Our Hope

38 - Hope

Morning of Finals

They began the day at Professor Kain's classroom to pick up their final grade. They were aware they had 65% because they turned it in four weeks ago.

They tried a few improvements, but held off, knowing Ansh was in trouble, and that they did not have enough time to test new changes properly. Also, Cole hacked into Ansh's viewer and saw his design. They understood why Ansh and Sai were stuck, because they had jammed pieces together not caring about their relationship to each other or future improvements.

She sat in the front seat waiting for the class to finish. Professor Kain had written in red marker on his whiteboard at the front of the room. "Good Luck Students!"

She mentally prepared for Professor Petrov's final, going over the steps in her brain. Professor Petrov's test would last another eight hours. The weather would be cool and cloudy in the morning and changing to hot and sunny later. Summer was a month away, and the temperature was rising.

She massaged the tendons on her sore leg. Then she rubbed her stiff knee and muscles. She was still in agony. The medicine was weak and did little to relieve her discomfort.

The high-pitched bell rang, signaling the end of his class.

He announced, "Students, your time is up. Please return your exams and best of luck to you, no matter where your future leads."

A few students rushed to turn in their exams.

"What will happen, if I get 100%?" A young female student questioned.

"Any student that gets over 50% will be placed ahead of the non-membrane students."

"I don't think that's fair." She stated.

"Well, I made this clear in the Class Syllabus and I repeated it many times throughout the year."

"I dis..."

Professor Kain held up his hand in front of her and said, "Anybody that understands the difficulties of the membrane accomplishment, will agree. There will be no more discussion unless you want me to take points off your grade."

Her face flushed red, and then she stormed away.

"Ansh and Sai please see me. I completed your final entry testing."
Hope waited with Cole because they wanted to see their final score.

"Nice work!" Professor Kain held up their film and said, "66%"

"What?" Cole threw his hands in the air and shouted, "There's no way! This guy's stupid to the tenth degree." He pointed directly at Ansh and got in his face.

"Settle down, Cole," Professor Kain pleaded, "Do not do anything that you will regret."

"This is total ...," he stopped and pleaded his case with Hope with his eyes.

She forced Cole into the hallway.

"This is B.S!" He whispered, angrily.

"Woah. Calm down. We will deal with that after Petrov's exam."

He pondered what she said for a few moments until he gave up. "Fine." They rushed through the school to the farm outside.

Hope stated on the way, "That's impossible. I want to see it."

"Me too."

They headed outside through Professor Petrov's classroom.

She bounced on her leg to get blood moving.