Fire Emblem: High School Years (High School AU) - Junior Year

Chapter 17: Two and a Half

Chrom

I sat at the kitchen table, diligently working on my Kinesiology study guide. Snow was gently falling outside, blanketing the world in puffy white chrystals. The hums of heat generators resonated through the air, disrupting any chance at pure quiet; however, that only added to the generally peaceful atmosphere I was feeling.

This is a nice change of pace, for once. I can finally study for my exams and not feel impending dread. Go me. The school had recently updated its policy on exam exemptions, and I was eligible for a couple. I still had to take the majority of my exams, but taking a couple off was truly a life-saver. I'm in the homestretch. I can get this done in no time. I just have to-

"Chroooooom..."

And there went the peace.

Lissa, who was sitting across from me, collapsed into her pile of papers and textbooks. "I can't do this anymoooore. I hate studying."

I chuckled, finishing up a sentence about kinetic movent. "Didn't we have this exact conversation last year?"

"Shut up, fart-brain," she pouted. Wow. Childhood name-calling now, are we? She must be pretty annoyed. "They're still dumb and difficult. Why do we have to take them?"

"Can't answer that question, milkweed." Two can play at this game. 

My sister glared at my setup -- I had a significantly smaller amount of paperwork and not a textbook in sight. As difficult as high school was, middle school was much worse when it came to schoolwork and to that extent, exams. "Don't you need your Kinesiology textbook for this stuff?"

I turned my laptop around to show her the book pulled up on the screen. "One of Emm's roommates' hooked me up with one of their own online books," I explained. Thank you, Flavia. "It's not the same as our assigned book, but this one is loads better."

Lissa sighed as I pulled my computer back. "I wish I could have that option." She slapped her withering science textbook. "This thing was probably here when Emm was in middle school."

"If you think that's bad, our Psychology textbooks are still in accordance with the DSM IV. The fifth has been out for nearly seven years."

My little sister leaned back in her chair, blowing a piece of blonde hair out of her eyes. "You'd think the school board would dish out a bit more money to get us more textbooks."

I shrugged. "Dunno. You'd have to bring it up with the principals."

She gave me a flat, yet amused, look. "I'm not so sure that's a great idea," she said. "I heard that they're the strictest people around. No one can get a word to them if it meant their life."

"I sure pity their children."

Lissa giggled at that. "Sucks to suck, I guess." Still, I understand how hard it is for them to balance the school's budget. Not everyone can be happy, it seems.

...

"Cranial."

"The top of the head."

"Dorsal."

"Towards the back."

"Distal."

"Away from the center of the body."

As she grew more and more bored, I had Lissa help me with my basic anatomical direction terms; exciting, I know. What exactly was I going to do with this information? I didn't really know. I just needed a science elective and it was either this or Chemistry.

"That was the last term," Lissa said, setting down the vocab sheet. "Remind me to never take Kinesiology, okay? This class looks like a nightmare."

I rolled my eyes, taking the sheet away from her. "It's not that bad; in fact, I think it's a lot easier than most of the science courses I took in middle school."

She shrugged. "Whatever you say, Big Brother." She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, deep in thought. I don't like that look. "Hey, now that I think about it, this is the second to last time you have to prepare for mid-year exams."

Excuse me?

"If fact, you're like, more than halfway done with your high school career! That's pretty cool, right?"

Nope nope nope absolutely not nope. Not cool this is the opposite of cool. I didn't ask to be vibe-checked like this. 

"Chrom?"

I shook out of my daze, an insistent and ugly feeling crawling beneath my skin. "Oh, er, what were you saying?" I chuckled nervously.

She gave me a wary look. "...I was saying that you're almost done with high school; and on that note, you're also turning eighteen in a few months!"

Dammit, Lissa. Please, please stop talking. 

"You get to start thinking about your senior courses, your future career, what college you want to go to, when you're going to marry Anna." She whispered that last bit and I almost didn't hear it over the sound of my brain screaming. "It's all so exciting, don't you think?"

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!

I had absolutely zero direction in life. How the hell was I supposed to know what I wanted to do with my life at the tender age of eighteen?! What the hell, society?!

Lissa drew on about high school life and how excited she was to be a freshman, and I was left listening to spare bits of the conversation while I flipped out on the inside. Something will come to me before we choose our classes, right? A life path will pop into my head and all will be well. Perfect. Great. Good plan. I see no flaws in it whatsoever.

This is fine. Everything is fine.

...Probably.

*****
Chrom: *chillin*
Life: *smacks him with a castiron skillet* "Vibe check."
The poor boy. I'm making his emotions reflect mine (although, I kinda have an idea of what I wanna do with my life). Anyway. I actually don't know jack squat about Kinesiology. I know it involves the body and stuff and that's about it. Yeah, I'm not taking a science course this year. XD I'm taking Anthropology instead. So my exams are nigh (ahhhh) but surprisingly, I'm not freaking out too much over them. I am exempt from two; ironically, one is Creative Writing. And I already took my Japanese exam so that's one off my plate. So yeah. Pretty chill end to the semester. Yee yee. That's all I have to say about the matter. Thank you so much for reading and look forward to reading more!