Remedial second grade math

So this is going to be a long story, but a very intriguing one (or so my friends say). Bear with me and if you could offer some advice on what to do please share. I know I'm probably just young and naive but I feel like the pain will never stop. Like I'm going to always be held back by this particular experience.
Also sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors, English isn't my first language.
So all of this begins October of 2022 when I 18M (at the time) moved to a new city to study film. I was lucky enough to have good grades and be so passionate about this art that it kind of felt incredible to have this new beginning. I rented a small house which I decorated with my collections and all my stuff and ended up loving every second spend in it.
I'm Not very social. Thats just a fact. I've always had my school friends and some people from other activities but none of them really felt like they understood me. No sade to them, I really love them, it's just that I know my hobbies and personality are niece and weird so we don't always see eye to eye. So I wanted to overcome my social anxiety and meet new people.
For the first semester I was all alone. Completely. Spent days upon days without leaving my house if I didn't have school and even didn't have any actual human interaction if not necessary. I didn't realise how much I was hurting myself. The Second semester, someone approached me in school and asked if I could help them with the editing for their final movie, let's call him Jacob 18M. I already was searching for a group project to join in order to pass the class so this felt like a sweet deal. The group was Jacob and let's call them Ellie 18F and Hannah 18F.
With time we started talking about more then just the movie. I was really surprised by how many things we had in common. It was the first time someone I met liked musical theatre or (and this is gonna sound sad, please don't judge me) people didn't want me to leave whenever I approached them. They invited me to things, to their homes and after school and to trips at the beach ect. We were together almost every day. Till late at night or through it. Just the 4 of us. Felt like we could rule the world.
One day i thought Ellie was flirting with me. That was a weird feeling. I'm not very good looking and had a lot of extra weight so that was pretty much the first time but my friends told me that was the case from what I was describing. I mentioned it to Jacob and he told me something I didn't expect. He told me him and Ellie were in an open relationship and were hiding it from everyone except Hannah because of his ex who was in school with us. He also confessed he once had a crush on me and that's why he approached me in the first place. He also saw Ellie flirting with me but was ok with it due to the "rules of their relationship".
I was ok with not having a romantic relationship with Ellie. She would actually become one of the closest friends I've ever had. Or so I thought.
I actually started having a crush on Hannah. She loved some of the movies I loved. Had some of my quirks so I didn't feel ashamed around her and she started watching my favourite tv show with me. During our time together everyone (even her sister and Jacob who found out I liked her) told us that when we were together we could only see each other. As if we had a unique way of communication that nobody else could understand.
I confessed my crush and she told me she felt the same way but that there where 2 problems. First that she gets very anxious about relationships, has only ever been to one and had never kissed anyone. I assured her I wasn't going to pressure anything and I only cared for her and wanted to go on a date sometime. She replied she would like that very much. The second problem she confessed was that she was in love with Jacob for months now but nobody knew. Then everything made sense. The things she did for him and all. How she acted around him. I was surprised I didn't notice it before. She told me she wanted to get over it and proceed to ask to kiss me. We kissed a lot but nothing more that night. She went home after a few hours.
The next day Hannah she felt very distant. We wanted to go to the movies with Ellie but she disappeared all day. Late at night she asked my to go for a walk since we lived near each other. Then she told me she wanted to forget everything and last night was a mistake. That her anxiety has gotten into her and although she really wanted a relationship she couldn't be in one. The next few days we talked again and she said she didn't share any of this with Jacob to have someone in the group I could talk to if I needed help. Ellie was that for her.
It was already summer so we all went to our home towns. I missed her a ton. We stilled talked and the other 2 knew something was off with me. About 2 moths later we all went to Hannah's summerhouse for vacation. We were having fun, getting drunk and all that 19-year old stuff. One night me and Hannah were watching my show together and the time felt right so I asked to kiss her. She told me no and finally told me the truth. Turns out she liked that we flirted but after kissing me she realised it wasn't anything more. Also everyone knew except me. But after all this time I had realised I was in love with this girl. I told her if she could keep all of this to herself and she said yes.
We were all still friends. But I couldn't let go. My mental health began to decent and I started feeling like they would leave me out of stuff to go hang out alone and during October I tried talking some time away to see if they would even talk to me if I didn't. They didn't even say good morning once. I tried again and again. Jacob and Ellie said we all need to talk together. They repeated the same words. Like as if it was rehearsed. I went to "the talk".
Jacob did most of the talking. He talked about boundaries and how after everything between me and Hannah the group hasn't been the same. That after I didn't tell him what happened in our vacation they went to her and forced Hannah to do so. They where all attacking me. I heard lie after lie and all followed up with "we just need some time" and that all of this was cause they loved me.
I have discussed what they accused me of with friends, family and therapists. Although I didn't not believe it at first they all confirmed it was finding little details in my day-to-day behaviour (unrelated to all of the above) and using it to kick me out. They didn't intend of even speaking to me again. Lies feed to everyone by Jacob.
I went away. I don't know if it was for the better. But for a few weeks at first and then months later, I went back to my home town. Their lies became actual blame and I got a message from Ellie saying that we are done (just one month after trying to convince me they needed time and confessing she in particular didn't even notice anything until her boyfriend accused me).
Last time I saw any of them was in December when I gave Hannah her Christmas present. I told her I wasn't trying to get her back and I would continue to keep my distance since my first priority is what she wants and I meant that. I really do love her and would do anything for her to be happy. But I miss her a ton.
It's been 5 months since then. I stopped going to school and kept my distance from anyone related to that life. I have depression and cannot think about anything else. I heard that Jacob still talk shut about me to everyone. I have realised what has happened and have discussed this with multiple common friends who have confirmed this. Jacob is Manipulating the other 2 because of the bad relationship with his parents. He knows Ellie won't do anything with anyone else despite the "open" relationship due to her luck of confidence (so it only works for him). She need him to operate in public and to deal with her extreme anxiety so he takes advantage of that and Hannah follows him everywhere with the excuse of just being a good friend.
There are so many things I couldn't include (this is a hugh post already) about more lies and proof that they where bad for me. But I can't move on. I have seeked medical help but I just cant imagine my life in the future without them. Everything is a reminder of what we've been through. Jacob used to call me his family and when I begged him for our friendship back he didn't even care. Not on my birthday, not on new years... never. I lost all of them.
I'm back now. Not sure why, whether I'm back to continue my studies or to see if I could win them back. If I could have Hannah in my life in sime form. But I'll probably see them tomorrow morning (I randomly walked behind them today, don't think they noticed me).
What should I do?
TL,DR: The girl I'm in love with stopped talking to me along with my 2 best friends. I can't move on and I'm supposed to face them again in school after not seeing them for months. They all lied to me and nothing seem to help. I have depression and I dont want to feel like this for the rest of my life.

Hi this is my first resume and I'm trying to find work experience placements for CS any feedback would be appreciated! I know I need to change the dates to a more like the actual months I just havent taken an updated screenshot. Thanks

I'm one of those people that decided on a career when they were 8 years old and then charged headfirst towards it for the next 10 years (with some delineations). That being, animation.
As I struggled more with my mental health growing up, academia, math, science, reading--it all became intimidating and inaccessible. My grades dropped, I didn't do extracurriculars, depressed teen etcetc. On the other hand, art was always the one thing I excelled at.
I had to go to college right after graduating high school so I thought, sure, I'll study this. Got into a top school, moved across the globe, now I'm nearly done my first year. My mental health has vastly improved since the start of my first year. Which has had the complete opposite effect from what I expected.
Because the more my mental health improves, and I find better connection with myself and others, the more I wonder in the back of my head... is this actually what I want? I spend more of my time these days getting back in touch with literature + fun research rabbit holes, looking at the horizons beyond what I've dedicated my whole life to, rather than, you know, doing my current homework.
This question is also rooted in disinterest towards making art as labor for employers, as opposed to making art for and with community. Which has been where my love of art roots from. I like indie projects and fan works and making things from the ground up just to enjoy with people who like the same thing.
The more I go through college with the understanding I am preparing to somehow simultaneously foster my own artistic growth, and also cater to big monopolies for an entire career span... it's all antithetical to why I like art. Animation college is lowkey a pyramid, industry is always on the fritz, there's poor unionization & worker treatment in my home country and current study country, and after spending all day making art for a company I don't think I'd have energy to make art I want to. It's also a very contract-based sort of career and I'm not too fond of the prospects surrounding that. I know a lot of people who thrive and are excited for this, but idk if it's my lifestyle. I've fallen for the trap that suggests hobbies are only worth pursuing if eventually done for money.
However, I also recognize I am in a privileged position, especially in terms of art school and how I have the financial support to actually try a career like this. I.e., art school expensive. If I set my mind to this and succeed or flop, I have the support web to catch me.
The other hand of this is that I have the safety web to change my mind. Giving up the position where I am is something I can do, but I cannot go back on. I've looked a bit into ecology but not any further than this as this post is honestly the first time I'm seriously considering the possibility of a different direction. I just really don't know much at all about careers in sciences and likely am missing a lot of perspective because of this.
Which brings me to the question, is it worth it? To do all the research on other careers, then leave animation behind and go somewhere else with a lot of catching up to do on poor high school grades and missing math/science credits? Does anyone have experience with switching from arts to sciences? Or choosing careers after recovering from mental health struggles/high school grade struggles? Would I still have time to make art on the side?
Thanks if you read this whole thing and any advice is appreciated! Sorry if I sound over my head at all, I really am years behind on non-art or literature related education :,).

