Rock, Paper, Scissors

29: It's a Celebration

After my breakdown on the rooftop and Nick's intimate revelation something in our relationship shifted. All the walls Nick had raised against us had fallen. He became more talkative, open, and cheerful around us and we welcomed this change. We're finally in the right place and I felt a guilty pleasure on knowing that he trusted me with his deepest secrets. He never brought up what happened, and I was thankful that he didn't start treating me with pity.

Noah's voice broke through my thoughts. "What?" I had to ask, not sure I of what he said.

"Laura said we're going to get our tests back today. She saw Mr. Wright struggling with a stack of papers with red marks on it."

I don't know what surprised me more, the fact that our teachers graded our tests so quickly or that Noah and Laura were now having casual conversations. "You go, Tiger!" I teased him, wining a light punch on my arm. "I didn't know you guys talked, like have actual conversations."

Noah's cheeks flushed red. "We started after that party... I have her number now," he confessed quietly, I beamed at the prospective.

"I'm really happy for you." I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a side hug, which wasn't really comfortable since he was, even if only a few inches, taller than me.

As I sat in class, waiting for the dreadful moment when I got my grade, I couldn't stop fidgeting. My knee was bouncing under the table as the teacher came in with the stack of papers Laura had seen earlier.

The whole class fell silent at the sight. Mr. Wright greeted us before distributing back our tests. I closed my eyes not wanting to see the grade written in red at the top. I slowly opened one eye to the other and grinned. I couldn't believe it, surely the teacher got it wrong. I couldn't go from falling the class to a B, that's impossible. Then I remembered Nick was a miracle worker. I texted my grade to Noah ecstatic.

"Congrats! I'm so proud of us! I got an A-minus. Can you believe it? Me with an A?!" he texted back.

"No, I can't. Did you cheat?" I joked and threw my attention back to class. We seriously needed to do something to thanks Nick, and I might just have the best idea.

I found Noah on my way to the cafeteria and told him about my idea. He agreed with it and even though it was a lot of money to spend we thought it was worth it.

We sat at our usual table and waited until we were joined by the others. When Nick took his place Noah, and I slid our tests to him. A big smile formed on his face.

"This is great! Congratulations guys." I pulled him into a side hug, with all the strength I had.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I said, kissing his cheek every time I thanked him. He chuckled and I let him go, a grin on my face, proud of my grade. My eyes locked on Tyler who was looking at me with a raised eyebrow and a stupid smirk on his face. I'd like to believe that it was because he was surprised by my awesome grade and not because he was thinking too much into my gesture towards Nick.

Nick was my friend and nothing more, I kissed his cheeks like I kiss Noah's and Micah's. The only cheek I don't kiss is Tyler's because I'm afraid to bring to life the pervert inside him.

"I guess this calls for a celebration," Tyler suggested.

"Let's do it Friday, after the fight. That way we can celebrate two things at once: our awesome grades and Nick's victory," I said. He had won the semi-finals, there was only one fight left for the great prize: five thousand dollars.

"Don't jinx me. But that sounds good. We can do it at my place after."

Friday came along and Nick picked us up for the fight. I felt nervous for him, I didn't want him to get hurt. The boys were talking about some tv show they watched while I watched Nick's opponent.