Lina was disappointed. Life has always been boring, well sort off.It always felt like this dull, never-ending cycle; not awful, just... gray. Video games weren't her thing; they never really had been. But tonight it was either play or fall asleep in front of a blank screen.
Mr. Yang's droning voice. Even if the class was half as sleep he was still going on about the use of adjustive in creative writing they had been covering for the past hour and forty-five minutes.
Then there was Mr. Yang; his voice was like a lullaby written to torture teenagers. Half the class was basically unconscious; the other half pretending not to be. Yet there he was, still rambling on about adjectives in creative writing like it was the most riveting topic on Earth.
To be fair, the man was brilliant. A genuinely gifted English teacher; but she would swear on Buddha's belly that he was cursed with the worst batch of students. Most of them only got in because they knew someone or were good at, like, football or money.
The game, though? It turned out to be way more interesting than she'd expected. It was loosely inspired by some anime she half-remembered about a brooding chemist who brewed potions for vampires, werewolves, all kinds of supernatural creatures. The potions were complex; recipes with up to a hundred ingredients that you had to slice, stir, simmer just right. You could trade your creations for rare components; or drink them yourself to level up so you could venture into the woods and find even rarer ones.
An entire hour slipped by before the bell finally rang. Lina grabbed her bag and half-sprinted, half-tripped toward the door like her life depended on it. She was on the brink of death from boredom. She'd already maxed out her in-game level to 100 and had been officially crowned Full Alchemist so yeah, this whole school thing felt especially pointless.
She noticed the whispers; caught the glances her classmates tossed her way. But she didn't react. She never did. She was just inches from the exit, the fresh taste of freedom.
"Ms. Lina, may I talk to you a moment?"
She stopped. Her entire soul let out a groan. Mr. Yang's voice was calm; serious.
She glanced toward the hallway, where her classmates were trickling out like ants escaping a flood. She had plans with Tiger later; nothing urgent, but still it meant something. She turned back toward the teacher.
"Is it really important?" she asked, trying not to sound too annoyed.
"Yes," he replied.
She looked at the door one last time. Tiger was going to be mad; but Mr. Yang's face said this wasn't just small talk. She sighed and walked back to his desk.
He sat down comfortably while she stood, awkward and tense. Despite everything, Mr. Yang was one of the few teachers she actually respected. The last time he'd kept her after class, it was to ask her to tutor someone; nothing bad. That helped.
"I've arranged an independent study program for you," he said, as he started organizing a small pile of papers. "You won't need to attend regular classes anymore. I'll be giving you all your assignments for the rest of the year to work on independently. Your other teachers have agreed; they'll be speaking to you soon with their own instructions. Instead of reporting to class, you'll report to the library. The school policy allows it; for situations like yours. You'll spend six hours a day there; more if you want, but four is the required minimum. Do you have any questions?"
She stared at him. Mouth open. Eyes wide. She was pretty sure there might have been drool involved.
"Are you serious?" she squeaked.
"Uh; yes." He looked mildly alarmed by her reaction.
"Oh my God, thank you!" she gasped, twirling in place like she'd just been handed a ticket to paradise. "You have no idea how much I needed this! Thank you, seriously, thank you!"
And just like that, she was gone half-running, half-floating toward the door with a grin that threatened to split her face in half.
"Goodbye, Ms. Lina!" Mr. Yang called after her. "And work hard!"