Another chapter loosely based on true events.
Year Four: Unprompted 20
Sci-Tech Lecture Room - 17:31 PM
"You may start handing your midterms if you're finished."
There are ten minutes left for this midterm and Keith's anxiety kicks in at top speed. He isn't even sure how much of the exam he has left and there are people getting up to hand them in. A good portion. He should go back to a question he skipped in case an answer came to him, but he should also try and get all the part marks as possible. Did he answer enough to even pass? Hard to say.
There's now a line-up of people to hand in their tests. Not helpful. Is he stupid? During his glances around the class in immense panic and to see where people were, it wasn't calming. Daniel finished in 30 minutes and spent the rest of the time staring at the ceiling. James would've finished in the same amount of time if he didn't "waste" so much time staring at the ceiling or doodling, but still had so much time to spare.
"Hey."
Keith turns around and sees Naomi holding a cup of coffee she wasn't allowed to have during the exam in one hand. Her other hand holds her folded midterm where he could spot her big and loopy writing in the creases. God, she must pity him for still struggling on what looked like an easy exam for everyone else.
Naomi puts her coffee on his desk before bending down and pretending to tie her shoe. She unties it just to retie it.
"You got this," Naomi whispers. "Stop crying, though. There aren't any tissues left."
"What?" Keith asks. He looks at the front and there's a box of tissues on the desk beside Agent Reuben's laptop.
He watches Naomi stand in line to hand in her exam behind James and Daniel, joining their conversation and dragging them to the back of the line. She looks at Keith for a moment and makes a writing motion with her hand which prompts him to return to his exam. A few questions later, he looks up to see those three handing in their exams. Once they're in the pile, Naomi drops her coffee and it spills everywhere.
"Oh my god!" Naomi exclaims, grabbing the box of tissues. She rips them out one by one and drops them on the mess until the box is empty. She flattens the box and throws it into the recycling bin by the door. "I'm so sorry, Agent Reuben."
Her classmates laugh at her Canadian accent, saying her apology as "sore-y." She grins as she wads up the tissues on the floor with her foot. Streaks of her dark coffee remain as the bitter scent fills the room.
"Care to help?" Naomi asks, batting her lashes at James and Daniel who were standing there gawking.
James glances at Keith before nodding. "I'll get some paper towels from the bathroom."
"I'll find a mop," Daniel says.
They run out of the class. Naomi looks at Keith again and repeats the writing gesture.
Oh … she didn't. Did she? He can ask her later if he finds her. He has an exam to finish before the pungent coffee scent knocks him unconscious. Maybe that could get him out of the exam.
"So, Dr. Malliga, how did you find the exam?" Agent Reuben asks her.
"I think I did well," Naomi responds, hugging her bag to her chest. "The proof question at the end threw me off a little but I managed my time. Look, you gave us three questions in advance and said two would be on the exam to choose one from. So, theoretically, you prepare for two of the questions so at least one you prepped would be on the exam."
"That's a common strategy."
"Well, let me tell you. I prepped for two of them and one of the ones I prepared wasn't there."
"So it saved you some decision-making."
Naomi laughs. "You'd think that but I wrote the proof that I didn't prepare for. I don't know why."
"Why do you make things harder for yourself?"
Naomi shrugs as James and Daniel run back in with supplies. James throws all the paper towels on the floor and Daniel mops them around to dry up the mess. Keith pauses, realizing they're helping him unprompted with his exam. The first, third, and fifth of their year helping his undeserving self out for what? What would they get out of it other than potential academic probation or expulsion? He could almost grab his hair and pull it all out.
"Sir!" James exclaims, grabbing the prof's attention. "Look at what I drew on my exam."
James leafs through the pile and pulls out his exam. He flips through the pages and opens a page. Agent Reuben looks down and laughs, making James smile.
"Sir, I know it's against protocol but can we see?" Daniel asks, referring to himself and Naomi.
When he nods, James flips over his exam to show them. Keith smiles, scribbling down more answers as they laugh. James tosses his exam back on the pile, fixing it when it lands crooked.
"Cadet Pym and Dr. Banner, enlighten me," Agent Reuben says as other students slowly hand in their papers. "How did you prepare for the proof question? Surely, you both had different strategies than your colleague."
"Prepared all three and flipped a coin in my head to choose," Daniel says.
"Winged it," James adds. "I looked at the midterm outline this morning."
Naomi glares. "I hate both of you." She looks at the clock by the door before back at James and Daniel. "Wanna hit The Boiler Room later? I'm just gonna drop my stuff off."
James nods. "Yeah, I'm changing out of my stupid training uniform and showering."
"I gotta pick up reports from BV anyways," Daniel says. He looks at Agent Reuben. "I spent half a lab explaining and reexplaining the criteria."
"Just say it's in the syllabus," Agent Reuben mutters.
"Great," Naomi says, "Keith, meet us at 7!"
Keith takes a second to notice they're talking to him. " … yeah, sure!"
-o-
The Boiler Room - 19:40 PM
Later in the evening, Keith walks into The Boiler Room which had more cadets than usual given that it's midterm season. Some kids are sitting in booths or at the bar going over notes or discussing the answers and others are playing roulette for exam prep and materials. He walks past some of his classmates doing experiments on a pool table when he sees James, Daniel, and Naomi sitting at a table with drinks and some appetizers. They smile and wave him over when they see him.
"Hi Keith!" James exclaims. "What took you so long?"
"Agent Reuben gave us an extra 20 minutes due to … unfair distractions," Keith says, eyeing them as he takes a seat next to Naomi. "His words, not mine."
Naomi scoots over closer to James to make space. "How blessed."
"Why did you do that?" Keith whispers to the three of them. "You three could've failed."
"Why?" James asks not lowering his voice at all. "We aced that exam and didn't cheat."
