O L L I E
30 DAYS UNTIL GRADUATION
My right leg bobbed up and down furiously as I scribbled down, the correct shall I say, answers to the AP Calculus test I was currently taking. I twirled my pencil around my fingers as the numbers flew easily into my mind.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught two black, worn out vans shuffle to the front of the classroom. The tall blonde boy lightly tossed his paper in the turn in bin with an amused grin on his face. He slowly shuffled back to his seat making sure to lock eyes with me as he did so. As soon as he saw me, his mouth upturned into a devious smirk. I simply rolled my eyes and went back to finishing my test.
Luke Hemmings.
He was the Captain of our school's baseball team and he already had some sort of scholarship to college for it. He actually moved here all the way from Australia in the ninth grade so he'd have a better chance of making the Major Leagues. Whiich explained why his accent was still there when he spoke. He also was smart and the reason why my last four years of high school were so stressful. He was determined to be Valedictorian, yet so was I.
I scribbled in the last answer to my test and got up to turn it in. I smoothed my skirt down as I turned around to walk back to my desk.
Luke caught my eye and mouthed the number, "one hundred percent" to me. I sat down in my seat and raised my eyebrow at him.
"One hundred one," I mouthed as he rolled his eyes.
It had always been a competition between us.
~~~
"Olivia Reed to the office please!" The secretary's voice droned over the intercom.
I filled my cheeks up with air and puffed it out as I made my way to the office. I quickly put my hair into a ponytail and pushed my glasses back up in front of my eyes as I entered the putrid smelling room. It smelled of stale coffee and body odor. A familiar tuft of blonde hair caught my eye in the corner.
"Reed," the boy started. "What'd you do?"
"I could ask you the same, Hemmings." I sighed as I took the seat next to him. My leg started to bob furiously up and down due to nerves. I didn't think I was in any trouble, I couldn't remember doing anything wrong. My teeth bit into my lip hard enough that I could taste a hint of blood.
"Will you stop? You're practically shaking the whole bench." Luke scolded as he placed his hand on my thigh, forcing me to stop.
"You're not the boss of me," I challenged, widening my eyes. I started to grab his hand off my thigh but he jerked it back instead.
"Oh really?" He questioned as he poked my shoulder.
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!" He mocked as he kept poking me. I attempted trying to grab his hands but he was too fast and he began to poke me all over.
"Mr. Hemmings, Miss Reed, my office please," Mr. Jacobson, our principal called. Luke's hands were wrapped around mine as we seemed to attract the attention of the whole office.
"Uh," I quickly pulled my hands away, obviously embarrassed.
Luke cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.
"After you," he said as he stood up and gestured towards Mr. Jacobson's office.
I shuffled my feet to the open door of his office.
"Please sit," Mr. Jacobson said in his stern voice. His glasses sat low on his nose and his salt and pepper colored hair was gelled down as usual.
I sat down in one of the plush, overstuffed, maroon chairs and Luke took the other one.
"Are you both aware of why you're here?" Mr. Jacobson asked, he folded his hands in front of him, his full attention was on us now.
I shook my head as my leg started to bob up and down again, earning myself a dirty look from Luke.
"Your class graduates in thirty days, Miss Reed." He pulled out a folder and flipped it open. He took his glasses off as he looked it over.
"It seems to me that you both have been shooting for the spot of Valedictorian ever since Freshman year, correct?"
"Yes sir," Luke and I said in unison.
"You're both tied for the spot," He replied. I nearly shot out of the chair.
"Excuse me?" I squeaked. I knew Luke was a contender for the spot but I didn't think we were tied. It felt like my whole world was falling apart at his words.
"You're smart Miss Reed, you heard me." Mr. Jacobson replied with an unamused look on his face.
"We can only have one Valedictorian and one Salutatorian, good luck to you both." He said, standing up. His hand pointed towards the door, signaling for us to leave. My heart started to beat rapidly as we left his office.
"Babe, be prepared to lose," Luke whispered in my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine.
I stopped in my tracks, causing Luke to bump into me, almost knocking me over. I whirled around and poked my finger into the center of his chest, I was sick and tired of him bugging me.
"You know what Luke Hemmings?" I asked rhetorically.
"What, Olivia Reed?" He sneered just to tick me off.
"You put the 'dick' in Valedictorian," I whipser yelled, jabbing my finger harder into his chest as I spoke.
He threw his head back and let out a throaty laugh.
"Babe," he started as he brought his face just centimeters from mine so he could look me in the eyes. "You just admitted that I'm gonna be Valedictorian," he chuckled as he booped my nose.
"Over my dead body," I snapped through gritted teeth.
"Okay, we'll see in thirty days," he raised an eyebrow at me as he stood up straight. "Good luck Olivia, you'll need it."
I just laughed and left him standing in the middle of the office.
There was no way on this green earth that I was going to lose the Valedictorian spot to Luke Hemmings.
