Charlotte looked over, curious.
"Electromagnetic induction. Why do you ask?"
Shirley's answer made Charlotte smile, a quiet, proud sort of smile. She straightened up, reached for the iPad beside her, and handed it over.
"Check out these notes."
Shirley took the iPad, brows furrowed. "What's this?"
She tapped open a folder, and her eyes went wide.
It was a neat summary of all the most important points from Dr. Cole’s research.
Everything she hadn’t been able to wrap her head around was broken down and explained, organized in a way that just clicked. She barely had to read more than a sentence before it all made sense.
And that wasn’t all. There was also a document packed with pages and pages of past physics competition questions.
"Charlotte, where did you find so many old exams?" Shirley gaped, practically speechless.
She’d tried searching online herself, but nothing was ever complete.
Charlotte’s files, though, had everything. Even the answer explanations were thorough.
"Just take them and study," Charlotte said, her tone casual. "Everyone else has probably gone through a bunch of past papers too. You have to learn to pull things together on your own."
"I will," Shirley promised, nodding hard.
There were only a couple of days left. These notes were a lifesaver.
"Charlotte, are you going to come watch me at the competition this weekend?"
The weekend…
Charlotte hesitated, tapping her fingers on the table, her voice low. "I’ll try."
She still needed to figure out a treatment for her mom, and there was a good chance she wouldn’t have the time.
After dinner, Anthony and Charlotte walked everyone to the door.
Andrew and Parrish were heading in the same direction, so they shared a car.
Shirley was staying with Stella tonight, so the two of them got into another car together.
Shirley slid into the backseat first. Stella was about to follow when her phone buzzed.
She glanced down. A friend request on social media.
The name: Roger.
He hadn’t reached out since the night he’d given her a ride home.

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