Alright, so maybe you've heard about how enthusiastic I was for my Spring Break. I was saying, "oh, I'll totally write all the time!". Yeah. Well. This is kind of late, and not really all that long. Turns out that, plot twist, I have to work while I'm at home. Work as in eight hours in an office for minimum wage. It went like this:

My parents: You're going to work!
Me: No way! I will rebel and refuse to obey you!
Friend staying with me: Actually I want to work and get money
Me: NO! Half of my support is gone! And I can't act like a child in front of my friend!

...and so now I haven't gotten a good night of sleep in three days, and I'm just about ready to kill the people I love. Hopefully this weekend, when I won't be working, will be enough to make up for it. But on the bright side, I've got the next chapter planned out. Also, I have the next climax-of-the-story planned out too. Sorry for the short chapter, hope you enjoy, I'll try to update sooner next time.

*Side note, I was seriously just about to publish this when my dad showed up in my room and told me my mom wanted to talk to me. I go downstairs, and it's family bonding time for the next two hours. I would have had this up sooner, but I couldn't finish my final read through fast enough to avoid life.

(And P.S., I'd prefer if any reviews left for me that are going to be sympathetic and sorry for my stress are shortened to a line that says "I sympathize" and then continue with other things. That would be nice.)


In Blue Magic class, she was significantly more focused than usual. Though she knew it was not the best coping mechanism, she threw herself headlong into her studies in order to ignore what had happened. While she usually just pretended to pay attention, today it took no effort at all to be interested. Any thoughts about her problems were pushed away; eventually she would have to figure out why she had such a strange… dream. Despite the fact the event was most definitely not a dream, there was no other way she could refer to it without becoming panicked. Instead of thinking and panicking, she focused entirely on her class. A small part of her hoped Grabiner was impressed with what she could do when she put her mind to it.

That afternoon, when she was back in her room, the knock at the door jolted her from her thoughts. Nausea rose up from the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it back down and went to the door. She tried not to let her anxiety show on her face when she saw Potsdam. Unfortunately, this ruled out the possibility of it just being a silly dream. Sure enough, Potsdam asked her whether she would like to take harder exams. The student was able to explain herself more clearly than the first time. With a comment about detention, Potsdam whisked herself away to who knows where.

She took a deep breath in, but the breath she let out was shaky. Her hands rose to cover her eyes. She continued to take shaky breaths. She desperately wanted to believe what happened was just a horrible dream, but the evidence was pointing towards something much worse. It seemed that she had done a miniature loop.

Quickly heading back into her room, she appreciated the fact that her roommates weren't back yet, a slight anomaly from the previous time. She lied in the middle of her bed, struggling not to cry. Her problem had been big enough when it was just happening at the end of the year, but now it seemed like it could happen any time. She had no explanation for why is happened and no idea what to do. She took regulatory breaths.

Breathe in, deep.

Breathe out.

Breathe in, deeper than before.

Breathe out.

She was able to stabilize herself enough to begin thinking logically. If she didn't know what set off the loop, she'd just have to carefully experiment. It was after Grabiner came back into the room after escorting Donald that everything went wrong. She'd have to be careful around then. If she didn't go back, she'd see the differences between the first trial and second trial. If she did go back, she'd look for similarities.

Having a battle plan formed made it much easier to relax. She was confident and knew what she would do, and any potential tears melted away without being released. She had regained control over herself, and nothing would stop her from fixing this. With that thought in mind, she began the wait for the next morning.

She tried to make as few variables as possible. She arrived at the same time, made the same small talk with Donald, and watched their conversation in the same silence. After Grabiner left the room, however, she knew it was time to get serious. The previous time, she'd ended up worrying about Grabiner and catching his attention with her emotion because, as far as she remembered, she had somehow been accidentally channeling magic for a spell.

The thing to change was the emotion. When Grabiner came in the room, instead of getting lost in thought, she'd just wait for him to speak. While not being the most patient person in existence, she could certainly last through the silence. Once he began to talk, however, she'd just have to wing it. There was no way to predict what he would say in advance if she changed the beginning of the conversation.

Her plans formed, she began the wait. Once Grabiner walked back in, she mentally prepared herself for whatever might happen. Her professor sat down heavily and began to rub his temples. Previously, she'd gotten lost in thought. However, today she chose to ignore his discomfort. Thoughts about his well-being were shoved out, and she simply stared at the older man.

It was a couple minutes later that he finally looked up at her. He let out a long sigh, and she tried to ignore the pulse of sympathy she had for him. "How much has Professor Potsdam explained to you about your new exam schedule?" he began, crossing his arms and getting right down to business. She mentally paused, told herself to relax, and tried to proceed as if this were any everyday conversation with nothing at stake.

"She explained that the exams would be more difficult but didn't say anything beyond that," the student quickly explained. Grabiner sighed, again, and she became slightly agitated with his stress. She wasn't in the mood for this, and they needed to get down to business so she could get past this conversation.

"Well then, I'll try to keep this brief," Grabiner explained. "The exams you will be taking will be more difficult than the average freshman student in the same way as, say, an Honors course. This means that by the end of the year, you will have already begun the average sophomore curriculum." She nodded whenever she felt the need to, continually assuring her understanding.

The professor continued, "You will be taking your exam this Friday. This will still technically be considered a practice exam, so you will not receive demerits for failure. If you do fail, you will simply be put back on the same schedule you had before. As well, if you succeed, but don't feel comfortable with harder exams, speak to Professor Potsdam." Grabiner paused for a moment before adding, "Do you have any questions?"

She thought about it for a moment. Everything seemed pretty clear, but she did think of one thing. "You say that the exams will be more advanced," she started. "Can you give me a vague idea of how much more advanced they are, or is that technically confidential?" She noticed his raised brow and added, "For example, can you tell me whether or not I will be going against sentient creatures during my next exam?"

Grabiner thought about it for a minute, lacing his fingers together without realizing it while he mentally debated the answer. She had a slight flash back to the previous try, when she had laced her own fingers together in a similar way. The action came tied with the memory, and suddenly she found herself thinking about her sympathy for Grabiner and how they held hands. She aggressively shoved the thought out of her mind, keeping a close eye on Grabiner to see if he had any reaction to her quick emotion.

Luckily, when he did reply, it wasn't about magical fluctuations. "I cannot tell you about the exam. However, upon entering the exam, you will be informed on any pertinent details, such as whether or not you may face a sentient creature," he nodded at her as her referred to her question.

She replied, "Thank you. That was the only question I had." She paused for a moment, and asked, "Is this all? May I leave now?" Of course, her semi-impatience wasn't appreciated by Grabiner. His face went back to its previous frown as he gave her the go-ahead. She quickly thanked him again before exiting the room.

As soon as she exited the room, she began to walk-run back to her room. It started out as a tired walk, slowly picking up more and more speed until she was almost running. She was still slow enough that she couldn't be accused of running in the halls, but it was essentially that. A few minutes later, she collapsed onto her bed. A breath of relief exited her, and she giggled. She had gotten out of the situation without being sent back again. That seemed to be and indicator that these cycles weren't eternal and could be exited. Tired from waking up early and mentally exhausted from the emotions she had put herself through during their conversation, she fell back into a deep sleep.