Chapter 24 Leave an Impact

As Celia woke up the next morning, the first thing she heard was the smooth, constant breathing of Roy, who was right beside her. Roy had stayed at Celia's house late into the night because since they were studying, he didn't have enough time to go back to the Koopa Kingdom. A smile formed on her face as she remembered everything that they had done last night. The sex had been very enjoyable, that much was for certain, but it wasn't the highlight of her evening. That honor belonged to studying with him. They had continued even after dinner, with Roy acquiring more knowledge than he had previously believed he could handle. The way his face lit up, the way his posture and body language changed as it occurred to him that he was actually retaining information, was as sweet as nectar. Was there a sweeter sight in the world? Was there such something that was nicer than Celia seeing her boyfriend feel extra accomplished and proud of himself? The answer was no. No, there was not.

She turned and situated herself in a position where she could look right into his sleeping face. She grinned, valuing the time that she got to see him without his trademark sunglasses. Sure, the shades were cool and gave him a very unique appearance, but this just felt more personal. It felt as if Celia was much more acquainted with the real Roy whenever she saw him with his shades off, and this time wasn't any different. She wished that she could watch him for hours.

Unfortunately, one look at the clock told her she couldn't. It was six-thirty in the morning, meaning that the two of them had to get ready for school. So, Celia shook him.

"Roy, wake up?"

Roy smiled as he came around. "Want to make love a little more, don't you sweetie?"

Celia shook her head. "No, Roy, we need to get ready for school."

There was a moment of silence before Roy opened his eyes, the disappointment in them practically immeasurable. "Oh. School." He sighed as he sat up. "Drat."

"I know." Celia smiled. "But hey, if it makes you feel any better, it's already Friday! That means tomorrow is the weekend, so we can just sit back and relax."

Roy thought about this before smiling. "That is true." He giggled. "Oh man, do I love the weekends? I don't know who invented them, but I want to buy them a beer."

Celia made a face. "As a seventeen-year-old?" She laughed, causing Roy to give her a playful nudge in the arm. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"

"Good. Because if you weren't, I would… uh…. Well, I don't know what I would do; I need to take some time to think about that." He looked over at the bedside table. "Now, where are my shades?" He got up from the bed and searched around on the floor when he failed to find them.

This prompted Celia to ask a question that she couldn't believe she never asked before. "Why do you wear those shades all the time? I mean, they make you look cool, but are they necessary?"

Roy chuckled as he got down on his knees and searched under the bed. "They actually are." He stood back up. "They're EnChroma glasses."

Celia blinked. "What does that mean?"

"They help me see color." He stopped searching for a quick spell so that he could look into her face. "I can't see reds or greens with my naked eyes, so the glasses help me."

"Oh." Celia thought about this. "That's… unfortunate." She smiled. "But it's good that the glasses help."

"Yeah, it is." Roy lifted up the pillow and beamed. "Ah! There they are!" He picked up the glasses and put them on his face, beaming at Celia as he did. "Now I can see all the colors in your hair." He leaned closer to her, taking her hand. "And trust me when I say that makes my so much happier."

Celia blushed. "Thanks." She adjusted herself and stood up, wrapping the blankets around her so that she could cover up the fact that she was naked. "Well, let's get ready." She smiled. "Don't want you to be late for your big test."

"Oh yeah! That's today!" A brief flash of fear appeared on his face, but it went away rather quickly. "I think I'll do well on that! Especially if I remember the song." He chuckled before starting to sing. "Portabo was in the Fungi Pit oh woah. Oh woah. The special koopas ended it oh woah. Oh woah! The whole great Koopa Mushroom War all started after not before, the King got assassinated." He beamed. "The king got ASSASSINATED!"

Celia chuckled. "Yep! You seem to have everything locked and loaded." Her face fell a little. "Just… try not to actually sing out loud when you're taking the test."

Roy glared at her. "Why? Because I sound horrible?"

"No!... Well, okay, that is true, but it's not the main reason." Roy's glare got more concentrated, causing her to chuckle. "No, I just think that singing it out loud would give the other people taking the test the answers."

"Oh." Roy looked slightly more relaxed. "Yeah, that may be true." He laughed and puffed out his chest. "Don't worry Cee; I'll keep it to myself!" He chuckled. "It'll be like I'm keeping a secret from everyone else in class. Oh boy, will that be fun!"

"Yeah." Celia grabbed her clothes from out of the dresser. "Now, come on! We still need to get ready!"

"Oh! Right, right!" With that, Roy went out of the bedroom to the bathroom so that he could wash his face. As Celia slipped her clothes on, she thought about the day that lay before her. She didn't think it would be too bad, but one possibility that concerned her was Ms. Tish asking her about her project. It was, after all, due in two weeks.

Celia shook her head. She didn't want to think about that. She would worry about that later. Right now, she just wanted to tackle this day.

"And so, that is how you use the FOIL method," Ms. Tish concluded. She looked back at her, smiling as she did. "Keep that technique locked in your mind, and you'll be able to solve any algebraic equation."

"Cool," Celia said as she wrote that down in her notes. She actually managed to smile. "Man, we are moving fast through this! When I joined, I could hardly deal with fifth grade level math. I never would've imagined that I could take care of algebraic equations!"

Ms. Tish beamed. "I know. You're making amazing progress, Celia." She looked right at her, the warmth in her expression changing the very atmosphere of the room. "I'm very proud of you." She chucked. "You're my favorite student."

Celia laughed right alongside her. "I'm your only student." She shook her head. "But thanks. That means a lot."

