Reciprocal Altruism || Snowbarry College AU

Less Than Three IV

Her phone buzzed again, but this time, it was a notification from her school app. Caitlin clicked on it quickly to see if there was a surprise last minute assignment or if a minor grade was posted.

It caught her completely off-guard to see the notification was for a grade change for her most recent exam in bio-tech.

She could only hold her phone in shock, staring at the giant zero that glared back at her, the deep red tone of the 0 a stark contrast against the white website. She had to be looking at it wrong. She had to be.

There was no way her grade changed from a 97% to a 0%. Absolutely no way—

"What's wrong?" Barry asked, sensing her oncoming panic attack.

She wordlessly handed him her phone and slumped back in her seat. Her body completely numb.

There was no way.

Barry glanced at her phone before looking back up to her. Then he looked back down at the phone trying to process what he saw.

"I think it's time for an impromptu tutoring lesson."

"This isn't funny, Barry."

"It's probably some grading mistake with the computer," Barry rationalized. "We just need to write him an email and let him know about the error and I'm sure he or the TA will fix it right back in no time."

"Okay," Caitlin agreed with a nod of her head, though her head remained low as her brain pounded loudly in her skull. "Okay, yeah. That makes sense. Grading error," she breathlessly mumbled to herself, "That's all it is. He's gonna fix it. And my grade won't be a 31% after he fixes it."

"I'll help you write the email to him," Barry said reassuringly, "Everything's going to be alright."

With a determined sniff, Caitlin raised her head. "Let's write this email."

It took Barry five minutes of deliberation before he presented his draft on how the email should look:

Professor Stein,

(In the words of Barry: "The key is to be as passive aggressive as possible, so no 'dear.' 'Dears' are for chumps.")

I received an E on my exam for your Biotechnology class. My grade was a 97%, which is not apparent on my test report anymore. An A, as you may or may not know, is representative of high achievement, which is the only thing I have put into this class. An E, however, is not in the least, a reflection of my efforts, and I certainly would not be pleased with this, much less, my future employers. This may have stemmed from a clerical error on your part, so I would appreciate it if you could change the grade.

Best,

Caitlin Snow

Barry hummed his approval at his draft. "Maybe we should add your middle initial in it too. Nothing says negative internal feelings like a middle initial."

Caitlin groaned and put her hands on her face, though she had started to feel better after Barry talked her down from her rising anxiety. "This is the worst email I have ever read. I am not sending this. He's going to give me an even worse grade now because of your letter!"

"You mean he's going to give you a negative score?" Barry teased once he realized Caitlin was in a better mindset.

"Oh, shut up."

When she opened her email to work on her own letter (one that was not downright patronizing the professor), she realized that she had already received an email from Stein.

The email read:

See me after class tomorrow.

Stein