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You can do this!
I smile at how cheesy she is before putting the note back in my pocket, afraid that a teacher might see it and mistakenly assume I'm cheating. Then I zip up my bag and go to the back of the room to put it on the floor with all the other discarded bags. As I walk past Nate's desk, he reaches for my wrist. I look down at him and smile. "Good luck Bella. I love you," he whispers softly and kisses the back of my hand before letting it go.
"Love you more! You'll smash this." I whisper back before returning to my seat.
Three hours, two internal meltdowns, and a complete brain ache later, I hear the alarm sound. "Time’s up! Close your exams and place them face down on your desks please," the principal, Mrs. C. calls loudly.
"Quiet please, collect your bags in silence," she bellows over the sound of chairs scraping across the floor as we all try to stand up. I do as I'm told and then go to collect my bag before heading out to the field, where we all agreed to meet, knowing it will be too difficult to see each other in the throng of teenagers leaving the exam rooms.
"Wow, that was hard," Ava announces, dropping her bag loudly beside me before sitting herself down.
"I failed for sure," both Nate and Tucker grumble, throwing themselves on either side of me.
"I'm sure you guys did better than you think, but the test was really hard," I admit, trying to reassure the boys.
"What did you guys put for an answer to the question on the very last page?" Ava asks the group.
"Wait, there was another question on the last page? I thought it was blank on purpose," questions Tucker, shaking his head.
"NO! There was a blank page to make more room to answer the question before, and then one last question on the last page!" I gasp, putting my hand over my eyes and shaking my head.
"Shit," Tucker yells.
"Good thing you're hot, bro," taunts Nate, who sees that his friend is visibly upset and tries to lighten the mood. It works because he and Tucker then go into their usual sibling bickering about who's better than the other.
It melts my heart because a year ago, when Nate and I were first welcomed into this crazy group, he'd never been this easy-going and playful. Now it's second nature to him.As much as Tucker can be a pain sometimes with his typical annoying big brother vibes, I'll forever be grateful to him for bringing out not only Nate's playful side, but mine as well. Who knows, if Tucker hadn't been so open and friendly that day at the fair, Nate and I might never have even reunited. It could have been one of those ‘what if’ stories forever.
Harper and Riley finally join us about ten minutes later and sit down. "Where have you two been? We were ready to send a search party back into school," I joke.
"Sorry guys, Riley wanted us to go to the bathroom, then we got stuck in the stampede," Harper says, giving her sister a dirty look.
"I drank like four cups of coffee today. I’m just lucky I didn't pee my pants in the exam." Riley giggles.
"So, when's everyone's next exam?" asks Tucker.
"Well, now that that's done, I don't have another one until my English test at 12," Nate replies, looking at his watch.
"I have my theater and dance exams at 12:30," Harper adds.
"I don't have another until my science exam at one," replies Riley. "But I ideally want to go over my periodic table one last time, so I need to be ready by 12."
"And Ava and I don't have anything else scheduled until 12:45," I finally say.
"So that gives us about two hours," Nate explains with a grin. "I've got an idea; how about we all go to the bowling alley together and blow off some steam?"
"Good idea, it'll probably be empty at this time," Tucker adds, standing up.
"Then what are we waiting for?" we all declare, grabbing our bags and leaving.
"Loser buys the drinks," I call out, grabbing Nate's hand and running to the car park.
"Not if I get there first," Tucker shouts. Grabbing Ava, he throws her over his shoulder and runs after us.
"That's not fair!" I yell out loud.
When Nate and I arrive at the car, to no surprise, Tucker and Ava are leaning against Nate's car.
"That's cheating! I only have little legs," I say, playfully slapping Tucker on the chest.
