It took me hours and hours to fall asleep that night, and Carrie, and everything she had told me, was still on my mind when I awoke on Friday morning. In fact, I was so preoccupied that it wasn't until I was actually walking into my sociology classroom that I remembered the midterm was taking place during the lecture time slot today. I was glad that I had reviewed everything earlier in the week, because I realized that I hadn't given the midterm a single thought from the moment Carrie had walked into law class the previous evening.
Even half-focused, I didn't feel like the test was particularly difficult, though I suspected that I may have completely bullshitted my way through it because when Carol asked me afterwards what I had answered for specific questions, I had no recollection of anything she had asked. "Are you sure you even answered anything?" Carol joked.
"I think I did, but I genuinely can't remember what I answered for anything," I said honestly.
"It's all good," she grinned. "Your brain must be fried from all the studying."
"To tell you the truth," I said, "I only studied on Monday and Tuesday, didn't bother after that."
She looked shocked. "Then either you were so ready for this that you breezed through it, or you didn't study enough."
'Or I had something much more important on my mind,' I thought silently to myself, before replying out loud to her, "Yeah, I guess we'll find out which one it was when we get the marks back." We said goodbye, and I headed back to the parking lot, the van already warmed up by the time I sat down. Hooking my phone up to the speakers, I picked a random playlist and headed out. A minute later, the music began to fade and I frowned, wondering whether the phone was powering off, before I noticed that Brandon was calling.
"Hey, what's up?" I said.
"Where the hell are you?" his voice demanded from every speaker, causing me to wince and turn down the volume a little.
"What do you mean, where am I?" I enquired. "I'm going back home, I just had the sociology midterm."
"Well, hurry the fuck up!" he howled. I frowned and sped up a little.
"Is everything okay? Why are you so upset?" I said worriedly.
"Just hurry up!" he said insistently and hung up. Bewildered, I sped up even more, and got home in record time, to find Brandon standing outside his van, which was parked on the side of the road in front of the yard; he was grinning at me.
"What the actual hell was that about?" I demanded through the window as I turned into the driveway.
"Nothing, it's cold and I wanted you to hurry up so we could go inside and play some FIFA!" he called back, chuckling.
"I was going thirty over the speed limit in a school zone, I thought you were in trouble!" I said.
"HA HA HA!" he yelled. Silently, I turned off the engine, got out of my van and, after a quick glance at him to ensure he was still doubled up with mirth, grabbed a handful of snow in each hand. Walking straight up to him, I shoved one handful down his back and the other straight in his face. He gasped and leapt up, now yelling for an entirely different reason, while I leaned against my van and watched him try to get all the snow out.
"That's for scaring the living shit out of me and making me think hurrying home for FIFA was an emergency," I said with a little chortle, once he had finally managed to get rid of it.
"I'm c-cold!" he said through chattering teeth.
"Serves you right," I said, breaking off suddenly. He was looking at me very oddly. "What?"
