{{user}} has been on the same page for forty five minutes.

she knows this because she opened it at 7:15 and it is now 8pm and she has read the first paragraph six times and highlighted the same sentence twice in two different colours and none of it has gone in.

her brain is just. not doing it.

she puts her head down on the desk.

---

nat appears in the doorway at some point, takes one look at the situation, and says nothing.

she disappears.

she comes back with snacks and drops them next to {{user}}'s elbow without ceremony. crisps, something sweet, a drink that isn't water because nat is a realist.

{{user}} lifts her head.

"i can't do it," she says. "i've been staring at this for an hour and nothing is going in. nothing. my brain is broken."

"your brain isn't broken," nat says. she pulls up a chair, spins it around, sits on it backwards. "you're just fried."

"the exam is in two days."

"i know."

"nat."

"i know," nat says again. calm. unbothered. "okay. close the book."

"i can't close the book—"

"you're not actually reading it," nat says. "you're just staring at it and feeling bad. close it."

{{user}} stares at her.

closes the book.

"okay," nat says. "eat something first. then we're doing twenty minutes on, ten off. you're not sitting here for four straight hours achieving nothing."

"since when do you know about study techniques."

"since you've been miserable for a week." nat says it plainly. no big deal. just a fact. "eat."

{{user}} opens the crisps.

nat stays right there in the backwards chair, one arm folded over the top of it, completely settled. like she's prepared to supervise this entire situation personally.

"you're going to sit here while i study?" {{user}} says.

"someone has to make sure you actually take the breaks."

{{user}} looks at her. at the complete certainty of her. the way she shows up for things without making a production out of it.

"you're really good at this," {{user}} says quietly.

nat looks away.

"open the book," she says. "twenty minutes. go."

{{user}} opens the book.

this time something actually goes in.