Henry waited by the Gold Path for Percy, who insisted he absolutely needed to wash his hands and empty his pockets before they could proceed to the park.

 

“I don’t get it? If you hate getting filthy, why’d you peel the tangerine with your bare hands?”

 

Percy pushed his glasses to his nose. “I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand the sacrifices I’m willing to make, Young Henry. Come now! Let us commence: Operation Lakeside Chat!”

 

The cobblestone path, descending from the very end of the Gold, felt new again for the first time since yesterday. Henry imagined he would never grow tired of stepping beneath the canopy of trees lining the trail, offering their shade to hot and tired students. 

 

A trio of young women rested beneath the umbra of one, reading books and idling their time away. Best to enjoy the levity now, for once Forge Week ended, the grind of Year One would begin.

 

But if only he had something to grind towards. Where everyone else basked in their final moments of freedom and relaxation, Henry squirmed and writhed with anxiety; uncertainty. It felt like day one was already a waste. What would come of day two? Day four? By week’s end, will he still have accomplished nothing? And what would that say about predicting his year? His term? His–

 

“Hey! Stop doing that! We’re supposed to be taking a load off and clearing your head!” Berated Percy.

 

“How did you know what I was thinking about?”

 

“It was all over your face. I can smell distress from thirteen kilometers away.”

 

“That’s…a very specific number. Have you tested that? Also, did you see my distress or smell it?”

 

“Doesn’t matter! Just stop doing it. We are sharing a pleasant stroll underneath the trees. Let your endorphins flow; let your cortisol levels fall to the earth.” Percy took in a deep lungful of freshly filtered air. “Ahhhh~ It smells like dung out here~”

 

Henry tasted the air with his own nostrils. It smelt just like home: the faint waft of Pokémon relieving themselves somewhere on the Campus grounds.

 

Not too far–probably a good thousand meters from the step-on point–the cobblestone led to a beautiful park, thriving with lush green grass unlike anywhere else on Campus.

 

Butterfree fluttered by flowers–pink, purple, blue, and yellow.

 

Wurmple slept atop the branches of thick oaks while Silcoon spun heavy spools of thread to hang from. 

 

A group of peers bumped fists with a Ledian down by the lake, and that was to be Henry and Percy’s destination.

 

Percy let out an audible groan upon successfully lowering himself to the lakeside. “I assume your legs are killing you as well.”

 

“Partly my fault, I know.” Henry sat next to him, holding in his gasp of pain. “I hope I don’t get points off for that.”

 

“Well, I’ll take some blame.” Percy chucked a rock as far as he could into the water. It sank with a heavy ploop! “After all, we spent a good portion of our first moments searching for my optimal room. How’d you sleep, by the way? My mattress was a bit lumpy.”

 

Henry skipped a stone of his own across the water. It hopped five times before sinking at the feet of a Surskit–slightly startled by the sound. “I slept fine.”

 

“And yet you whined as if you hadn’t gotten a wink.” Percy tossed another rock. It sank like an anchor. “Come on now, out with it. What’s really got you so tense about this whole thing? This is the most freedom I’ve ever seen in a place for education. It shouldn’t have you feeling clasped in iron chains.”

 

Henry sighed. He rubbed at his second stone, inspecting if it was skippable. “I just don’t want to make a choice I’ll wind up regretting…” It seemed fine, so he gave it a whirl. “I’ve waited what’s felt like my whole life to get here…I don’t want to waste the only four years I’ve got.”

 

Percy grunted as he flung another rock. This one didn’t go too far. “So it’s paralysis by analysis, is that right? Well, go ahead and eat a Cheri Berry because such a fear is silly and hindering your speed.”

 

Henry fell back onto the gritty pavement bordering the lake. “I know!” He smothered his face with his dusty hands.

 

“Look, the way I see it, you are doing the absolute worst thing you can do right now. You need to make a choice–not just for the optimal plan, but because doing anything otherwise is fulfilling your own dreadful prophecy. Seriously, Henry, just pick one and try it out. Come over to the Ochre Track with me.”

 

Henry sat back up. “I wanted to ask you what that one was.”

 

“It’s Archeology. I figured I’d start big and tack on some Creative Writing for my Secondary Classes. You get three Primaries dedicated to your Track, and two Secondaries dedicated to whatever else you want. That’s another freedom afforded to you, so stop making such a big deal out of this–it’s the easiest part.”

 

Henry admired another stone, rotating it between his fingers. “Yeah…I guess you’re right.” He hurled it. Despite barely even trying, he still managed to skip it about eight times. 

 

“Alright, I’m at my limit! How are you doing that?!”

 

“Skipping stones? It’s easy, you just…You just, umm…Well, you know–skip ‘em!”

 

“Very cute. Demonstrate.” 

 

Henry pulled his wrist back and tossed another stone. Three skips. “They aren’t always perfect. Most of the time it’s just a happy accident.”

 

A happy accident that took him right back to his youth, where Hermes advised him to visit. He supposed he could take the train to Grand Memory Station. Percy opened up to him after having just met him. It was the least he could do to pay such vulnerability forward.

 

“I used to spend the days by the creek with my Dad and my sister, just skipping rocks like this.” He turned another stone in his fingers. This one had a lovely shine to it, as if its surface were forged of glass. He held it up for Percy to see. “Rocks like this used to be the best! Because they were so pretty, my sister used to beg my Dad not to throw them. He never did, but he also never questioned why they always seemed to go missing when he turned his back! Or why my sister always cried afterward~”

 

“Wow. You are one stone-cold killer, Henry Galileo.” 

 

Stones just like the one he held in his hand; who knew a simple deposit of minerals could bring such a story swimming back up from the bleak abyss? Cold stone; warm memories. What an unbalanced equation. 

 

Henry shoved the glassy rock into his coat pocket. He wondered if it would stir other things within him, should he choose to look at it again later.

 

Percy had a point. The easiest time was now. All he needed to do was stop thinking and start acting. Only one place came to his mind for a next decision, and it wasn’t back at the Track Fair–not yet. He figured it was time to cash in on a visit he promised, albeit a little soon.

 

“Practice your skip for a bit. I’ll be right back.”

 

“Hmm? Where are you off to? A eureka moment?”

 

Henry rubbed specks of gravel from his pants. “You could certainly call her our modern-day Archimedes~”