The next day Patrick woke up in the apartment late. Shaking himself out of bed, he saw the clock on the dresser read "9:37am" and knew that he needed to get himself put together and fast to make his ethics class.
"Erin?" he asked around but there was no answer, as his sister had already left the apartment. Patrick rushed to the bathroom and did all the essential tasks as quickly as possible, then grabbed a grey school logo sweatshirt and sweatpants out of the closet, rushing to get them on. There was another quick stop at the fridge to grab an ice coffee (again it was UCC-brand canned coffee from Japan, to which Patrick was now functionally addicted), and a donut. As he moved towards the front door he saw a small handwritten note on the dining room counter.
"Didn't want to wake you, Sleeping Beauty. Don't forget class this morning. – Erin."
I didn't forget class, I just got a late start. Patrick then grabbed his book bag, found a pair of runners, and made haste towards the classrooms.
Ethics 1 class, held in the largest classroom at The New Institute, was mandatory for all first-year students and was taught by Provost Gallatner himself. The class started promptly at 9:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and as all first-year students needed to attend, the performance hall was used to house the class, which could seat well over a thousand students.
Professor Gallatner, a hefty man of European Jewish extraction with a bushy beard and blue eyes, took a good look at the attendance for today's lecture. He had noticed that within the last few weeks there had been a significant drop in students who were coming to the lecture on time. He also knew who the more attentive students were, the regulars, who wanted to pay attention, as they made it to every lecture early and without fail, but estimated that by this point in the course perhaps thirty or thirty-five percent of the students didn't show up at the start or at all unless an exam was involved. It was a risk, he knew, given his own policy of making sure lectures were always available on media and could be accessed by students at any time.
But part of what made his class unique was that the professor usually opened the session up to questions from the students for the last half-hour of the two hour session, and while that Q&A was also recorded students who simply reviewed the lecture missed out on both being able to ask and answer questions as well as some of the interaction that occurred between students and himself right afterwards. It was that experience, discovering truth through direct challenges and learning not to fear it, even if it was found inconvenient or uncomfortable to anyone's lens that to the Gallatner really made Ethics work within the Institute. Having so many students not take punctuality seriously was poor attitude, and as both professor and provost, he knew it needed immediate correction.
"Good morning," Gallatner greeted the class and he received a regular response from a few dozen students, some of which came back in drowsy voices. He looked at the front row before the podium, noticing his "regulars" including the blue-haired Japanese girl who was always in the centerline seat, with an empty seat next to her. Gallatner also knew that the empty seat was empty quite often.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a surprise for you today. Can I ask for two volunteers?" Among the students there were a dozen hands that came up, and the professor picked two, both of whom were boys of a larger stature.
"I'd like both of you to go to the entry doors and close them please." Both boys that were picked went to either side of the assembly hall towards the double-doors where students came in and out and closed the doors.
"Wonderful. Now please lock them." Upon the order, both boys did so.
"Please do us all a favor and don't mention this to the fire marshal, I think he'd have a fit." There was some nervous laughter among the students when he said this. Gallatner then proceeded to the day's agenda.
"I've always stressed attendance and punctuality at the Ethics part of the curriculum, for reasons that all of you know quite well by now. Today those of you who have maintained on-time attendance with me here will be rewarded. While those who have missed this session by not showing up at the beginning of class…will not."
Erin, who sat on the other side of Rei this time on the front row, whispered in her ear. "Patrick picked the wrong day to be late." Rei didn't look back but nodded in agreement.
"Let's begin today's test, shall we?" Gallatner continued. "please review on the screen," he pointed with the stylus to the giant projection screen behind him as he said this, "and then pick only one question. Then use a single sheet of paper to answer the question, use both sides. There is no minimum or maximum answer requirement. If you can answer the question in a single sentence, please do so. You have one hour starting…now."
There was a flurry of scuffles as students quickly pulled out clean paper and notebooks. The professor didn't permit electronic submissions of classwork, all answers had to be written by hand unless students were physically incapable.
"Oh, and to the two gentlemen at the doors?" The heads of both tall boys turned towards the professor.
