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Now he had a quarter of a pencil. Other students were looking at him.
Gabriel took a deep breath. He could do this.
He could do this.
He could.
He put the pencil nub against the paper and tried to work through each problem.
It was the longest thirty minutes of his life. He didn’t even get to the last three.
“Okay, I think that’s enough time,” said Ms. Anderson.
Thank god. He didn’t feel this worn out after long runs around the soccer field.
“Now exchange papers with the person beside you for grad-ing.”
He snapped his head up.
The sophomore was already holding out her paper, not even looking at him. He took it but didn’t relinquish his own. The tests sat side by side, one neat and perfectly ordered, one a complete f**king mess.
Brainiac sighed and reached out to grab his test, snatching it back to her desk.
Gabriel chewed on the end of the pencil nub. It hurt his lip.
He could pick a fight. Get sent to the office. Alan Hulster sat to his left, and that guy was a tool. Gabriel wouldn’t even mind laying into him.
“Hey.”
He glanced to his right. That sophomore was staring at him, her brow furrowed. She licked her lips. “These are all wrong,” she whispered.
Like he needed her to tell him that. He looked back at her test. Ms. Anderson was reading off the answers, one by one, and of course Brainiac had gotten every one right.
Her name was written in perfect script at the top. Layne Forrest.
Why the hell couldn’t he remember a name like Layne Forrest?
He should punch Hulster now, before papers were handed forward.
“Hey,” Layne whispered again.
He glanced over. “What?”
She flinched a little, then whispered, “You got a ninety-two on the test last week. I saw.”
Of course he had. He would have gotten a perfect score, but Nick usually answered some wrong on purpose.
He glared at her, hoping it would make her back down.
“Yeah? And?”
It worked. She recoiled and looked back at his paper.
But then he saw her slowly turn her pencil around and start erasing.
She did it subtly, artfully, so her pencil was barely moving, and her eyes were intent on the front of the room.
And then she was writing.
