Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 20: Aftermath

Back at Sarvani's apartment-

The sun shines on my face while I open my eyes to the bird sounds of my alarm. It's too early for this shit, I whine to myself as I clumsily stop it on my phone. I get up and stretch calmly, turning to look at the new hologram clock that's projecting on the wall.

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022

Wait, that date is important. Don't I have something today?

My ears dash around my room before it lands on my open journal that's covered in numbers. An inked note is etched onto the paper, and it may seem minuscule, but my idiocy slaps me in the face the moment I see it.

No. Oh, no, no, no. How did I forget this?

I have a CALC TEST TODAY!

Shoot, I was so busy these past few weeks with training and researching that I completely forgot about it!

These past few weeks have been so overwhelming that school itself has become a hobby instead of the ultimate priority. I came here for school, yet here I am worried about anything but that. I've never forgotten about assignments and tests like this.

Well, I have a couple of times. Not every day, though!

This werewolf stuff is starting to get out of hand a bit. I still have A's in my classes, so that's not too bad. It won't be that way forever though if I keep doing this. The semester is almost ending, and finals are next week too! I don't know what I'm gonna do. And with my new internship starting in a couple of weeks, that plus shifting plus school is gonna be complete hell.

It doesn't help that I moved back to my apartment either. Don't get me wrong, it's really good! I can't stay there forever after all (no matter how much I love their house), but I miss having 8 people to turn to whenever I needed their help.

I really need to get my crap together right now so that I can at least get an A on this test.

4 hours starts... now. No werewolves, no shifting, no parents, no training. Just math. The good news is that my exam is only at 3:30 pm, and it's 8:15 right now, so I'll just get my breakfast and hopefully get to ALL of the stuff on this exam in 4 hours.

If I was valedictorian despite all the procrastination I did, then I can definitely study 5 topics in 4 hours. I just need to get myself in the zone and minimize ALL the distractions around me. And unfortunately, it's a LOT.

I do my morning as fast as I can, running to my kitchen to get some cereal and go back to my room. I admit, all of the workouts Abhi has me doing are starting to work a little. My running has gotten a little faster, but it's nowhere close to how fast the others run. It's fast enough to get me into my room with a full breakfast within 5 minutes, though. After that, I open my laptop to my practice problems and pull out my notebook.

My numerous computer tabs are filled with nothing but unsuccessful Google searches about my family. which is also a big problem. Seriously, it's like they just don't exist here. Nothing, not even a LinkedIn page, pops up. Maybe Ms. Jeong's theory that my family doesn't exist is right, after all.

That's a story for another time, though. It's nothing compared to relearning these Taylor series things. It's been two years since I've taken Calculus BC, and I've forgotten everything about it even when I relearned them last year.

If Amma and Appa are both from here, then how did they just not shift at all? Naishal said that you can still shift without a Soulstone, but they still have to have one regardless to maintain their abilities. Every person in this world has a Soulstone. So what's so special about them?