"Today for your efforts, you pass gratis mundi." The smiles of both of the boys were immediately seen on their faces.
While Erin pulled out her writing board and her pen, she cursed at Patrick for not showing up to today of all days. Damn it, all you had to do was come and raise your hand once, and you could have gotten a complete pass. Patrick you're a nuclear-powered idiot!
Patrick ran towards the assembly hall, reaching it by 9:55pm. Okay just a few minutes late, it should be fine. While he didn't know what would happen that day, he knew that Professor Gallatner was very unpredictable, and very quick to not suffer fools especially if they were his students. He just hoped that his late entry wouldn't be commented on like it had been a few times before.
Rushing to the double-doors, Patrick pulled on them and found them suddenly locked. What the hell? He pulled on them several times, shaking violently but to no avail. With no windows outside the assembly hall to see what was happening, Patrick was stuck outside to wonder what indeed had gone on to require the building to be locked.
I've got a bad feeling about this…
Patrick was quite correct. Unable to make it inside of the classroom, he gave up and then wandered around the campus until reaching a video arcade in the student services center, and passing the time playing until lunch came up.
Once 11:45am flashed on his watch, Patrick promptly pulled out his phone and texted Rei.
ME: So how did class go?
There was however no answer.
Wondering if Rei was stalled somehow, Patrick then texted Erin with another message.
ME: So what happened in class? The doors were locked.
But from Erin there was also no answer either.
Normally the three of them would grab lunch on campus and then to go their various classes afterwards, and Tuesdays after class also consisted of ballet instruction for both Rei and Erin. Patrick knew he still had a dinner date with Rei tonight, but something in the back of his mind started to scratch very hard.
Did I just screw this up?
Not knowing how else to deal with the matter, Patrick walked the ten minutes back to his apartment. Erin hadn't returned yet, so he simply grabbed out some rice and BBQ chicken from the fridge and ate lunch by himself.
I have class again this afternoon, physics, which I really just hate. But maybe I really have been just blowing this stuff off. Guess I really need to get started on this.
It was then when his phone buzzed. All students at the New Institute had notification of their academic progress via mail and text message, and if a score or grade was ready from an exam or other classwork, students were promptly notified. In this case Patrick received two messages.
TNI Registrar: Your grade for the Final Exam in Ethics 1 (Gallatner) has been posted at 12:15pm. Click on link to see.
TNI Registrar: Your academic status has changed. Click on link to see.
Patrick clicked the link within the first text message and saw a PDF report that listed both his test grade and his current overall grade in the course.
SECTION TEST: 0/100
COURSE GRADE : 53/100
Oh, shit…
The note also helpfully informed him that "any petitions to change or re-take tests needed to be submitted in writing and would be granted at the instructor's discretion," to which Patrick figured he might as well just jump into the campus lake wearing cement shoes, as Gallatner was not known for his mercy on flaky students.
Now properly warned, Patrick opened the second message link.
DUE TO UNACCEPTABLY LOWER GRADE LEVELS YOU HAVE BEEN PLACED ON ACADEMIC PROBATION. YOU MUST MAINTAIN A GPA OF 2.5 OR HIGHER TO CONTINUE ADMISSION IN TNI AND BE ENROLLED FOR THE SUBSEQUENT TERM. YOU WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED IN REMISSION COURSE TO….
The Remission course was basically for academically poor students, of which there were few at TNI, although after today's stunt from Gallatner Patrick figured he wouldn't be the only student being flushed down the toilet. Patrick didn't read the rest of the message contents, as he knew where he stood and it wasn't good, solid ground. Then again, he had a secret weapon against having his grades sink too low, one that he had employed earlier several times, and would have to come out of the hanger for one more covert strike.
The door to the apartment opened and Erin burst in. Just who I needed to see, Patrick through.
"Hey, Sis!" he said.
"Go get lost," Erin replied angrily, and then made a straight path to her bedroom.
"Wait, Erin! What the hell?"
