Common sense wins

It’s tempting. It’s beyond tempting. But I need the grade. I invested too much of my personal time last night to take the zero. I shake my head and say, “I would love to guys, but I really, really need to take this test, as much as it pains me to miss out on skip day, much less the road trip.”

I pat Lewis on the head as I get out and say “Shotgun is yours. Eric, don’t forget to pick me up after school.” Eric grins. I trudge to the school entrance and enter the building just as the homeroom bell sounds. In the distance I hear the loud squealing of tires and revving of an engine attached to the car that would have taken me to my freedom.

~ ~ ~

I make my way through my classes leading up to biology. The tee shirt garners more than a few stares from seniors and underclassmen alike. It also attracts a few glares from some of my female classmates, and a few longing stares from a couple of them. I believe love is love, but girl-on-girl doesn’t do anything for me.

I walk into Mr. Perkins’ classroom and am pleased to see I am not the only student who showed up. About a third of us are in attendance, including two of the senior class stoners who are so out of it they are unaware they aren’t even in this class. I head to my seat in the back and see that I won’t be alone on the back row.

Ah Horace, I feel bad for you. I tell him hello politely and wish him well on the test. He smiles weakly and I can see him straining to keep both hands on the counter. Perkins passes out the tests, wishes everyone luck and we get started.

It may just be the fact I got more than four hours of sleep for the first time in four years, but as I work through the test questions I feel like I actually know the answers and might pull off an A. I swear if I do, I’m nailing that thing to the refrigerator door with a picture of me doing a one-finger salute.

~ ~ ~

Fifty-five minutes later it’s over. Perkins collects our test and everyone bolts. I am determined to leave after Horace, so I glare at him until he is so uncomfortable he can’t stand to be in my presence. As he stands I am pleased to see he is all dry, so hopefully he was focusing on the test.

I begin gathering my things and Perkins says “Miss Galliard, how do you think you did?”

What? I’ve been in this class all year and NOW you want to interact with me? It must be my top, though I’ve skirted the edge of the dress code showing a lot more skin than this before and he never noticed. I avoid the teenage smartass response and tell him the truth. He nods and says, “If you’d like, I can go ahead and grade yours since you’re still here, then you won’t have the suspense killing you overnight, especially with your graduation dependent on it.”

I hate to tell him that 1)I don’t think about graduation or school anymore than I have to, 2)There is no suspense because I don’t care – if I failed I’m going to be pissed, if I passed, then we’re on the road to the endless summer party.

However, neither Eric nor Lewis have texted saying they are back yet, so it’s not like I have a way to get home unless I want to walk. So I nod and say, “Sure, why not?”

He pulls mine out of the stack and starts grading. Afterwards he taps his pencil and looks up at me.

“Well?” I say, with a little more added angsty teen inflected that was probably necessary.