“Thanks for shopping at the Starlight City Bookstore, please come again!”
As the customer exits the store, a new customer enters.
“Ah, welcome to our lil’ store, what have you come in here for, if it's anything but books you’ll have to go someplace else!”
“Well I was actually wondering if-”
The customer and cashier stop chatting as they make eye contact with one another. The customer being Ronnie’s mom, Sally Everst while the cashier is Marcus Veridan.
“Marcus?” Misses Everst questions, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hey ma’am!” Marcus says as he stands behind the counter, “Selina’s busy studying for the midterms, so she asked if I could cover her shift.”
“I see, aren’t you quite the big brother now,” Sally teases as she messes with his hair before going over to chat with the store’s owners Ivan Turnip & Jessica Powell.
As she does, Marcus looks down at the counter.
“....brother…,” Marcus repeats as he looks downward.
THE MIRACLE CLINIC: SEASON 2
Incense burns inside the shared apartment of Ray Ramirez, Zesti Champion, & Sam Penningberg. A record player that was collecting dust next to three colored lava lamps is blown off by Ray Ramirez as he picks up a vinyl from the nearby crate filled with them.
“Let’s give this one a go,” Ray says as he blows off the dust before putting the vinyl into the record player.
As the song comes to life, Ray’s attention turns to the main couch of the studio apartment where all the others are. With plants surrounding them, Penningberg is busy grading over Alex’s mock biology exam. The sleeves on his buttoned-up shirt are rolled up as Penningberg marks off incorrect answers.
“Well, you certainly got a lot of the punnett square questions correct,” Penningberg remarks, “But you’re struggling a bit on the DNA centered questions so we’ll focus more on there.”
“Okay,” Alex agrees.
Ray sits backwards on a chair as he takes a look toward Elizabeth Moore who is swamped with several pieces of homework.
“Do I have to do all of these?” Elizabeth groans.
“You do well on your tests, it's just the absent homework that’s really dampening your grades,” Ray Ramirez explains, “Partial credit for late assignments is going to boost your GPA and double as studying for the big test.”
“You’re just saying that so you don’t need to teach me.”
“Well yes but what I said wasn’t wrong.”
“Why’d you even become a teacher if you don’t like doing it?”
“Hey, less talking, more homework-ing.”
“That’s not even a real word,” Elizabeth mumbles.
“I heard that!”
Over on the kitchen island, Zesti Champion is taking care of the two toughest challenges in the group: Selina Gulvonac and Ronnie Everst. Zesti’s short dirty blonde hair is in a ponytail and she has on a different pair of glasses than what she usually wears at work.
“You’ve probably found school tough all throughout your life, am I not mistaken?” Zesti questions as she looks through their notebooks.
“W-well, yeah, I can’t recall a grade I ever got that was higher than a B-,” Ronnie answers honestly.
“Yeah, its a miracle I even made it this far,” Selina whimpers.
“Most teachers you had probably never offered you too much help, instead they just scolded you for having bad grades,” Zesti remarks, “‘School isn’t for everyone’, ‘how come you aren’t as good as your classmates’, ‘you’re just a bad student’ – I’m sure you’ve heard at least one of those before.”
Ronnie & Selina nod in embarrassment.
“Y’know, I was like that too,” Zesti says, “I only managed to get through some grades because I was in a lot of clubs, but you want to know what changed?”
“Did you get smart?” Selina asks.
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“Close, I found something that worked for me,” Zesti remarks, “School isn’t a utopia where each student can get catered too, there’s budget cuts all the time and teachers who are already stressed out enough that they don’t want to give a helping hand. So many students fall through the cracks because they don’t connect with the ways school usually teaches them. It’s hard to find a way to learn given all those circumstances, but I’m sure you two have the skills to do well!”
“Y-you really think so?” Ronnie asks.
“I’m certain,” Zesti affirms before going into specifics, “Selina, I see that you read a lot of books during your free time in my classes.”
“W-well yeah, though for some reason I can’t get through textbooks,” Selina admits.
“Well how about intersplicing them?” Zesti suggests, “You read a few pages of your textbook before switching over and ‘rewarding’ yourself with a chapter of whatever book you’re reading. Studying is something that often doesn’t have instant gratification, so if you give yourself those instant rewards I’m certain it’ll motivate you to read more.”
“Alright, I’ll give it a try!” Selina shouts.
“As for you Ronnie,” Zesti refocuses, “Your report card shows that you’re doing really well in my culinary glass and gym class.”
“W-well those don’t really require brains, you just kinda do them-” Ronnie tries to say.
“Oh trust me, those classes are ones I’ve seen several struggle in. The fact that you’re doing well in them points to me believing you’re like me; a physical learner. You learn best when you can interact with whatever it is you’re learning. Try making some flash cards for classes, draw or doodle some of your lessons, and more. You should see some improvement in that way.”
“I see,” Ronnie thanks.
“Don’t mention it, and I’m positive you two will do great on these midterms, so let’s give it all we got!” Zesti shouts as she pumps her fist.
