Enduring [EDITING SLOWLY].

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Pauline & John.

Hmm.. We have finals this week. Hope I do well. Pray for me!

We'd been to granddad's funeral in Boston yesterday. We came home & I was VERY tired. I changed & fell in my bed. Sleep came instantly. I slept for a long time, I believe because it was my alarm waking me up. God! It's Monday! Finals week!!! I haven't even studied anything! How the hell am I going to do!! I got up, got ready & sat down to do a last minute study. I sat down & was reading about the Greek civilisation when mom called me for breakfast. Shoot! It was 8:00 am already! I didn't have much time!

I ran downstairs, grabbed my sandwich & ran to the car. I started the car keeping my book on one hand & steering on the other. I had to keep changing glances. One glance at the street. Four glances at the book. One bite at the sandwich. I was presently waiting in the signal between home & school. Ok.. I looked up to see the green signal. I closed my book & drove to school. I reached school. I opened my door, grabbed my bag & ran inside. The corridor wasn't much crowded today. It's usually very crowded during exams. Last minute learning & teaching sessions & stuff. Ok.. I was probably late. I ran to class. The professor was already there. I asked him whether I could come in. He let me in & I sat down on my seat. Soon, the seats started filling in. Pauline & Faye were on my two sides. The professor started distributing papers & I started marking the answers I knew with pencil on the paper. We had 15 minutes reading time. I read the question paper carefully. It was actually quite easy. The reading time was over. I started answering the questions. I was thinking about the successor of Octavius Caesar when the Prof shouted that it was the last 30 minutes remaining. I wrote Augustus Caesar - I'm not sure whether that is right though & started going through my paper. Checking whether I'd written everything when a hand patted me on the shoulder. I turns to see Alex grinning behind me. 'What?' I asked him. "Whats the fourth answer?" He asked me. "Think on your own & write. I don't know whether mine is right or not." I told him & turned towards Pauline & said "Meet me after the exams in the cafe, I need to talk to you!" which earned me a glare from the professor. I turned back & put my head down & continued checking. I was done. I'd done pretty well. I stood up, gave my paper & left class. We had one last paper tomorrow. I sent Faye & Pauline a message saying :

'Meet me after the exams in the cafeteria! Urgent!' and went to the cafeteria, got my lunch, found a table & sat down to wait for them. They came after about 10 minutes. Both of them sat down in front of me with their lunches & asked "What is the emergency meeting for? Is there anything we need to know?"

"You tell me" I told Pauline. "Is there anything I need to know??

For example - the guy you're presently dating." I asked with a raised eyebrow. Faye gasped & looked at her. Pauline's cheeks had turned red. She was blushing. "Aww! You really like the guy, don't you?" I asked. She nodded. "So may we know who this secret guy is?" I asked. Faye was just sitting quiet. I wondered why. "It's John!" She whispered & blushed more. I could barely make out the words. Faye was like "Who again? It better not be that idiot! You know how much I hate him!" Faye said. "You know, he's actually a pretty decent guy. John, I mean. He's sweet too. He cares for me. He likes me, you know and I like him. It's that simple. And there's no reason to hate him, you know? I know that he was an idiot but he's a changed guy. You can ask anyone. He's actually friendly now. Don't hate him." She said. I dropped my jaw.

"But I thought you were mortal enemies or something! When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? Us, I mean?" I asked her. "Because I knew you guys would react this way. Plus we had to become friends sometime. We can't remain enemies forever. This is our last year, for gods sakes! We decided to keep aside out differences & become friends. Simple rule". "Are you happy with him? Genuinely happy, I mean? And tell him that if he ever hurts you, he'll have to answer to us." I pointed to Faye & me. Faye was nodding. "As long as you're happy, it's fine. The moment he hurts you, he's dead. Get that?" I asked her. "Yeah. Thanks. But I'll handle him myself. I know you guys are looking out for me. Thank you for that. I don't think he will hurt me. If he does, you'll be the first to know." She said. "Anyway, when's prom? Next week or Saturday?" I asked. This was our finals week. Our exams would get over tomorrow. "Next week, I guess." Pauline said. "Hey! Faye! Is everything all right? You're exceptionally quiet today? You okay? Did someone say something to you? What's wrong?" I asked her.