cat in a box. 50/50 chance it’s been poisoned, but now here’s the paradox: until such time as we can open the box and observe the cat, for that time, that cat is both alive and dead.” 

“Larry I-I fail to see the analogy, though.” Charlie objected “I mean, in reality Don can’t be both right and wrong at the same time.” 

“Well, of course not.” Alan chimed in “I mean, if a man is both right and wrong, then something’s gotta be wrong.” 

“Positive and a negative equal a negative?” I scoffed. 

“No. the truth of Schroedinger’s cat is that the question itself is meaningless until we look inside the box.” Larry informed. 

“So you could ask a whole different question” I voiced. 

“For a whole different result” Larry finished. Uncle Charlie immediately straightened and turned to look at the window again. Before getting up and heading outside after his brother. “Well and off he goes again to help solve the unjust of the world” 

“You can always tell when he gets an idea he spaces out then runs” I muttered. 

Larry hummed in agreement “you know you are quite insightful young enigma quite like your uncle I’m surprised you’ve yet to push ahead of your peers in academia like he so did” 

“Oh here we go” Alan muttered. 

“Well I’ve tried they won’t put me in advanced classes because I wasn’t in school consistently as a kid.” I explained. 

“Well that’s absurd a brilliant mind shouldn’t be held back by the amount of desks they haven’t sat at or lectures they’ve witnessed” Larry voiced in annoyance. 

“Preaching to the choir,” I told him. 

“Yes but do me a favor and don’t get on the soap box of yours again” Gramps asked me. 

I nodded in agreement and picked at the last bits of food on my plate. “You know what?” Larry spoke up causing me and Alan to look at him but his eyes were trained on me “you should attend CalSci once you’ve escaped high school. We have no such requirements if you show the aptitude” 

“I don’t know I’m still looking at quite a bit of time being forced to look at this stuff in school let alone do I want to keep having to do school work beyond it.” I pointed out. 

“No no no” Larry objected waving his hands “it’s not like that at CalSci you can learn what you want and gain knowledge and work to gather more knowledge of the universe itself with a very hands on approach” 

I sighed finishing off my dinner and gathered my dishes. “I’ll think about it” 

“Very well” Larry accepted the answer as I stood up. 

“You done?” Alan asked. 

“Yeah” I murmured, taking my dishes into the kitchen. I glanced out the window and spotted my Uncle joining my father in his basketball playing. I loved basketball. The one sport I was decent at. As I watched my mind different back to just shortly before I went to live with my father here. 

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

3rd POV. 

“Yo Calvin” Abby looked up from where she was sitting with her back to a wall in the courtyard book in hand. A girl named Naomi was looking at her from the basketball court with the ball tucked under her arm. Other girls around her were glancing in Abby’s direction and muttering to each other. “We need a even number get over here” 

Abby hesitated. Veronica was standing on the court eyeing her with the same hate in her eyes. However after one of her accomplices came over and whispered in her ear she nodded her agreement with the situation.  

Abby sighed and closed her book getting up and heading to the court. “‘ight y’all line up me and V will choose the teams,” Naomi declared. 

Abby stood in line with the seven other girls they had goated into playing with them. Veronica stuck to choosing her pals and Naomi was smart enough not to choose them but Veronica only had three friends and Abby ended up being the last one on the line as Naomi chose the girl next to her. 

“Calvin and V on the same team” one of the girls on Naomi’s team voiced “this’ll be interesting.” 

Abby scoffed and took her position on the court. “Hey bookworm don’t get in the way” Veronica snapped. 

“Then stay out of mine” Abby shrugged. Veronica shot her a glare as the other girls jeered. 

“Hey let’s play” Naomi called everyone’s attention. 

The game started out easy. Naomi had the ball and was heading down the court. Abby intercepted her snagging the ball easily and heading down the court when she was slammed in the side hitting the ground. Veronica had the ball now and shot it into the hoop. 

“Hey!” Abby yelled getting back to her feet “thought we were on the same team” 

“Thought I said stay out of my way” Veronica retaliated coming up to get Abby’s face. 

“Hey knock it off” Naomi pushed between the girls “either play or leave and sort your shit out the way you normally do and land in the infirmary” 

“You telling me what to do, china?” Veronica snarled at Naomi. 

Naomi shifted back a bit “I’m actually Korean not that it matters but what I’m trying to do is play some basketball. Now you two can go duke it out if you want at least it’ll keep the teams even” 

Veronica scoffed “whatever” she stalked back onto the court. 

