Chapter Twenty-Five: Preparing for the Real World

 Narrated by Xanthe Masterson

Time flew past, and soon it was nearly time for our final terms. Each of us had joined various societies; Alexander had joined the Debate Guild, Erytheia the legendary "Secret Society", and I had decided to become part of the Art Society. Every so often we were given a list of tasks that we could complete to increase our standing within our societies. Naturally, most of mine revolved around painting, but sometimes they included taking photographs or playing a musical instrument.

Aside from focusing on classes, I thought it would be a good idea to practise my potion-making skills, as I didn't actually know any. Stirring the viscous substance in the cauldron proved to be fairly taxing, though, and the heat from the flames also started getting to me. I gave up after a while, not having learnt anything; I had other things to do. I could always purchase a potion tome if I wanted to.

On the Tuesday, I thought it would be a good idea to get ahead on one of my term papers. I had two to complete, and I decided to start on the one for my elective painting class first. It was all about realism painting, and I had fun doing some research to add to my notes. 

Tuesday also happened to be Easter, so in between doing homework and going to class, I baked some lemon bars and had a chat with the Flower Bunny. I loved citrus smells, and my mouth started watering as I took the bars out of the oven.

"Mm, those smell good," Erytheia commented from the table.

"Yeah, I love lemon," I replied. 

"I'm more a chocolate fan," Erytheia said, turning back to her homework.

"Oh really? I had NO idea," I grinned sarcastically. "No wonder you made those fudge bars."

The following day, I came back from one of my classes to find that Dad had come over for a visit.

"Hey Dad! Haven't seen you in a while!" I grinned.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you," he smiled back. "Classes going well?"
"Yes," I replied. "It's weird to think it's nearly the end of my degree already. How has time gone so fast?"

"I have no idea," Dad said, shaking his head. "One minute, you and Erytheia were tiny newborn babies, now you're living independently and are about to join the workforce."

"Yup, time for the real world," I nodded.

Friday arrived, and with it came exams and term paper deadlines. Once that had all been done, I decided to play Maniac Matchums on the gaming mat as a distraction from the 6pm email we'd be getting to inform us of our results. 

Then, when the time came...

"Oh wow, all A+s!" I exclaimed.

As it turned out, Erytheia and Alexander had done just as well. In fact, Alexander informed us that this meant he'd achieved A+ grades in every single one of his classes. 

"Wow, I never noticed," Erytheia remarked. 

Early on Saturday morning, we headed over to the auditorium to attend graduation. A few other students were there too, and even though we'd never met them before, it was fun to share our enthusiasm about graduating with each other.

The ceremony itself wasn't the most fun thing I'd ever done, but it was still great to celebrate our achievements. Once we were all finished, we gathered outside again to throw our caps in the air. 

Our parents had agreed that Erytheia and I could move back home after graduation, as long as we worked and helped out around the house. It felt weird walking through the front door of 1 Torendi Tower Penthouse again; we hadn't visited much during our studies. I was greeted by little Heidi, and had fun getting her to chase a laser pointer. I didn't really understand why cats loved lasers so much - this one was probably particularly exciting as it was in the shape of a cat.

In the very early hours of Sunday morning, my peaceful sleep was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the fire alarm.
"Oh my God, what's going on?" I muttered. 

As it transpired, Mum had recently purchased two new cooking appliances - a waffle maker and a pizza oven - and that somehow the pizza oven had caught fire. After a while, though, the fire seemed to extinguish itself.

"Phew, glad that's over," Mum muttered. "I had better learn the Chillio spell for next time, though."

Erytheia and I both obtained jobs as sous-chefs at the same restaurant, and on Sunday evening we both headed off for our first shift. It was a fairly large restaurant, hence the need for two sous-chefs. I was pretty proud to be putting on my chef's whites for the first time, although quite how long they'd be remaining white was yet to be seen...