High Energy Collision [Completed]

Chapter 10 - I thought I was a fool for no one

A/N: Get your tissues ready. There are a lot of hearts broken in this chapter. :(

When Plan reached the cafeteria during lunchtime on Monday, there was a huge commotion going on around a table in the middle of the eating area.

He was briefly tempted to give in to his curiosity and see what was going on, but immediately decided against it.

There was no reason to disturb the good mood he had been in since Friday.

He quickly shoved his lunchbox back into his bag, went outside, and sat down in the shade against a large tree by the pond, enjoying the cooling breeze blowing in over the water.

This morning, he had completed the first written test Prof. Marsden had wanted him to write in her office, meaning he had spent the morning doing what he loved the most – solving physics problems, and without swarms of people following him around.

The test had been a lot easier than Plan had expected and Prof. Marsden had already told him that he had passed.

She had seemed strangely excited about it.

Much more than him.

Over and over, she had asked if he had really figured out all of this by himself.

It had given him an opportunity to clarify a few misunderstandings at least.

He had studied by himself following his own interests a lot. But... from the moment he had first started to attend high school, his Math and Science teachers had kind of capitulated in front of his questions. They had given him a laptop and had allowed him to study whatever he wanted, however he wanted, using resources he found online.

He had followed many lectures from universities all over the world through open access lectures and Massive Open Online Courses. He had never signed up for the certificate process or handed in homework, though. He hadn't seen the point in having these things as a farmer, it was just useless paper lying around or digital files taking up memory space that he could fill with more useful stuff.

However, this meant he had no physical proof of his studies, which paradoxically made him look much smarter than he actually was.

So... there was really no point in continuing to call him a genius for being curious, hard-working, and dedicated.

Prof. Marsden had shaken her head and had told him to come back for the oral exam in the afternoon, where she expected him to solve problems at a white board in front of international experts she had invited.

Passing the first written exam was just a perfect continuation of the good luck streak Plan seemed to have caught since the weekend.

While he opened his lunch box to eat the rice and vegetables he had prepared, like every day, he let his gaze wander over the idyllic water in front of him and his mind automatically recalled the memories of last Friday night.

Plan already knew that the planetarium memory would become part of his growing collection of favourite moments in his life. The stranger had kept all his promises. It had been a surreal experience, lying on the floor in the planetarium together, falling asleep next to each other.

Plan would remember the smooth, pale face of his model friend next to him, exchanging soft smiles and holding hands... the memory alone still made his heart jump.

The only part he somewhat regretted was that he hadn't dared to kiss him, even though they had both clearly felt like it. In the end, Plan had been too scared to break the spell of the moment by initiating more.

And then... he had fallen asleep.

They had been woken up by Tio looking for them, and they had driven Plan back to UdG like he had requested without much fanfare.