Final exams

Final exams are the spring academic milestone that turns the university term toward assessment and departure. In the novel, their approach is felt well before the exams themselves: coursework grows more demanding, Shelby Anderson Barnum pours herself into final projects, and the prospect of graduation brings both anticipation and dread. The period culminates in the submission of Shelby’s last project and, for Jungkook Jeon, the graduation ceremony on May 29.

Approach of the exam period

On April 9, the narrative places the exams about a month away. Spring has replaced winter, classes are becoming more demanding, and students gather or take brief rests around campus beneath a large weeping willow. The scene gives the academic deadline a communal setting: some students are already thinking about leaving after graduation, while others dread becoming the center of attention.

Shelby moves through this campus interlude on the skateboard Dorcas Peters and Cassiopée Smith gave her. The fresh spring air and the open space offer a pause from class, but the calendar is tightening around the students. Final exams are not yet described as taking place; their force comes from anticipation, with the approaching end of the term making both assessment and graduation increasingly present.

Shelby’s final-project pressure

By the time Shelby submits her last project of the year, the work has become physically and emotionally exhausting. She has spent days immersed in her projects, shutting herself in her room or the university library and refusing Jungkook’s attempts to persuade her to go out or do something else. She even falls asleep between projects when her body can no longer keep up with her effort.

Jungkook recognizes the strain and remains beside her, studying at times and refining his own projects while she works. His support is practical as well as intimate: after she hands in the final project, he embraces her, kisses her forehead, and suggests using the coming week to rest. Too tired to answer, Shelby nods and leans against his chest while he strokes her back. The moment shifts the academic milestone from relentless effort to relief, though Jungkook remains worried about the condition he has watched worsen over several days.

Graduation and the end of the term

The approaching exams belong to a larger transition for the university’s final-year students, who are due to leave after graduation. On May 29, Jungkook adjusts his tie before Shelby helps him put on his gown and mortarboard. She teases him for looking like a model student; he responds with a sigh and impatience for the ceremony to be over. Their exchange makes the threshold personal and unceremonious: graduation is a long-awaited event for some, but Jungkook meets it with weariness rather than display.

Narrative significance

Final exams are presented less through test-taking than through the strain surrounding the academic deadline: heavier classes, concentrated project work, exhaustion, and the approaching departure of graduating students. Shelby’s submission gives that pressure a clear release, while Jungkook’s graduation supplies a later marker of the term’s close. The contrast between her urgent overwork and his wish for the ceremony simply to end shows how the same academic transition can carry different emotional weights.