The Hartman Equation | ONC 2021 |

5 - 4 = 1

"Nova!"

Nova's head jerked away from the monitor to find her professor at the doorway.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded.

She cracked a smirk. "I was just checking if your computer was working. It was making some weird noise," she clicked on the mouse and looked back up at him, "Yup! It works." Nova slumped back into her chair, spreading her legs wide open, relaxed.

Professor Whitaker sighed. "You know why we're here, correct?"

"Is it for a pizza party?"

He shook his head in disappointment and closed the door behind him. "No," he responded as he sat at his desk, "you haven't been attending any of your classes. You are on the brink of being kicked out. Something needs to change, immediately."

Nova sat up. "You know, Einstein never attended any of his classes in college. It was purely self-study."

"Yes, but you're not Einstein." She rolled her eyes and slumped back down into her seat. "You cannot keep doing this. Nova, you were doing exceptionally well, what happened?"

"Just because I don't attend any of the classes doesn't mean I'm not studying," she mumbled.

He eyed her. "I know you haven't been studying because I've heard from the other students that all you do during the day is laze around campus. Someone told me they saw you sleeping in the front courtyard."

"It was Geno, wasn't it?! He's always had it out for me," Nova replied with a furrowed brow.

"It doesn't matter who it was," he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "listen, Nova, we have already notified your parents-"

"What?! They're gonna murder me," her voice trailed off.

"What did you think would happen?  You do understand that your scholarship will be taken away if you continue doing this. At this rate, you'll end up on the streets. "

"I was hoping you guys would let me stay here for free." She shrugged.

Professor Whitaker scowled. "We'll be meeting together with your parents this Friday at three pm, sharp. You are dismissed."

Nova sighed as she stood up and exited the office. She didn't want to be there a minute longer. Having to avoid Professor Whitaker was a difficult task, yet she had somehow managed to do so. That was until he had caught her one late night scarfing down a cup of noodles near the faculty parking. It was bound to happen eventually, I guess, she thought to herself as she made her way out of the science building.

The only thing that crossed her mind shortly after was what the cafeteria would be offering for lunch that day.

"Yo, supernova!"

Immediately upon hearing her nickname, she turned to see her best friend's smile. "Hey Elio," she beamed. The only person on planet Earth that could truly understand Nova was Elio. They became close friends on the day they first met, in their introduction to observational astrophysics class freshman year. Inseparable was always the one word that came up when talking about them.

"So what happened?"

"I'm getting kicked out," Nova calmly stated.

Elio's smile faded. "Wait what?" He exhaled loudly. "I told you this would happen. But do you ever listen to me? No."

"I would listen to you more often if you said things that actually interested me," she jested. He rolled his eyes in response. "My parents are coming on Friday to: discuss my future," she said the last bit in a deep and mocking tone.

"Well? What do you plan to do?"

Nova tapped the bottom of her chin with her finger, deep in thought. "Should I have a chocolate chip cookie for lunch or a raisin one?"

Elio snapped, "That's not what I meant! I meant what do you plan to do about this situation?"

She whirled her hand in the air as if it were a magic wand. "Oh, I don't really care. But I do have exciting news to share with you."

"I hate when you move the current subject matter to something else," he sighed, "but what is it?"

"Buy me lunch and I'll tell you," Nova taunted.

Elio groaned and for the fifth time that day, rolled his eyes. "If you keep rolling your eyes like that, they'll fall out of your head."

They laughed in unison and headed straight for the cafeteria. As soon as they entered, a handful of people greeted Nova. She had always been someone who helped others when needed. This, in return, made her very well known to students all around campus. Standford University was a place where intelligence was admired, never ostracized.

Nova promptly sat at an empty table and waited for Elio to bring back a tray full of her favorite foods. Unbeknownst to her, Geno had pulled up a chair and sat beside her.

"I heard you're getting kicked out," he mocked.

"What? Who said that?"

He shrugged. "I assumed. It's obvious that the school would drop a student who doesn't even attend lectures. It was nice knowing you, Nova."

"Okay, first of all, I didn't ask, second of all, you're making me lose my appetite. So can you please take your dump truck of an ass out of my peripheral vision?"

He scoffed. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment but I will, thank you very much."

She shooed him away with her hand condescendingly. It was no surprise that because of her intelligence, she would have made a few rivals along the way. None of it had ever mattered to Nova, however, because she had always been confident in herself. But in the past few weeks, it seemed as though all of that confidence had just disappeared. She was beside herself and no one really knew why.

"Here's your veggie burger with sweet potato fries," Elio announced as he set the tray in front of Nova. She clapped in glee as she scarfed down the entire thing.

"Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

With a mouth full of food, Nova simply replied, "Oh, I solved the Hartman Equation."