Disclaimer: In case you were beginning to wonder, I'm not Lisi. That's why everything's so canon and all pairs are so obvious. (C'mon dudes! Cheat on each other already!)
AN: For Sophie! Unless she'd rather be called maplexsyrup just random people don't call her that.
Of Rivers andFish
Cameron Fisher liked to say that he had an inquiring mind. While most would describe that as being too-nosy-for-your-own-good, he preferred to think of it as curious. And wasn't curiosity the way things were learned? Where would we be if Newton didn't wonder, why-the-heck-did-that-dumb-apple-have-to-fall-on-my-new-wig? How would things be if some guy in medieval times wondered how-come-I'm-on-an-eternal-dragon-hunt-and-I-haven't-seen-one-yet? Or if someone way back during the Salem Witch Trials wondered if-they-were-really-witches-wouldn't-they-poof-away-in-a-cloud-of-smoke?
And of course, what better way was there to find things out than to ask?
--
"Do lions eat fish?"
The kindergarten teacher had blinked at him for a moment, no doubt wondering how stupid his students could get. Of course, just to be nice, he went to his computers and Googled the question about fish-eating lions, and found that the answer was 'no'. The teacher was just itching to say 'no stupid, have you ever seen lions in water? Watch National Geographic's lately oh smart one?' But, teachers aren't allowed to say that. So the answer was no.
But, then came the time when Claire Stacey Lyons would wrap her arms around his neck and flop carelessly on his lap, batting her barely visible lashes, and try to flaunt her choppy bangs. She would giggle at almost every sentence he said, and watch every sentence before she said them – nothing was worse than upsetting your boyfriend even though he'd get over it in the next ten seconds.
Cam realized something. Lions didn't eat fish. Lyons ate Fisher.
--
"Do rivers carry fish upstream?"
The teacher had rubbed his temples, and tried not to yell, as the class had just watched a movie about fish living in rivers, and how they did not get carried upstream. So, he rewound the Animal Planet film, reminding himself that patience was the key to success. Once he'd found the part he was looking for, he played it about five more times, until the sound of the British narrator's voice made the class groan in despair. He'd told Cam with a hint of annoyance 'there's your answer. Fish swim against the current to go upstream'.
But, once again, there came the time when Cam found himself in the dark, behind the mess hall at Lake Placid, New York. Alicia Mariana Rivera had whispered in his ear about how she'd liked him from afar for a long time. His older brother was nothing but a bootlegged replacement of the real thing, instead of the other way around. And then she'd kissed him, even though Claire Lyons had come running into the scene, freaking out. And Alicia Rivera had dashed off laughing with her humble sidekick Olivia Ryan.
He realized something else. Fish couldn't control where they ended up in a river. Rivera knew how to tempt Fisher upstream.
--
"Do plants and mud block fish from swimming?"
By that time, the teacher had to go to his desk and take a couple of aspirin pills. What was with the little boy's random questions? He never knew. But only Cameron Fisher would ask more of his fish-related questions during a lesson about owls. Was he actually curious, or was he just doing all of those random questions because his best-friend-from-the-first-day, Derrick Harrington found them so painstakingly hilarious? Pretending to flip through a nature magazine, the teacher answered as politely as possible 'no, I would think the fish know how to get past those obstacles by now.'
The time came when Massie Block would do anything to keep Claire Lyons and Cam together. She would sneak, spy, and steal, just to see that smile on her face. And probably, he was sure one day; she would stab him to death. Or maybe she just liked to drag Derrick on the double dates none of her other friends had the ability to score.
He learned something. Fish might not have been blocked. But Block sure knew how to block Fisher.
--
"And now here is an original piece, by the young prodigy, Belinda Rivera."
Cam did most of his thinking when he was bored. In class, his mind would somehow float away, and he'd suddenly stop. The same thing every time, he would wonder how did I get from linear equations to Nikki? Just as often as he would remember whatever times he had at camp, he would remember Lake Placid, game practice in November, and a whole lot of other pointless things. And what was more insipid than a song by a six-year-old genius inspired by Pop Tarts?
So, as more questions floated around his head, he used the imaginary mental scissors he'd developed over the years to get rid of the more ridiculous questions. There was one person he completely had to ask.
--
"Is there anything named hots in a river?"
That same teacher had forced a smile on his face, as if he were glad to see Cameron Fisher again, at the unstable age of thirteen. Of course, there was some nostalgic part of that kindergarten teacher that was glad to see that one of his students had returned, what teacher wouldn't treasure that? There was just the fact that the smile faltered when he saw the look on Cam's face, that serious I'm-on-to-something look that he wore whenever he asked about fish-eating lions, and fish-pulling rivers.
The teacher blinked, pretended to flip through a nature magazine, and said simply 'no, there is no hots in a river'.
"Mr. Freedman! Can lions swim like fish?"
Alicia Rivera had come into the door at the most random moment possible. Once again, the teacher had taken an aspirin, rubbed his temples, and resisted the urge to snap at her. 'No' was the only, simple yet courteous response. 'Now get out', followed.
She offered up a mega-watt, blinding, Chiclets-toothed smile. "Hey, we haven't talked in a while. Lot happened this year, huh?"
"Yeah." He didn't want to think about it.
"Walk with me."
There went that stupid river again, pulling the poor fish upstream. But then again, Rivera is Rivera, and it's not like Fisher actually minded.
Just as long as there weren't any Hots Lions taking a dive.
EN: R&R! I actually liked that, you? Well, review regardless.