Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, resident primatologist of Disney College, entered the biology classroom bright and early Thursday morning to begin preparations for his class. He felt terribly about having the cancel the very first class last week (he'd been caught up in unavoidable paperwork - thank goodness it was all settled now!) and he had every intention to make up for it with today's lesson.

Once he had arranged the room, Professor Porter arranged a stack of papers on the center of his desk - the sciences syllabus that he had scheduled over the summer with Professor Laurent. Picking one sheet up, Professor Porter scanned over it again.

Well, it seemed that everything was in order. He hoped that the students had taken the time to take a look at what they would be briefly discussing today in the cell chapter of their textbooks. Otherwise, things might get a tad confusing....

"Oh, my tea!" Professor Porter suddenly remembered. He hurried out of the classroom, leaving the door open for early students as he sped back to his office. It wouldn't do to have his tea boil away!

Jane walked into the classroom absent-mindedly, completely indulged in a conversation with Eric. "... and I read that there's been a continuous effort to study natural ecosystems so that we can apply them to industrial systems. Did you not read that article in the Journal of Science and Environment? I found it most interesting! And quite logic when you come to think of it. Ecosystems have coexisted since the beginning of time with Earth on a completely sustainable level! It shows you how much we could learn from nature! It reminds me of a documentary I watched a long time ago, about the..."

And on and on she rambled, distractedly taking her seat and starting to take her things out. Every movement was so natural and monotonous that she didn't even have to tear her eyes away from Eric.

"... so I totally recommend you watch it!" At last, she sighed. "Oh, look at me, rambling away. I must be boring you! I've barely given you a chance to talk!" she realized.

Eric suddenly realized that Jane had stopped talking. He was thinking what it had been like to kiss her, and that it was such a shame it was a bad idea to do it again. And not only because they just had entered her father's classroom.

"No, you're not boring," he laughed. "I like it when you are all enthusiastic like this."

Jane had barely registered Eric's last question (which is why she didn't have time to blush) when her mind rushed to a new topic.

"Oh! Today is Daddy's first lecture!" she told him excitedly. "It feels slightly strange," she confessed. "Daddy has always taught me so many things, but never in a classroom! It's how I fell in love with Science, you know. Oh, all those wonderful biological organisms and ecosystems and, and---" She ran out of words. "Well, you know what I'm talking about."

She opened her book with a small sigh. "It's a good thing we studied that cell chapter together yesterday. If I were to study it by myself, I wouldn't have understood half of the details that you explained to me! Which, by the way, I thank you for..."

While Jane spoke, she turned over a page of her book and didn't notice when a loose sheet of paper slipped out and fell to the floor.

It was a sketch of Eric, paying attention to class (which, obviously, Jane hadn't been doing at the time).

Eric picked up the paper and raised his eyebrows. When did she draw this? And why hadn't he noticed it? It was a good likeness.

He held out the drawing in front of Jane's face. "Jane, is there something you want to tell me?"

Jane tried to snatch the drawing out of Eric's hand, but he held his arm higher so that she couldn't reach. "Give that back!" she protested. "I can assure you, it's not what it seems!"

"What's not what it seems?" echoed a voice. Hercules had just walked into the classroom and was now standing behind Eric. He snatched the paper from his roommate before he had a chance. "Hey, look! It's you!" Hercules said with a grin.

He slipped into the seat beside Eric. "I didn't know you were a poser!" He showed the sketch to Eric. "What were you doing? Pretending to think?" he teased.

Jane did what she knew best... She hid her face in her book.

"Apparently," Eric said with a laugh taking the drawing back from Herc's hands. He looked at it again, "It's a good likeness, Jane."

He gave it back to her and smiled. It was good to know that she was still interested in him. At least he hoped she was. But she wouldn't draw him in class, instead of paying attention, when she wasn't.

"When did you make this?"

Jane was afraid to tell him the truth. She didn't want him to know that she often observed him during class instead of paying attention to the teacher.

"Oh... I don't know," she said in a hurry, slipping the drawing back into her book. "It must have been a very long time ago," she lied. "I don't even remember doing it!"

Hercules sat back in his seat. "Seriously? It looks exactly like what you were sketching when---"

Jane shot a wide-eyed look at Hercules.