Abby sighed and followed the game started up again and Abby barely touched the ball as it was passed from player to player. Until it got to a point where they had five minutes left of courtyard time and Naomi’s team was up by one. 

“We need to score. You beat Naomi at ball, that's a serious brag even with dead weights like Harp and Richards on her team” Veronica’s lacky Fiona stated. 

“Yeah well we aren’t going to if Veronica tries to score again” Abby muttered to the rest of the huddle. 

“You saying I can’t shoot Calvin?” Veronica turned to her angry. 

“No I’m saying our entire strategy has been geared to give you glory this entire time and they’ve figured that out” Abby explained “that’s why they’ve blocked our last five attempts.” 

“What? You want us to pass it to you?” Veronica asked “that ain’t how that works Calvin” 

“I don’t care who you pass it to” Abby shrugged “you just gotta pass it” 

Veronica thought about it a moment “Alright Fi you take it” she declared. “Let’s go” 

“Okay” Fiona muttered, sounding unsure. 

The game started and Naomi’s team got the ball dribbling down the court. Veronica intercepted as Abby and Fiona headed down opposite sides of the court. Veronica looked to pass it and saw Naomi guarding Fiona who was looking less than confident. Then she saw Calvin raise her hand. She was completely open. No one expected Veronica to pass the ball to the one girl she beat up every other day. 

Veronica passed the ball. Abby caught it easy and dribbled it a step before shooting it circled the hoop before dropping in to the cheers of the team.

“Alright ladies time to get inside” one of the matron’s called from the door the girls shuffled to the door Naomi scooping the ball. 

“Nice shot Calvin” Naomi told her, shoving her shoulder as she passed. 

Abby grabbed her book and headed inside. She was heading down the hall at a casual pace before she was pinned to the wall. Veronica had her collar. “That was a one time thing you got that?” 

Abby blinked at the other girl “really? You're so insecure about your status you have to make that point?” she asked with every ounce of sass she could muster. 

Veronica growled and threw her to the floor Abby got on her feet and shoved Veronica’s middle. The bigger girl pushed her away and soon they were grabbing at each other pulling hair and scratching. Soon someone was there to pull them apart. 

“Why do any of us expect different of those two?” Abby heard Naomi mutter to Fiona as Abby and Veronica were led to the infirmary.  

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Abby POV.

“Bye Uncle Charlie” I called from the shade as the mathematician peeled off the fence of the batting cages and headed back to his car. 

“Bye Abbs” Charlie replied with a wave. I glanced over at my father as another crack of baseball on bat sounded. He was really starting to get into a rhythm, a proud smile on his face. I smiled lightly and returned to my reading. However there was only a moment of peace before Don appeared grabbing his water bottle and taking a swig.

“You want to take a few whacks?” He asked, gesturing to the batting cage. 

I shot another look over at the ball spitter. “Uh no thanks I’ve never really..” I trailed off gesturing at the cage with an implied statement and apathetic wave. 

Don looked at the cage then back at me with a small amount of shock evident in his face. “You’ve never played baseball before?” He asked in disbelief. 

“Maybe once in gym class” I shrugged answering honestly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed Donald but I’m kinda on the nerd side of things” 

Don scoffed. “Come on” he grabbed my book and much to my relief remembered to put the bookmark in its place before closing it. “No daughter of mine is going to go through life without playing baseball”

I scoffed as I was pulled to my feet and given a helmet. I would normally put up a bit more of a fight but I knew that this sport meant a lot to him. So I kept my remarks to myself and went along with it. We headed out to the cage. He showed me what position to take. How to hold the bat properly and watch the ball. 

Even with his coaching it took a while before I actually hit the ball. When I did it was quite auspicious to us both. Despite it not going anywhere near where we wanted it to go. There was a lot of laughing and joking and we both left happy reliving the events in story with some subtle elaborations. Don excited to take me back some time.

Chapter 9 -> 

The Derivative  Chapter 6: People

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 5 

“Is there a reason you’re eating your lunch in the hallway?” I looked up at Mrs. Clive who had her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. 

“Ms. Rampart kicked me out of the library” I replied, turning back to my book. 

“And the cafeteria?” Clive pressed. 

“Is full of annoyances known as people” I explained. 

“You know if you interacted with them you might find that people aren’t as annoying as you might think” the woman suggested. 

“I find that highly unlikely,” I muttered. 

Clive made a humming noise of acknowledgement. “Your father called said you need to take the bus to your grandfather’s house” 

“Great another case” I grumbled. 

