School wasn't as boring after that. True, my grades dropped drastically, and the school counselor got really concerned, but I focused on only one thing – finding my passion. 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJxKo2f33q
I knew I could have consulted the grader – it had my whole life stored in its memory banks and crazy sophisticated sorting it out. It would have been the easy way, but I knew it wouldn't be satisfactory to have a Diego computer tell me what I should after I leave this place. 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIojFRYeoQ
During what part of lunch I didn't spend doing make-ups, I explored the electives school offered. I'd never really taken electives. All my elective slots were filled with more math and science supplements.
First, I tried Terrik's favorite elective – archeology. I'd hated all the history classes I had to take in primary school, and after twenty minutes of listening to the teacher explain the class, I knew this wasn't for me. Tag said I should at least find my passion interesting in the beginning.
I also tried Johana's thing – software programming. The teacher was quite nice and she tried very hard to get me interested, but I guess computers weren't my thing either.
All that took a week with all the makeups. During the weekend, I sat at home and did absolutely nothing in order to rest my mind. The stack of homework beckoned, but I ignored it. Physics II, Pre-Calculus, astrodynamics, advanced genetics, and integrated math-science wouldn’t matter in Itex. All that mattered was finding a job.
After ruling out art history, music theory, and the geometry of nature, I was running out of interesting looking electives. I was going to have to start dipping into boring classes, and I seriously didn't want to explore economics or environmental development. I was also running out of time. School would end in a month and a half, and I needed to get my courses of study and my job application one month before I left. I was leaving on the first day of summer.
On a rare day my mom didn't have work, I decided to consult her. Wasn't exactly sure what she could do for me, since her life had been mapped out when she was five and she solved a cross-species genetics map faster than children twice her age did. If I could be half the person my mom was when she was seventeen, I'd be rocking it.
"Ame, what's up?" Mom asked. I probably had the "urgent" face on.
"I need a job," I said. "I need to find something I can focus on, something I can study for in twelfth grade."
"Whoa, hand in there," Mom said. "Don't you already have something?"
I stared back, puzzled. "What do you mean?" Sometimes, my mom got very strange ideas about me. Well, occasionally, she would be right.
"Genetics," Mom said. At first, I thought she was going to talk about how she found her passion. "Ame, I know how fascinated you are in genetics. You've taken genetics classes all your life."
"But I'm no good it!" I demanded. "I've never been able to catch up with the others, and I'm always confused when they go too fast–"
"Genetics is not a required class. It's an important science, so you're allowed to take it, but it's not required. Yet, you've chosen it every year. Doesn't that say something?"
I'm no good at it," I said firmly. "It's so confusing and complicated and–"
"Amery, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean you have no interest in it," Mom insisted. "You might have to work hard at it next year, but Itex is different. In Itex, average is you. In fact, you're probably smart for Itex."
Smart. Me. Those two concepts never went together before, and I never expected them to mix. Sure, I took Genetics II twice before I passed, and I was taking advanced genetics for the third time now, so that part was reasonable, but a world where I could be smart just never occurred to me. I never felt smart could apply to me.
"Try it out, Ame. Take Itex's twelfth grade genetics final and see what happens," Mom suggested, patting my shoulder. "I believe in you."
Something else I'd never thought I'd hear Mom say. That she believe in me. That she believed I could do anything other than read. Reading was the one thing that came easily to me. After that, school had spiraled out of control. And Mom suddenly believed I could steer my life back into my grasp.
Maybe, just maybe Mom was right. And just maybe, I could try genetics in Itex. First, though, I needed more information. 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaCF9F0asB
