Marvel: A Lazy-Ass Superman Chapter 676: Studying

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two girls had barely sat down at the desk when Gwen pulled out several old textbooks she had brought with her.

Before she could begin explaining anything, Skye leaned forward and whispered eagerly:

"Gwen, did you ask George about that thing I asked you to?"

The older girl blinked before remembering what Skye meant.

Immediately, her expression became a little deflated.

"Don’t even bring that up."

She sighed.

"You’re a minor, and he’s your legal guardian.

"Anti-stalking and harassment laws don’t apply in that situation at all."

Gwen rubbed her forehead.

"When George found out Henry actually had tracking devices like that, he nearly went looking for him to ask for some so I could carry them too.

"I was terrified.

"How was I supposed to keep asking questions after that?"

"That’s not fair!"

Skye blurted out.

Realizing she’d spoken too loudly, she quickly lowered her voice.

"Isn’t America supposed to be all about freedom and human rights?

"Why am I the one who gets monitored like this?"

"Save that complaint until you’re over twenty."

Gwen folded her arms.

"Until you’re capable of supporting yourself independently, nobody’s going to take your side on this."

"I am capable of supporting myself!"

Skye insisted.

"Living in a sewer and spending every day figuring out how to find food doesn’t count."

---

When Gwen had first started tutoring Skye, she had listened to plenty of complaints like this.

At first, she had genuinely worried.

A young girl suddenly ending up in a strange household?

A grown man acting as her guardian?

The possibilities were concerning.

Especially concerns involving sexual abuse.

But over time, she discovered that with Katherine Hepburn presiding over the house like an unstoppable force of nature, Skye’s situation wasn’t much different from that of an ordinary child.

If there was any difference at all, it was simply the absence of a mother figure.

The only questionable incident had been the first day, when Henry—unaware that Skye was a girl—had dragged her into a bathroom and stripped her for a bath.

But he had retreated immediately upon realizing the mistake.

Nothing inappropriate had happened.

After that, he had been scrupulous about maintaining boundaries.

No accidental bathroom intrusions.

No suspicious behavior.

Nothing.

Which meant Skye’s complaints sounded increasingly like those of a rebellious teenager who objected to everything on principle.

And Skye never hid any of it from Gwen.

Perhaps she simply didn’t understand what should remain private.

Or perhaps she truly viewed Gwen as an older sister she could trust.

Either way, she told her everything.

Gwen knew not only about Skye’s life in this household but also a great deal about her years in the sewers.

She still didn’t fully understand what exactly was going on between Skye and Henry.

But from an outsider’s perspective, she firmly believed that staying here was the best outcome available.

Certainly better than living on the streets.

As someone who was still a teenager herself, Gwen knew better than to lecture.

The more you pushed stubborn people, the harder they resisted.

You had to guide them gently instead.

Of course, that didn’t mean agreeing with everything they said.

Sometimes bad ideas needed to be stopped before they gained momentum.

For most people, Gwen might have quit long ago.

But Skye was astonishingly intelligent.

Her understanding of mathematics and science was almost instantaneous.

She wasn’t any slower than Gwen herself.

Watching someone that gifted return to the streets would be a tragedy.

So Gwen remained patient and continued supporting her quietly.

Of course...

The tutoring fee Henry paid was also ridiculously generous.

She really didn’t want to quit.

---

When Henry first offered an hourly rate well above market value, both Gwen and her father had been suspicious.

George Stacy had spent too many years as a police officer to assume the best about people.

Fortunately, Henry’s explanation made sense.

Teaching Skye wasn’t simply a matter of covering seventh-grade material.

She needed to catch up on everything from first through sixth grade as well.

And Gwen was responsible for organizing that entire process herself.

That was significantly more demanding than ordinary tutoring.

The higher pay was justified.

Besides, both father and daughter understood that Skye had spent years without access to proper schooling or a stable home environment.

In the end, Gwen accepted the job.

Once she actually started teaching, she discovered it wasn’t difficult at all.

Skye was remarkably bright.

Anything involving understanding or reasoning clicked almost immediately.

The girl even had enough spare time to pursue extracurricular knowledge every day.

She built computers from junkyard parts.

Designed homemade electronic devices.

And generally made Gwen wonder whether she was secretly teaching a tiny engineer.

Gwen herself leaned more toward science and technology than literature.

As a result, the two girls got along surprisingly well.

At this point, while Gwen hadn’t completely wrapped Skye around her finger, she wasn’t far off.

---

Noticing that the conversation was once again drifting toward Today’s Daily Complaint About Henry, Gwen quickly laid out the day’s materials.

"Alright.

"Let’s stop talking about Henry and work on today’s lesson."

Skye immediately frowned at the books.

"I already told you I don’t want language arts.

"Stories like The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Three Little Pigs are unbearable.

"Don’t treat me like some kid who’s never read anything before."

"I know."

Gwen smiled.

"That’s why this is a tenth-grade textbook."

She held up a book.

"The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.

"Not exactly a fairy tale."

"Why do I even need language arts?"

Skye complained.

"Isn’t it enough to understand what people are saying?

"Who lives in America and can’t understand American English?"

Gwen laughed softly.

"Do you really understand it?"

"What do you mean?"

"The essence of language," Gwen explained, "is expressing thoughts through spoken words or writing.

"The ideas themselves come first.

"But those ideas can be wrapped in metaphor, symbolism, implication, or all kinds of literary devices.

"You might understand the literal meaning of the words.

"But do you understand the ideas behind them?

"And beyond that, can you analyze and evaluate what the author is trying to say?

"Are they mistaken?

"Are they manipulating you?

"Are they misleading you?

"If you can’t recognize those things, then what happens when someone insults you so elegantly that you think they’re complimenting you?"

Skye looked genuinely puzzled.

"Why would anyone need to go that far?

"If I don’t know something, then I don’t know it.

"So what?"

Gwen suddenly smiled mysteriously.

"Because your opponent happens to be very good at exactly this sort of thing."

She reached into her bag and produced another book.

Love from Another Culture.

Skye stared at it.

"What is this?"

"Look at the author’s name."

Skye glanced at the cover.

Then her eyes widened.

"Henry Brown...

"Wait.

"Is this that Henry Brown?"

"Yes."

Gwen nodded.

"The one currently lying on the couch outside."

She opened the book to one of her bookmarked pages and pointed at a passage she particularly liked.

At the same time, she said:

"Henry himself mentions in the foreword that this is a translated work.

"But someone capable of writing sentences this beautiful—sentences that can genuinely make people’s hearts flutter—

"You can’t exactly say his command of language is poor."

Then Gwen leaned forward.

"So imagine trying to argue with someone like that.

"Aren’t you worried he’ll use sophisticated language to mock you, and you’ll be standing there smiling because you don’t even realize you’ve been insulted?"

Skye froze.

She thought about it.

Thought some more.

Then a look of profound discomfort spread across her face.

Finally, she groaned.

"Fine.

"Let’s study language arts."

Gwen mentally added another victory to her scoreboard.

The teenage tutor smiled smugly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🎉 Power Stone Goal Announcement! 🎉

I’ll release one bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones we hit!"

Let me know what should I do

Your support means everything—let’s crush these goals together! Keep voting, and let the stones pile up! 🚀

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~