Adam curled back into his blankets as the alarm blared its morning song at him. He thought bout ignoring that song and getting back to sleep, where finals didn't exist, his future would never come, and he didn't have a parasite in his brain.
Alas, dreams rarely come true without effort, and he couldn't muster enough to ignore the consequences as he shoved off the blankets. He had crammed all of his textbooks over the weekend and still felt like he hadn't read a single one.
Wiping away the crust from his eyes, Adam quickly got washed up. Prime, his parasitic attach-on had thankfully kept quiet most of the weekend. Silently Adam hated that he had gotten used to Prime's presence so quickly.
He greeted his mother at the table. Unlike Friday, he had gotten up on the first alarm today and had plenty of time for breakfast.
"Morning hun." His mom greeted him as she laid down a stack of three pancakes and an apple on the table he sat at.
"Morning." He answered back as he picked up a fork that had already been set out and began to eat. He wasn't a fan of sweet things, so his mother never put syrup on his pancakes.
"Do you know what your first final is? how well do you think you'll do?" She asked as she took the coffee mug out from under the coffee maker and sat down at the table, blowing gently on it while holding it with both hands.
Adam swallowed, hurting his throat as he had done so too soon. "...They don't tell us that until we get to school... And not great. it's just-"
He paused. Was he really about to tell his mother about Prime? She was always supportive, but a small part of him doubted she'd be so understanding...
"I know sweetie, you've always had trouble with tests. You're always a doer, not a thinker... Just like your father." She took a drink of her coffee, the steam still coming up off of it to hide the painful grimace Adam knew she would have thinking of his dad.
His dad was just like Charlie's Parents, only his mom and him never got the closure of his death, as he was declared missing in action six years ago. His mother still hoped he'd somehow find his way back to earth... to them. Adam tried hard not to think about the most likely reason his dad hadn't come back yet.
The minutes of breakfast passed in solemn silence before Adam got up and walked through the front door for school.
The students were bumbling around the common area of the high school. The podiums with a glowing Redish crystal had lines formed. Each student placed their palms atop one of them before sometimes putting on a devastated expression. Eventually, the line in front of him shorted and he placed his palm upon the gem, pushing a psionic tendril forward. The words 'Psionic Civil History' Appeared in his mind, and he joined some of the devastated students in their expression-making.
Soon enough, a hand clasped Adam's shoulder, Look behind him, Olly had somehow snuck up on him like usual. "Not good?"
"Psionic Civil History." Olly took a breath through his teeth. "Your worst subject. Look on the bright side, I have Physical fitness. I'm going to be sore the entire week."
Adam winced in sympathy at Olly's first class. It was bad luck getting physical fitness first. The final for it was always the same, repeat the same one thousand-meter dash, one hundred mixed exercises, and rope climb until you were too tired to continue. And the requirements for a passing grade just kept going up every year. Many students failed later finals because they didn't feel better the next day.
Adam bid Olly good luck as he went to the classroom. Just because he had a full three hours didn't mean he was confident. Each final took up a whole half-day of finals week. The group of students around Adam calmed down as the teacher passed each student's four-page final face down before sitting down at his desk. The tension finally broke when he told them to begin. The sound of paper flipping and pencil scratching filling the room.
Adam flipped his over, his head already feeling dizzy at the first question.
In 2043, who theorized the PCI scale which is still used today?
A. Henrick Falson
B. Jung Min
C. Ademir Mayne
D. None of the above
The room spun as Adam looked around the room at the other student's pencils moving down the pages almost lightning quick. Before he knew it, twenty minutes had passed, and he couldn't answer any of the first twenty questions.
"Do you require assistance?" Adam nearly jumped out of his seat as Prime spoke up. Whispering as quietly as he could, Adam pretended to be frustrated enough to cover his mouth.
"How? Don't tell me you know the answers?"
"I do not, but you do. And I can access those memories as long as you are thinking of the question. The first one is C, Ademir Mayne, who had developed his psionic potential and used himself as the baseline for the PCI scale."
Adam filled in C. He already wasn't doing great, it wouldn't hurt his grade any more than taking the test normally listening to Prime. With Prime giving the answers, Adam soon started putting some answers down before he was even told them. He was surprised when Prime told him they were correct. Time flew by, and when he reached the end of the Final page and put his pencil down, he looked at the clock surprised.
He had finished in only an hour. He looked at the filled sheet, whereas in different years he took most of the class time to finish the work, with Prime's help he had finished in a third of the time. Adam couldn't tell if the answers were correct, so there was no point in reviewing his answers. With a sigh, he got up, placed his Final on the teacher's desk, and left the room.
Friday was here and Adam's heart was pounding, not because his last final had been Physical Fitness, but because he, along with the entire student body, were waiting at home for their final grades. Prime was silent, though Adam felt his passenger doing something that calmed him down enough so he wasn't pacing.
There was a mental push against his psyche, indicating that he was getting a notification from his computer. Putting on his headset, the bluish crystal pulsating softly barely reassuring him.
"...Prime, You can stay. You can fucking stay as long as you want." Adam said breathless. The notification was indeed for his scores, and it was the first one hundred percent he had gotten on a final ever, let alone on all three. He was glad he was sitting, because he felt like his knees were Jello. His D's were secure. He was graduating!
This was the best day of his life.