Aftermath

Ch 116: All In

Kota

I had more than a little on my mind as I went upstairs for Dr. Murray's class. The vise was growing a little tighter, and I stopped to dry-swallow a Tylenol before heading in. Missing English wasn't a big deal, but I needed to make it through this class; if possible, I wanted to bring my grade up on my own. If I had to tell someone about Hendricks's threats, it would give me more credibility if I had my usual straight A's.

The classroom was quiet; for once, no one was arguing about GPA or the ranking of the senior class. Val barely looked up as I walked in, hunching back over her laptop, and Courtney didn't even grant me that much attention.

I welcomed the silence as I walked in and took my usual seat behind Brent.

"Hey, you okay?" Brent asked.

I gave him a weary nod. "What's going on with everyone?"

Brent glanced at the girls, then turned back to face me. "They're just working on their college application letters. The deadline is tomorrow night."

I remembered Val working on the essay at the hospital. "Are you done with yours?"

"I haven't submitted it yet, but I think I've got it figured out," Brent replied. "Since we're playing almost every night this week, I had to do a lot of work over the weekend, so I got as much as I could out of the way. I'll get the rest done this afternoon."

Val looked up. "Are you going to be there for the quiz bowl practice tomorrow, or are you backing out on us again?" she demanded.

"Hey, I never backed out," Brent complained. "That was just a practice. Or two."

"Try five," Val snapped. "But hey, it doesn't matter when you're a jock."

"Let's take it down a notch," I said, trying to sound noncommittal. "No need to argue." Especially so loudly.

"I'll be there," Brent insisted.

Rolling her eyes, Val went back to her laptop.

"Sorry about that," Brent said. He opened a folder on his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper, which he handed to me. "This is the list of concepts for our test. Dr. Murray passed this out last Friday. I've been working on a study guide for the exam; when I finish it tonight, I'll email it to you along with today's notes."

"Thanks," I said, then glanced down at the paper. "All of this is going to be on the test?"

Brent shrugged. "At least part of it. You know how Dr. Murray's tests work."

Yes, I did. Before, I had always been reasonably confident, but I had never taken one after missing so many days of school. This felt uncomfortably close to my dream. "I've missed so much," I said quietly. "Maybe I need to drop this class and switch into the other one that's not so advanced."

"Ashley Waters level?" Brent shook his head. "You can't do that, man. You'll be bored to tears—they don't even get to the level that we started with."

I scanned the list of concepts again. "I know, but I don't think I can get all of this figured out by..." I looked up. "When's the test again?"

Brent looked uncomfortable, his voice dropping down to a low whisper. "Uh, Thursday. Because Dr. Murray's going to be out on Friday."

Drat. How was I going to add this to everything else going on?

"But it's not as bad as you think," Brent added. "Most of this builds on the stuff we've already talked about, stuff that I know that you know."

I put the paper on my desk and rubbed my temples again. "I'll look over it tonight." After studying the anomalous data again and working on the timeline and anything else that might pop up.