The finals are coming! The finals are coming! on Library

Allie St. Martin

July 28, 2007 11:56 PM

The finals are coming! The finals are coming! by Allie St. Martin

Certain things were associated with the end of an academic year. The gradual lengthening of the days, a process that had begun back in the winter, became really apparent at last. A weird mix of lethargy and restlessness claimed an impressive portion of the student body, becoming more visible with every day that passed. People began making plans for the upcoming holiday, some with a group of friends and others with their families. It was, in many respects, a pleasant time, or would have been except for one small thing: it did double-duty as Finals Season. That detail was enough to ruin it for the fifth years, the seventh years, most of the Aladrens, and Allie St. Martin. Allie was sure there were others who shared her sentiments, but those were the examples that she was surest of.

Rubbing her eyes – what was it about homework that made her feel as if she hadn’t slept for about a month? – she reread the last answer on her Runes assignment and realized the last bit made no sense whatsoever. Making a small sound of disgust, Allie dipped her quill again and crossed it out, then began the process of recomposing her thoughts. At least she had caught it before it was graded, this time. It had taken Lila ages to get tired of bringing up that word-order fiasco in April, and Allie had no desire to offer her twin any new material. She knew her second attempt to answer the question wasn’t a particularly good one, but she could at least pick out the line of thought in it. She put the questions aside to dry beside her long Transfiguration essay, the ink on which was still shining a bit near the bottom, and reached for her Charms book.

Opening it to the pages relevant to her homework, Allie hesitated for only a moment before stuffing it into the back cover and starting to skim the pages for the relevant paragraphs of theory. She wasn’t fond of theory essays, but she could do them if she concentrated hard enough and had her textbook right next to her as she worked. If she was going to do well in Charms theory, she had to have her mind entirely on Charms theory – not letters from her mother and possible hidden meanings in them. Even if she was right – which, as most everyone who knew her knew very well, she was highly unlikely to be – it was nothing that would affect her anytime soon, and might not affect her at all. Poor grades, however, could and probably would.

Allie was fairly good at Charms, but the ones McKindy had been teaching the third years were causing her more trouble than she’d had with her first and second year ones. She thought her practical exam would go all right, though she rather hoped they wouldn’t be called upon to conjure fire, but a mention of the theory exam was enough to put a hollow, unpleasant sensation in the general vicinity of her stomach. Studying made her feel a little better, at least until she tried to think of the details of what she’d gone over afterward. Going over a year’s worth of notes, like writing papers for teachers, let her feel like she had some degree of control over the way her situation turned out, unlike – other things. Things that involved elaborate parties and dancing and maybe rings. Things she was going out of her way to avoid thinking about.

Reading over three paragraphs four times to ensure she’d absorbed their meaning – she remembered why she’d decided to work in the library instead of in her own common room, but the sedative affect the place was having on her was making her doubt her judgment – she took up her quill again to begin the exercise they had been set for homework. The more she worked, the more prepared for the exams she would, in theory, be, and the better she did on everything else, the better her chances of making it through if her performance on the final was…lackluster. If past history was anything to by, she would probably do moderately well, but she thought it was best to be prepared just the same.

It was several moments before she realized someone was standing by her table. A faint flush crept up her cheeks as she laid the quill aside and tucked her hair back, smearing a bit of ink across her cheek without noticing. She had a sudden and very vivid recollection of the time she’d started talking aloud during some etiquette – she thought it had been etiquette, anyway – lesson she and Lila had once taken while they were supposed to be reading. The tutor hadn’t been at all pleased, for obvious reasons. It would, she decided, be worse to mutter about a passage in front of a classmate. “Um,” she said, dramatically demonstrating her usual brilliance for the masses. At least she didn’t have an ink stain on light robes, as had happened to Alban once. Their mother had actually snapped at him, an occurrence so rare the twins had both stared at her. She’d gotten short with them, too. Lila had cried, but Allie thought she’d been more annoyed than upset in the end. “Hi?”