Patrick went to her door but found it slammed in his face. "Hey, Erin," he called out as he knocked on the door. There was silence from the other side and Patrick stood there and racked his brain for how to get on his twin's good side. She hasn't been this pissed off since she stole the EVA.
"Look I get it! I screwed up, okay. Just you gotta help me out here."
The door quickly opened. Erin, now dressed in a black leotard with spaghetti straps and white tights, was still furious with Patrick, "You have no idea how badly you screwed up!"
"Hey,' Patrick protested as Erin went to her wardrobe to get a black skirt and sweater. "Hey, I'm trying to make it right, okay. I just need help with this last one thing and I'll stick to my studies, I totally promise."
"Help how, smart-ass?"
"Just…just do that thing you did before. You know..."
Erin did know, and was increasingly upset over the matter. "Oh, you mean hack into the school's computer and change your test grade?"
"Well, yeah. I mean there's a thousand students in Gallatner's class, how the hell is he going to know?"
"Listen Genius, turns out Gallatner actually tracks you pretty good. He knew you weren't there today on time along with the rest of the flakes, and so he locked out all of the late students."
"So what? Can you just change my grade then?"
"NO, I can't!" Erin argued. "Gallatner only has one class. He knows you didn't attend. All of these are based on handwritten papers we gave in the exam. There's no changing that! Even If I hack his grading, then he'll notice it and then he'll also notice how it happened and then it won't be just you being kicked out but me too! And I'm not doing that for you."
"Fine, then. What the hell should I do!?"
"Not my problem anymore, if you're not serious about school then just go to the shooting range and work on that full-time. At least you're good for something." Erin got her dance bag from her closet and then pushed her way through Patrick out the doorway and towards the front door of the apartment.
"I've got math and then dance and then I won't be back for a while. Diego's taking me out tonight. Don't expect me to come back early."
"Fine then, I'm okay. I'm out with Rei tonight anyway." Patrick then made a sudden realization. "Oh, shit. Does she know?"
"You're such a genius, figure that out for yourself!" and with that Erin went out the front door and slammed it behind her. Patrick just stood there and stared at the door, now completely unsure of what his future held.
Patrick spend a few more hours in the apartment doing little more than drinking coffee and trying to think on how to approach his crisis. Academic probation wasn't suspension, right? They weren't kicking him out just yet but he'd be on the "failure" track and when he needed a 2.5 to pass the semester it would be an uphill climb, not to mention he now had a giant, solid "F" in one class that probably couldn't be changed despite any last-minute heroics.
Nonetheless he got changed and figured out at least he'd have a nice dinner with Rei and then he'd work on the problem. He was important, Patrick figured, and he knew people like Admiral Vinson. Maybe he just had to find the correct shoulder to cry on to fix things. Fuck I hate school, he admitted, and I guess school hates me back.
After three months in Cambridge and a successive set of date nights Patrick and Rei had settled on one restaurant as "their" place. A Korean restaurant called Dong Young Bak that was in the city's old Harvard Square district was ideal for them, as it was close to campus, relatively quiet, and had a menu with a full range of vegetarian dishes much to Rei's taste. So if Patrick proposed a dinner out and didn't specify a location, it was understood between the two of them that DYB as the restaurant was commonly known was the spot. So by 6:30 Patrick walked hurriedly through downtown Cambridge to make sure he was on time.
Wearing a dark grey sport coat, button down white shirt and grey slacks, Patrick at least looked cleaned up. Once through the front door he scanned the restaurant table to locate Rei and it didn't take more than a few seconds to see her azure blue hair and the rest of her seated at a booth at the rear of the restaurant. She wore a black sweater and matching skirt, with white tights and black flats, and her hair was done up in a bun. He made his way between the other tables, waving hi to the friendly Korean hostess who he already knew from being there over a dozen times before.
Patrick reached the booth and was about to lean over to Rei to greet her with a hug and a kiss when he saw her face. It was completely without emotion, as if old Rei from three years ago had returned. Oh no, he thought, as from spending years together Patrick as much as anyone knew Rei's own moods and knew that when she "shut down" her emotions it didn't mean they were gone. Instead it was because she was bottling them up on account that they were boiling furiously. He wasn't out of the doghouse yet, he now knew.