Hi all, and apologies if this has been asked for many times. I researched about this topic already but I still couldn't make up my mind.
I happened to come across two similarly priced MacBook Pros, one with 14" M3 Pro 36GB RAM and 1TB SSD, and the other with 16" M2 Max 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
My current use case isn't heavy at all, which I know can be accommodated by an MBA. However, I'll be leaving my current 8–5 office job to do something else. I will do some learning about AI processing but not about training ML models using millions of data, as well as doing a bit of video editing (not pro grade, where every second counts) and VM.
I'm not a digital nomad or professional videographer or photographer, so I won't be on the road all the time but will be traveling once every month or two months. I like the screen real estate of the 16" and I don't mind the weight, but of course, the portability of the 14" would be appreciated. Understand that both elements can be accommodated by the 15" MBA. I also have an iPad Mini 6 and a 12.9" iPad Pro M1 as my companion devices.
Battery life would be important, although with the Apple silicon, they're all having a great battery life, and it won't harm having a good battery life that can last for 8 to 10 hours without access to power. Not sure if this part is too greedy and it's a nice to have only. I wanted my device to last about 4 to 5 years, but if I sell it after year 2 or 3, at least the device would still retain some residual value.
I will need help/advice/suggestion on the performance side, and factoring all of the above. Would appreciate any feedback and suggestions!

Basically I’ve been competing in math and programming olympics since 13 yo and now when it is time to go get summer internships after first year of university I fail the easiest algo interview ever and now I am restricted to work until October
The interesting part about competitive programmers in Russia is that they usually get Middle grade straight after 3month internship in Big tech.
Is there any way how can I improve to Middle level without working in big tech companies so I can go work in October as my uni friends will do.

I will start with I am not the best teacher. Yes I have flaws. I forget something’s because rules constantly change. I really try to pull my weight but also have fun with the kids. I teach middle school. With a flip of a switch it goes from fun to serious. Kids know this. Passing time I will joke with the kids and make sure they aren’t doing anything bad. In the classroom it is business casual.
I found out the second to last week of school teachers have a problem with my personality. They say I am too loud. I am thinking “dude, do you not see the smiles on their faces when I call them by their name to say have a nice day? Do you not see them hurry out of the bathroom to get to your class when I stand in the doorway saying “move it or tardy in the office”.” For Pete’s sake calm down.
Students approached me this year to dress up like an elf because I am the shortest teacher. I said sure. So I did. And that upset some teachers.
Instead of approaching me like an adult and saying “hey, we appreciate your enthusiasm, but could you take 20% off the top?” I would be heck yeah brother! I got you. And I would button that behavior right up. Instead they went to the principal who had to pull me in on a Friday to tell me that some teachers have a problem with me. But couldn’t give me specifics. Like okay. What do you need to correct? I was given little detail. Now I am moving classrooms across the building to “sub due” my personality. I am being moved from my grade level hallway to another hall way that is not my grade level. And told this is not a personal attack. Meanwhile I am thinking “yeah okay, and the sky isn’t blue.” The principal did say that they did not have a problem with me. That my high energy in the hallway was good for the students and tardies go down when I announce they have 30 seconds left to get to class if they are in the bathroom.
It’s fine. I’ll move hallways. But I am not dressing up for assemblies again. I am not volunteering to help anyone. I am not coaching, hosting clubs, anything. It will be a drab year next year.
I was asked to decorate the hallways for the seasons this year. I did. Not again. I will have my blank walls because I don’t want to offend other teachers with my personality. I just wish they could have talked to me instead of making me feel like less of a human and a crappy person.
That is my rant.

i’m a junior in highschool ready to apply for college. i really want to get into berkeley for cs major but it’s getting super competitive. these are my stats and i was just wondering what yall think i can improve on during summer, to just slightly boost up my chances to get in. And i also want to know what other colleges that have good cs programs that i could aim for.
first gen/asian/female/low income family
my stats: 4.72/4.00 Acad weighted gpa; 4.00 unweighted
APs: my school has a healthy limit for aps each year so mine is capped: AP bio (5), AP chinese (5), AP chem (5), AP CSA, AP Calculus BC, AP physics 1, AP Physics C Mechanics(most likely 5/4 for most)
SAT: 1450 but im gonna take another one in august hopefully i get 1500+
summer programs: awesomemath, a summer leadership academy, girls who code summer program
Internships: this summer at a software company, and i’m also a tech intern at this mental health educational platform
Leaderships: ap chem TA, tutor at my math club at school, club coordinator for fyla, social media manager for environment club, and most likely vice president for my econ club
ECs) -2 personal coding projects -1 coding project has a research paper involved that will be published - berkeley math tournament honorable mention - outstanding student of the year (1 in 800 students in my grade) - Presidential volunteer service award gold -2nd in a small coding project competition - USACO gold - science olympiad team state qualifier - gamegala a coding comp semifinals - uscno chemistry team placed 6th in regional - berkeley chemistry tournament team top 3 - 1st place at a small math comp - National economics challenge but my team was placed 9th which was so close to quad ting for states😭