“YEAH!” Selina fist pumps with her.
As the day turned to night, the lessons and tutoring continued on for much longer than any thought as they ran through each subject the students had, making sure to stop and answer questions whenever needed. It even got to a point where Ray went out and brought back some take-out wings for everyone to enjoy.
With the wings quickly consumed and the moon alright shining outside, the tutoring session came to an end that day. Elizabeth, Ronnie, Alex, & Selina grab their bags as they go to the exit.
“If you have any more questions make sure to visit our classrooms after school!” Zesti waves.
“Get home safe,” Penningberg utters.
“Tell your dad sorry about tossing him in a basket,” Ray waves goodbye.
“I might,” Elizabeth replies as the door to the apartment room closes.
Now with just the three roommates alone, Ray stretches as he goes to wash the sink full of dishes.
“You really think those kids are going to do well?” Ray questions, “Jefferson usually rants about how stupid this generation is y’know.”
“I’m positive,” Zesti says, “Jefferson and teachers like him always put down students who don’t do well, demanding they do better when not even believing they can. When nobody believes in you, why put in the effort? But when there’s at least one person who believes in you, who cheers you on every step in the way. Who knows? You might just be able to do something others called impossible.”
“You seriously still think that?” Penningberg asks.
“Pennies, you and RayRay are way too gloomy at times, did you forget what happened with us?” Champion reminds them, “I know they have what it takes to do well!”
In the hallway of the apartment complex, Ronnie stands next to the door silent. Curiosity getting the better of him, he stayed behind to overhear their conversation. However he silently makes his way back home.
________________________________
The tutor sessions, visiting classrooms after school and during lunch, and more continued throughout the week as the four students would try to get all the help they could before they all had to take their midterms.
Finally the end of the week arrived, and with it the new scores were released for all of the students to check.
In the halls, several students all check their phones to see their GPA.
“Uh, a 3.97? I can’t believe I went down a bit,” Evan Dixon grumbles.
“Dude, you shouldn’t be complaining!” Trisha & Victor shout who both have a 3.0.
“Why do people care so much about GPA?” Suzy Dark asks as she sees she has a 2.9 GPA.
“I don’t know why,” Crunch replies as he still has his 5.0 GPA, “Do you know?”
Crunch looks at Hunter, who’s foot is in a cast and is on crutches due to the injuries he sustained from his rematch against Worcester.
“What does GPA even stand for?” Hunter asks them as he has a 3.1.
“It stands for grade point average,” Rebecca Jenksin explains as she passes them in the hall, having a 4.0 GPA herself.
By some lockers, Bernard & Georgia are looking at their 3.8 and 3.7 GPAs respectively while Randy freaks out over his 3.4 GPA.
Hamster, who has a 2.9 GPA, and Carli, who has a 2.4 GPA, applaud Christopher for his 2.5 GPA. All the while Bennet the hamster flaunts his 3.9 GPA.
“Hey I did pretty good,” Sammy remarks as she takes a look at her 3.0 GPA, “What about you guys?”
Sammy turns to look at the 5 walking with her; Marcus, Ronnie, Alex, Elizabeth, & Selina.
“Not much changed,” Marcus says as he still has a 4.0 GPA.
“I finally did it!” Elizabeth taunts as she now has a 2.9.
“I-it was just lucky,” Alex says with his 2.8, “You’re gonna fall behind as soon as we get some more homework.”
Ronnie & Selina are silent as they take a look at their GPA. As he sees his new score, Ronnie can’t help but think of the words Zesti told the other two teachers.
Ronnie Everst GPA - 2.7.
Tears stream down Selina’s face as she sees her score.
“I- I didn’t know I could get such a high score,” Selina weeps.
Selina Gulvonac GPA - 2.6.
Miracle Clinic’s Average GPA - 3.05714286.
The Miracle Clinic has managed to pass the required GPA needed to still be a club.
See You Next Ch–
After school got out for the day, Ronnie is walking down the street as he’s on his phone with his mom, “I promise I didn’t cheat, that’s my actual score! Don’t worry, I just got done working out so I’ll be home after I stop by to thank my tutor. Okay, bye! Love you.”
As Ronnie hangs up, he makes his way onto the street, feeling fully accomplished over how well he did in midterms. Though his mood quickly changes when he bumps into the person walking ahead of him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Ronnie begins to apologize when he looks to see who he ran into.
Looking down at him with his piercing red eyes is the leader of Dirty Fang, Mason Makinsley.
_____________________
In the Starlight City Bookstore, Selina is sitting behind the counter reading a book while Marcus is shopping around for some books.
“Congrats on doing well on your tests,” Marcus says Selina.
“Thanks, y’know, I should probably go thank Zesti after my shift ends,” Selina comments-
DING!
A person steps into the bookstore drawing the attention of the two teens. As they see who it is though, their bodies immediately tense up.
“What? Is it illegal to go shopping for a book now?” The new patron, Leader of The Massachusetts Boys, Boston questions as his mesmerizing green eyes look at them.
See You Next Chapter!~