She rolls her eyes, closing her textbook and stuffing it into her backpack. She stands, slinging her bag over shoulder before looking down at me expectantly.
I stand. “How long do you have until your next class starts?”
She looks down at the dainty silver watch on her wrist. “About forty minutes.”
“Have you eaten lunch yet?”
She shakes her head. “No, I was too nervous to eat before the test.”
Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes at her. “Finch, you’re a genius. You have nothing to worry about,” I assure her, slinging my arm over her shoulders and guiding her toward the cafeteria.
She gives me side-eye, scoffing humbly. “I amnota genius.”
“Whatever you say, Einstein Junior,” I taunt. “Just add a mustache and—”
She gasps, offended, and lightly swats me in the chest.
I laugh, catching her hand and holding the back of it to my chest for a few seconds longer. “I’m just teasin’, Finch. You’re way too pretty to be compared to Einstein. Physically at least.”
She blushes, shyly darting her gaze away from mine as we walk the rest of the way to the cafeteria.
>> <<
“Time’s up!” Tracy announces, scurrying around the classroom to pick up our quizzes.
I hand in my quiz more willingly this time, feeling a bit more confident after actually studying for this one. I know I didn’t get 100 percent or anything like that, but I know I did better than the previous quizzes.
Once Tracy is finished collecting papers, she places them on her desk and grabs another pile sitting there. “Good news, class. Your professor has finished grading your tests from last week, and I can hand them back to you now,” she says, calling out names to have us come collect them.
“Olivia McCausland,” she calls, and Olivia stands, walking up to Tracy to grab her test. “Good job,” I hear Tracy say as she hands Olivia her test, smiling.
Olivia scans her test on the way back to her seat, sitting down and placing it face down on the table.
“What did you get?” Delilah asks, stretching over the table and snatching Olivia’s test. Olivia lunges to prevent her from doing so, but Delilah is too quick for her.
“Delilah!” Olivia scolds.
Delilah’s eyes grow wide, and then her brow furrows in confusion. “How?” she breathes out in disbelief and aggravation. She picks up her own test, frantically flipping through the pages, scanning and comparing her test to Olivia’s.
While Delilah is messing with the tests, Rat Boy gets called up and scurries back with his own test, looking pissed. He scoots close to Delilah to search Olivia’s paper, intently comparing answers. Between all the page swapping, I manage to see that both Delilah and Rat Boy got a 95 percent while Olivia achieved a 100.
“Bronx Miller.” Tracy calls my name, and I pop out of my seat to grab my test from her, expecting the worst. By the grim look on Tracy’s face, I know it’s not good.
I grab my test and immediately frown at the D+ scribbled in red ink staring back at me. Fuck.
Beyond frustrated with myself, I rid my face of any emotion when I return to my seat, not wanting to give away my horrible test score to my brainiac tablemates, feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed and ashamed. I can only imagine the shit Rat Boy would give me if he knew my test score. And Olivia . . . she’d probably think I’m the biggest idiot alive.
When I return to the table I take my seat and immediately shove my test into my backpack to hide it from any wandering, curious eyes.
“How did you do?” Delilah asks curiously, looking up at me from the pages in front of her.
“Well,” I lie, giving a casual shrug.
“Definewell,” Rat Boy presses, almost knowing.
“Can I have my test back now?” Olivia cuts in, unamused that her friends are fawning over her perfect test.
Delilah scowls, reluctantly handing Olivia back her test, but not before asking her numerous questions, wondering how she got some answers wrong. While the girls debate, I feel Rat Boy’s beady gaze on me, staring me down. There’s a hint of a malicious smirk tugging at his lips, like he knows how poorly I did on the test and is criticizing me for it.