Before I begin, I should let you know that the stories I’m writing are not for the faint of heart, or for the squeamish. As I type this, bottle of bourbon in hand, booze soaked whiskers covering my face, I should let you know the year is 2009. I don't now when, or if I'll ever tell anyone, or show them the story. Well, anyone else at least. I believe that’s enough exposition to preface this.
I suppose I should start with a name. My name. My name is Jeremy, at least that’s what my shrink told me to say my name was, for my protection, so I can’t say much else for now regarding my identity. Where to start, oh, where to start? I suppose I should start by stating we were just dumb. Well, maybe dumb isn’t the correct wording. Ignorant is more apt to what we were. Ignorance is bliss, after all.
It started on a brisk, sunny day in mid-October of 1986 at just thirteen years old, I was in sixth grade, and Mr. Stephens, my science teacher, gathered the class around for our weekly group huddle, as he called it.
“Alright class! I have some very exciting news for you all!”
Mr. Stephens chirped, as he usually did, his bubbly personality not unusual to any of us. The class perked up, a slight breeze rattling the “Hang in there!” and “Math is rad!” posters that lined the wall.
“What is it?”
A girl named Jennifer asked inquisitively. Mr. Stephens smiled, his Cheshire Cat like grin causing the dozen or so of us in the class that day to join in with him in his elation, a few kids whispering, pondering as to what may be coming.
“Well, we have a new friend joining us today! He’s a little shy, everyone give a warm welcome to our newest student, Charlie!”
The class erupted into a roaring cacophony of cheers, including myself, as a meek, strawberry blonde haired boy walked into the room, hiding his tomato colored face in his mothers side. His mother smiled, waving to the classroom, as Mr. Stephens motioned for us to quiet down, Charlie's mother cleared her throat, beaming at us all before speaking.
“Hello children! Charlie and I just moved to town, he’s a little shy, so if you would please be patient with him as he adjusts, I think he’ll make lots of new friends here!”
I could see dried up tears on the boys face as he turned to us, fear in his eyes as he turned back into his mothers side, a muffled voice trembling.
“I want to go home.”
Was all that came from the boy, a feeling of pity washed over my body. I had just moved to Wellspring the year before, and was just as timid as he was right now. His mother winced, her face turning to a look of sorrow, sullen as Charlie recessed deeper into his mother, wrinkling the maroon sweater she was wearing, before speaking again.
“Charlie…this is home now.”
He sniffled and pouted, letting go of his mother reluctantly before sitting down next to me on the floor. I gave him a smile, eliciting a small chuckle from him, his lip slightly curling on his lips. I shot him a puzzled look before looking down and grinning, realizing what he was laughing at. I burst out laughing with him, causing an eruption of laughter to spread throughout the class. Charlies tears of fear turned to tears of laughter, streaming down his face before asking me:
“Did your mom dress you today? I think she made a mistake!” The class erupted in laughter as my backwards shirt began to get noticed.
“My name is Jeremy, want to be friends?”
“Sure!”
Charlie shouted, Mr. Stephens and Charlies mother letting out a sigh of relief as we hugged, the rest of the class buzzed with excitement, talking to one another.
“So uh, do you like Transformers?”
Asked Charlie, a toothy grin on my face as I walked over to my designated spot and pulled out my Optimus Prime lunchbox. Charlie looked over with pure excitement, showing me his identical lunchbox.
The day went on as usual, we had pizza for lunch. I can still remember that bland, tasteless rectangular slab from Wellspring Junior High. In fact, looking back on it, I kind of miss it. After lunch we worked on our times tables, multiplication. Things suddenly shifted gears around 12:45 that afternoon.
The class ground to a halt, going silent as the room went dark, losing electricity it seemed, as a booming echo of what sounded like a scream came from the woods outside the window. Mr. Wells, our math teachers usual sunny disposition was wiped from his face as he looked in abject horror at the window, running over to close the blinds so no one would see. I saw though, and the look of terror in Charlies eyes, and the stench of urine told me that he had seen it too. An emaciated man with a sack over his head and hands tied behind his back had ran from the forest screaming before collapsing on the ground, covered in welts and burns, a strange chain link fence looking symbol carved into his chest, coagulated blood seeping around the area. We both stared blankly at the spot where it happened, just a drab, orange curtain blocking everyone else from the view. The loudspeaker overhead chiming in with a voice from the Mrs. Hollace, the principal.
“LOCK THE DOORS IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT LET ANYONE IN OR OUT OF THE BUILDING UNTIL POLICE ARRIVE.”
Charlie began to cry again, as did I, embracing him in a hug, Mr. Wells looking fearful, running over to us, as we seemed to be the only ones crying, the rest of the class awash with confusion instead.
“Are you ok?”
He asked. Both of us looked at each other wide eyed, in a look that said “Don’t let him know that we saw, keep it secret.”
If I had known what would happen a little over a decade later, I wouldn’t have agreed to be friends with Charlie. Hell, I wish I never met him. I wish he went to another school, or moved to another town, even if we did end up best friends. I wish I had told someone, ANYONE else what we saw that day.
I’m getting dreary, my eyes keep drooping as I recount this, maybe the booze is getting to me. So I’ll split this up into parts, chapters if you will. I don't know what will happen to me for even speaking of that fucking town, nor do I care. I guess that’s why I have to keep my mouth shut about my identity. I probably should keep my mouth shut about the rest of it too, but the truth needs to be out there. One thing I know for certain though is:
That was the first victim I saw of the Wellspring Furnace, but unfortunately not the last.

Hi everyone. I’m normally a very good student (I had really bad health problems for a few years that brought my grades down, but I’m doing much better now), but I’ve never been good at math. I want to be better at it but I just can’t. I go to office hours more than anyone else (my teachers keep a sign-in sheet and my name is on there the most), I’ve tried being tutored, I dedicate several hours a day to studying math, I have accommodations (I have autism and ADHD); I literally do everything in my power to get an A but I always get a low B at most. I’m taking precalc over the summer and it’s the last math class I’m taking in high school. I’d really like to get an A, partly to boost my GPA and partly to prove to myself that I’m capable of achieving what I want. So… Any advice? I know there’s probably no magic solution, but I would love any tips or suggestions. Thanks. :)

I was homeschooled and adaptation to a classroom setting killed my GPA for the first semester. Due to being a homeschooled idiot + only starting to research US college admissions few weeks prior to attending college i wasn't well aware of GPA's importance either. I don't know how exactly Russian grading system will be translated. I've got perfect hs grades, but my 1st semester on an online calculator (myiee) resulted in 3.12 when removing pass/fail subjects from the equation. Current semester in the same calculator is going to either be 3.64 or 3.82 depending on one tricky subject and the next (last before submitting applications) i will make sure to have 4.0 on
Do they simply take the average GPA? Then i'm in danger since best case scenario is something like 3.65. Or can they take into the consideration that the grades were improving with each consecutive semester? Is it a mitigating factor that i'm homeschooled and have been adapting to a classroom setting or that i'm switching majors from architecture all the way to econ upon transfer (and would that send me all the way to freshman year given there's not enough credits to transfer?). I have perfect math and english grades with a LOR from both soon, but every other subject is architecture specific
Can i make up for low GPA with SAT/ACT, ECs and good LORs? Since i'm transferring and all the schools on my list are test optional would taking SAT/ACT even make sense or account for anything? Note that i would have to travel to Kazakhstan to take them. Most of my ECs are work in progress but seem to be solid if everything works out (it's going well so far). I will share them upon request, as well as uni list, not sure if i can chanceme here. Please excuse my ignorance this is my first time asking anything about this on reddit 😭

