Mage of Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page B

innocently, nodding to my backpack, "If you want, I can help you with that. The Pre-Medical Student Association offers student tutoring, you should definitely join. I could ask Tammy to tutor you, she's an SI for your class so she knows the subject really well." Tammy was David's equally successful girlfriend. A scholastic 'power couple' if I had ever seen one.
    Even back then, I had a handle on David. Anywhere he saw a problem that he thought he could fix, he did. David was a person who felt that if he could shoulder burden, he had a responsibility to do so.
    "Thanks, Dave… I'll think about it." I said after a few seconds. I was having trouble in classes, but I wasn't used to receiving help, or asking for it.
    "Anytime." Dave said with a smile. He turned back to the TV and his protein shake, conscience cleared.
    I quickly left the shared space at a brisk walk and heading down the hallway towards the fifth floor's elevators. I felt the frustrated flood of anger surge from my chest and I practically stabbed at the down button for the elevator.
    Even the thought of relying on others made me feel weak. What was the point of having supernatural powers if I couldn't even pass a class?
    In high school I didn't really care about homework or tests. When I discovered magic, I was excited, thinking it was the answer to all my life's problems if I just learned how to control my powers. I dropped from a B-average student to a C-average student, only maintaining that due to parental pressure. The more I learned about magic, the clearer it was that it wasn't going to solve any of my problems in school.
    Sure, I could use it to fight, cheat, and steal. But ultimately it wouldn't get me anywhere, and my control never became good enough for any really subtle stuff anyways. I was a bruiser at best, Normals wouldn't stand a chance, but anyone would be able to see in a fight that what I was doing was strange. The unnatural had a nasty habit of drawing attention from the wrong kinds of people.
    I couldn't stop time and copy answers from someone else, or read minds, or memorize information for tests at amazing speeds. My powers wouldn't help me do homework, get a date, or anything like that. All they served to do was get me in more trouble than I could handle, then slip out of it by the skin of my teeth.
    The cool windy morning was a reminder of the coming fall. I hardly noticed, my brooding carrying me to my first class of a day, the lab I had once a week for my biology class. It was a freshman level course, ranking just above would be considered remedial. Unfortunately, that didn't make it easy, at least for me.
    I stared in dismay at the D+, scribbled in red across the top of my first exam for the class. I numbly wondered if I had been too quick to reject David's help this morning, it was looking more and more like I would need it. My father's imposed 3.8 GPA requirement loomed in my mind like an insurmountable wall. If I didn't ace all my classes this semester, my GPA would automatically be lower than that. Any B would kill me, and here I was looking down at a 63%.
    The exam had been hard… but this? What had I done wrong?
    Flipping through the exam, it seemed like just about everything was marked down. The biggest problem seemed to come from the fact that unlike in high school, my typical half assed answers that were ten percent substance and ninety percent BS didn't fly. This test had admittedly snuck up on me quickly, but even if I only pulled a single all-nighter, I hadn't expected the results to be so… morbid.
    My TA was already moving away, washing his hands of the situation. Students that failed were a regular part of his job; I doubted he would offer much in terms of long term assistance. The teachers were much of the same. Dr. Thomas had to see hundreds of students pass through his Introduction to Molecular Biology class each semester; there was no way to give each student the time they needed to succeed.
    Granted, only a fraction