Jules was going to fail her finals. There was no doubt about it. The whole semester she had barely paid attention, thinking more hunting down rapists and overcoming her own trauma than class. Jules could barely even process the fact that it was already time for semester tests and winter break. It seemed like this entire semester had gone by in a blur.
She tried looking through her notes, but none of it made sense. The words went straight through her. After an hour of trying, she was done. She threw her books onto her floor in frustration. She really wished she was hitting someone right now. She let out a breath and picked up her phone, texting Ophelia.
To O: You at home?
From O: Yeah?
To O: I’m coming over.
From O: Why aren’t you studying??
Jules didn’t answer the last one. She grabbed her suit from her dresser and stuffed it into her bag, throwing it over her shoulder.
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“You should be studying,” Ophelia said as she opened her door to Jules. “I’m studying, why aren’t you studying?” She said as she opened her door wider for Jules to come in.
“I think we should go after another name from the wall.” Said Jules, ignoring her questions as she walked into Ophelia’s apartment.
“We won’t be able to go after anyone else if you don’t pass your classes, and drop out of college.” Ophelia argued.
Jules shrugged. “So, we should while we still have the chance.”
“Woah, woah, woah. Hold up.” Ophelia said. “You need to take a breath and chill, I’m not going to let you fail your classes.”
Jules let out a laugh. “And, what are you going to do that is going to help me because I have been trying to study for the last hour and I know absolutely nothing!” It was a little harsh, and Jules didn’t mean for it to sound so mean; however, the words came out bitter and angry. The anger wasn’t directed towards Ophelia, it was more towards herself, but she could see the hurt look in Ophelia’s eyes. Jules’s heart broke at that look. “I’m sorry, I’m just frustrated and I would really like to be hitting someone right now.” She apologized.
Ophelia gave her a small smile and relief spread through Jules’s body. “Breath.” She said. “I can help you.”
“How?” Jules asked.
Ophelia grinned at her.
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“We are playing monopoly?” Jules asked, raising an eyebrow at the game Ophelia had laid out in front of her.
“Yes. You said you could not concentrate on your notes, so I’m making it a bit more fun.”
“What?”
“So, every time you move you have to pick up one card which has a question on it about on of your classes, these cards are usually more vocabulary and basic review which I will be holding and reading to you, and if you get the question right you can move, but if you get it wrong you can not move. Then if you want to buy a property, you have to answer a more complex problem, one that would go more in depth than the moving problems, if you get it correct you can buy the property but if you get it wrong I can buy the property. If you land on the chance or community chest then you will be asked one of the problems in the harder question deck if you get it correct the bank pays you one hundred dollars but if you get it wrong you pay the bank one hundred dollars. When you get a question right from a card, you get to keep the card, and when you miss a question the card goes back into the deck. Whoever gets all their cards correct first wins. If you run out of money and property to pay the mortgage then you can sell your card questions to the bank for fifty dollars each to save yourself. If you lose all of your money, property and card questions you lose.” Ophelia explained. Ophelia talked with her hands when she got excited about things, and Jules couldn’t help but smile at how cute it was.
“That’s kind of intense,” Jules said, her lips curled upward.
Ophelia shrugged. “I guess.”
“How’d you come up with this?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Ophelia said, awkwardly. ”I was bored one day, and Harris and I were trying to study for some big test and I said ‘We should play monopoly.’ And then he said ‘Bitch, how monopoly going to help us right now.’ Then the idea sprung itself on me. “ She shrugged. “Plus, I was really high and monopoly is one of my favorite things.”
“Also, why do you have flashcards in like every class I’m in.” She asked.
“People pay me to take tests for them, so I study a lot and flashcards are the best way to study in my personal opinion,” Ophelia said, finishing setting up the game. Jules realized that the whole slacker persona was just a front, Ophelia worked harder than anyone she knew. These note cards were proof of it and in a way, it made Jules admire her.
“It’s weird,” Jules told her. “I never thought you were the type to study.”
“It’s not something I advertise, but yeah.” Ophelia looked up at her. “How did you think I keep my GPA so high?”
“I really don’t know,” Jules said, truthfully.
Ophelia shot her a smile, then clapped her hands together. “Okay, ready to get this party started.” She cringed. “Yeah, no. Never saying that again.” She turned to Jules. “Do you want to be the dog, the thimble, the car, or the boat?”
“The thimble,” Jules replied.
“Interesting choice,” Ophelia commented. “I will be the boat.” She placed the two pieces at the start of the game and pulled out the dice. “Let’s roll to see who goes first.” She told Jules. Ophelia rolled a two (groaning at her bad luck) and Jules rolled a five.
Since Jules was supposed to go first, she was asked the first question. It was a vocabulary word from her economics class and Jules had no idea what it meant, so she was forced to skip her turn. Ophelia went next, she was asked a question about her physics class which Jules thought sounded like gibberish but Ophelia answered with ease. After Ophelia rolled her dice and bought the first property of the game (answering another question with ease), Jules’s competitive streak kicked in. Surprisingly, after thinking for a few minutes, she got the next question correct. Maybe, she wasn’t as doomed as she thought.
They went on through the game, Jules missing questions here and there, but Ophelia answering like it was nothing. Finally, after two hours Ophelia missed a question. Jules let out a victory yell, and Ophelia laughed at it.
“Finally, after all, this time something has defeated you!” Jules said, happily.
Ophelia laughed. “You’re so cute.”
Jules blushed. “I’m not cute.” She mumbled, but Ophelia just smiled at her.
“Sure.”
They played for hours longer, and Jules felt like she was actually understanding the questions Ophelia was asking her. She had most of the information already in her head it was just a matter of unlocking it. It turns out she had paid more attention in class than she had thought. Finally, Ophelia won the game. It wasn’t a surprise that Ophelia won, after all, she had been way more prepared than Jules and the blonde wasn’t upset that she won. Actually, Jules felt pretty good about the game, she had done better than she had expected in it. The worst part of it ending, was that it ended.
“We should do this again,” Jules told Ophelia, who was putting up the game.
Ophelia gave her a smile. “I’d like that.”
“Me too,” Jules said.