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"What the—" I was used to the expression of disappointment on Mr Leggit's face when he handed back work.
This was not that face.
He looked like he was up to something. My mother had the same expression on her face when she handed me something she knew I'd really like, but was trying to pretend it was no big deal.
I looked sidelong at Mr Leggit. "Did I fail that badly?" I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was reading his expression totally wrong.
Disappointment surged through me. It was one thing to fail at school when I hadn't really tried, but I put a lot of work into this. I didn't want to let anyone down. Mr Leggit, my parents, myself and especially Bec. She worked hard to kick my butt. Failing now would throw all of that into her face. I dreaded seeing her expression when I told her.
With a flourish, Mr Leggit put my paper down on the desk in front of me.
I sighed and looked down at it.
"Huh?" I jerked up.
"Very eloquent, Mr Florence," Mr Leggit said dryly. "Nicely done."
On the top of the paper, B+ was written in red pen.
I shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Well, it's not an A."
"It was very close to an A," Mr Leggit said. "You had a typo here and there, and left out the obvious analogy the poet was trying to make about sex. You alluded to it, but you didn't quite get there."
I snorted softly. "I'll know for next time." I'd have to tell Bec. Would she be annoyed, or would she laugh? I decided she'd probably laugh.
Just thinking about her laugh made my pulse race faster than it did in the middle of a game. Had she seen the last game? I hoped to see her at the party afterward, but she never showed up. Honestly, she hadn't missed much. Just the usual. People getting drunk and sneaking off to be alone together.
I usually stuck around until no one noticed I left. That was usually an hour. Two tops.
I gave Samara, one of the cheerleaders, a ride to the party. The moment we got there, she ditched my ass for some other dude. That was fine by me. We went out on a date once, and discovered we had nothing in common. We'd been friends ever since. It was the same story with most of the cheerleaders. They were nice girls, but they were more interested in Conrad the football player, and not Conrad the guy.
Ironic, considering how much they complained that most of the guys at school just wanted to sleep with them.
I glanced around the room. Some people complained about the bad grade, others were happy with what they got. A few bitched about how useless poetry was.
Whatever. Some of them thought porn was an art form.
I spent the last few minutes of class reading through Mr Leggit's comments. I could have kicked myself for missing the obvious typos but you know how it goes. No matter how carefully you read something, they always turn up.
I was out of my seat the moment the bell rang. I snatched up my stuff as quickly as I could. I kept my paper in my hand, but folded it over in the middle. I didn't want anyone to see my grade. The last thing I needed was a reputation as a geek. It was stupid. I should be proud of getting a good grade.
What could I say? It was high school, it was conform or be ostracised. I know which one I chose and why.
No one ever said high school didn't suck.
The real question here was where would Bec be during lunch? I couldn't remember seeing her in the cafeteria. Or out in the quadrangle. That narrowed it down to two places: the school newspaper’s office, and the library. Since the librarian, Mr Kwan, didn't let anyone eat in there, I figured the paper's office would be more likely.
I put out a hand to a random kid who was walking down the corridor. "Hey."
They looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes. "I… I don't have any lunch money."
"What?" I shook my head. "I just wanted to know if you know where the paper office is?"
"Oh." They looked relieved. In a 'ready to pee their pants' kind of way. "Um. It's that way." They pointed a shaking finger down the corridor.
"Thanks, dude. I mean, fellow student." I couldn't assume how they preferred to be addressed.
"Um. You're welcome." They hurried away in the direction of the toilets.
