Assistance Required

Dropping a Class

TW cursing

Wed Jan 27

Virgil groaned as he woke up. His head was pounding and he felt gross all over. He looked at the clock on Logan's desk. Why was it still so early? He grabbed the water bottle and drained it before getting up. He went to the bathroom and then down the hall to the water fountain to refill his water. He went back to his room but hesitated before crawling back into bed. His textbook was still open on his desk. He never finished his reading. He thought it over. He still had some time between classes to get it done.

Then it hit him. He never actually got his astronomy reading done. Patton had interrupted him before he could start it and then he went to bed after dinner because he felt like shit. He couldn't get both his astronomy and geology reading done before class unless he stayed awake. Even if he did start it now, he was barely understanding it when he was fully rested. He was sick and tired now and struggling to read geology. Logan was asleep. He couldn't ask him to explain it to him and Virgil still felt kind of bad about the other day.

Virgil sighed before crawling back into bed. He was just going to have to accept the loss. It wasn't so bad reading both textbooks last week, but now he had other work to do too. Maybe Logan was right. It might be better to just drop the class while he still had the chance. He could already feel the upcoming panic attacks of trying to get astronomy done on top of everything else. He'd talk to his academic advisor tomorrow.

He tossed and turned as he tried to fall back asleep. He was coughing and his nose was running again. He crawled to his desk for his napkins and found a box of tissues. He forgot Logan said he'd get him some. He also found a small bottle of hand sanitizer next to it. He blew his nose and laid back down. He tried again to get comfortable. He whined and placed a pillow over his face. His head was pounding and he couldn't stand it. If he were at home he'd grab some sort of pain medication and try to fall asleep, but he was in a college dorm.

After what felt like forever he fell asleep. He woke up again to the stupid alarm going off. Why did he have that stupid alarm? Why couldn't he just sleep the rest of the day. He felt sick and he didn't want to exist properly today. Couldn't he just take a break from the world for a couple days?

"Virgil? Are you still breathing?" Logan asked.

"Barely," Virgil croaked.

"Come on, we have class."

"I feel like crap!"

"I know. Being sick sucks, but we have to go to class."

Virgil sighed and rolled out of bed.

"If I die, I'm blaming you. I don't care what it is. I'll hold you personally responsible and haunt you for the rest of my afterlife."

"I'll even pay for your funeral arrangements. Now get dressed!"

The two of them got changed and went to the bathroom to freshen up before heading to class. After Spanish, Virgil went to the student center. He grabbed a coffee and sat down. He was still really tired and wished he could just take a nap, but he needed to get this reading done. He groaned as he took out his notebook for his notes. There really wasn't enough time to get it all done and get to his next class on time, but at least he could get some of it done. He could try reading in class but he needed to pay attention. He could barely understand as it was.

All too soon, it was time for his next class. He walked in to astronomy and sat down next to Logan.

"Oh, I thought you had dropped the class."

"No, I had just... fallen asleep the other day and missed. Sorry."

"Are you sure you want to continue this class? You seemed to really be struggling with it last week and we're only just beginning. And if it's not your highest priority, it might be better to drop it before your GPA gets affected."

"Yeah, I'll talk to my academic advisor later and see what she thinks."

"It's still your decision, Virgil."

"I-I know, but I still want to see what she says."

"If that's what you want," Logan shrugged.

They sat silently through class. Virgil ended up getting lost and scribbling all over the margins of his notes. He sighed as he packed up and went to his next class. Today they were going over the next project due on Friday. The professor first went over layout and schemes before spending the last ten minutes checking in on everyone's projects.

Virgil really didn't feel ready for the lab today. It was almost three hours long. He ended up figuring out what he needed for the lab but he couldn't help but feel a little out of place not having all of the information. By the end of the lab he wanted nothing more than to go take a nap, but he needed to talk to his advisor. He searched through his emails and found her open office hours and room number.

He took a deep breath before knocking on her door. A voice told him to come in and he nervously opened the door.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"U-um, my name is uh... Virgil. I uh-I came to-to ask about wh-what I would need to uh- to do to um- to... drop a class?"

She smiled warmly at him.

"Why don't you sit down?" she said gesturing to the chairs in front of her desk. Virgil set his stuff down as he took a seat and she typed on her computer. "Virgil Grey?" He nodded. "So, which class is it your considering dropping?"

"A-astronomy. It's just a little ov-over my head."

"Okay, well, you'll have to stop by the registrar's office to get the proper forms to drop the class and then you'll need your professor to sign off on it."

"O-oh. Um... okay. Th-thanks."

"You're welcome! If there's anything else you need, my doors are open."

"I-I'll keep that in mind."

Virgil grabbed his stuff and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. He was still unsure of whether he wanted to drop or not, but at this point it did seem like he was in over his head. Logan was probably right, he should save himself the future stress. He decided to go to the registrar's office tomorrow after his classes since they were probably either closed now or closing soon and he needed to get his homework done anyway. He grabbed a tea and walked back to his dorm so he could get something productive done. He decided to start by getting his assignment done for his painting class before starting on his reading. He could worry about his other assignments tomorrow.

Patton stopped by to check in and take away the bowl from yesterday before asking if Virgil wanted to join them for dinner. He declined and Patton said he'd bring him something back. Virgil continued reading and taking notes until Patton returned. He brought another soup and a tea and reminded Virgil to drink more water. Virgil thanked him and got back to work slowly eating his food.

The warm soup and tea made him sleepy again though and it was getting kind of late. He kept pushing to get more reading done but his eyelids were growing heavier by the minute. He yawned as he checked how much he had left. He'd been here for hours and only had a few pages left. He could finish this. He ignored his headache and blew his nose again as he tried to get his reading done. He was glad Logan got him hand sanitizer as well. He felt gross enough as it was.

It took awhile but he finally managed to finish his reading. He smiled proudly at himself as he put away his textbook and notes. He finished off his tea and went to the hall to refill his water bottle. He changed and crawled into bed hoping he'd sleep better tonight. Maybe it would have been a good idea to stop by a drug store and pick something up, but it was a little too late now. He just closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep. He could deal with it tomorrow.