Hercules sighed in defeat. "Nevermind."

Pocahontas walked into the room. She was grateful she had remembered to read the chapter the night before so she would be able to follow along. She sat down in the front row. She took out her Biology book, notebook, and supplies as she waited for class to start.

"We've only been here for 2 weeks, Jane," Eric said, trying to hide his laugh behind his hand. "A woman with your memory for facts and details must be able to remember when she made this excellent drawing!"

He looked at the drawing and studied it. Jane was very talented, indeed.
"I wish I had your talent for drawing what you see, Jane. I can play the flute, but I can't draw!"

Gaston entered the classroom and sat in the back, where he was least likely to be called on. He'd glanced at the assigned reading, but one glimpse of those huge unfamiliar words ("prok-something" and "euk" something) and he'd snapped the book shut. It was hard enough trying to understand some new hard idea in a textbook without using big difficult words to explain it! He hoped the teacher would explain it better.

Ariel walked into the classroom holding a steaming mug of coffee and an everything bagel. "Hey!" she said to Gaston, giving him a big smile as she sat next to him. "What's up?"

This time Jane blushed slightly at Eric's compliment, but it quickly faded away when he mentioned his ability to play the flute. "Oh, so it was you!" she realized excitedly. "Sometimes at night I could hear the beautiful sound coming from upstairs, but up until today I was unable to discover who was making it!"

She held her face in her hands, supporting her elbows on her desk as she looked up at Eric. "You're awfully talented! Why did you not tell me that you played the flute before?"


Hercules looked from Eric to Jane. Truth be told, he had found Eric's 'talent' amusing and fun...

... for the first couple of days.

Now every time Eric began to play the flute in their room, Hercules made it an issue to switch on his Ipod. When even that stopped working, he began to hide his head beneath the pillow and pretend he was asleep.

He sat back in his chair and looked at Jane. "So... you like the flute, huh? Maybe you should talk to Phillip and ask if you can move into Eric's room! That way you can listen to him play the flute every day," he said with a grin. His grin suddenly faded when he realized the implications of his own words. "Oh, right, but then there's that boy-girl rule..."

Slightly yawning and wishing she had grabbed some coffee to wake her up, Belle entered the Science classroom and made her way towards the back of the room. She decided on sitting in the third row this morning and sat right in front Gaston and Ariel.

Sitting down she took out her book, notebook, and something to write with. When class had been cancelled last week, Belle went ahead and had read the chapter anyways to make sure she knew what Professor Porter was lecturing about.

All situated, she turned and waved at Ariel and Gaston. "Hey, guys. How's it going this mornng?"

Ariel held up her cup in a cheers to Belle. "Half-way done, so I'm pretty good now. How are you?"

Gaston smiled at Ariel. "'Morning, gorgeous! Man, that bagel looks good - can I have a piece?"

To Belle, he said, "SO not looking forward to this class - I couldn't understand the reading at all! But it's okay, I'm still on a high from the football tryouts. Did you see how great I was?"

"Wishing I would have grabbed some coffee," Belle admitted to Ariel, laughing. "But other than that, I'm fine. Are you thinking about going to the dance class? I saw on the flyer that it starts today after lunch at 1:00 pm. That ought to be fun."

Replying to Gaston, Belle told him, "You were a natural out there yesterday. I definitely can see why you got a scholarship to DC. Brad and Ian would be jealous. They had to end their football careers at the high school level. As for studying or reading, you have any questions, just ask. I'll be glad to help."

Cindy walked into class and sat down near Belle, Ariel, and Gaston. She caught the conversation about the dance class. "I can't wait for the dance class! I haven't had a chance to really dance in a while" she said, smiling at the thought.

Vanessa walked into the classroom and took a seat by the window, hoping that something more interesting than schoolwork would happen out there.

Ariel handed Gaston half of her bagel and looked back at Belle and Cindy. "I don't know! I haven't decided yet. What kind of dance is it?"

Naveen, who was still half asleep, walked into the classroom. He started to head straight for the back, but then he saw that Vanessa was over by the window so he chose to go sit over by her. "Good morning beautiful. I woke up thinking that this class would be horrible, but now that I have the pleasure of sitting next you I do not think it will be as bad."

