The Lives We Lead | tmr/tw • tw/tmr |

(31) Academics and Conspiracies

With Isaac no longer in Connecticut, Abbie felt... bored.

School stayed mostly the same as before since they hadn't shared any classes--Isaac took the easiest classes he could while still graduating, while Abbie overloaded her schedule with 6 AP courses (per semester). The only time that felt different was lunch, as she found herself sitting alone again.

But it didn't bother her as much as it had before, probably because she went to Beacon Hills and she met a bunch of good people who would be considered almost equally as peculiar as herself--and she fit in there. So, Abbie found herself eating alone in the cafeteria instead of alone outside because screw what others whispered about her! She found people she liked and college would be different as she wouldn't be surrounded by people who knew her in 7th grade.

Things were looking up as she threw herself into two and a half weeks of AP tests, taking at least one a day, if not two. Altogether, she had signed up for 30 tests as all she needed was half a day of review on each of the subjects before she took the exams. Only 5 of the exams were offered on her school campus so she ended up driving an hour away to take rest of the exams at a larger testing center. It took up the majority of her last month of high school, Finals Week consisting of mostly busy work and movies since the teachers usually excused students from the Final Exam if they took the AP test for the course.

So she graduated. And she was supposed to be valedictorian, but she refused to accept the title, instead deferring it to the salutatorian and the third runner up. Not only did she want to stay out of the lime light, but Abbie knew just how much Fiona Michelle and George Abbot hated her guts. Both had fought tooth and nail to have the highest ranks in their Class of 2013, and then she just woke up from a coma and ripped that away from them. She figured she made enough enemies to last her both of her lifetimes without ruining others' high school experiences--even if they went out of their way just to ruin her own.

So she sat in the audience as both the valedictorian and salutatorian made their speeches and  she walked the stage and accepted her diploma and then she went home with her parents where they celebrated with a nice dinner and a movie. It was demure and it was quiet and she liked it.

But then, summer break began and she decided to research her supernatural ancestry--only to find that there wasn't any information available in public libraries... anywhere.

So she contacted Yale last minute and asked if she could still attend their summer session. If there was one thing she knew, Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library had one of the most expansive collections of old--and extremely rare--books and manuscripts in the country, including historical pieces from China.

Mrs. Yukimura said that the fall of Huli Jing meant that most of the scrolls and art pieces regarding the fox spirits were purged from society, very few surviving the new era; if she would find anything specific about Huli Jing without having to actually visit China, it would be at Yale.

The Yale administration were practically falling over themselves to approve her summer semester. She had almost forgotten how universities reacted when she first sent out her applications that previous fall. Apparently, waking up as a genius after falling into a 3-year coma was memorable enough to attract the attention of any Ivy League college she wanted.

Between her graduation and her appointment to schedule her summer courses, Abbie had her first session with the psychologist to which Ramahilla referred her, Dr. Nekesa Larabal-Shaw. By far, she was one of the most beautiful women Abbie had ever seen in her life, with a lovely Kenyan accent to match.

They made conversation in Swahili until Abbie began to think about Tom since she remembered arguing about the principles of fluid-dynamics with him in the same language (it was easier to teach them the language than teach their instructor English). Nekesa, as she asked Abbie to call her, asked her to share what was running through her mind, but Abbie hesitated. It was then that Nekesa revealed all that she knew regarding Protectors and the supernatural.