The Only Exception

Chapter 4 Part 3

Andrew, as expected, kept his promise of helping me. In fact, he went the extra mile and offered to assist me in preparing, prior to my presentation. He sat cross legged on the classroom floor and watched as I added final touches, "That looks like a pass, right?" Validation. It wasn't something that I had really desired from a boy in a while. Not since grade school, and definitely not since Finn.

"You kidding me? It looks great. With my help, you're totally going to ace this thing."

I scoffed, peeling dried Elmer's glue from my fingers, "A little cocky, but I agree. I probably couldn't have done this alone" Drew smiled in response, and I felt my pulse quicken. "Let's just hope that Lundman agrees too. I can't handle her grading." Drew stood up, wiping his hands against his jeans. He's nervous, I thought, Or maybe it's just hot in here.

"I can't handle her smell either. Isn't hygiene crucial in a lab environment? Or at least something like that." I laughed a little harder than I should have, but something told me that he didn't mind. "God, high school is not what I expected."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Maybe I watch too many Disney Channel Originals but I assumed that it would be life changing. Best 4 years of your life and all. So far, it just seems more stressful" I reached for a ball of construction paper, before further crumpling it. Drew shrugged and sat on a nearby desk, "I like it more, actually. Is that crazy? I feel like I'm in my place for once." I didn't blame him. Seeing him around the halls, I had never met somebody that fitted in so much. He wasn't popular, although it was hard to tell who was. And despite his love for anthroprogenics, nerds weren't even a thing. He played the baritone, was on the soccer team and made friends everywhere he went. Maybe Hilary was onto something.

"I get it", I told him, although I wasn't very sure if I did, "I just feel like the rest of my life is dependent on these next few years. It's scary. Or it is to me at least." Drew looked at me in silence, his eyes practically piercing through me. I couldn't tell what he was feeling. Aggravation? Concern? Pity? Finally, he shrugged once again, "It's scary to me too. I guess I don't like thinking about it a lot because I feel like life has its way of working out in the end. And maybe it's not the future that you're afraid of. Just the past that you're scared to repeat."

What is this hippie shit? I had thought at first, I was just starting to like you too. "Okay. But how long do we have to keep depending on faith before we realize that things don't always work out in the end. I'm just saying, life has its way of fucking you up sometimes. And I don't think that it's always for the greater good. Isn't that what screws us up most in life? This picture in our head everything is meant to be a certain way. When it's not. And maybe that's what scares me. " I hadn't meant to go bitch mode on the poor kid, but it had to be said. It was a weird feeling too; I barely ever expressed much of my feelings, at fear that I'd be shut down. But Drew didn't shut me down. He didn't even seem hurt in the slightest. Instead he grinned. He looked at me like he knew something that I didn't. "What?"

"You're nothing like Hilary, are you?"

I couldn't comprehend what he was saying or why he couldn't wipe that stupid smile off his face but all I knew was that I wanted to see more of it. Before I could reply, the bell began to ring and Ms. Lundman made her way into the room, "Amanda! You seem prepared. Why don't you present first, today?"