2nd floor common room, late morning and possibly longer

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron's been up for ages. He's spend most of his morning in the gym, now however he's sitting in the common room with notes around him. Yes, notes. From abnormal psych class. It's december 29 and Cameron is studying and will be at it for the entire day if no one stops him.

Comments

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I think I want to be distracted," he sighed.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"You can come and help with the puzzle, if you want?" Elizabeth suggested. "Or I'm sure we can find something else to do."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I think I'm too dumb for that puzzle," Cameron put his notes aside and went over to the table.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid, of course you're not," she said firmly, pushing the box across to him. "There's still edges in there, if you want to look for them. If not, that pile is of pieces from a keyboard."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Seriously, dude, a keyboard for a puzzle?" Cameron shook his head and started rooting through the puzzle pieces. After a while he went "Ah ha!" and held up an edge.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth grinned. "It's an office setting," she said. "Hopefully it's going to be easier than the last one I did. That was a pain and a half."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron raised an eyebrow. "Like I said, I'm probably too dumb for this." H found another couple of edges and handed them to Liz. "At least I'm good at following orders."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"You're not dumb, Cam," Elizabeth said firmly, taking the pieces off him and adding them to another pile. "Stop putting yourself down like that.

And following orders is a very good skill. Especially in the military."

In a murmur, she added. "God knows there's some jackasses who can't."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I'm not, it's important that you know your limits." Cameron shrugged and double checked the pieces.

He raised an eyebrow at her murmur, but didn't push or ask.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"You're looking at the AF Academy, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked. "Service academies don't take dumb people. They don't even consider them. If you were dumb, then you wouldn't be looking at it."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Fine. I'm not dumb, but I'm not some genius either. Sam and John, they just take natural to this sort of thing. I'm holding my breath as I really need to get into the maths course next semester."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth shrugged. "That's life, Cam. Yes, Sam and John are naturals at math. But I'm sure if you gave them, I don't know, a history book, or a French book, then they'll struggle just as others do. I'm sure there are a number of things that you can do better than either of them, or at least, they come more naturally to you."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Sure," he shrugged and picked out another stray piece. "I think I got them all."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"Cool, thanks for that," Elizabeth said, looking across at him. "Is this why you were sitting here, revising last term's work? Because you think you're dumb?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Because I need to pick up my grades," Cameron clarified and looked up. "I'm not dumb, remember?"

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"What grades did you get? If you don't mind me asking."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"A+ for Criminology, A for Archaeology, B+ for Criminal Justice and B- for psych," he pulled a face at the last one.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"They're all perfectly good grades," Elizabeth said.

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron tilted his head and started looking for pieces that would fit near the edges. "Not good enough."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"What is going to be good enough?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Straight A's and a nobel prize?" Cameron shrugged.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth shook her head. "Don't push yourself too hard. Grades aren't the be all and end all of life. So what if you get a couple of Bs? In ten years time, no one will care and you'll barely remember them yourself."

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I should give you my dad's phone number," Cameron replied.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth's face clouded slightly. "Is that what all this is about? Your dad thinks that you're not doing well enough?"

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"Got it on the first go," Cameron nodded and found two matching pieces that he really didn't know where to put. "My grades are dropping and it's all Vala's fault."