December 9th, 2016

Kinsky, California, USA

Finals

Rose stared down at the chemistry problem in front of her. It was nearing the 4th hour of studying – having entered the public library that morning at 8am – and yet she felt no closer to understanding the concept that plagued her. Her boyfriend sat in the seat next to her, dozing off in a wooden chair he was slouched in. At this point, Rose shook her head, and whispered.

“I can’t do this.”

Aaron’s eyes slowly opened. “Wha?”

“This quantum state… bullshit. I’ve been looking at these problems forever and I still can’t get the pattern. I feel like my eyeballs are about to burst.”

The boy could hear the strain in Rose’s voice. He leaned next to her. “Here, lemme see if I can help.”

Rose scooted the chemistry textbook closer to him. Aaron’s eyes looked over the pages, but was horrified to see a complex array of diagrams and formulas that were well beyond his understanding. His expression immediately changed.

“Oh… um…” he let out pitifully.

Rose put her hands to her temples. “This is bad. This is really bad. Mrs. Reeves said these would be a good thirty percent of the test, and I still don’t feel like I do that well on the stoichiometry questions. What am I gonna look like if I flunk this? What kind of chemical engineer can’t even do basic high school chemistry stuff?”

The girl’s body began to tremble, her breathing turning more heavy and her eyes beginning to water. Aaron, recognizing her anxiety, put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I think what you need is a break. We gotta meet the others for lunch in a bit, anyway.”

Rose turned her head back towards the textbook, and sighed. “You’re right. I can ask Emily about it there, too. I’m sure she’s already figured it out.”

The two students got up from their table. Aaron, who ended up taking nothing out of his backpack, watched Rose as she put her books and papers away. The two walked out of the Kinsky library, and back down the street to the local cafe.

…

Despite Rose and Aaron being within walking distance, Ash was actually the first person there. She was sitting on the bench outside, but as she saw the two approach she got up to greet them. 

“Hey Ash,” Rose said as she came close. “You’ve been waiting for us?”

“Yeah. Figured it was easier to see each other out here than if we already got a table.”

Rose looked around, rubbing her arms. “Well, I don’t see the others yet. And this is my light jacket, so I’m gonna freeze my butt off if we stay out here. Let’s just go inside.”

Just a few minutes after the three grabbed one of the larger tables at the cafe, Sadja and Emily made their way inside as well. And, a few minutes after that, an SUV pulled up to a nearby parking spot, directly next to Aaron’s car.

Lukas took a deep breath as he turned the SUV’s engine off. Kat turned to look at him.

“What makes you so nervous?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just… this is the first time I’m going to a hang-out event as like… you know, a couple. I feel like I’m going to embarrass myself or something.” 

Kat gave a short giggle. “Come on, they’re our friends! Nothing’s changed. Just follow my lead, if you want.”

Lukas did just that, leaving the car and following her to the cafe entrance. They saw their friends as they came in, and waved over at them – as it turns out, the others saved two chairs right in the middle of the table.

“Alright, now that I finally have the two of you in the same room…” Rose started, clapping her hands together. “How’d it happen?”

“Well… I’m sure as we all know, it was a long time coming,” Kat answered first. “I’ll admit I was the holdout. Call me blind, I guess. I was busy working out my own baggage.” Kat then turned to Lukas, that new look she gave him something he was still getting used to. 

“Yeah, I mean… I liked her since I met her, pretty much. Been a long road, but now I’m here.”

Rose slumped down in her chair and sighed. “You two are awful at telling romantic stories.”

Kat laughed. “You’ve known us for years. What were you expecting?”

“Still, I’m glad it worked out in the end,” Sadja interjected, her hands wrapped around her coffee. “For a while there I thought things were gonna go south.”

“Cole said he always had some faith in us, though who knows how much that’s worth,” Lukas mentioned.

Kat leaned into the table. “But enough about us two. I wanna hear what’s been going on with you guys. I feel like I haven’t had any time to talk with any of you these past two weeks, with finals coming up and all.”

Ash nudged Emily’s arm playfully. “I think our friend here has an update she’d like to share.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s-”

It was too late for Emily. In almost a split instant, the entire table leaned closer to her to hear what she had to say.