So this is going to be a long story, but a very intriguing one (or so my friends say). Bear with me and if you could offer some advice on what to do please share. I know I'm probably just young and naive but I feel like the pain will never stop. Like I'm going to always be held back by this particular experience.
Also sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors, English isn't my first language.
So all of this begins October of 2022 when I 18 M (at the time) moved to a new city to study film. I was lucky enough to have good grades and be so passionate about this art that it kind of felt incredible to have this new beginning. I rented a small house which I decorated with my collections and all my stuff and ended up loving every second spend in it.
I'm Not very social. Thats just a fact. I've always had my school friends and some people from other activities but none of them really felt like they understood me. No sade to them, I really love them, it's just that I know my hobbies and personality are niece and weird so we don't always see eye to eye. So I wanted to overcome my social anxiety and meet new people.
For the first semester I was all alone. Completely. Spent days upon days without leaving my house if I didn't have school and even didn't have any actual human interaction if not necessary. I didn't realise how much I was hurting myself. The Second semester, someone approached me in school and asked if I could help them with the editing for their final movie, let's call him Jacob 18 M. I already was searching for a group project to join in order to pass the class so this felt like a sweet deal. The group was Jacob and 2 girls, let's call them Ellie 18 F and Hannah 18 F.
With time we started talking about more then just the movie. I was really surprised by how many things we had in common. It was the first time someone I met liked musical theatre or (and this is gonna sound sad, please don't judge me) people didn't want me to leave whenever I approached them. They invited me to things, to their homes and after school and to trips at the beach ect. We were together almost every day. Till late at night or through it. Just the 4 of us. Felt like we could rule the world.
One day i thought Ellie was flirting with me. That was a weird feeling. I'm not very good looking and had a lot of extra weight so that was pretty much the first time but my friends told me that was the case from what I was describing. I mentioned it to Jacob and he told me something I didn't expect. He told me him and Ellie were in an open relationship and were hiding it from everyone except Hannah because of his ex who was in school with us. He also confessed he once had a crush on me and that's why he approached me in the first place. He also saw Ellie flirting with me but was ok with it due to the "rules of their relationship".
I was ok with not having a romantic relationship with Ellie. She would actually become one of the closest friends I've ever had. Or so I thought.
I actually started having a crush on Hannah. She loved some of the movies I loved. Had some of my quirks so I didn't feel ashamed around her and she started watching my favourite tv show with me. During our time together everyone (even her sister and Jacob who found out I liked her) told us that when we were together we could only see each other. As if we had a unique way of communication that nobody else could understand.
I confessed my crush and she told me she felt the same way but that there where 2 problems. First that she gets very anxious about relationships, has only ever been to one and had never kissed anyone. I assured her I wasn't going to pressure anything and I only cared for her and wanted to go on a date sometime. She replied she would like that very much. The second problem she confessed was that she was in love with Jacob for months now but nobody knew. Then everything made sense. The things she did for him and all. How she acted around him. I was surprised I didn't notice it before. She told me she wanted to get over it and proceed to ask to kiss me. We kissed a lot but nothing more that night. She went home after a few hours.
The next day Hannah she felt very distant. We wanted to go to the movies with Ellie but she disappeared all day. Late at night she asked my to go for a walk since we lived near each other. Then she told me she wanted to forget everything and last night was a mistake. That her anxiety has gotten into her and although she really wanted a relationship she couldn't be in one. The next few days we talked again and she said she didn't share any of this with Jacob to have someone in the group I could talk to if I needed help. Ellie was that for her.
It was already summer so we all went to our home towns. I missed her a ton. We stilled talked and the other 2 knew something was off with me. About 2 moths later we all went to Hannah's summerhouse for vacation. We were having fun, getting drunk and all that 19-year old stuff. One night me and Hannah were watching my show together and the time felt right so I asked to kiss her. She told me no and finally told me the truth. Turns out she liked that we flirted but after kissing me she realised it wasn't anything more. Also everyone knew except me. But after all this time I had realised I was in love with this girl. I told her if she could keep all of this to herself and she said yes.
We were all still friends. But I couldn't let go. My mental health began to decent and I started feeling like they would leave me out of stuff to go hang out alone and during October I tried talking some time away to see if they would even talk to me if I didn't. They didn't even say good morning once. I tried again and again. Jacob and Ellie said we all need to talk together. They repeated the same words. Like as if it was rehearsed. I went to "the talk".
Jacob did most of the talking. He talked about boundaries and how after everything between me and Hannah the group hasn't been the same. That after I didn't tell him what happened in our vacation they went to her and forced Hannah to do so. They where all attacking me. I heard lie after lie and all followed up with "we just need some time" and that all of this was cause they loved me.
I have discussed what they accused me of with friends, family and therapists. Although I didn't not believe it at first they all confirmed it was finding little details in my day-to-day behaviour (unrelated to all of the above) and using it to kick me out. They didn't intend of even speaking to me again. Lies feed to everyone by Jacob.
I went away. I don't know if it was for the better. But for a few weeks at first and then months later, I went back to my home town. Their lies became actual blame and I got a message from Ellie saying that we are done (just one month after trying to convince me they needed time and confessing she in particular didn't even notice anything until her boyfriend accused me).
Last time I saw any of them was in December when I gave Hannah her Christmas present. I told her I wasn't trying to get her back and I would continue to keep my distance since my first priority is what she wants and I meant that. I really do love her and would do anything for her to be happy. But I miss her a ton.
It's been 5 months since then. I stopped going to school and kept my distance from anyone related to that life. I have depression and cannot think about anything else. I heard that Jacob still talk shut about me to everyone. I have realised what has happened and have discussed this with multiple common friends who have confirmed this. Jacob is Manipulating the other 2 because of the bad relationship with his parents. He knows Ellie won't do anything with anyone else despite the "open" relationship due to her luck of confidence (so it only works for him). She need him to operate in public and to deal with her extreme anxiety so he takes advantage of that and Hannah follows him everywhere with the excuse of just being a good friend.
There are so many things I couldn't include (this is a hugh post already) about more lies and proof that they where bad for me. But I can't move on. I have seeked medical help but I just cant imagine my life in the future without them. Everything is a reminder of what we've been through. Jacob used to call me his family and when I begged him for our friendship back he didn't even care. Not on my birthday, not on new years... never. I lost all of them.
I'm back now. Not sure why, whether I'm back to continue my studies or to see if I could win them back. If I could have Hannah in my life in sime form. But I'll probably see them tomorrow morning (I randomly walked behind them today, don't think they noticed me).
Please if you have any advice share it. I just want to feel happy again. Even for a second.
TL,DR: The girl I'm in love with stopped talking to me along with my 2 best friends. I can't move on and I'm supposed to face them again in school after not seeing them for months. They all lied to me and nothing seem to help. I have depression and I dont want to feel like this for the rest of my life.

So this is going to be a long story, but a very intriguing one (or so my friends say). Bear with me and if you could offer some advice on what to do please share. I know I'm probably just young and naive but I feel like the pain will never stop. Like I'm going to always be held back by this particular experience.
Also sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors, English isn't my first language.
So all of this begins October of 2022 when I 18 M (at the time) moved to a new city to study film. I was lucky enough to have good grades and be so passionate about this art that it kind of felt incredible to have this new beginning. I rented a small house which I decorated with my collections and all my stuff and ended up loving every second spend in it.
I'm Not very social. Thats just a fact. I've always had my school friends and some people from other activities but none of them really felt like they understood me. No sade to them, I really love them, it's just that I know my hobbies and personality are niece and weird so we don't always see eye to eye. So I wanted to overcome my social anxiety and meet new people.
For the first semester I was all alone. Completely. Spent days upon days without leaving my house if I didn't have school and even didn't have any actual human interaction if not necessary. I didn't realise how much I was hurting myself. The Second semester, someone approached me in school and asked if I could help them with the editing for their final movie, let's call him Jacob 18 M. I already was searching for a group project to join in order to pass the class so this felt like a sweet deal. The group was Jacob and 2 girls, let's call them Ellie 18 F and Hannah 18 F.
With time we started talking about more then just the movie. I was really surprised by how many things we had in common. It was the first time someone I met liked musical theatre or (and this is gonna sound sad, please don't judge me) people didn't want me to leave whenever I approached them. They invited me to things, to their homes and after school and to trips at the beach ect. We were together almost every day. Till late at night or through it. Just the 4 of us. Felt like we could rule the world.
One day i thought Ellie was flirting with me. That was a weird feeling. I'm not very good looking and had a lot of extra weight so that was pretty much the first time but my friends told me that was the case from what I was describing. I mentioned it to Jacob and he told me something I didn't expect. He told me him and Ellie were in an open relationship and were hiding it from everyone except Hannah because of his ex who was in school with us. He also confessed he once had a crush on me and that's why he approached me in the first place. He also saw Ellie flirting with me but was ok with it due to the "rules of their relationship".
I was ok with not having a romantic relationship with Ellie. She would actually become one of the closest friends I've ever had. Or so I thought.
I actually started having a crush on Hannah. She loved some of the movies I loved. Had some of my quirks so I didn't feel ashamed around her and she started watching my favourite tv show with me. During our time together everyone (even her sister and Jacob who found out I liked her) told us that when we were together we could only see each other. As if we had a unique way of communication that nobody else could understand.
I confessed my crush and she told me she felt the same way but that there where 2 problems. First that she gets very anxious about relationships, has only ever been to one and had never kissed anyone. I assured her I wasn't going to pressure anything and I only cared for her and wanted to go on a date sometime. She replied she would like that very much. The second problem she confessed was that she was in love with Jacob for months now but nobody knew. Then everything made sense. The things she did for him and all. How she acted around him. I was surprised I didn't notice it before. She told me she wanted to get over it and proceed to ask to kiss me. We kissed a lot but nothing more that night. She went home after a few hours.
The next day Hannah she felt very distant. We wanted to go to the movies with Ellie but she disappeared all day. Late at night she asked my to go for a walk since we lived near each other. Then she told me she wanted to forget everything and last night was a mistake. That her anxiety has gotten into her and although she really wanted a relationship she couldn't be in one. The next few days we talked again and she said she didn't share any of this with Jacob to have someone in the group I could talk to if I needed help. Ellie was that for her.
It was already summer so we all went to our home towns. I missed her a ton. We stilled talked and the other 2 knew something was off with me. About 2 moths later we all went to Hannah's summerhouse for vacation. We were having fun, getting drunk and all that 19-year old stuff. One night me and Hannah were watching my show together and the time felt right so I asked to kiss her. She told me no and finally told me the truth. Turns out she liked that we flirted but after kissing me she realised it wasn't anything more. Also everyone knew except me. But after all this time I had realised I was in love with this girl. I told her if she could keep all of this to herself and she said yes.
We were all still friends. But I couldn't let go. My mental health began to decent and I started feeling like they would leave me out of stuff to go hang out alone and during October I tried talking some time away to see if they would even talk to me if I didn't. They didn't even say good morning once. I tried again and again. Jacob and Ellie said we all need to talk together. They repeated the same words. Like as if it was rehearsed. I went to "the talk".
Jacob did most of the talking. He talked about boundaries and how after everything between me and Hannah the group hasn't been the same. That after I didn't tell him what happened in our vacation they went to her and forced Hannah to do so. They where all attacking me. I heard lie after lie and all followed up with "we just need some time" and that all of this was cause they loved me.
I have discussed what they accused me of with friends, family and therapists. Although I didn't not believe it at first they all confirmed it was finding little details in my day-to-day behaviour (unrelated to all of the above) and using it to kick me out. They didn't intend of even speaking to me again. Lies feed to everyone by Jacob.
I went away. I don't know if it was for the better. But for a few weeks at first and then months later, I went back to my home town. Their lies became actual blame and I got a message from Ellie saying that we are done (just one month after trying to convince me they needed time and confessing she in particular didn't even notice anything until her boyfriend accused me).
Last time I saw any of them was in December when I gave Hannah her Christmas present. I told her I wasn't trying to get her back and I would continue to keep my distance since my first priority is what she wants and I meant that. I really do love her and would do anything for her to be happy. But I miss her a ton.
It's been 5 months since then. I stopped going to school and kept my distance from anyone related to that life. I have depression and cannot think about anything else. I heard that Jacob still talk shut about me to everyone. I have realised what has happened and have discussed this with multiple common friends who have confirmed this. Jacob is Manipulating the other 2 because of the bad relationship with his parents. He knows Ellie won't do anything with anyone else despite the "open" relationship due to her luck of confidence (so it only works for him). She need him to operate in public and to deal with her extreme anxiety so he takes advantage of that and Hannah follows him everywhere with the excuse of just being a good friend.
There are so many things I couldn't include (this is a hugh post already) about more lies and proof that they where bad for me. But I can't move on. I have seeked medical help but I just cant imagine my life in the future without them. Everything is a reminder of what we've been through. Jacob used to call me his family and when I begged him for our friendship back he didn't even care. Not on my birthday, not on new years... never. I lost all of them.
I'm back now. Not sure why, whether I'm back to continue my studies or to see if I could win them back. If I could have Hannah in my life in sime form. But I'll probably see them tomorrow morning (I randomly walked behind them today, don't think they noticed me).
Please if you have any advice share it. I just want to feel happy again. Even for a second.

