Private Right At Home... Ec

To anyone else watching one student in a sea of senior faces stare at the teacher during a lecture, the girl would appear focused on the lesson at hand. Sure, there was the little dawdles any student would have done - checking their phones at random times, doodling in their notebooks, looking through the windows to capture glances of friends - but most of them were keeping track of the presentations Ms. Forestier, the cute French Home Ec teacher. The dark-haired girl was among them, doodling in her notebook, alongside her actual rough notes. Every so often she would look up at the blonde woman teaching the class, and every time she would lower her head as if to make another note. But every time, she would smile to herself.

And every so often, she would fiddle with her necklace - a plain-looking thing that hung over her chest, slightly tarnishing at the ends and on the chain.

Aside from that, she paid attention as usual. The class didn't demand much of her - Biology and Chemistry both demanded much more of her attention - but it allowed her to kinda relax from those classes. Plus it was fun.

@Zora

The teacher scrolled through a few more fruits, most of which she'd heard of before - she'd sometimes walked by the greenhouses at night, though she didn't quite know the names of them yet. Every one looked vibrant and good to eat.

The slide changed. Citron became something much more recognizable to her. Her dad used to buy this stuff in big jars when either of them was stuffed up. It was sweet, too - she'd even eaten the marmalade once or twice in desserts her dad would bring home. She smiled to herself.

As if by some form of luck, Ms. Forestier chose that very moment to call on her. Her light green eyes were prettier than Riko thought. She managed to call out the correct answers. "Yes. Um, they're really popular in Japan and Korea. You can make them into marmalades and tea and stuff, like oranges."

Praise flooded through her. Ms. Forestier had given her a compliment! N-Not that that meant anything, obviously. Probably. Riko turned her gaze back to her notes, smiling, and wrote down the information provided to her in the next slide, though some of this she already knew from past experience.

Eventually, she heard the projector click off and looked up from her notebook, fidgeting with her pencil. Creating a dish, Ms. Forestier had said. Using citrus fruit. Okay, that would be really, really easy, because she knew how to make yuja-hwachae. Her dad used to make it sometimes, when the store'd be out of it. Then again, should she branch out? After all, yuja-hwachae was a really simple drink... maybe she should try baking? Even though she was kind of terrible at it... ahh, she missed her friends back in Vancouver. They'd know what to do.

Ms. Forestier handed out the assignment sheets. Normal assignment stuff - where to find the fruit in the greenhouse, requirements of the project, stuff like that. Riko made sure to highlight the important parts of it and tuck it neatly into her binder.

The room erupted into chatter as soon as Ms. Forestier gave them a moment to, talking animatedly amongst themselves. The clock ticked down towards the last few minutes of the period, as Riko debated going to Ms. Forestier for help. Should she...? But, her pride...

Screw her pride. She could just make yuja-hwachae, but she could also actually learn something in this course, too. She'd ask her teacher. That was what they were there for, right? Plus... she could spend more time here with her. Riko packed her things up.

Riko slipped the neat binder into her modest backpack, putting her pencil case on top, then zipped it up and slung it over her shoulder. Making sure she got everything off her desk, she cleared her throat.

"Um, Ms. Forestier? Would you be able to help me out with something? It's to do with the project."

She walked over to the spot where the blonde teacher was standing. The pendant around her neck bounced with every step. It was pretty obvious that Riko was embarrassed to ask for help, because it shone through in her words.

"I'm thinking of doing something new for the citrus assignment. My dad used to make this drink called yuja-hwachae - um, yuja means yuzu - but I thought I might try baking something with yuj - I mean yuzu - instead. Just to try it. But I don't really bake often, and I don't think something as simple as hwachae will earn me a good mark. So I guess what I'm asking is... how do you bake stuff with citrus in it and not have it taste like eating an entire yuja?"

The thing about Ms. Forestier was, she had three things that made you want to listen. She let you finish your thoughts before speaking, something most teachers did rarely - as Riko poured out her concerns for the project, Celeste actually listened to her whole spiel before she spoke in the smooth, soothing voice Riko admired. The second thing? She was always so.... warm. As in, warm demeanour. Riko felt like she could talk to Ms. Forestier about almost anything that's how inviting her demeanour was. And the third thing was that she always gave detailed solutions. Riko guessed that was a thing with most teachers, that they would give you detailed solutions, but it was nice to have in combination with the other two things. Riko smiled, a meek little smile that betrayed some of the little crush she had on Ms. Forestier, and typed down the suggestions in her phone's notepad.

As for the actual dish, she noted down the options. Cake, or pudding - or hwachae, if she did it the traditional way. Hwachae was definitely the easiest, but Ms. Forstier had said she liked yuzu cake. Or pudding. Maybe she could make a recipe and show her later?

Ms. Forestier held out the fine-rasped grater towards her.

"Oh, thanks. This looks so cool..."

Take it.