Ms. Tish smiled. As she did, Celia couldn't help but feel amazed by her. After all the grief she went through in her personal life, she still managed to find purpose in her work. She didn't let her bad experiences get her down. Instead, she faced everyday with courage and joy, all for the sake of coming into this school building and teaching Celia specifically. That was incredible to her. It made Celia admire her even more than she had previously. Sure, the whole time where she saved her from that bully had been amazing, but she had only grown to show more of her amazing colors as time progressed. She was awesome. Possibly the best teacher Celia had ever had.

Right at that moment, the school bell rang. Ms. Tish laughed and walked back over to her desk. "That's all for right now. On Monday, I think we can move onto the subject of Geometry."

Celia nodded as she put her things in her bag. As she stood up, she realized with relief that Ms. Tish hadn't asked her about her project. Thank. GOODNESS! Celia still didn't know how to approach it, so the fact that Ms. Tish had been silent about it had helped her body to relax all the more.

"Sounds good." She slung her bag over her shoulders. "See you Monday!" She walked toward the classroom door. As she did, she thought about Roy. She wondered how his test went, how he had managed to tackle it. She supposed that was one of the things she could ask him when they found each other. She opened the door, about to start on her journey of locating her boyfriend…

Only to have the air knocked out of her. Celia gasped as a person held their arms tight around her, burying their face in her chest and making the most excited noises one could ever make.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you! It's been forever; I'm so glad that I managed to see you, Ms. Tish!"

Celia blinked. Ms. Tish? "Uh… who are you?"

The person who had hugged her seized up. "Oh." They pulled away from her, looking into her eyes while her face turned fire flower red. "Sorry! Sorry, I was just… sorry."

Celia studied the person who had accidentally hugged her. They were a Toad girl, with light purple, heart-shaped spots on their mushroom cap and blonde hair poking out beneath said mushroom cap. They had a purse strapped over their shoulder, a purple one that Celia noticed was quite large. The sight of this confused Celia, as well as surprised her.

"It's… it's okay."

The Toad girl nodded. "Okay. That makes me feel slightly better." She looked up at Celia. "Is Ms. Tish in, by the way?"

"Yeah, she's right over there…" Celia barely managed to finish her sentence before the Toad girl zipped into the room. She jumped up and down as she stood in front of Ms. Tish's desk.

"Oh, Ms. Tish! I'm so happy to see you!" She squeed. "So happy to see you!"

Ms. Tish blinked. "Vara?" She laughed. "It's nice to see you too!" She walked around the desk and hugged the Toad girl, a sight that completely and utterly mystified Celia.

"Uh…" part of her told her that she should just walk away, mind her own business and such. However, her curious side one out, so she stepped back into the classroom. "What's going on?"

Ms. Tish pulled away and smiled at Celia, an action that the Toad girl mirrored. "Celia, this is Vara T. She was one of my students about three years ago." She smiled as she looked back down at Vara. "And she was a good student too; one of the best."

"Aw, shucks!" Vara giggled. "I'm so happy to see you, Ms. Tish! Those three years have felt like forever!" She beamed, bouncing up and down. "This is especially true because I've been dealing with all this college nonsense."

"College?" Ms. Tish's eyes grew wide. "Did… did you get accepted into one?"

Vara beamed and pulled a letter out of her bag. "The University of Goom! Classes start this fall!"

"Oh, that's amazing!" Ms. Tish wrapped her arms around Vara again, laughing and smiling as she did. "I'm so proud of you!"

Vara made a happy grunt as she hugged her back. As she watched this display, Celia couldn't help but exist in a state of awe. It just… this was just amazing to her, unbelievable to her! A Toad and a koopa… getting along? Seriously, Vara wasn't slinging one single insult at Ms. Tish; instead, she was embracing her like she was her best friend in the whole wide world! Celia never thought she would see a display like this, and in all honesty, it kind of restored her faith in humanity.

After a little bit, Vara let go and beamed at Celia. "Is this another student of yours?"

"Yep." Ms. Tish gestured for Celia to come closer. "This is Celia Patch." Embarrassment appeared on her face as she scratched the back of her head. "She, uh… she's my only student this year."

"Oh!" Vara looked shocked for a minute before laughing. "Well, I guess that just means Celia is the luckiest student in the school right now."

Celia actually laughed at this sentence. "I… yeah, I guess you could say that."

The smile refused to fall from Vara's face. "Oh, anybody would be lucky to have you, Ms. Tish!" She giggled. "I still remember your lessons. Honestly…" she paused. "I don't think I would be in the position I'm in now if it wasn't for you." She patted her purse. "That's why I bought you a present!"

"A present?" Ms. Tish laughed. "Oh Vara, you don't have to do that."

"Of course I do! Not only are you my favorite teacher, but you also helped me change my mind about koopas!" She beamed. "I feel like that's deserving of some kind of recognition."

Hearing that made Celia's heart melt. Man. Man oh man oh man. Ms. Tish… did it even need to be said how amazing it was that she managed to do this? Did it need to be said that it was amazing the impact she left on someone like Vara? She didn't think so. It really did speak for itself.

"Celia?"

Celia looked back and saw Roy standing in the doorway. "Oh! Right!" She walked toward the door. "See you later, Ms. Tish!"

"See you later, Celia!"

With that, Celia closed the door. She smiled sheepishly at Roy. "Sorry, I was… I was caught up with something."

"That's alright." Roy chuckled as he extended his hand, which Celia took without hesitation. As they walked down the halls, Celia's mind stayed locked on everything she had just seen. She was so absorbed by it, in fact, that she didn't even ask Roy about his test. The impact Ms. Tish left on Vara's life… it was incredible!

Oh, Celia wished she could do something similar. To leave an impact on someone's life… and a positive impact at that… oh that would be amazing! That? That right there?

That would be her dream job. Doing that herself would make her the happiest person in the world. The only problem was that "someone who leaves an impact on people" wouldn't cut it for her project. She needed to be more specific.

Oh man, she had no idea how she was going to do that…