The bell rang. I packed my book into my backpack as kids started filing into the hallway. “Have a good day today Abby” 

“You too teach” I replied to Clive grabbing my tray of food and backpack heading toward the cafeteria. 

I made it around the corner before my foot hit something. In the next second I was hitting the ground, my tray flinging from my hand and clattering on the tile a foot away. “Better watch where you’re going street rat” the girl who had tripped me called giggling with her friends as they headed down the hallway. 

“Street rat? What are we in Aladdin?” I muttered getting to my knees and gathering what had spilled from my tray. 

____________

I climbed off the bus in front of my grandfather’s house with my nose in a book. “Hey you must be Abby right?” 

My head shot up and I turned to see a woman sitting in a car in front of the house smiling at me. “Uh yeah who are you?” I asked suspiciously. 

“I’m Amita. Charlie’s my thesis advisor” she explained extending a hand and setting down her own book. “I’m just waiting on him” 

I shook her hand as realization dawned on me “yeah I’ve heard of you” 

She nodded “you’re reading C.S. Lewis’s Narnia” she observed. 

I held up the brick of a book in my hand “yeah I found this copy that has all the books in one in the library and couldn’t resist” I explained. “I’m already on A Horse and His Boy” 

“I only read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I was curious after watching the movie” Amita explained. 

I smiled “yeah I loved the movie. The effects were great, especially the detail they put into making Aslan seem real. Plus the child actors were great and they stuck pretty close to the book for an adaptation” 

“Definitely” Amita agreed. “Are you a movie fan?” 

“Uh yeah” I nodded and opened my mouth to talk more when I saw Amita’s eyes shift to look behind me. 

“Hello Mr. Eppes” she called. I turned to see my grandfather walking across the front of the house. 

“Oh hi” he greeted, seeming caught off guard. 

“Nice to see you” Amita smiled. 

“Nice to see you again,” he agreed, hurrying to the door. 

I looked between Amita and the door “I should get inside I have homework” 

“Alright, it was nice talking to you” Amita smiled. 

“Uh yeah you too” I agreed and hurried up the steps to the front door following my grandfather inside. 

Charlie was there sitting at the coffee table. “...so I could check this text on encryption and code breaking” he was in the middle of telling Alan. 

“Uh, and you left her waiting in the car?” the elderly man questioned making Charlie look out the window at the woman. I looked between them briefly before going to sit in a chair on the other side of the room. “No, no this is not the way we treat people, Charlie.” Alan instructed his son as I tried to focus back on my book “you bring her inside, you at least offer her something to drink. You know, like an adult.” 

“We just stopped by for a second,” Charlie objected. 

“You came in fifteen minutes ago Charlie” Alan informed. “Meanwhile she’s just sitting in that car out there.” 

“Well, I just got caught up in something.” Charlie defended gathering his things. 

“Yeah, I know, I know” 

“I don’t see what the big deal is.” 

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Alan explained. 

“What?” Charlie murmured confused. 

“She likes you, you know?” Alan declared. That made Charlie freeze in his shuffling of papers and I peaked over the back of the chair I was sitting sideways in to watch them. “Aren’t you ever going to do something about that?” 

Charlie looked out the window at the woman and then at his father who turned to walk away. His face was something like sad and scared at the same time. Alan sighed and came over to where I was. 

“I hope you’re better with people than that,” he told me. 

“I wouldn’t bet on it Gramps” I replied, turning the page of my book. 

______________

“I know my due date,” David objected. 

“I’m sorry” Charlie replied. 

“They trying to show me up, man,” the agent chuckled. 

“No man” Don muttered. 

“I apologize,” Charlie repeated. 

“Okay, all right.” Terry nodded. 

“Here you go” Alan declared, setting a platter down in the middle of the table. Don and I both reached for the food first. 

“Excellent dad” Don smiled as we all gave Alan our thanks as he retreated back toward the kitchen. 

“No no no I was a  good student. No, I just couldn’t get into math.” Terry explained to the group “Couldn’t see how it could relate to the real world” Both me and Uncle C froze giving Terry a look. Charlie sat down his beer as David chuckled and Don sighed. I grabbed another piece of bread “what? What did I say?” the agent inquired. 

“I think you’re about to find out,” David informed her. 

“Oh you guys are on your own.” Don said getting up and tapping me on the shoulder telling me to follow him. “Good luck” 

Charlie began to explain to the agents how math was everywhere in the world as I followed Don toward the kitchen. “Did you really almost get blown up today?” I asked. 