“Oh, jeez,” Emily sighed. “Well, I haven’t decided whether I’ll go yet or not… but I just got a letter saying I was accepted to Darthmouth. On a full ride.”

“Oh my god, Emily! That’s amazing!” Sadja beamed.

Aaron flexed his muscle, giving a thumbs up. “That’s the spirit of affirmative action at work!”

Lukas shook his head. “Knew I should’ve put myself down as black on the application.”

“Luke!” Kat squeaked.

Aaron looked at him. “Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s gonna buy that there’s a Brother out there named ‘Lukas Schrodden’.”

As the two boys laughed amongst each other, Kat quickly got in their way. “I think what these guys mean to say is that you worked really hard to get to the point you’re at, and you deserve an opportunity like this.”

Emily giggled. “Thanks, I appreciate it. Though like I said, I’m still not sure if I want to go that far away from home for college.”

In the meantime, Rose smiled – though she was not as happy about the news as she wished she had been. Perhaps due to the stress she was building up over finals, the last thing she needed to hear was that someone else was doing better academically than her. Still, she stomached her pride, and as the lunch finally ended she took the walk up to Emily. 

“Hey, Em,” Rose called out, “Is it okay if you help me through some chemistry problems later today?”

“Sure thing. Want to do it at your house?”

Rose shook her head. “Sorry, got my cousins Minato and Edward living with us until the end of winter break. And trust me, you… don’t want to talk with them.”

Emily smiled. “Alright, what about the library?”

While Rose acknowledged that she had a traumatic experience at the very same library only an hour or so before, she did not mention it and nodded her head in agreement. “That works. I just need some help on doing the energy conversions on quantum state shifting.”

“Oh yeah, that stuff is pretty hard. Took me a while to get it too, but I can guide you through the steps.”

Emily’s confidence on the subject simultaneously made Rose feel comforted and uneasy. Her anxieties made her cautious of a girl who could make things look so simple, yet she knew Emily as her friend and that she had the best intentions. And so Rose continued forward.

…

On the backyard porch of the Cortez House, Maria and Cole sat down together with their school notes in front of them, struggling through the day’s planned work. Maria, who was contemplating one problem in particular, turned to face the boy next to her.

“Hey Cole, aren’t you good at math?” 

“Depends on who you ask.”

Maria smiled, her head resting on her arm. “Didn’t you get a 99 percent on the last test?”

“Yeah, and a 57 on the one before that. So as long as it’s material from the second exam you should be fine.”

Maria nodded. “It is from the second one. Can you look over this, see where I got it wrong?”

Maria handed over her notebook, and Cole took it in his hands. While the boy examined its contents, the girl looked up to the sun-setting sky.

“You know, I’ve been thinking of dropping it. The whole investigation thing.”

Cole snapped to attention. “What do you mean?”

“I… I just…” Maria looked down, her hands clenching in anxiousness. “I’ve thought about what you said, about not letting it take control of my life. We’ve tried to figure out what happened to Anita for months, and… for what? I feel like at this point I’m just searching for the sake of searching. I think it’s time for that to stop, and to just move on.”

Cole nervously thumbed the end of the lined paper. A revelation came to his mind.

“Are… are you sure you want to do this?”

Maria turned towards him. “Weren’t you the one who was so eager for me to stop in the first place?”

“I-I mean… I just want to make sure it’s your decision, is all. That you don’t feel pressured into it.”

Maria gave a smile, however faint, as she looked the boy directly in the eyes. “Cole, I’ll never forget Anita. And I’ll never forget how she was taken from me so early. But what can I do? Mope around in sadness and rage in hopes that at some point I can reverse the whole thing? Whatever happens, happens. All the mistakes you make, all the things that happen to you, they’re all in your past and there’s no way of changing them. And that can be brutal to hear… I know it personally. But that just means we can’t let it cut ourselves down. It means we have to keep going forward.”

Maria went back to her work, a new sense of inner courage and resilience, long in the making, now etched into her mind. She had ruminated over those words many times – spoke them aloud, at some points – but it was only in those moments that the picture in her mind had reached its completion. She understood what her future was.

Cole, on the other hand, continued to fiddle with that edge of paper. A picture had finished in his mind as well. But it was much, much different.