Senioritis 3

Lucid Dreaming

"Shit - midterm grades are out for linear." Peter said, putting his phone down as he put a grape in his mouth.

It was a dull, rainy Tuesday afternoon and Peter was at Café 3 dining hall, sat opposite Gwen. It was the only day of the week in which their schedules didn't totally clash at lunch.

"I don't wanna look." Gwen sighed, glancing as the notification popped up on her phone. She eyed Peter's untouched pot of chocolate mousse on his tray. "Are you gonna eat that?"

"No, go ahead." Peter replied, as Gwen grabbed the pot and his spoon from his tray.

She was in a black hoodie and sweats and she was wearing Peter's converse. Turns out, as well as being born only a few hours apart, they were also only half a shoe size apart. Her blonde hair was in a messy bun. Gwen had told Peter that she was giving less and less of a shit about how her hair looked as the semester went on. Not that Peter ever thought her hair looked bad.

"Just look at it, Peter." Gwen exhaled, putting a spoonful of mousse in her mouth. "Get it over with."

Peter hated how nervous he was to check his stupid midterm grade. He'd just set such high expectations for himself this semester. And not keeping his scholarship was just not an option for him. There would be simply no way he could afford to be here without it.

Peter exhaled, running a hand through his hair nervously. His leg was shaking a little. He felt Gwen's eyes on him as he tapped his phone screen, biting his lip. And then his heart kind of sank when he finally saw his score.

"So?" Gwen said softly.

"I got an 82." Peter sighed, like the world was ending.

"Peter...that's great." Gwen smiled, reaching to place her hand on his.

"It's a B." Peter breathed in frustration. "And a fucking low one too. I needed an A-"

"Peter, you didn't need an A." Gwen said, squeezing Peter's hand. "That test was kind of shitty and you know it. Please don't beat yourself up about it. God, you're making me so nervous to check mine."

Gwen moved her hand from Peter's fiddling with her fingers as she looked down at her phone.

"Fuck it." She said, grabbing it and tapping away.

Peter watched her nervously, trying to come up with words of consolation in his head if she somehow got a really bad grade and needed to comfort her.

Gwen gasped a little.

"What?" Peter asked, a bit startled.

"A 91?" Gwen said, in disbelief. "Literally how? But I...I thought I fucked up so bad on question four..."

Wow, this girl really is a genius.

"What the hell, Gwen?" Peter muttered, shaking his head a little. "How did you get that?"

"I really don't know, I mean...there's no feedback- just the grade and the class average." She mumbled. "Yeah, I am shocked-"

"I'm not." Peter sighed, pulling his own hoodie over his head.

Gwen locked her phone and put it down on the table again.

"Peter - you're just as smart as me, okay?" She said, picking up her mousse again. "If not smarter. Now please eat more than just those stupid grapes."

Peter smiled a little, staring at his uneaten sandwich on his plate, before picking it up.

"There you go." Gwen smiled, reaching over and running her hands through his hair. "It's just one out of three stupid midterms. And then we have a huge final to cry over...so there's still time to get your A."