So this is going to be a long story, but a very intriguing one (or so my friends say). Bear with me and if you could offer some advice on what to do please share. I know I'm probably just young and naive but I feel like the pain will never stop. Like I'm going to always be held back by this particular experience.
Also sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors, English isn't my first language.
So all of this begins October of 2022 when I 18 M (at the time) moved to a new city to study film. I was lucky enough to have good grades and be so passionate about this art that it kind of felt incredible to have this new beginning. I rented a small house which I decorated with my collections and all my stuff and ended up loving every second spend in it.
I'm Not very social. Thats just a fact. I've always had my school friends and some people from other activities but none of them really felt like they understood me. No sade to them, I really love them, it's just that I know my hobbies and personality are niece and weird so we don't always see eye to eye. So I wanted to overcome my social anxiety and meet new people.
For the first semester I was all alone. Completely. Spent days upon days without leaving my house if I didn't have school and even didn't have any actual human interaction if not necessary. I didn't realise how much I was hurting myself. The Second semester, someone approached me in school and asked if I could help them with the editing for their final movie, let's call him Jacob 18 M. I already was searching for a group project to join in order to pass the class so this felt like a sweet deal. The group was Jacob and 2 girls, let's call them Ellie 18 F and Hannah 18 F.
With time we started talking about more then just the movie. I was really surprised by how many things we had in common. It was the first time someone I met liked musical theatre or (and this is gonna sound sad, please don't judge me) people didn't want me to leave whenever I approached them. They invited me to things, to their homes and after school and to trips at the beach ect. We were together almost every day. Till late at night or through it. Just the 4 of us. Felt like we could rule the world.
One day i thought Ellie was flirting with me. That was a weird feeling. I'm not very good looking and had a lot of extra weight so that was pretty much the first time but my friends told me that was the case from what I was describing. I mentioned it to Jacob and he told me something I didn't expect. He told me him and Ellie were in an open relationship and were hiding it from everyone except Hannah because of his ex who was in school with us. He also confessed he once had a crush on me and that's why he approached me in the first place. He also saw Ellie flirting with me but was ok with it due to the "rules of their relationship".
I was ok with not having a romantic relationship with Ellie. She would actually become one of the closest friends I've ever had. Or so I thought.
I actually started having a crush on Hannah. She loved some of the movies I loved. Had some of my quirks so I didn't feel ashamed around her and she started watching my favourite tv show with me. During our time together everyone (even her sister and Jacob who found out I liked her) told us that when we were together we could only see each other. As if we had a unique way of communication that nobody else could understand.
I confessed my crush and she told me she felt the same way but that there where 2 problems. First that she gets very anxious about relationships, has only ever been to one and had never kissed anyone. I assured her I wasn't going to pressure anything and I only cared for her and wanted to go on a date sometime. She replied she would like that very much. The second problem she confessed was that she was in love with Jacob for months now but nobody knew. Then everything made sense. The things she did for him and all. How she acted around him. I was surprised I didn't notice it before. She told me she wanted to get over it and proceed to ask to kiss me. We kissed a lot but nothing more that night. She went home after a few hours.
The next day Hannah she felt very distant. We wanted to go to the movies with Ellie but she disappeared all day. Late at night she asked my to go for a walk since we lived near each other. Then she told me she wanted to forget everything and last night was a mistake. That her anxiety has gotten into her and although she really wanted a relationship she couldn't be in one. The next few days we talked again and she said she didn't share any of this with Jacob to have someone in the group I could talk to if I needed help. Ellie was that for her.
It was already summer so we all went to our home towns. I missed her a ton. We stilled talked and the other 2 knew something was off with me. About 2 moths later we all went to Hannah's summerhouse for vacation. We were having fun, getting drunk and all that 19-year old stuff. One night me and Hannah were watching my show together and the time felt right so I asked to kiss her. She told me no and finally told me the truth. Turns out she liked that we flirted but after kissing me she realised it wasn't anything more. Also everyone knew except me. But after all this time I had realised I was in love with this girl. I told her if she could keep all of this to herself and she said yes.
We were all still friends. But I couldn't let go. My mental health began to decent and I started feeling like they would leave me out of stuff to go hang out alone and during October I tried talking some time away to see if they would even talk to me if I didn't. They didn't even say good morning once. I tried again and again. Jacob and Ellie said we all need to talk together. They repeated the same words. Like as if it was rehearsed. I went to "the talk".
Jacob did most of the talking. He talked about boundaries and how after everything between me and Hannah the group hasn't been the same. That after I didn't tell him what happened in our vacation they went to her and forced Hannah to do so. They where all attacking me. I heard lie after lie and all followed up with "we just need some time" and that all of this was cause they loved me.
I have discussed what they accused me of with friends, family and therapists. Although I didn't not believe it at first they all confirmed it was finding little details in my day-to-day behaviour (unrelated to all of the above) and using it to kick me out. They didn't intend of even speaking to me again. Lies feed to everyone by Jacob.
I went away. I don't know if it was for the better. But for a few weeks at first and then months later, I went back to my home town. Their lies became actual blame and I got a message from Ellie saying that we are done (just one month after trying to convince me they needed time and confessing she in particular didn't even notice anything until her boyfriend accused me).
Last time I saw any of them was in December when I gave Hannah her Christmas present. I told her I wasn't trying to get her back and I would continue to keep my distance since my first priority is what she wants and I meant that. I really do love her and would do anything for her to be happy. But I miss her a ton.
It's been 5 months since then. I stopped going to school and kept my distance from anyone related to that life. I have depression and cannot think about anything else. I heard that Jacob still talk shut about me to everyone. I have realised what has happened and have discussed this with multiple common friends who have confirmed this. Jacob is Manipulating the other 2 because of the bad relationship with his parents. He knows Ellie won't do anything with anyone else despite the "open" relationship due to her luck of confidence (so it only works for him). She need him to operate in public and to deal with her extreme anxiety so he takes advantage of that and Hannah follows him everywhere with the excuse of just being a good friend.
There are so many things I couldn't include (this is a hugh post already) about more lies and proof that they where bad for me. But I can't move on. I have seeked medical help but I just cant imagine my life in the future without them. Everything is a reminder of what we've been through. Jacob used to call me his family and when I begged him for our friendship back he didn't even care. Not on my birthday, not on new years... never. I lost all of them.
I'm back now. Not sure why, whether I'm back to continue my studies or to see if I could win them back. If I could have Hannah in my life in sime form. But I'll probably see them tomorrow morning (I randomly walked behind them today, don't think they noticed me).
Please if you have any advice share it. I just want to feel happy again. Even for a second.
TL,DR: The girl I'm in love with stopped talking to me along with my 2 best friends. I can't move on and I'm supposed to face them again in school after not seeing them for months. They all lied to me and nothing seem to help. I have depression and I dont want to feel like this for the rest of my life.

