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You know something that I like to do from time to time? Go through my past and how far I’ve come over the years. Though I’m not too proud of how I started out, I have to admit that everyone learns from a starting point of zero, and I’m no different. Not everyone is supposed to be able to have access to their own student records, but I managed to get my grubby little hands on them. These are what my chemistry teacher wrote about me at the start and end of each year I had his class. They weren’t written as a part of my profile so much as just some notes he decided to include for future reference. He did this for each of his students so he kept most of them short. I felt like sharing them with you, my audience, because I know for a fact no one else will ever find out about this. If anyone does find out about this, so help me Harry Potter I will Avada Kedavra you straight out of my head with a hand held drill!

Start of first year.

My first impression on James is that he has the desire and drive to learn. He came very well prepared for the class, was here early, didn’t fidget like most of the other students, and paid rapt attention. I have high hopes that he’ll be one of the more bright students I’ll have the pleasure of teaching. But seeing as it’s only been a week into the beginners level classes and I haven‘t started any actual experiments, I’ve yet to see how well he works.

End of first year.

The year went about as I would expect for most of the class, but James was quite the exception. While most of the others were able to grasp the concepts of chemistry, James could barely wrap his head around the basics. Instead of dropping the class like the others that couldn’t make the cut, he stayed. He grew rather frustrated with his lack of progress at times though and more than once I thought he might just throw the compounds he was working with across the room. Thankfully he always restrained himself from doing so, but it was enough for me to need to talk to him about it. Needless to say, he was very devoted to learning and being unable to fully grasp the concepts were unacceptable to him. Even now as I write this, I don’t have any hope for him to get any better. I recommended that he drop this class before he wastes even more of his money on the more advanced class. I’m also sorry to say that I was very wrong about James, it seems determination just wasn’t enough.

Start of year two.

To be bluntly honest, I didn’t think I would see James back in year two of my classes. The previous year didn’t go well for him at all and if the past is any indication, this year is going to be even harder on him as it’s three times more difficult. I’ll have to keep my eye on him this year just in case his anger gets the better of him this time. I once again had recommended that he not pursue this class as it’s not for everyone, but he’s adamant about continuing. We’ll see how things go.

End of year two

To say that James was calmer this year was a understatement. He was able to keep his cool even when his experiments failed. He seemed to have picked up on the material much easier than last year as well but still ended up flunking the class. Once again I’ve had to suggest that going to the next class might be a mistake as it’s much harder than the second year, but I did recommend that he repeats year two as he’s certain to pass the next time and no one that’s had his amount of failures would ever pass year three.

Start of year three

James is, of course, here for year three against my recommendations, but it’s his money so I won’t deny him his place in my class. I won’t be pulling any punches however as this is a more advanced class and will weed out those that can’t make the cut. I fully expect James to fail this year.

End of year three

He passed. It was a rocky start but as the year progressed he got better and better. He started soaking up the knowledge that was presented to him and was able to finally apply what he learned in creative ways. I honestly didn’t think he’d improve that much in a single year in a class that most people never finish. His anger is nearly completely gone as well. The most he’s done is grunt at a failed experiment before trying it again. He only passed with a C grade overall but he was doing B+/A- work by the end of the year. It makes me hopeful that he’ll decide to take the fourth and final class this upcoming year. I don’t expect him to ace the class since it’s the most difficult, but I do expect him to pass.

Start of year four

As I expected, he has signed up for my last class. He’s come a long way from being an excited student who showed a drive and desire to learn. Now he radiates confidence as if he knows he’s going to pass this class and has an almost constant smirk on his face now. We’ll see if he still has that confidence once we get into the year as I won’t be passing anything that doesn’t come out perfectly.

End of year four.

I think this might be the last year I end up teaching. When a student surpasses the class by leaps and bounds like James has, it becomes a question of whether or not we’re even teaching the proper things in our classes. He has aced every test, every experiment, and every paper. He knows more about chemistry than I do now. It’s very hard to believe that he went from a student who couldn’t even understand the basics to becoming a scientist making his own chemical compounds that even I haven’t ever seen. I’m still in shock from seeing his final experiment. He shrank another student. Yes, I wrote that right. He SHRANK another student. I’ve taken a picture of it and included it with this as a form of proof that it actually happened. It’s like something out of a book or a movie. This is also the first time I’ve ever passed a student without getting a complete list of all the chemicals he used (of which he used a lot and most he refused to tell me) and for using another student as a test subject. Thankfully TR, while being very surprised, was just fine and found the humor in it. He’s really going to go far in the scientific field.


You see what he wrote? “Going to go far in the scientific field.” I have to admit that I enjoy remembering the past from time to time. Made me forget that I had done what I did for my final project in that class. The look on his face when he saw her shrink was just too priceless. His entire base of what was possible was shattered. The rest of the class was a bit too zoned out and didn’t really notice (typical of most students burnt out on the class) but TR was a really good sport about it. I knew she’d be perfect. Pretty much the only person that wouldn’t completely freak out. She isn’t called The Random Purple Cat for nothing!………...um, I might have to find out if she ever regained normal size. I’m pretty sure she did as I made it to wear off after a couple of days, but one can never be absolutely sure without seeing it for ones self.

If anyone has any information on her current status, let me know!