One Year of You and I

February 7th

Friday, February 7th, 2014

Luke

  After what felt like the longest two weeks of my life, I walked into my bedroom, exhausted from all of the energy the exams had taken from me. I dropped my bag onto the floor and without even bothering to take off my shoes, I landed on my bed with a bounce. Michelangelo and Giovanni curled up by my side as I shut my eyes and let sleep take over me with not a single complaint. 

Holly

  The whole bus ride home, I was absolutely wired, looking as if I had just downed a dozen large coffees. I tapped my feet and bounced my legs, looking at the snow-covered lawns we passed flash past the window. 

 “Would you calm down?” Ed asked me. 

  I leaned my chin against the top of his seat, letting out a sigh. Brin reached forward and pulled the wool hat I had become accustomed to wearing every day over my eyebrows. “I’m just nervous,” I said. 

 “Nervous?” Piper asked, taking her eyes off of her script for a second to look over at me. “You’re going to pass with colors that will not only be flying, yet will be reaching zero gravity zones. They will have no chance of stopping. You have the highest average in our grade, no doubt.” 

  I doubted. 

  Barthrow exam weeks had always been the perfect example of “stressful”. Students running through the hallways with notes in their hands in order to add to the months of studying they had just endured. Teachers slapping rulers in their hands as they made their way up the isles, seeming to have eyes going around the whole circumference of their head as they would face you quicker than you would ever believe if you made a single noise. A time limit of only an hour and a half for each of the three exams in a day.

  Orchid surely wasn’t as stressful, and the exams weren’t nearly as hard. We only had one exam per day, leaving us with simple half days. Nonetheless, the worry that I hadn’t done my best still played at my mind. The idea that my many hours of studying for each subject hadn’t been enough sent my heart pounding. For every hour Olive studied, I studied one more, simply to assure that my marks could at least come close to hers. 

  Many were grateful for exams to now be over, but they weren’t completed for me. The worry of what my final mark had been still continued to take up all the space in my mind, and it wouldn’t be put to rest until I knew. 

  Piper placed a hand on my hopping knee, pushing it downward. “You’re going to do amazing, okay?” 

  “Okay,” I let out with a heavy breath. 

  But what if it wasn’t okay? What if all of my studying hadn’t been worth it? What if once again, my grade was simply a grade compared to Olive’s, who would see a giant one followed by two zeroes on the front of each of her exams. 

 My jaw clenched at the thought. I pushed my head against the frost covered window and tried focusing on the loud conversations that took place in the bus, doing whatever I could to distract myself. 

 You’re going to do great. You did beyond your best. 

  But what if my best wasn’t enough? 

7000 reads?! You guys are phenomenal. Thank you so so much. I love you I love you I love you. Golly gee, how you make me grin. 

-Cheyenne