What are the predictions for higher / foundation grade boundaries edexcel?
... jar question haunts me.

27F who grew up as an only child. The first daydreams I remember happened in first grade. I used to daydream about having a sister named “Princess” (yeah I know). We used to play and do each others hair. My daydreams have always been like movie type production visuals. I would draw her and I in pictures at school and I used to actually say she was my real sister to other people at school. I would be upset if they tried to say otherwise. In second grade I daydreamed about my mom being pregnant. Again, I wanted a baby sister so bad as an only child. But it’s interesting how looking back, my first daydreams were all surrounding the motif of not wanting to be alone. I just wanted someone to be with me in my house during my crazy ass childhood ☹️

(I LIVE!! I have no idea what's hit me as hard as it did that Friday. But I needed Saturday to recover as well. Clearly wasn't the CPAP as that's working fine now. But good god is this unpleasant. Thankfully I'm clearly on the mend. I think I may have gotten food poisoning from KFC. Pity.)
~First~
Love and Longing
Little Fina’Noir and Dri’Noir still don’t like getting along all that much. So of course they need daddy between them to behave. They lay across his stomach, each out of reach of the other. For all that they ‘don’t’ get along, separating them is worse. They’re clearly best rivals already. They reach for each other and there are tiny puffs of sparks and little tongues of flame. But considering the soft and thin bed of moss on their daddy’s torso, it does nothing but make their little bits of bedding all the more comfortable.
Cia’Noir was visiting again, to be fair she visited so often she had almost moved in, and she was also currently mixing up a meaty broth in the kitchen while humming a nursery rhyme that most of the girls adored. Especially Uma’Noir and Jiti’Noir as they tried to keep tempo with it as grandma semi-swayed, semi-danced to the tune to their delight.
Ari’Noir, Mala’Noir, Gia’Noir and Lia’Noir were all having an extra nap. They had managed to get each other excited and rushing around as best they could earlier and wore themselves out. Leaving Miro’Noir the proud mother to luxuriate next to their shared napping blanket and pillows, casually reading a book.
“Oh? A call?” Vernon asks as his communicator starts buzzing. This grabs the attention of Fina and Dri as he pulls it out. “Observer Wu? Oh, the new ship.”
He activates it and then has the phone levitate away to give a broader look. “Sir, you’ll forgive me for not standing at attention I hope.”
“Yes.” The Asian man says after a moment. “We can excuse the lack of decorum considering that you seem to be thoroughly pinned.”
“What can I say? My little girls are fighters. I’ve heard some rumour about you through The Dark Forest. How may I help?”
“I am doing a preliminary call and evaluation of the situation with humanity off of Earth. We’ve found enough confusion information coming back to us that it necessitated the appointment and dispatching of an unquestionably trusted individual, myself, in order to ascertain exactly what is going on.” Observer Wu stated. “Unfortunately due to the sheer amount of nonsense that’s being sent towards The Inevitable and by extension, myself, I have been forced to place several administrators on duty to sort out the sheer number of calls I’m getting. The galaxy knows this is a second Dauntless Class Vessel, which means more humans.”
“Which means more men, and many women that decided to take a wait and see approach have likely decided that they’ve waited long enough.” Miro’Noir states.
“Indeed that is true madam. I take you are Lady Miro’Noir?”
“Princess, Lady is a more ennobled title. I am a Battle Princess, a military rank, directly empowered by and under the command of the Imperial Family of Serbow, in particular, The Empress.” Miro’Noir says and Observer Wu nods.
“And the third adult looking into this conversation?” Observer Wu asks.
“I am Cia’Noir, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother depending who in this room you are asking.” She says. “My little girl has worked a miracle in that she’s locked down a husband all to herself. So she needs a bit of a hand to caring for her first clutch, no sister wives to assist you see.”
“I believe I do. Still, I have been informed that Officer Shay and Princess Miro’Noir are largely responsible for the excellent relationships the Apuk have with humanity. If you would be so kind, could you tell me how that came about?”
“Oh... it was silly, sweet and wonderful all at the same time...” Miro’Noir gushes. “We met at a bar and I tried to get some attention, a few credits for a conversation. At first I thought he was a Tret.”
“The near human species, yes.”
“Well, I was proven wrong, not only human, but an INTERESTING human as well. A trinity of criminal fools attacked, and as I rose to show off, he did as well. And displayed a terrifying Axiom power.”
“Terrifying power?”
“Transmutation sir. A very complicated Axiom Technique I had stumbled on and managed to create my own version of. Basically I had bumbled into a way to rapidly learn a monumentally difficult trick and make it extremely lethal in human hands.” Vernon explains.
“I see. Are the notes of your research available on The Dauntless?’
“Yes sir they are, I hope you’ll forgive that... hey!” Vernon is cut off when Fina’Noir starts smacking his stomach. “Be nice little lady!”
“Bah! Bah! Bah bah!” Fina’Noir counters as she smacks him in the stomach again and again.
“Fina’Noir you must be nice with family!”
“Adabababa!” Dri’Noir adds in with a smack of her own to her daddy’s stomach.
“Dri’Noir! Don’t follow your sister’s bad example! Be nice!” Vernon chides her and a smiling Miro’Noir rises up after marking her place in her book and sweeps the more active little girls into her arms.
“There, have your talk with your officer now dear.” Miro’Noir says giving him a peck that he gestures for her to come back to and he gives her a longer kiss in return.
“I’ll be back shortly.” He promises before rising up. The communicator floats into his hand and he offers a salute to Cia’Noir who sends one right back. “I’ll be just in the back yard.”
A few moments and the door is closed behind him. The communicator floats out of his hands and he slips into parade ground ‘at ease’ stance. “Sir.”
“This is a preliminary communication. Not that formal. How well regarded are humans by the Apuk?”
“We have been invited to build a community on their homeworld sir. That kind of privilege is usually extended only to species that are sworn to each other in some way.” Vernon answers.
“That’s very interesting.”
“It was a very strategic move sir. The Empress... she’s one of those kinds of politicians where any action you take short of directly opposing them or attacking them is something they benefit from, and they also know how to handle someone directly opposing or attacking them. She’s friendly and benevolent, but when you realize just how many of her strings you’re dancing on... it’s disquieting.”
“I see, so how did setting up a human community on Serbow help?”
“She requested a specific type to explore the human ease at learning Apuk Sorcery. She did this to not only develop a large number of sorcerers that are more mentally stable than most, but to get ahead of the next few sorcerers, put her in well with humanity, distract the more troublesome nobility and likely more. That was one action. One.”
“Ah... one of those types. Is she scrambling to get things done or does it all seem effortless?”
“Effortless.”
“... Frightening.”
“She’s been directly ruling an entire species for multiple centuries. Even if she was originally installed as a puppet of some kind, which she was not, then she would have had enough time to gain all the skills she needs to be an unstoppable force in the political side of things.”
“I see, anything else?”
“You’ll need some context for this. You are aware that Apuk are naturally inclined to breathe fire using Axiom right?”
“I am.”
“Those trained to use it properly manifest Warfire, it’s... hard to describe. A fire where the heat lingers and pervades much more than normal. It’s like the fire contains their aggression.”
“I see, what of it?”
“There are four grades of Warfire easily distinguished by colour. Red is standard, Blue is considered an expert level, Green is the sheer strength of Battle Princesses only, but the final level is White Warfire, and only The Empress can manifest it at will.”
“I see.” Observer Wu states and Vernon shakes his head.
“Sir, Red Warfire can burn a hole into a starship over the course of a few minutes. It takes a single minute or less for Blue Warfire to do the same. A mere moment for Green Warfire and is so instantaneous for White Warfire it would cause an explosion as the solid metal is converted into a gas instantly.” Vernon explains.
“Really? They’re that dangerous?”
“Sir, it’s legally a form of suicide to attempt to fight a Battle Princess with odds any less than five to one.” Vernon says and Observer Wu looks impressed.
“I see, and your involvement with their cultural traditions and such?”
“Well, first was the Broken Shell Tournament. A large martial contest with six person free for all fights. The aim is to break the armour or ‘shell’ of all your opponents, not kill them or force them out of the ring. I made it to the final round before I grew upset at one of my opponents, locked her down entirely, and then broke my own armour and walked out. More or less ruining the woman’s reputation and social standing while imprinting myself into the cultural zeitgeist.”
“What happened to the woman in question?”
“She joined a monastery and after achieving journeyman status I offered her a recommendation into The Undaunted as compensation. She’s taken it from my understanding, but as you can imagine, she and I are not on good terms. Or really speaking terms.”
“I see, and the community that has been built?”
“It... kinda ties into our initial journey through Cruel Space.” Vernon says somewhat ruefully. “A lot of us played all kinds of pranks and jokes and things like that to try and stave off the boredom and cabin fever. One of which was banding around a soldier who has ninjas in his ancestry and... pretending to be his legion of ninjas.”
“... The people that took part in that are mostly in the community aren’t they?”
“Yes sir, we’ve built a hidden ninja village in The Dark Forest of Serbow. A massive communal entity that is simultaneously a single mind and the mind of every single thing in the forest.”
“A communal entity? Wait, you said everything in the forest. Does that include the men currently inside it?”
“And me right now. Think of my like a brain-cell to a larger body if you must. While I cannot ignore the needs of the rest of the body, I can also guide it, learn from it, and it’s strength is mine as my knowledge and skills belong to it.”
“And it’s not a security breach?”
“I’m able to keep secrets from it, but what I share with it stays with it. It has however flash taught me the local language of Cinder Tongue, as well as Classical and even Ancient Cinder Tongue. I know the Apuk language and much of their history better than some dedicated historians. Couple that with the extreme area control and tactical advantages of being bonded to the forest and it’s been regarded as a more than fair trade.”
“Area control?”
“The Dark Forest as an entity can absorb heat and grow stronger. I can cause a temporary extension of this ally to appear wherever I am. And considering lasers and plasma are the most commonly used forms of weaponry and Apuk Warfire, it’s a nearly perfect defence. Couple that with just how much it understands about Axiom use towards animals, plants and the earth itself and I can shatter the ground under me with a blink and refuse any solid ground to stand on to my enemies as well. Add on Woodwalking and I am untouchable to my enemies.”
“Woodwalking?”
“The Forest is alive and on my side. I carry a whisper of it within me wherever I go. The Forest can call me back to any extension of itself at any time. Meaning I can in effect always retreat to a safe location no matter the distance, access the supplies I have stored there no matter where I am, and have backup by my side at any moment. Facing a Dark Forest Sorcerer is such a tactical nightmare that we’re considered direct counters to Apuk Battle Princesses, which may I remind you, are legally suicide to fight one to one.” Vernon says. “To say nothing of the other Sorcerers. The Dreadmoss, The Blood Bark The Burning Stone, The Bonechewer, The City Shaker, The Leviathan Lord. Or my own title, The Bloody Prophet.”
“You’re The Bloody Prophet?”
“I recreated the Plagues of Egypt to stop feuding families from slaughtering each other. I am the only Sorcerer who’s title wasn’t earned with a body count. Even if only by a technicality.”
“A technicality?”
“Dare’Char Crushclaw is the Lydris born son of Brin’Char The Bonechewer. He assisted in one of his father’s rampages against his hated enemy by providing transport. While Dare’Char didn’t kill anyone directly, he still enabled his father in that regard.”
“So those nicknames are for supernatural serial killers?”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“Please explain then.”
“It’s rather hard to, until I became the first human sorcerer, all sorcerers were the result of an Apuk boy or man being pushed to the breaking point. They then flee in the night and find solace in the shadow of The Dark Forest, it bonds with them, protects them and teaches them. But it also reminds them of what drove them to the forest to begin with. Which means that in a few short years, the former victim returns from The Dark Forest, immensly powerful and filled with unthinking rage. Until humans were on the scene, all sorcerers went on at least one rampage and earned their nicknames from them. Since we showed up... there were only two... technically three. One was Brin’Char finding his ancient enemy still alive, so he was set off. Another was when Cals’Tarn joined us, his home was under attack and we counterattacked for him. Saving his home and family. Then there was mine, but no casualties, does it really count as a rampage?”
“I would say bringing the literal wrath of god onto someone would count as a rampage, yes.” Observer Wu states. “I think we will be speaking face to face in short order. It’s quite clear that you are responsible for some fairly major changes.”
“I look forward to it, is there anything else?”
“Not at this time.”
“Good, because I’d like to get back to my wife.”
“You’ve only been apart for...” Observer Wu checks his watch. “Four minutes.”
“Five minutes too many. If you’ll excuse me.”
“You are excused.” Observer Wu says and he turns off the communicator.
~First~ Last