“Yeah kinda almost did” Don sighed “David saved my ass” he gestured back to his agent. 

“You remember the promise you made me right?” I asked “about always fighting to stay alive” 

“Trust me kid I remember and I’m still holding to it alright” he reassured me and I nodded. “Listen I talked to that teacher of yours on the phone Mrs. Clive. She’s worried about you says your eating lunch in the hallway instead of the cafeteria” 

“A lot of kids don’t eat in the cafeteria,” I pointed out. 

“Do they also eat alone in the hallway?” he inquired. I shrugged in reply “yeah that’s what I thought. Listen Abby you can’t be afraid to make friends. I mean Charlie was in high school with a bunch of kids older than him and he still had friends I think you can manage it”

“Yeah but people like Charlie” I muttered. 

“People will like you too. I'm sure you just need to find the right people,” he advised me. “Here how about we make a deal. You sit in the cafeteria for a while, try it out. Now I’m not saying go up and talk to people but just be around them, see if anyone comes to you. Give it lets say a month no friends made you go back to sitting in the hallway” 

I gave him a look and thought about before letting off a breath “fine deal but if nothing happens you have to promise not to bug me about it again and take me to get ice cream” 

Don scoffed at my terms but nodded “deal” He turned to talk to Alan as Amita came out of the kitchen with the silverware for the table. 

“Here let me help” I offered and she handed over half the utensils. 

“Thanks” she smiled. “How’s Narnia coming?” 

“Good” I replied “I’m already on the next book in the series” 

“Wow you read fast” she commented. 

“Uh yeah it’s kind of a gift I have” I explained. 

“Charlie mentioned that” Amita agreed. “I think it’s really cool” 

“Yeah well you’d be in the minority” I scoffed. 

“Uh yeah let me guess school nerd girl?” she asked with a knowing look. 

“It’s either that or the street rat,” I explained. 

“High school girls are mean” Amita stated “I hated it. I feel bad for you but I’d take solace in the fact that you’re smarter than they are and one day what they call you will be more like a badge of honor than an insult” 

I chuckled “badge of honor really?” 

“Oh definitely” she nodded and gave me a double take “oh wow is that a Captain America shirt?” 

I looked down at my t-shirt before turning back to the college student “yeah he’s one of my favorites though Batman’s top of the list superhero wise. Each the respective favorites for me in their universes” 

“I always favored Marvel over DC, it seemed more colorful,” she pointed out. 

“Yeah but DC was angsty” I joked. We shared a laugh. “I wish there were people like you in school then I wouldn’t be so against making friends.” 

Amita scoffed “I’m sure there are you just got to find them. Plus in the meantime we could be friends” 

I looked up at her surprised “really? You want to be friends with a sassy high school genius?” 

“Are you kidding sassy highschool geniuses make the best friends” Amita stated and we laughed again. Maybe Clive was right, people weren’t as annoying as I assumed. 

Chapter 7 -> 

writing should be fun.

make oc playlists. spend hours on moodboards that have no purpose. write self-indulgent fluff that’s never going to be published. scribble three lines of poetry in the back of your history notebook. draw fanart of your own characters. write stupid dialogue that your publishers might hate. start new wips that you might never finish but write those three chapters that make you happy because if you don’t write them, who else will?

writing shouldn’t always be about “will publishers like this” or “i have to reach this word count” or “how do i get the most likes”.

have fun with your writing.

My biggest goal in life is to create a great fic that artist would draw fan art. It's all i want 🥺

Happy Bi Visibility Day everyone 💗💜💙

Stop what you’re doing. Reblog if you should be sleeping or doing work.

Reblog if you are or know of an adult fan fiction writer

I’m trying to prove a point

jk rowling may not have caused transmisogyny in the uk, but by being a high-profile figure who actively supports transmisogyny and funnels money into transmisogynistic groups she is a huge influence in keeping it both alive and, more dangerously, seen as a legitimate viewpoint and ‘acceptable’ in the eyes of the media. it is dangerous to ignore this and to ignore her significant influence

reminder to:

straighten your back

go pee goddAMN IT STOP HOLDING IT

go take your meds if you need to

drink some water

go get a snack if you havent eaten in a while

maybe wander around the house/stretch a little if you’ve been sat at the computer a while (artists especially: sTRETCH THOSE WRISTS)

reply to that text/message from earlier you’d forgotten about

maybe send a nice lil message to someone having a bad day?

Learn Something New Everyday #2

My brother likes the drink the London Fog. It’s a hot tea drink he says I should try it.