We’re in the common room, Lisa and I. It’s Friday afternoon, about 2 - It’s partly-sunny and 45°f. outside. We’ve claimed the two squares of temporary rectangular sunlight like the Spanish conquistadors of old once claimed everything.

I’m just drowsing, I had a test this morning, I got up at 3:30am to study for it and although I’m confident I did ok, I find myself rehashing it when I close my eyes. So I’m determinedly not closing my eyes - much. Lisa has a book open and she’s working on a chemistry problem set (called a pset) assigned as homework.

Looking out and up, there’s only one, lonely, cumulonimbus cloud in the sky. It's there, as if placed - a piece of art - the rest of the sky remaining defiantly blank. At first glance, it resembled a man, hanging by his neck, blowing in the wind under a giant mushroom gallows - but he soon detached and floated away like a tattered kite.

Lisa starts asking a question, without looking up from her book. “Ok, so when hydrogen acts as a metal instead of a nonmetal..”

“Please don’t make me think,” I whisper in a tired monotone, “I’m unprepared.”

“Ugh.” Lisa, grunted. She absorbed her disappointment quietly, without taking offense.

We’re like two disparate species coexisting in the same landscape: the chemistry-tested and the soon-to-be-tested - neither diminished the other but we’re separate.

Leong and Anna come in together, breaking off to their rooms to shed bookbags and coats but soon they’re filling the room with restless energy. “Has anyone heard from Sophy?” Leong asks.

Sophy failed a rapid test yesterday morning and was hewn from the population like a cancer on the student body - and swooped off to isolation housing. “Yeah, I took her some stuff this morning,” I report, “She seems ok.”

People are dropping to covid like flies. None of us are invincible, we roommates watch each other - as if any one of us could go full-on-zombie at any moment - not unlike I imagine dinner at the Trumps these days - everyone looking around, nonchalantly, wondering who’ll flip first - but here, if you cough, you’ll start a panic.

Dear boy who finished the three hour Chemistry test in 9 minutes,

I hope you FAILED.
Sincerely, Girl still on question 2.

I hate tests
Maybe it's because the circles
remind me of rings of
fire
Or maybe it's because the tests
are like life or death to a grade
that won't
matter

I just know I hate tests
I hate taking tests

I was prepared for it all,
Thru it all I stood tall,
Ever since I was a teenager,
I took the easy way out,
This time I decided to stand on my own,
It was rough,
It taught me the biggest lesson,
The biggest test of my life,
Brought me closer to God,
Learn the importance of faith and prayer,
Without those would've made it,
I'm wiser,
I see the world and people lot different.

Those who thought I'd fall apart,
Haha jokes is on you,
Never bet against but bet on me,
I was born to win not lose,
I took a few loses but I've got the big win,
This is only the beginning,
There's so many more blessings ahead.

Believe in me,
Not lose faith in me,
Yes I've made many mistakes,
But I've learned from them,
The biggest mistakes of my life,
Were the most valuable teaches,
Without failure you can't succeed,
I'm thankful for the slight failures,
It gave much insight about bigger success.

I can't help but vent
on how this week went
For the school board dared
Give us all Stress that ensnared

From our hopes of having free time
To our hopes of being able to flip a dime

But worry not, for I have not prepared
So I have dared;
but alas, to no avail
So I will continue trying to unveil

On why the school is so merciless
To those who don't know patience
And to those who are worthless
Hear my inexperience

I am scared, nervous,
despaired, and ambitious

For I will dare once again
To this week of drain

I didn't give up and I never will give up,
Life has been throwing stones at me all my life,
Them stones don't do nothing but bounce off me,
The tests we are faced either make us or break us,
Choice your own fate,
Don't allow anyone else to choose your fate,
The struggles will always be there,
You can overcome the struggle,
You can weather the storm,
Make sure you bring your umbrella.

First it starts to sprinkle,
Then it begins to drizzle,
Shortly after it begins to rain,
After that it begins to storm,
There's nothing that can stop this storm except you.

Life is a grand adventure
And adventures come with tests
You won’t succeed with every try
You just need to do your best

With adventure comes perspective
And relationships - and skill
Yes, the things that really matter
When you act with power and will

Prosperity is character
When challenging times arrive
So brace up and hold steadfast
Act with confidence - and thrive

What is my pride?
I'm a Baha'i, I study math and physics, and I study
martial arts.
Then this is where people may hurt me the most.
They will make my dimension into a lie,
contradict what I know so well.
A shove or a push, even a slap or hit only affects my body.
Hurting my feelings by making me feel unloved, that
is only my mammalian brain.
But defying my reason and insight - this is where I am
most weak.
To call my religion a plan of the Illuminati,
by calling my science untrue,
by saying I don't know anything of martial arts.
This is where the ego of the world now dwells:
within the reasoning mind.
This is where my testing will take place:
letting go of knowledge
to meet the words of the naysayer.

I will take your words and
transform them into love.
Then I will wait until I find a companion
heart, to tell my truth to.