Say You'll Stay (R5 Fanfiction)

Chapter 26 - Result Day

"Will you calm down?! Everything's going to be fine!"

"You don't know that! How are you so chilled right now? I'm freaking out more than I've ever freaked out about anything in my life - and that is saying something - and you are just sitting there completely oblivious to how important these results are and acting completely passive like- like - like a chicken!" I rushed out. Riker burst out laughing.

"A passive chicken? Really?"

"Oh shut up, I'm not majoring in English,"

He came over to me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and leant his forehead on mine.

"Everything's going to be fine, okay?" he said, softly.

I nodded and leant up to kiss him. I'm going to miss him so much - provided I actually get the grades I need to go. He pulled away and said, "Shall we go?"

***
"YES YES YES WOO HOO I AM AWESOME" Rydel screeched, as soon as she had read her grades. "Straight As! We're going on tour!"

"Woah, calm down. We don't know that yet," Rocky said, as he was about to open his envelope. We all decided to collect our envelopes and open them together. His eyes scanned down the page, and he was reading off "A, A, A, A - wait hold on a sec, a B?! I got a B in Math?! I'm going to teach that fucking examiner a lesson," he fumed, about to stomp off.

Riker held him saying, "Dude, it doesn't matter! You passed!" Rocky conceded, but still looked disgruntled.

"Okay, Riker, you're up," I said. He took a deep breath before opening it. He scanned the page before passing it to me. He had passed with flying colours. Obviously. I hugged him tightly, saying, "Congratulations! I knew you could do it!"

Ratliff went next, and he had passed everything, although only just scraping Biology. "Damn, that Biology paper was really hard," he muttered.

My heart sank. If he had only just scraped Biology, there was no chance I was going to have passed.

Charlie also passed with flying colours, and I swear that girl barely studied. God, I hate her sometimes.

"Okay, who's next? Jessie or Ross?" asked Rydel.

"How about we both go at the same time?" he suggested. I nodded and slowly opened my envelope.

Biology - A
Chemistry - A
Math - A
Critical Thinking - D

I felt as if I had just been punched. A D in critical thinking. I knew I wasn't great at it, but a D? I tried to hold back the tears, as I thought about having to go back to London and leave all my friends, having to leave Riker.

"How did you do?" asked Ross.

"I - I failed," I said, my voice breaking.

He looked depressed and said quietly, "Me too."

***

So that was it. R5 weren't going on tour, and I was going back to London. Tears came streaming down my face as Riker pulled me into a bear hug.

"Come on, let's go back to mine," he told me, before leading me to his car. I couldn't keep up with all the thoughts rushing through my head, as Riker drove. I have to waste another whole year, just so I can get a passing grade in one exam. I have to go back to London without Charlie, without Riker, without anyone. I have to face my parents and tell them I failed. I -

My thoughts were cut off by my phone ringing. I looked at the caller ID. Ed.

I picked it up, and heard him say, "Hello? Jess? Did you get your results? How did you do?" he asked excitedly.