Mulan entered the classroom a couple of minutes before it was supposed to start. She took a seat next to Jane, Eric, and Hercules and started taking out her supplies for class. "Good morning everyone." She said with a smile.

"I do tend to brighten a man's day" Vanessa said proudly, while smiling with perfectly white and even teeth. "I don't think we can get away with ditching another class, but at least we can keep each other company throughout this utter boredom" she said back to Naveen.

"I think that the flyer said that the class is going to cover all different types of dance," Belle replied. "From ballroom and Latin dances to hip hop."

She noticed Naveen enter the room. Winking at Ariel and Gaston, she continued in a voice just loud enough to be heard, "I bet Naveen wouldn't miss it for the world!"

At that moment, Professor Porter hurried into the classroom, nearly running into the model skeleton near the door in his haste. When he reached the front of the class, Professor Porter stepped onto the little box that he'd brought so that everyone could see him more easily.

He smiled broadly and spread his hands in welcome. "Good morning, class, and welcome to Introductory Biology! My name is Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, and I have the pleasure of being your biology professor this semester. I hope that in the course of this class, I will be able to teach you about the magnificent wonders of the living systems in the world around you."

Professor Porter hopped off the box then and picked up the stack of syllabuses, handing it off with a wink to the student closest to him. "I will pass these syllabuses around in case you have lost the one that Professor Laurent gave you or if you are new to the class and do not have one yet. Go on, pass it around please! Then, we will get started on our first topic for today: the cell!" Professor Porter clapped in excitement.

"And not the fun type of cell," Ariel whispered to Gaston, putting away her phone and turning around.

Jane really had to restrain herself from clapping in excitement too. Instead she grabbed her pencil and started scribbling some words in her notebook. In little to no time, she had already sketched a cell and was now anxiously waiting for her father to begin the lecture.

Hercules took the syllabus from the professor and obediently took one for himself (God knew where his syllabus was) and handed it around. He then forced himself to pay attention, even though he already had a feeling that in five minutes he'd be craving for some coffee.

As soon as Professor Porter addressed the class, Belle was all business like, ready to learn. She opened her notebook and got ready to take notes. Luckily her syallbus was still in her binder and she didn't need a new one.

Gaston laughed at Ariel's joke. Cell phones would definitely be more interesting to learn about! He looked over the syllabus and frowned at all the unfamiliar topics. He whispered to Belle, "Thanks for offering to help me with this - I think I'm gonna have to take you up on that!"

Belle whispered back, "Anytime! That offer stands for all the classes we have together as well."

Gaston gave a sigh of relief. "Belle, you rock!" he said gratefully. "Any time you want a Starbucks coffee, EVER, it's on me!"

Hercules heard the word 'coffee' and immediately turned his head with a bright smile. "Coffee? All right!"

Jane - who was sitting next to him - cleared her throat.

Hercules turned to the front again like a little mouse. "Okay, okay, I get it. Cell now, coffee later."

With a sigh he started making a doodle of a donkey (sort of) in his notebook.

"Although it's has to be actual studying," Belle whispered back. "Not just copying my answers. You have to do some work too."

Once all of the papers had been passed back to him, Professor Porter placed them on his desk before proceeding to the board. Stepping onto his box again, Professor Porter wrote neatly 'The Cell' for everyone to see.

He turned around then to address to class. "Now, I'm sure that you have all covered the cell at some point or other in your high school studies - so you already know that the cell is a marvelously complex unit of life! As such, it may be hard for you to understand how it operates unless you are familiar with the terminology of the cell.

"Endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria..." Professor Porter named a few terms in the cell. "Make sure you know these words! I suggest flashcards, or perhaps making a little tune to help you remember them!" He winked at the class.

Professor Porter turned back to the board and began to write a question. "Now, to begin the class, I would like to pose this question: why are cells so small? In other words, why are cells so tiny that we are not able to see an individual one unless viewing them under a microscope? What are the benefits of having our basic unit of life be so minuscule?" He turned around after writing the question and added, "Don't worry, I won't be grading you on your answers! Any guess will be fine."

