un fois plus encore...
changeless
It was not the first time.
Overall, his sophomore year had been easy. Honors Chemistry turned out to be very manageable, seeing as the teacher was a spacey pushover. He also lucked out with Honors English; he was placed in the one tenth grade honors english class taught by a new teacher. Needless to say, he did well. His Standard History class, which he opted for only because he thought he would be taking too many difficult courses if he went into honors, required hardly any effort. Honors Trigonometry posed a threat, and it was in this class that he managed to pull off some of the most abominable scores he'd ever see, but the tests were remarkably easy and they offset the other grades. His remaining full-year classes, French III and Latin I, were facile, despite the fact he and his french teacher did not get along (to put it nicely, but that's another story).
The year went by, weekend by weekend, vacation by vacation, snowday by snowday. His classes were undemanding. He used his free time to work on his friendships; he must've seen a hundred movies that year.
December break had ended, and it would be time for midterms soon. He had taken midterms last year and wasn't concerned. Those midterms had gone okay, with exception perhaps to Honors Biology, in which he received a B-. But hey, you win some, you lose some.
However, he had promised himself he'd start his studying earlier this year. Like a month earlier, he'd said. Unfortunately, he lacked the insight to realize that there were actually only two weeks between the time he'd return to school from his December vacation and the midterms. He also lacked the insight to remember that teachers like to assign large amounts of work during those two weeks so that they can finish their units before the end of the semester.
Consequently, he left studying for each midterm to the night before. Again. It actually wasn't that bad; his first few midterms went by uneventfully. But then, it was the night before the History exam.
Reading through the study guide his teacher had given them (yes, it was that easy), he knew he had to start studying soon. But he had been mellowed by the easy year. He blew it off; decided to chat online instead. It got to be around five o'clock, and he still hadn't started studying yet, so he said his g2gs and signed off.
He took another look at the study guide. By chance, he flipped it over, and found a nice lengthy list of dates that he was supposed to have memorized. Damn.
He was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
He was a freshman in highschool. New to the place, to the classes, to the work. At first, he disliked the change, as many freshmen do. But he liked the feeling of being liberated, no longer having to worry about violating senseless rules.
There ought to be a required semester class for all freshmen that teaches some of the fundamental skills required for academic success: time management, note taking, and test preparation. So many people lack these skills, and they're vitally important. He lacked time management.
He had spent the day wasting time, watching a new DVD he had bought and reading. His cousin was visiting from college, and, what with it being sunday, only aided in the procrastination.
What's special about an autotroph?! What do stomata do?! He raced to find the answers. The clock wouldn't stop ticking. 11:00 PM.