How to Survive Your 19th Life [BL]

Chapter 74: Burning Love

I was called to Professor Groves' office near the end of the semester. I was the closest I had ever felt to surviving at least until summer. His office was in the Campus Center on the second floor, at the very end of the hall.  As soon as I entered, he said, "Have a seat Mr. Eliasson. I have a few questions for you."

I sat across from him, with a quick glance around the room. It was a sad office with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with old dusty books and figurines. There were barely any photos of family or friends. I even spied a vintage VHS of the movie Alien on display near one of the top shelves. 

Professor Groves turned his laptop towards me. An Excel spreadsheet with test scores and grades appeared on the screen with my name highlighted. My grades went from severely struggling early in the semester to near perfection.

"Can you explain this to me?" Professor Groves told me. "Perfect scores on all tests and assignments."

I shrugged. "I guess I'm a genius."

"I would imagine that would be the case, except you were pulling a C average last semester and a B average most of last year." He clicked over to another spreadsheet, this time with all my grades from my other classes. "Same trend here, Mr. Eliasson. You go from average to perfect scores across the board."

"Look, I've been studying more, professor."

"I would imagine that would be the case as well except that you are barely attending classes and even when you are there, you are clearly not paying attention, or sleeping."

I winced. Yes, I'd been sleeping in a few of my lectures. But what else was there to do? I'd gone over these lessons several times by now. I'd read ahead in all of my text books from the sheer boredom of it all. I simply didn't have a response. 

No genius idea sprung into my mind for me to defend myself.

"I can only assume you've been cheating somehow," he said.

I jumped from my chair and shouted, "I haven't!"

He closed the laptop and leaned back in his chair. The professor had a round face, like a beaver, which now drooped with exhaustion and irritation. 

"I swear I haven't cheated," I told him, sitting back down. He didn't seem like the type of man who tolerated loud noises. 

"Unless you can explain this sudden improvement, Mr. Eliasson. I will have no choice but to place you under academic suspension until our investigation is complete."

"That's bullshit. You have no proof of anything. It's suspicious, sure. But suspension? Come on, that's bullshit."

"I am willing to listen to your explanation. You have to give me something more than you just suddenly studied harder."

Of course he needs something more. I should have been more careful. There were simply too many things to side steps in my repeating lives. I had so many rules to keep things from tipping to disaster. Now this was another.

"What if I told you I've been caught in a time loop?"

In a smooth motion, Professor Groves opened his laptop and said, "You are excused."

"I'm serious," I said, leaning towards the desk. He looked up at me from the top edge of his screen. "Professor... I've been living this semester for about..." I hadn't even counted. I wasn't sure how many lives it had been at this point. "It's been a while."

"Well then you shouldn't care about getting suspended. You'll be able to fix it in your next try."

"I'm trying to make sure this is my last time."

"Tell me something I don't know then, since you have been here before."

"I haven't been here. I usually am... gone by this time."

"So this isn't Groundhog's Day?"

"No, my circumstances are different."

"Mr. Eliasson, please stop wasting my time."

It was pointless. Who in their right mind would believe me anyway? Henri didn't and he knew me the best out of anyone. I was incredibly isolated. I got up but before I left, Professor Groves said, "My elder brother's middle name is Pinkey."

"What?" I asked, looking back at him.

Professor Groves wore a smug grin. "For the next time you time travel, Mr. Eliasson. That's something no one knows. Maybe you'll have luck convincing me next time."