Hercules scratched his cheek. Maybe if he forced himself to think, he'd be able to stay awake for a longer time. "The cell has to be really really small so that... we can fit lots and lots of them together?" he suggested.

Professor Porter grinned widely at the boy who answered. "Good guess, chap, good guess! That could be considered a part of the answer. Would anyone else like to venture a guess? No? All right then."

Underneath the question, Professor Porter wrote the answer. "Cells are small so that the surface area of the cell remains large in comparison to its volume!" Turning back to the class, he continued enthusiastically, "Cells are dependent on their surface area to get the food that they need, in a way. The more space on their surface that they have, the more food they can get. That makes sense, correct?

"However, if the cell was too large - that is, if its volume was too big - then there would not be enough surface area to feed the cell!" Professor Porter clapped his hands together, looking around at his class to see how excited they would be by this revelation. "Isn't it amazing that the cell is made in such a way as to be so efficient! Simply astounding!"

Professor Porter was so carried away by sharing the answer that he didn't stop to see if anyone was confused, instead continuing on to the next topic. "Now that we know why a cell is so small, we can look at different types of cells! There are two different types of cells: a prokaryotic cell and a eukaryotic cell. Now, someone who has done the reading, can you tell me what the basic difference is between the two? Just a general answer will suffice!"

Three.

Two.

One.

... and up went Jane's arm.

Professor Porter of course noticed when his daughter's hand went up first, and nearly called on her immediately. But then he stopped himself, not wanting to seem like he was showing favor over his daughter. Instead, he paused to make sure that no one else was showing intention of answer before calling on her. "Miss Porter?"

Jane cleared her throat before replying, just to make sure the words came out nice and clear. "Prokaryotic cells have no nuclei, while eukaryotic cells do have true nuclei," she said firmly. She almost added an "Isn't that so, Daddy?" at the end of her sentence, but managed to restrain herself.

"Er, professor?" Hercules rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "What's a nuclei? And howcome one cell has one, and the other one doesn't?"

Jane clenched her fists. Drats! She could have answered that too.

Professor Porter smiled proudly at Jane's answer - and almost complimented her by saying "Good job, Janey!" before remembering that this was not the place to be gushing over his daughter's intelligence. Clearing his throat, he nodded and said, "Very good answer, Miss Porter. I see you have done the reading."

"Now, nuclei! As Miss Porter has pointed out, prokaryotic cells such as bacteria have no nuclei. Eukaryotes, like animals and plants, do have nuclei. Such a distinction is useful to keep in mind when one is given an unknown cell that has to be categorized. But as -" Professor Porter faltered, realizing that he did not know the boy's name, before continuing, "our friend here has asked, what is a nuclei exactly?

He looked broadly around the classroom. "I assume that you are all familiar with DNA?"

Mulan nodded her head and raised her hand. "Isn't DNA the substance in living things that determines their form?" She asked.

Ah, a new speaker! "Excellent! Yes, yes it is." Professor Porter beamed at the girl. "DNA is the genetic material that does indeed determine our form. It is because of DNA that you have black hair, while this gentleman right here has orange hair. And, on a more basic level, it is the reason why you are a female and why he is a male! DNA, you see, is quite important to life, quite important indeed."

Turning back to the board, Professor Porter continued to lecture while writing notes. "Both prokaryotes and eukaryotes cells have DNA within their cell membranes, which is the wall of the cell which protects it from its outside environment. DNA helps to determine the form and job of the cell. Where DNA can be found within these two cells, however, differ greatly. In prokaryotes, DNA is simply swimming around freely in the cell's cytoplasm. It is not bound in any way. On the other hand, in eurkaryotes, DNA is neatly bound within the nucleus, which helps to keep things nice and tidy."

Professor Porter clapped his hands together to get rid of the chalk dust and looked back at the class. "You see, DNA in plants and animals are very important and very fragile. The nucleus therefore acts as an armor of sorts to protect the DNA!

"Aside from the nucleus, there are other organelles within the cell that help it to function. If you look at the picture on page 45, there is a cartoon of all of the things that you might find in a cell! Can I have a volunteer to please name some of these terms so that I may write them down on the board - and perhaps you can tell me what these organelles do for the cell as well?" Professor Porter looked around the classroom expectantly to see who would be willing to volunteer.