"For helping me with all those distractions."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Naomi smiles at him as she sips her soda. "I simply spilled coffee that I wasn't even allowed to have during the exam and got two boys to clean it up all while having a nice conversation with our prof."
"You should've seen James' drawing on his exam," Daniel says.
"I drew Carrie Bradshaw as a mermaid," James explains. He holds up a napkin he was sketching on with a marker. It was a mess of shapes bleeding through the thin material. "I hope it gives me bonus marks. It looked better on the exam but what were you saying?"
"Because I'm a panicky mess riddled with anxiety," Keith yells. It's nothing compared to the volume in The Boiler Room. "I don't deserve help, especially an unprompted twenty minutes for a midterm worth a third of my grade from you three who are nothing but kind."
Their table silences as they look at each other. Daniel pushes his glasses up as Naomi turns to face him.
"Why do you think you have to deserve it?" She asks him. When he doesn't respond but just stares, she smiles and pokes his arm. "Again, as I've said. We were just having a conversation with Agent Reuben."
Keith doesn't pester forwards since she'll likely deny anything further. Without thinking, he hugs her because it feels right. If he deserves her unwarranted assistance, then she deserves this hug. Maybe he shouldn't have lunged his arms over her shoulders and gone into this hug gently — maybe ask first? — but she slowly links his arms around his back, patting his shoulders. For a moment, everything feels right in a coffee-scented world.
Keith was about to part from the hug but James invites himself, pressing them closer together to join their embrace. He even grabbed Daniel who awkwardly joins in.
"Okay," Keith says, peeling himself away from mostly James. He takes a seat at their booth and opens his laptop. "I have a code due in, like, 4 hours that I still have to start."
"You're doing great!" Naomi exclaims sarcastically as she sits next to him.
"No…" Keith mutters, shaking his head. "I can't crack this shit. I hate my program."
"You know, you should take up drinking," James suggests.
"Such a good example," Naomi's sarcasm continues.
"I'll have my fiancée introduce you to drinking," Daniel adds.
"You're even worse."
James laughs, nudging Daniel. "Dude that'll fucking kill him."
Daniel shrugs. "Better alcohol poisoning than the machines."
"Straight from your woman's mouth. She's said that before, I know it."
Keith groans. "And now my laptop will die."
James peers over. "What charger do you need?"
Keith doesn't even answer before James grabs Keith's laptop. He pops it open for the battery and lights up his hand to give it a shock. It's not like it would've been hard to borrow or snag a charger from a place made for Sci-Nerds. At least a quarter of the people here have a computer on them.
Keith takes a calm breath. "I should just pray to the Sci-Tech Goddess now that my laptop is somehow at 300% battery."
Daniel laughs to himself as he pulls out his phone from his back pocket. He pauses, counting the time difference by muttering to himself. Then he nods and turns on his phone.
"I'll do you one better and call my fiancée," Daniel says, "she should be awake to help you or answer your prayers."
Daniel holds his phone over the table. Before Keith could take it, James grabs it the second she picks up and screams hello. Overwhelmed, Daniel takes a shot and grabs the phone to give to Keith.
Daniel's Fiancée: Sci-Tech Goddess speaking …!
Keith laughs to himself because of course she's joking. No way in hell she's the goddess, Emily Stark, herself. As if Daniel Banner could score her …
Daniel's Fiancée: So Daniel sent me a picture of what you're working with and you should start with a drink of your choice -
"I told you so!" James yells. "Time to start drinking."
"I don't drink," Keith says on the phone.
The line goes silent. Keith checks and the call is still going.
Daniel's Fiancée: Wow… Then I can't help you.
"Again, that's what I said," James exclaims as she laughs on the line.
"Female. James," Keith states.
"Shut up," Daniel says.
Daniel's Fiancée: Okay, okay, I can still do this sober. I'll walk through this with you. When I was younger, like 5 or something, my dad had me type all this if he was too drunk to even sit straight. He'd just ramble whatever and I'd correct it as I went along. My drink of choice at the time was pink lemonade.
"I'll get those," James says, "but I'm spiking them."
-o-
"Oh my god…" Keith mutters. He stands up from his seat in disbelief. He looks at his screen again, even turning it a little so Naomi could glance. "I did it! Cracked this son of a bitch of a code!"
Daniel's Fiancée: The power of pink lemonade and semi-colons!
James jumps onto their booth cushions and starts dancing as Naomi cheers. Keith screams thanks on the phone before handing it back to Daniel. He slides out of the booth to continue chatting with his fiancée at a quieter corner of The Boiler Room if not outdoors.
"Next round on me!" James yells as she leaps off their seats and heads over to the bar.
"Your livers must hate you guys," Keith says, closing his laptop and putting it back in his bag.
Naomi nudges him. "I once saw you consume a triple bacon burger in 3 minutes. Your heart is literally screaming."
Little does she know it actually is, but not for the burger at the moment.
As they continue chatting, James gets their shots but doesn't head back to their booth yet. Daniel returns and stops beside James, looking at what he's seeing which is just Keith and Naomi talking. They're all smiles still on the high of the midterm and their night here as a group, although she's definitely drunk.
James knows Keith is enjoying every moment of this because she's his eureka moment. He really, really likes her and James will do his damnedest to kickstart something because it's their final year.
"Wanna go on a date with me?" James asks Daniel.
"Absolutely not," Daniel responds with no hesitation. "We're both taken by other people."
James lights up, nodding. "You're right. We are. And my girlfriend is even better than you, no offence."
"None taken given that my fiancée is cooler than you."
"Offended, but I have a plan."
"Oh god…" Daniel takes his shot and downs it, not even reacting to the liquid. "Thank god you're getting her involved and not me."
Just wait for two chapters.