Astrophysics was tough as nails, and it quite frankly made Felix hurl whenever he saw the more complex equations. Still, it was something that interested him, and it was what allowed him to join Green Dawn. Being late to his first class of the semester was not a great look, so he sprinted with all he had across the campus.
He collided with a girl, spilling her coffee all over her clothes. She was mid-screech when Felix popped back five seconds, dodging the girl on his second go-around. Sometimes he wondered how he could help people with his power, but not spilling coffee on them was definitely a start.
Felix tumbled through the door to the classroom with a minute to spare. There were more empty chairs than he had imagined, but then again, astrophysics wasn't a particularly popular degree. Who, besides the maybe twenty students in the room, woke up at the crack of dawn to do advanced calculus?
Sitting down next to a guy who looked like he had drunk enough coffee to put any other regular college student into a stupor, based on the sheer volume of empty cans next to him, Felix whipped out his big blue notebook.
On the inside, it looked like a bunch of chicken scratch, even to Felix. At some point, they were meant to resemble mathematical symbols, but his handwriting wasn't going to be winning him any calligraphy awards anytime soon.
"Hey dude, I'm waiting for someone. Mind moving?" the coffee guy asked, taking his head from his textbook. Embarrassed, Felix nodded and started shoving his stuff to another bench instead. The professor entered as he got settled again. No one entered afterwards.
Since the first meeting of any class in any semester was mind-numbingly simple – everyone always went over the syllabus, the class instructions – Felix had enough time to realize that the coffee guy hadn't been waiting on anyone. Felix's eyes narrowed as he realized the deception; it was hard to be angry at the man. In fact, it was something Felix might have to use himself.
They did very little actual math in that meeting, but Felix did get enough out of it to know that the professor wasn't going to be lenient at all. The professor said as much himself, "I will not tolerate tardiness, nor will I accept late work. You must give your all in my class for me to give you my all. Is that understood?"
It was fantastic as far as threats went. Well, all except that his voice was as high-pitched as a boy going through puberty, but it was hard to fault the man for something he couldn't control. On the contrary, it was a pretty reasonable, if annoying, request.
In another semester, Felix might have tried to transfer to a different instructor, but there was only one professor teaching this course this semester. Well and truly stuck, Felix thanked his lucky stars he ran to class that day.
As class drew to a close, the room quickly cleared out. Before Felix had a chance to do the same, the professor made a beeline straight for him. Felix gulped; he hoped that he hadn't done anything bad. Something like this happened every semester. The last time, it was for accidentally spraying some girl in the face with hand sanitizer. Off the top of his head, Felix couldn't imagine how he'd messed up in the space of the last two hours.
Professor Dietrich regarded him carefully, glancing at the notes Felix hadn't yet had a chance to stuff away into his backpack. "I was sure I'd seen your face before, but I think I know where I've seen you, now. You wouldn't happen to be the same Felix Hale that just returned from orbit, would you?"
Felix didn't sigh like he wanted to, but the relief made it feel like a great weight was lifted from his shoulders. "Yes, that's me. I'm really excited to be in your class this semester, professor."
The older man's eyes went wide, and an excited light glinted in them. "I might not teach astronomy, but I find it very fascinating. I was planning on inviting a guest speaker or two to get the class excited about math, but it looks like I've found just the person. Would you be interested?"
Now it was Felix's turn to look shocked. He had never so much as given a speech outside of the mandatory public speaking class he had to take, and here was a distinguished professor asking him to give one. About math.
"I'm hardly qualified, Professor Dietrich. I was entered into a lottery and came out of it an astronaut," Felix argued. It was true; all he had to do to be qualified for entry into the whole ordeal was to be in college and pursuing a degree related to the space industry.
The white-haired man shook his head. "Qualified or not – which I assure you, you are – you have been to space. Many people would kill for an opportunity like that. Even if you knew nothing about mathematics, and your grades in previous courses say otherwise, you can drum up excitement pretty easily, I guarantee it."
Felix tossed the idea around in his head, but he only decided when the professor put an encouraging hand on his shoulder, smiling a warm smile that seemed altogether impossible from the way he had just chewed out the class. "I'll do it, professor. When would you need me to be prepared by?"
"Next week?"
Felix bit back a curse, but nodded. Making a hasty retreat of the room and sprinting back out the way he came, Felix regretting scheduling his classes so closely together. It was a shame he couldn't just turn back the clock a week or two and pick differently. His maximum time still remained close to thirty seconds, but there have been slight improvements lately. Maybe the meditation really was helping.
At the very least, the meditation would help him prepare for his mini presentation next week. Felix shook his head clear and stepped into the physics classroom. This semester was going to be far from fun, he could already tell.