16 Allie St. Martin The finals are coming! The finals are coming! 76 Allie St. Martin 1 5

Adam Brockert

July 29, 2007 11:06 AM

Oh no! by Adam Brockert

At the end of the year, Adam found his usual retreat in the library more crowded than usual. He didn't like it at all. It tended to mean most of the tables and chairs already had people sitting at them or nearby. People tended to throw off his concentration, not because they were noisy or talked to him. It was just that Adam could never quite shake the feeling that they were staring at him and laughing at him behind his back.

Unfortunately he needed to come in here. There were books he needed and besides, the Crotalus common room and even his bedroom weren't much better. If Geoff happened to be studying there, the silence got too uncomfortable for Adam, even though he normally preferred quiet, he didn't like the quiet in a room between two people. He found it rather unsettling.

Therefore, Adam had chosen to study in the library. He needed to work harder to make up for the fact that being in a class full of mostly hostile other students totally destroyed much of his concentration in the classroom. That meant he had to work hard on theory to compensate.

Unfortunately, he didn't see one empty table in the whole place. That's when Adam spotted one of the St. Martin twins. Lila kind of scared him, but Allie had been nice enough. He approached the table where she was sitting, hoping it was indeed Allie. "Um, hi, Allie?" Adam began, hoping he'd guessed right, "Can I, um, sit here?"

11 Adam Brockert Oh no! 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Allie

August 01, 2007 9:25 PM

They, too, shall pass eventually, though. by Allie

Allie relaxed once she registered her companion's identity. From all she had seen and heard, Adam had the dubious honor of being the most...nervous person in third year, if not in the entire school. If she had been reading aloud, she would have looked a bit insane, which would have almost certainly been enough to put him off. As he was asking for a seat and not looking too much different than normal, it seemed she'd kept her thoughts entirely to herself this time. Talking to the Charms textbook wasn't as bad as doing the same with an etiquette text, but it still wasn't something she wanted to be caught doing.

"Sure," she said with a quick smile, sparing her essay half a glance to ensure the ink had finally dried before putting it away to make more room. The drying Ancient Runes answers were put atop her books, which she pushed toward the table-edge. Only Charms was left open in front of her, along with her parchment and writing materials. Maybe having a witness of sorts would help her stay alert instead of losing focus. She certainly hoped it would, or at least not make it worse on her. She wasn't behind on her work, which she found even more surprising than Lila seemed to, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Studying for finals?" she asked, falling back on a form of the rules of interaction her mother had taught her. Failing to carry on small talk long enough was almost as bad as not seeing when to cut it off, or where it crossed the nosiness line. She had, perhaps inevitably, become less formal while at school, but her mother and tutors had drilled her to the point of the basics of the rules becoming instinctual. "I'm not too worried, but it never hurts to prepare."

16 Allie They, too, shall pass eventually, though. 76 Allie 0 5

Adam B.

August 19, 2007 5:04 PM

I know, but you made it sound so horrible... by Adam B.

He sat down, relived. Adam had been sure Allie would tell him to get lost or something. Not that he would blame her. Even if she herself didn't hate him, she might have been embarassed to be seen with him, not because of any pureblood thing as he knew his family was just as good as hers, it was just that Adam knew he was not well liked in general at Sonora. He, as an individual, was the issue.

However, apparently that was not the case. In fact, Allie had even smiled a little. That put Adam at ease, just a bit. Of course, now he had to try like crazy not to screw up.

Adam pulled out his Transfiguration text. He was okay at it really. He just kind of had a bit of a complex with that particular subject because of his cousin's proficiency at it. No matter what, he wasn't going to be as good as Marshall. However, school work in general never came that hard to Adam and he kind of enjoyed it. It was the one area he felt decent in at all and even then he was sure he wasn't as good as others in his year. Adam knew he often did better than Kaylie, even though he didn't like knowing that. He didn't really want her to feel inferior, especially not to someone like him. He knew the feeling all too well, and didn't really like seeing others feel that way. Not to mention feeling inferior to him, was ridiculous!

"Studying for finals?"

Oh good, a nice, straightforward yes or no question. Adam couldn't answer this wrong. "Yes," he replied. Using 'yes' rather than yea or uh-huh or yup had been the right thing to do. It was proper and good-mannered which Adam felt he should be around most of his yearmates. However, he wondered if he should say more. "You?"

11 Adam B. I know, but you made it sound so horrible... 78 Adam B. 0 5