196 Chapter six, 2016, three schools: 2 (2/2)
”Yes. Even though I pretty much flunked music and did poorly at sports I still managed five flat with the system back then.”
”Five flat?”
He looked at her. ”You were, what, one year behind me? You must have used the one to five scale.”
”Yes. Changed sometime during the nineties. So, five flat?”
”That's my mean from high school. Made me feel like a king.”
What he had just said finally filtered through Christina's mind. ”You graduated high school with five point zero? What?”
”Our sister club is in an elite school, my old school. Think I told you earlier. We were five in our class with perfect grades. Well, after you cut sports and the two worst non-core subjects.”
”Gods!” Christina took two quick steps and turned to face him. ”You're not kidding?”
”No, I had it easy. Chalmers was harder. It seemed everyone had grades like mine, and most had worked a lot harder. I never really shone there, but I didn't mind.”
”Of course you went to Chalmers. That's so… Ulf.” She laughed and poked his chest. ”So you have a master's degree?”
”Uhum, science and arts.”
”Eh, that's a strange combination.”
”Sorry, my bad. Science from Chalmers. After the dot com crash I took up English studies at university. Evening courses to fill my time. Got my arts degree from there.”
'Me and my big mouth. I should have guessed.' ”Two, the idiot has two degrees,” Christina said at a lack for a decent retort.
”Don't worry. Took ages to get the last one. I didn't finish until a couple of years ago, so I spent, what, twelve years getting it.” Ulf laughed. ”Was just a hobby after all.”
”Yes, sounds like my Ulf. You ran a company and got yourself an extra master's degree as a hobby. And you kept up that Japanese combat training of yours.”
”Aikido, not combat.”
”Whatever. You've got too much brains for your own good, you know that? Probably why you always think too much.”
If he had that kind of learning capacity he'd probably handle the science track just fine. As for herself Christina held no overblown hopes about her academic ability. She'd claw herself through the Japanese high school system one way or another, and after that she'd be done with her studies. She had a world to conquer.
”Ulf,” she said after the content of their conversation became a future reality. ”I guess that means we'll never be in the same class.”
”I guess not,” he said. ”Would you prefer for me to go for the liberal arts track instead?”
Christina threw out her hands in horror. ”No! Don't build your future on me!”
The look she got in return was filled with equal parts respect and hurt.
'Please don't! You can't build your life around me.' But she would have liked to share more time with him, and she was on the verge of saying something stupid when she saw the entrance to Stockholm Haven café ahead of them.