Mark My Words

82 | A Little Reminder Required

In under twenty-four hours, she had her plan, and it was all thanks to Jamie-Lee's encouragement.

She decided to catch Jamie-Lee before study hall that next day, when Joanna was back to avoiding her, ignoring her. She knew by now that she had grown numb to it, but her determination made it sting worse than ever. Rosalie's inability to focus during class was starting to take its toll, especially that day when they were grading each others chemistry quizzes and hers came back with an 8/10—unheard of in her straight-A books.

She stared at the numbers. She never bothered to look until then—it was always a perfect score. She turned to look at the student behind her, who had graded her quiz. The girl shrugged as she passed her quiz forward. Their teacher was asking that they all do the same, to collect them at the front of the classroom.

Rosalie took the girl's quiz and, with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she passed her quiz forward.

Eight out of ten, she thought, unsure if she was mortified or if she really was nauseous.

It wasn't enough to dock her valedictorian status, but if a student performed better than her, an eight out of ten was enough to sabotage her podium status at graduation.

I should have done better, she thought, long after her quiz was collected, and long after she went on with her day stuck in an eight-out-of-ten attitude. It seemed... wrong to have a completely different mindset from the past seventeen-going-on-eighteen years of her life. Her entire school career had been focused around two things: grades and sports, grades and sports.

If only hormones didn't get in the way. No, that wasn't right. She was fine with Joanna as an integral part of her school career.

If only Arden didn't get in the way.

Rosalie clenched her teeth, jaw ticking as she shut her locker door. She started down the hall and glanced in the direction of the Stud.Co. office where she could see the names pasted on the window. The gap where her and Joanna's names had been was now filled—by Harper and Jace, no less. It was almost laughable to see them on there, but it made sense. Harper Winters was still a social icon in their grade, and with a school as massive as Bradshaw, familiar names tended to end up on nomination lists.

When she arrived at the lunch room, their study hall table was already full. There, she found Ray sitting with Lennie, who had his face hidden behind the pages of a book for AP English. Ray had a foot up on the bench, tapping a pen on her knee. When Rosalie entered the scene, she looked up and glanced around Jamie-Lee, who was sitting on the table just like any other day. Juliana was beside him, hunched over a history textbook.

"Yikes, girl, what's with the frown?" Ray asked as Rosalie dropped onto the bench beside her. Jamie-Lee twisted around, legs crossed, poised and ready to listen.

"Didn't do too well on a chemistry quiz," she confessed, which brought attention from Lennie. Like her, Lennie was on the track for valedictorian status, and if he wasn't such a soccer fanatic, Rosalie wouldn't be surprised if the guy wound up going to an Ivy League university.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Eight out of ten," she said, and Lennie grimaced and went back to his book.

Ray glanced from him back to Rosalie. "Seriously? That's it?" she said. "I don't think I've ever gotten above an eight out of ten."

Rosalie sighed. She could never quite understand Ray's disinterest in performing her best during tests and quizzes. If anything, Ray was a team player. Her specialty was in group projects and presenting—not standard testing.