"Hi," he greeted her in a friendly if very awkward tone, sitting down in the seat opposite the booth couch. Rei said nothing in reply, but simply stared intently at him.
"How long have you been here?"
"I have ordered for you already," she told him in a monotone, flat voice.
"Thanks," he said, "sorry it took me a bit longer to get here, I was…"
"Why are you cheating on your classes?" Rei suddenly demanded.
Patrick was quiet, now in shock from her very direct manner. Was this going to be a fight? Because fights with Rei, albeit rare, were just uncomfortable for him as could be.
"Say that again?"
"You are cheating on your classes," Rei told him, "and you are asking Forri-chan to help you to do it."
"She only helps me sometimes, and I don't cheat the tests," Patrick shrugged. "But yeah, Erin's hacked my grade file a few times when it came out too badly. Did she tell you?"
"She did not need to," Rei said, now with stronger emotion in her voice. She was no longer speaking in a monotone but with strength and anger, something which Patrick hadn't heard from Rei in a very long time.
"You put her at risk for your own sake," Rei said to Patrick. "How can you do that?"
"Because I'm still adjusting to this school and how it works. It's totally different from either Japan or the US, and I was never in a regular high school in the US."
"That is incorrect," Rei corrected, "you went to school in Maine."
"Oh, yeah, there was that. But Chamberlin was for like a half-year, that's all. This is all totally different."
"It is no excuse," Rei continued to admonish him. "If Forri-chan is caught changing your grades again she will be expelled, as will you."
"Fine, I won't do it again. I promise."
"You're not piloting anymore. You need to focus on your education."
"That's what I'm doing!"
"At the arcade?!"
"Well, um, I need that!" Patrick defended. "Hell, do you have any idea how much stress I've got doing all of this?"
"You do much less than me each day," Rei scolded. "You waste your time."
"Okay! Okay then, you got me! I'm struggling, that's all!"
"You talk so much but you don't say anything," Rei declared. "Nothing here comes from your heart."
Patrick now felt himself becoming angry, and in a way that was difficult for him to control. "How can you accuse me of that? The whole reason why I'm here at all is for you, and for Erin. So that we can all be together, isn't that what we wanted?"
"But you are not here for yourself? Then what are you doing?"
Patrick started to say something but struggled for an answer, not feeling at all confident in what he was saying. Rei was completely beyond bullshit, he knew, but how could he convince her now that he was serious about being at school.
"Look, I'm doing all of this for your sake so please at least bear me out!"
Rei grabbed her purse from the couch and put the strap over her shoulder. "Is it not for my sake that you fail your classes? It is not for my sake that you do not study when you need to. It is not for my sake when you do not participate in anything of meaning. How can I expect you to be at my side if you don't take it seriously?"
"I do! I do take it seriously."
"If you did, you would not have to say it." At that moment a waiter came to the table with a sizzling plate of barbequed beef. It was an unusual choice of dish, as Rei didn't eat meat and Patrick always avoided it to not irritate Rei while dining there. "Wait, is this for the right table?" he asked the waiter.
"Yes, sir!" the man said and laid the dish down in front of Patrick. Confused, he looked at Rei. "Are you eating meat now?"
Rei narrowed her glance at him, "I ordered it for you." She then stood up and walked out of the booth.
"Rei, wait! Wait!" he shouted, unconcerned with the others in the restaurant but Rei just walked out the door. Seeing her go he let out a long sigh, his heart dropping to the floor. Patrick turned back to the table and saw the sizzling plate of meat in front of him. That's pretty much how I feel right now: slaughtered and cooked.
It wasn't until after midnight when Erin came back to the apartment, humming a tune and feeling light after a very pleasant evening with Diego, who had proved the perfect gentlemen yet again. Fresh memories ran in her mind of walking along the breakwater of Mystic River in the moonlight hand in hand, just taking her time with someone who she hoped would be strong and gentle with her. She thanked whatever powers there were in the world for her good luck this once. Now for damage control, she figured as she keyed open the front door of their place.
