Initial Completion: October 20, 2020

Revised: November 5, 2020

The calm of the afternoon was interrupted by a screaming little blob and the furious student that vigorously chased him. Morph sped as fast as he could, deathly afraid of whatever Jim might do to him as he followed in hot pursuit.

As he speedily made his way past the Administration building Morph quickly turned the corner. Jim followed suit only to skid to a stop. He looked around, his breathing very heavy from running, but Morph was suddenly nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if he had vanished into thin air.

But Jim had known the pink bugger long enough to notice the strange-looking brick on the wall.

Without hesitation, he all but slammed his hand against the odd brick, the squishiness of it accompanied by a shrill scream quickly confirming his suspicion. "You little peeve!" he shouted at the creature as it squirmed in his fist. Morph squealed and covered his eyes, bracing himself for whatever punishment awaited.

Jim was still full of adrenaline and still very much angry. Morph should not have been in the courtyard nor should he have done what he did. However, Jim just couldn't bring himself to hurt the little guy. As annoying as he could be, he just didn't know any better.

Jim sighed heavily in defeat, slowly releasing his friend. Morph sighed in relief as Jim started to cool down.

Of course, just because he had calmed down didn't mean he wasn't going to get an explanation. "Why did you do that, Morph? I told you we needed to study!" he scolded, clearly still quite upset at the pink annoyance, "Are you crazy?!"

Morph promptly transformed himself, taking the form of Jim's head with a goofy smile and thumping hearts for eyes. "Crazy! Crazy!" he mimicked. Jim growled as he swiped his hand at Morph, causing him to yelp and duck for cover.

"Oh, you think I'm the crazy one?" Jim asked, raising his voice, "What were you even doing there?" He didn't bother waiting for an excuse as he turned away, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

He was just supposed to study.

That was it, nothing else.

Now he felt that something awful was going to happen to his friendship with Kate. He groaned, feeling quite powerless and uncertain of what the future held.

What was he supposed to do now?

Morph made a sound of inquiry, reminding Jim that the little annoyance was still there with him.

Jim hung his head. He didn't even want to look at his so-called friend.

"Just leave me alone, Morph," he said, his voice low as he turned his back and slowly walked away, "I'll see you later."

He heard a sad noise behind him but he continued, not wanting to be anywhere near Morph right now.

The breeze had finally picked up, rustling the branches of the lovely trees and causing Jim's hair to sway back and forth in front of his face. The day was just as perfect as it was not too long ago but he couldn't care less, not when he had more important matters to concern himself with. He decided to pass through the West Academic before class to return his textbook to his locker. The Doc didn't allow open-book tests so Jim thought he might as well.

When he arrived he noticed a jacket hanging on the outside of his locker and he looked down at himself, suddenly realizing that he was not wearing his. It quickly dawned on him that he had left all of his stuff outside in the courtyard with Kate.

He smacked himself for being so incompetent. 'Nice going, Hawkins,' he thought, 'Way to make yourself look like an idiot.' Perhaps Kate had left his jacket there for him to find and would return his book bag after class.

Jim grabbed his jacket and put it on, feeling its warmth from the heat of the afternoon. As he dressed he suddenly smelled and even tasted peach tea. He noticed but thought nothing of it, subconsciously licking his lips. He was just glad that at least he didn't need his book bag for now and he wouldn't have to be underdressed for the rest of the school day.

As he left to make his way to the Science building he suddenly had a thought: peach tea must have been what Kate had with her lunch.

Jim had never wiped his mouth faster in his life.

He groaned as he felt his face burn. He understood why he was feeling embarrassed about what had happened, but he couldn't understand the sick feeling in his gut that came with it. 'Must have been something wrong with that roast birken,' he wondered, feeling perplexed at this anomaly, 'Had to be.'

He shook his head free of the thought and quickly continued to his class. 'C'mon, you've got a class to worry about,' he reminded himself. Maybe the exam would distract him from all of this madness for a while.

At least, he hoped it would.

Jim arrived in class at 1:12 just before class started, his usual time of arrival.

He quickly seated himself in his usual spot and it wasn't long before a familiar yet nasal voice rang through the lecture hall, "Good afternoon, students."

Jim looked up to see Dr. Doppler wearing a rather large clothespin on his rather large nose.

The doctor made his way to the instructor's desk at the front and placed down his satchel. "You'll have to forgive my new accessory," he explained, sounding very congested, "I'm afraid my sensitive nose had the displeasure of experiencing the odor of infant fecal matter multiplied by four and has been spending the better part of the lunch hour recovering."

Various students giggled amongst themselves much to the doctor's chagrin. Jim remembered Morph recounting and reenacting the experience that morning, making him think of the blobby pain in the neck.

He didn't feel like laughing.

Delbert continued amidst the constant snickering, "Don't think that just because I've had a life-threatening experience that I've forgotten about today's exam."

The giggles and chuckles were quickly replaced by groans and mumbles. Jim knew he was ready for it but he, too, felt upset by this exam, albeit in a different way than the other students.

Except maybe Kate.

Jim slowly glanced over at where she sat, several rows away. He immediately noticed that she, indeed, had his book bag. He would have to meet with her to retrieve it for his other classes, but his insides didn't seem to like the idea of talking with her.

Kate herself was looking down at her desk, pen in hand, and waiting for the doctor to hand out the exam. Her stiff posture was normal- at least what was normal for Kate Blake- but her expression told Jim that she was also thinking about their study session.

Maybe he would just tell his instructors that he lost his book bag.

His view was blocked by a sudden panel that was raised from his desk. Delbert had changed the settings of the room to raise the dividers between each student to lower the risk of cheating.

"You will have two hours to complete the exam, and if you finish beforehand you will remain seated until class is dismissed," the doctor explained as he went through the room, handing out the exam papers, "When you are certain that you have finished, press the button on the corner of your desk and enter your student ID to prompt the desk to take your paper."

Jim grabbed his exam from the doctor, hoping it could distract him from the pitiful feeling in his gut.

"I'm not going to enforce the monitor bots because I know how hard it can be to concentrate with something staring over your shoulder," Delbert continued, now making his way back to the front of the classroom, "I do hope you all studied the required topics and terms for the given chapters…"

As the Doc continued with test regulations Jim tried to focus as he waited to start, the taste of peach tea lingering.