II.

                                    

                                          


                          
            
                          
Inhale. Exhale.
                          
The first important test worth ten percent of my precious grade has come up in chemistry. This marks the end of week four of my college experience.
                          
My wonderful college experience. Not.
                          
This school has drained me completely. I'm not even sure if I can do the next twelve weeks effectively without any more mishaps.
                          
Ugh.
                          
As I walk into the classroom, Bryan waves at me, so Dr.Ryanleer gives us both the evil eye.
                          
I've studied with Bryan all week and it seemed as though he barely grasped the gist of any of the material.
                          
"Good luck." I tell him inaudibly and he flashes me a smile then tries to look serious for the sake of Dr.Ryanleer.
                          
"You may leave when you are finished your test. They will be graded before 12pm tonight." He says nothing else. The next forty-five minutes are spent with me biting the eraser on my pencil while I try to meticulously make everything perfect. This adds another ten minutes onto my testing time.
                          
I'm actually surprised to see Bryan get up and hand in his test before me. Then my deductive reasoning kicks in and determines that he probably didn't even try that hard on the test.
                          
Oh well. I tried.
                          
As I go to hand in my test, Dr.Ryanleer peers at me which makes me cower on the inside. I think I'm being singled out by a teacher. This wasn't supposed to happen to me. If anything, I was supposed to be a model student that the others stayed away from because of my odd appearance and lack of social skills.
                          
Instead, Bryan and Alex happened.
                          
I glide out of the classroom imagining I'm a pixie. Too bad I look like a troll. I probably look like Bambi on ice.
                          
"I aced that bitch!" Alex slinks a hand around my shoulder. He's been hanging around lately. Apparently we live in the same dormitory.
                          
I clap with fake enthusiasm.  "Good for you."
                          
"And of course you passed." He applauds me.
                          
"People give me way too much credit." Here I go with more of this social nonsense. A month ago it would have completely repulsed me to be within a hundred feet of a guy.
                          
He actual looks surprised by my apathy. "Really, you did good."
                          
But what if I didn't. No one would care anyway. I'll just study harder for the next test. A simple C is not a good grade to me. In fact, it is practically failing. I have to do above and beyond now. Silly little things like friendships will only become a hindrance after a certain point. So I have to give him the message now that we are not friends.
                          
"You don't know what you're talking about." I bite out tersely.
                          
He goes silent for a moment and actually let's go of my poor shoulder.
                          
Yes! I did it!
                          
"Let's go get some ice cream!" He hops in front of me, blocking my path.
                          
Ice cream? This guy speaks my language.
                          
Of course I remember that I'm supposed to be playing the mean girl card. "Why?"
                          
"Just in case neither one of us passed." His logic is flawless.
                          
He has also established that he isn't just going to bug off easily.
                          
"My treat?" He offers, taking my silence as a rejection.