When Erin stepped inside the apartment was deathly quiet, no TV, no music. Was Patrick even back yet? But she looked down where they kept their shoes and she saw both Patrick's loafers and runners on the floor. So he's here.
"Patrick?" she called out as she closed the front door and sluffed off her dress boots. "Hey, Bro are you here?" Maybe he's still pissed off at me after our fight today. Erin walked quietly to Patrick's bedroom and knocked at the door.
"Hey, Bro, are you in there?" There wasn't a sound initially but Erin sensed that he was in the room. Sleeping? Or crying, or something worse? He must have had a fight tonight with Rei. No way that was going to be avoided after this morning.
"I'm coming in," she said and gently turned the doorknob.
Inside of Patrick's bedroom he had set up a large, makeshift table out of cinder blocks and a rectangular sheet of plywood. On it were about five thousand pieces of jigsaw all scattered around the surface, with only a few making the edges of an outside frame. There was also an empty chair next to the table. Erin looked around and saw him on the veranda as the large glass door was open and the drapes pulled away. Patrick just looked outside to the city lights in silence.
Barefoot on the carpet Erin walked silently to her brother, gently putting her hand on his shoulder. Patrick turned to see that it was her.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hey," she replied, smiling at him. Patrick didn't smile back however.
Erin leaned closely against him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you today," she told him. "I just blew my top."
"It's alright," he said at a whisper. "Family squabbles, right? Beats wanting to kill me."
"Yeah, that's true," Erin said, laughing a little and relived that Patrick at least had some sense of humor left. "I guess it didn't go well with her, did it?"
"No," he told her, "No I think maybe I totally screwed the pooch on this one. Still, though, can't argue that she had a reason to be upset."
"I see you got a puzzle out," Erin said to him. "You haven't done that in a while."
"Yeah," Patrick replied, sniffling a bit. Erin heard the sniffle and studied her brother's face in the shadows of the night, only now realizing that he had indeed been crying.
"I don't know what to do," he told her. "I mean, I came here totally hoping that this would be this great experience with all three of us, finally away from the others in Japan, finally sort of in our home turf, right? And this whole school thing has been a hell on earth."
"Well, that's what happens when you try to put a non-science guy into a top tier science program," replied Erin. "You're just not cut out for this."
"What am I cut out for then?" Patrick asked. "I mean, it's not like I can go back to piloting EVA, can I? Even If I wanted to."
"Are you seriously thinking about that?"
Patrick turned around to face Erin, his face was still flush with emotion. "I used to hate EVA so much, but now it feels like without it I'm lost. Why? I wanted what I have now so much but I just can't make it work. Yet I don't know what else I can do."
"You want to go back to Big Bear?" Erin asked.
"Tsk," said Patrick, "there's nothing there for me either. I guess I don't have much in the way of things when it all boils down. I mean you're asuper computer whiz, and Rei's such a scientific genius she peruses textbooks for light reading. Everyone
elseseems to have their act together, heck Shinji and Asuka are in music school and seem to be doing well. Mari's happy doing whatever it is that she's doing, even I'm not quite sure. Everyone except me."
"You'll find your way," Erin said to Patrick, trying to be encouraging. "You already made a good first step."
"What do you mean? What, the puzzle?"
"Yeah," she told him. "I missed that part about you and was wondering when you'd break out that birthday present I gave you. Is five thousand pieces enough?"
Patrick now laughed and smiled back at Erin for the first time that night. "It better be." He took a deep breath in the night air. "Sorry I got you into this."
"Don't be sorry," she told him. "But don't get any ideas here ether, I'm not changing any more grades for you."
"I'm done with that," he told her. "Let me work on this stupid thing and then I can think for once." He then touched her face with his hand, grateful to have her in his life. "Thanks," he told her.
Erin didn't say anything in reply but instead just put her arms around Patrick and brought him close, holding him tightly. She could feel his face dug into her shoulder, and knew he felt fearful. Rei meant everything to him and having her so angry at him had unsettled him emotionally. His arms went around her and they held each other tight in the night wind for a long while.