Self Improvement, chapter 18

Previous chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/self-improvement-93030322?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

While her original plan had been to review her test the moment she got home, Rachael found every excuse to do something else. Cleaning her room, making a snack, catching up on all her (new) social media platforms. It was important to stay connected with people, after all. And of course, doing her daily exercise. Only by late evening does she run out of things to do, as is forced to sit down with the thing she'd promised herself to do.

Never before had reviewing her own tests been such a chore. Then again, never before had reviewing her own tests been necessary..
The way Christiansen had phrased some of the comments wasn't exactly motivating, either.

"Middle school level phrasing."

"This isn't even on the curriculum"

His closing remarks were even more brutal.

"You're clearly disinterested. Paring this lackluster performance with your attendance this semester and it's hard to think you're here for anything but the frat parties and boys. Seems like all that preaching about making a difference in the world was just bravado.."

She'd stared at the piece of paper for half an hour before giving up. For the first time in her life, Rachael was at a proper loss. The words danced around on the sheet, but She couldn't for the life of her figure out how to improve or fix any of her answers. Yes, she'd been given detailed feedback on each of her answers, but the wall of text just popped out like single mass. The former, near surgical like precision she'd effortlessly displayed throughout her academic ventures was nowhere to be seen. She felt more like a butcher than a surgeon after seeing the feedback and not knowing how to approach things.

Rachael felt as though she should be panicked. The test itself wasn't too important in the bigger picture as the final exam would still account for the vast majority of her grade. But the clouds looming on the horizon were a bad sign for her future. How could she be so calm about it? Even she was beginning to questioning the shift in priorities, but as with a lot of things lately, she couldn't come up with a good answer. So she did the one thing anyone can do when at a loss, moved on to something else, that something being hitting Rebecca up via text to see if there's any parties coming up.

"hey! Just wanted to say again that it was totally great at your party!! Got any idea if there are any more coming up??"

"I don't know of any specifics, but could probably fix us an invite for something, easy. You down?"

"Totes. Would luv another one. Can you fix me a +1, for Fred? Tyyy"

Even weeks later, Rachael's ditzy way of speaking remained. Rebecca didn't know what to make of it, she never in her life would have imagined her best friend let her language degrade to the point of sounding like a complete bimbo. Maybe she saw another girl talking similarly at the party, and decided to emulate it to appeal more to Fred? Or perhaps she'd come up with it herself. Either way, she seemed much happier than usual, so who was Rebecca to complain?

"Sure. I'll probably get Mark to tag along too~"

And just like that, Rachael's mood was back, not that it turned particularly sour in the first place. What a perfect time to take a cute selfie for the gram'. Her account was only a couple of weeks old, only creating it after having some guy tell her that "pretty girls should have social media" on one of her jogs. A random creep had stopped her on her jog to ask for her socials, very clearly hitting on her. When she told him that she didn't have anything except for apps for chatting with friends, he didn't believe her but admitted defeat, giving up on his pursuit, though not leaving before he'd said his two cents.

Swiping through, looking for the perfect filter for her selfie, Rachael couldn't help but admire how long her hair had become since she dyed it initially. With her hair now past her shoulders, she'd already performed a second trip to the salon to get her roots fixed. She now identified more as a blonde than her actual hair color.