Rising senior
Hispanic - South America
4.0 UW GPA (my school only does unweighted ) 3 AP classes + 5 next year
1100 SAT (planning to retake)
Got to the US as a Sophomore so I couldn’t take more AP’s or more sat prep or more classes to average better class rank.
Top 15% (70/450) Also they messed my transcript and gave me wrong grades
Intended Major: Aerospace Engineering
Extracurriculars:
• JV Orchestra with 2 years of experience
• Spanish Club Co-Founder
• National honor society and Spanish national honor society
• Volunteer at multiple orchestra events and competitions.
Not much else I did these 2 years :/
Class info:
• English Second language but in AP English
• Recommendation letters from orchestra teacher about dedication and effort, Math and science teachers.
• Taking Dual enrollment classes at local community college
Colleges in interested:
• UT Austin (in state)
• Texas A&M (In state)
• Georgia Tech
• UC Berkeley
• Virginia Tech
• UTA
• Rice University
Idk where I should apply with my stats, I plan to re take the sat as I just took it for the first time. Thanks :)

Before anyone points out that "Gold cards are optional, you don't have to get them, if you're not having fun playing the game you should stop." Yes, thank you for this profound insight, agreed and noted. That said, after an hour of farming the Waft Emitter for Termite King gold cards, here's some baseline numbers to get a rough estimate of how much time you'll likely need to invest to get the card:
1 Hour resulted in 108 reload attempts. 27 of these attempts yielded a Termite King immediately spawning. The King actually spawns in about 60% of full raid attempts, but if he doesn't spawn immediately then you need to kill other termites and wait for him to appear, which will hurt your numbers in the long run. So, with a baseline of 27 kills/hour, here's a table showing the time it would take to farm the card:

Hours	King Kills	Probability
1	27	23.77%
2	54	41.88%
3	81	55.70%
4	108	66.22%
5	135	74.25%
6	162	80.37%
7	189	85.04%
8	216	88.59%
9	243	91.30%
10	270	93.37%
11	297	94.95%
12	324	96.15%

