Mutual Friends

I'm not exactly a goody-two-shoes or a straight arrow. I was neither a dull student. I mean, I survived college unscathed- partially. So I guess it's safe to say I am- as cliche as this may sound- average.

I failed one of my courses on the second semester of my third year in college. I'm not really proud of it, but I am not embarrassed to say that indeed it was the first and only time I've ever flunked at anything academic related.

That summer of 2010, I had no choice but to retake the course. The good thing about it though was that I had the chance to have two advanced classes on courses being offered that summer. It was cool to think that I was an "advance" student.

But still...

So while everyone had the luxury of sunbathing and traveling to postcard-worthy, breathtaking, and awe-inspiring places, I was stuck to doing school stuff while the sun blazed it's hottest. Not that we didn't have air condition, but you get my point.

One summer night, I had an unexpected correspondence (through facebook) from my former classmate in the same course I did not pass. I wondered how he had the nerve to be vacationing in England since we were already graduating next school year. And he did not pass the course as well, did he? I thought it would be impossible for him to pass at all since only ten of our classmates did- out of fifty students. To my amazement, he told me he was indeed able to survive the torture. And then I felt sorry- for the guy because I underestimated him and for myself because I wanted to be in the same situation as him. Nevertheless, I enjoyed talking to him about anything- especially science. Before knowing it, we conversed almost every night and our favorite topic was time travel and theories about the possibility of having another dimension. Though I admit that I sometimes get through our conversations with a heavy heart because I felt too bad for myself and jealous at him. I mean, how was he able to pass when I failed?

I knew him during that same course- the only that we are classmates, by the way... or maybe the only course I know that we are classmates since I was invisible and preoccupied to notice anyway.

One of the days our professor is present, he conducts out-of-this-world quizzes and admits that one of the joys of teaching is the ability to make students sweat blood. To make the long story short, I did not do well in the quizzes our professor gave us. Well, actually I found out later that most of my classmates didn't too. I felt relieved.

One day, during the returning of exam papers, my friends and I were comparing scores. I also compared exam results with him- the guy who is a mutual friend since he's friends with my friend. Then out of nowhere, amidst the classroom babble, we high-fived just because we found out we had the same score. He remarkably was able to put a bookmark in my mind because being high-fived by a person you are not closely acquainted with does not happen to me every day. That's how we started the connection. From a stranger, he became my Facebook friend and from being my Facebook friend, my real life friend. And that's how I found out he was intelligent. Maybe way more intelligent than I am. Obviously. :)