Now, looking at the chart, you might think "every hour I have a roughly 25% chance to get the card? Ehh, that's not great, but it's not terrible, I can mange that". Oof...
Because of the nature of independent sampling, every hour of effort you put into farming yields a diminished additional likelihood that the total number of Termite King kills will have yielded the card, e.g. farming for 11 hours straight would give you a 94.95% chance of getting the card, but adding an hour on top of that would only increase your likelihood of finding the card by 1.2%. I know on its face the math seems simple, "Oh every kill is a 1% chance to get the card, that's rough but it's manageable". But you have to appreciate that there's about a 5% chance that you could be spending longer than 11 straight mind-numbing hours (without interruptions) of reloading your saves, for ONLY this card. Save-scumming will yield virtually ZERO tangible results in your save file other than this one gold card. There's even a 1% chance that you could be spending 17 straight hours farming this card. And I don't even want to think about what these numbers look like if you're farming the Termite King from his natural spawn point, even with a pre-spawn save established. This is absurd. 5% is a Fluffy Dandelion Tuft. 1% is a Suspicious Ice Cap. These are not impossible scenarios.
The 1% drop chance is really unacceptable with a maximum kill rate of 27/hour. I can kill Black Ox Beetles, Green Stink Bugs, Black Widows, and Moths at a rate much, much higher than this, and those all share the same 1% drop rate.
This issue is often overlooked because 50% of people will get the card in 2-3 hours, 75% of people can get it in about 5 hours. The truth is, even amongst the small group of players crazy enough to get every gold card, most people don't end up in this situation. But some of them do. And the fact that this is even a possibility is an extreme oversight by the developers. Players who go for these Gold Cards are the players who love the game. They're not going for it because it's just a thing to do, they're going for it because they've enjoyed this game enough to the point that they're actively trying to 100% and explore/achieve every aspect the game has to offer. To cut them short like this with 1 card alone (all other cards are not even remotely on the same timescale to farm) is a real disservice to the most hardcore fan base, especially considering the card may drop for somebody who wasn't even looking to get it on their first kill.
Here are some easy suggestions to mitigate or completely remove the issue:
1) Give the Termite King a sub-1000 rage threshold to spawn in a Waft Raid. This way, even though it's far less time-efficient, at least you wouldn't be forced to save scum between each attempt and you could accumulate kills/resources between each run, while removing some of the tedium of repeating identical run attempts over and over. You could even go crazy and allow for the possibility of *gasp* more than 1 Termite King appearing during a raid! Utterly insane, I know...
2) Put a hard-cap on the number of kills needed to obtain a gold card. If you killed 200 of an enemy, I don't care how unlucky you are, you've earned that card. You shouldn't need to potentially dedicate so many hours of your very real time, in your very real life, to accommodate a digital RNG algorithm that just isn't landing for you. At least then you could feel like you're working toward a goal, rather than nebulously wandering around for an achievement that is about as likely to come in 20 seconds as it is 20 hours.
3) Increase the chances of the Termite King dropping a gold card. This would have a negligible effect on the bottom-floor range of how long it would take to get the card, but it would have a profound effect on the potential upper-range of time you might be spending to find it.
The point of a 1% drop rate is to make players feel a sense of accomplishment, or luck, or special status in their save file, to invoke positive feelings about the time you've spent playing the game and the tangible rewards you can point out to demonstrate such. But in the case of this particular enemy, it's completely inapplicable.
TLDR: I think the least the developers could do is make some sort of small change to say "Hey, we see you playing, and we want to reward you for spending that time playing our game" rather than just "Hey, it's a 1% chance, and that's about all the thought we care to put into it, your time be damned."

Hello guys. I (M22) live in London. So I currently (well was) attending King’s College London. And here’s my situation. I apologise if it seems all over the place and doesn’t make sense I’m not in a good state as I’m writing this.
So I live with my parents and have been living with them to save on accommodation costs and my mother didn’t want me to move out for University. I did my first year of Uni during covid from home then my second year was both from home and going in. Now during my second year I went through a lot, I had this Stockholm-syndrome like attachment to these really toxic friends who used to beat me, use me, abuse me, rob me, bully me, belittle me and basically reduced my already low confidence and self-esteem to nothing. Because of this I ended up retaking my second year.
So I retook my second year last year and I had some drama in my life but I’m also very lazy and easily distracted. I suffer from autism and suspected ADHD and concentrating and doing things is very hard for me. Like I’ve been thinking of writing this post for months now and only now I am actually sitting down and writing it.
So last year I took my second year exams. In July I found out my results. I passed most, had deferred one to summer and failed 2. Out of those two, I got an email from my programme director about one of them where she said that it’s from a different faculty and in that faculty when you retake a module, your grade lies entirely on that exam and not on the coursework and that if I get below 33% on that exam, I will fail my whole degree. Now that exam was extremely challenging for me and I knew in my heart that I can’t do this and I wanted to defer the exam for next year. However, she said that if I defer the exam, I would not be able to progress to my third year even though that module is a non-core module that is not related to my degree and I will already have the credits required to progress anyway. So I sat my exams and I passed the other two but, as predicted, I failed that one. So I appealed it and the result of my appeal was that I can retake that exam but I can’t progress to my third year I have to take a year out just for that one exam.
I fought to get into my third year but they just did not allow it. Now we will get into the problem. I told my father the truth about what was happening, however, I told my mother in summer that I passed my exams and that I have progressed to my third year. My cousin’s wedding was coming up and her physical and mental health is up and down so I wanted to keep things positive for her. I really just wanted to progress to my third year for her sake and I begged my university but they just wouldn’t allow it. Now what is not fair is that I found out other people had failed CORE module exams on their first attempt and were allowed to progress to their third year with that while retaking that exam for the core module on their second attempt while I was denied this and basically forced to take my exam for a NON-CORE module in the summer.
And the story doesn’t end here. In February, I found out I had a misconduct hearing and guess what, it was for the exam for this module that I took last MAY! So what happened was I was going through some shit last exam period with another group of friends and so when I took that exam, I didn’t realise I had my phone in my pocket. So during that exam I asked to go toilet, I went to the toilet, and then when I came back I was searched and my phone was found in my pocket and so I was accused of cheating and deceiving an invigilator. My hearing was on the 7th or 8th March and after the hearing, they upheld the charges and so my punishment was a zero on that exam (which I’d failed anyway) and THEY TOOK AWAY MY RIGHT TO RESIT AND IT SUPERSEDED THE EXAM I WAS ALREADY GOING TO RETAKE IN SUMMER ANYWAY!!!! I put in an appeal for that however, I had 10 working days to submit the appeal and I ended up submitting it at 12:03am the day after the 10th working day. I still haven’t got the results of my appeal.
So now it’s May my mum thinks I sat my third year exams my dad thinks I sat that one second year exam and yeah. I do not know what to do and where to go forward. I’m thinking of writing a letter telling my parents the truth and running away from home because I just don’t have the strength to face my mum. I can’t do it. I’m scared.
Please can anyone give me any sort of advice on my situation?

I'm trying to figure out how badly I flopped sl aa maths paper 1 and I think I could recreate all my answers if I had the paper, which would mean I could calculate a grade now rather than spending all summer stressing about it. Can anyone send it to me?

First of all maybe this is written awfully but I just don't know from where to start and I need desprete help. I (16F) my boyfriend (16M) we knew each other since 8th grade but we started getting close back in March 2024. him and I have been dating for good two months and let me tell you the amount of shit we had to go through to just date were uncountable from fighting my crazy Psycho ex who SA me which I kind of didn't move on from plus his mum finding out Abt our relationship and threatened to call my mum also she tried to manipulate him into thinking I am playing him and I am dating two guys at the same time. It was horrible, really bad era that I would never wish to go back to. And Bec of the trauma my late ex caused my mental state probably isn't the best plus I got a lot of issues like I get really stressfed, anxious and worried over any minor inconvenience, I need attention and love 24/7 and lastly I get really moody at times but I still try to be my best for him...we are really great couple and I know it's pretty early to judge but the things we went through were not easy nor little, at least that's what 16 years old think. Through my relationship with him most of the time I am the needy and clingy one in the relationship but today It was the way around which scared tf out of me right away. Today morning he texted me and said that he might not be responsive Bec he got issues at home, I knew that a long time ago, his family issues are real bad. His parents fight all the time, they never were a great match. Moving on, him and I talked a lil bit through the day, we were texting in TikTok, we were laughing, happy and yk everything is fine (kind of) then he randomly went like "can I ask u favour?" I didn't reply right away cause I didn't notice the notification (I didn't take long like a min or less) then he send another text saying "sweetheart are u there?" I was confused asf, I texted back and asked him what is it. He said "please never leave me" that stabbed me and anxiety hit me, what's going on? What is happening??? I asked him if he is okay and he said he is fine. I didn't believe it so I kept asking more questions and that's when he gave in and told me everything. He said his father hasn't been constantly at home and he hasn't been home the last 4 days, however, today early morning at 4 am to be exact he tried to sneak in to take some of his stuff. His mother woke up and his parents talked for a lil bit then for some reason she opened his backpack and fucking saw protections and sex related medicines. Her only response to that was screaming her oldest son name which is my bf, he woke up went running to her and saw both of his parents standing in their bedroom. The moment his father saw him he closed the door but he could still hear them fight. His father admitted that he got married secretly to a second wife, he also have intentions to have kids with that woman and his only excuse for cheating and abounding his three children is that he didn't feel loved through this marriage. He kept telling her Abt how hot and perfect his new wife is which brought my boyfriend's mother into tears, he also told her his grown ass used to watch porn Bec she left him deprived. I was honestly left speechless when my boyfriend told me Abt the whole thing, he will have to take care of his younger siblings (they are twins 10f and 10m) and also his mum. His father absence means that he have to fill that rule at fucking sixteen. Fucking sixteen, he didn't even make it to college yet. I am scared for him, I don't know what to do. I comforted and assured him that I will take care of him but i can't help but cry for him, I am really weak and fragile..I want to get stronger mentally to take care of him but I don't know how. Please someone help me and give me tips. I need that.