"Happy birthday Kim!" someone shouted in my ears. I looked at my clock to see what time it is. 5.15 am
"I wake up at 5.30 am! I still have 15 minutes to sleep!" I whine, not realising what exactly was happening around me. "I know Kim, but he wanted to give you a wake-up call," my dad shrugged.
He wanted to... wait, what? HE? Who is HE? I open my eyes wide and sit up straight. That's when I realise that someone was waiting for me on the call. "Who is it?" I whisper urgently. "See for yourself," my dad invited and handed me the phone.
Zane! He remembered? "Hello, Zane! What a pleasant surprise!" I excitedly said. "I heard your sleepy voice wanting to cuss me out," he stated. "Hey, no, I... who wakes a person up at quarter past five in the morning though?" I scold through the phone. "I didn't know what time it would be there. Sorry, darling!" Did he just call me darling?
After talking for 5 minutes more, I cut his call and headed to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and handed my uniform to dad to iron while I did my routine. Once I got dressed, I took the pains to blowdry my wet hairs and then curl them before leaving them loose on my shoulders. I kept a rubber band on me though, in case any teacher objected at school. I usually just roughly tie them up into a messy ponytail but, hey, it's not every day that one celebrated their 16th birthday!
"Kim, hurry up, your breakfast is ready!" My dad screamed. Usually, I made my breakfast on my own in the morning and woke him up just before leaving to catch the bus so that he could close the main door. Today, he prepared french toasts, scrambled eggs and a glass of freshly squeezed oranges for me. "Thanks, dad!" I said before munching on my breakfast.
Back in New York, I would have been allowed to dress in casual clothes but here, I had to stick to my school uniform. To make me feel good, I wanted to make little changes to my look. So I dabbed a little perfume and applied some lip gloss. "Hurry Kim, it's almost time!" My dad shouted from the living room. I grabbed the earrings that I wanted to wear and rushed out of the house.
"Happy birthday Kimora!" Vivaan wished me the moment I stood beside him. "Thank you!" I smiled widely. "So, ready for the maths paper?" he asked. "Hell yeah! I think I am well-prepared." I then tried to remove my earrings and wear the white flower-shaped tops that Lara had gifted me 2 years ago on my birthday. I removed my earrings all right but couldn't slip on the ones that I wanted to wear.
"Need help?" Vivaan asked with a small smile. I nodded. He hesitated for a while before pushing my hairs to the other side. He then helped me wear them, though not without a little pain. I could feel my earlobes go red from his attempts. "Thanks," I said while rubbing my earlobes to numb the pain. "Sorry, Kim! I don't really know how to..." "It's fine. Chill." Right at that point, the bus came and we hopped onto it.
***
"You have 10 minutes as reading time. After that, you can start writing," the invigilator instructed as he distributed the question paper. I started reading the paper and realised... I'm underprepared.
I somehow managed to solve 2/3rd of my paper without making big blunders but... I was running out of time. Slowpokes! I only had 15 minutes left to complete 7 questions, each of 5 marks. Fuck! Why didn't you time yourself and solve a couple of papers? You should have listened to dad!
"Time's up!" the invigilator said as the 15 minutes ended. I still had to attempt 5 questions. Why do I suck at trigonometry? "Kimora, hand over your paper," he said when he came to my table. "2 minutes, sir!" I pleaded. He snatched my paper without saying anything. I looked at his retreating back in horror and shock. I'll fail now. I fucked up. I am a loser. I guess my happiness ended here.
***
"How was your paper?" Avani asked once I was done with distributing toffees in the bus. "Fine-ish," I responded. "How much was left?" She asked, knowing me fully well. At that, I broke into tears. "I left 25 marks. I ran out of time. I -" "Shhh! Kim, it's okay, don't cry. It's your birthday, how you spend your day today determines how your entire year will go. Kimmy!" She hugged me tight and didn't let go of me until I stopped crying.
"Marks aren't everything. Don't worry, everything will be fine." "What will I tell my dad? He'll be embarrassed by me. He'll be -" "Take a deep breath. Don't worry about that right now. Think about your dinner party with your friends." Right! My messed up dinner party that my messed up brain thought of.
***
"Kimora!" Vivaan shouted to catch my attention when I walked towards the elevator quickly. "I'm sorry but I overheard your conversation on the bus. Don't worry, nothing will happen." I just gave a small smile and started to walk away from him. "I left 30 marks and I'm still chill," he said suddenly.
I turned around, walked up to him and spoke, "That's because you're good at maths and you know your answers won't be fucked up like mine. Also, when did you even have to carry the weight of expectations? You could be chill all you like, but I tread on a tight-rope." After this cryptic response, I headed to the elevator, thinking of the ways in which I could cancel the dinner party and kill myself for being a failure.
A/N : I'm really sorry for swearing so many times in this chapter. I just wanted to show how frustrated Kimora is after her maths exam. Well, now you know, Kim is extremely study-oriented and can't tolerate failure.
I know I haven't given any details about the dinner party because (a) it was a mundane party (b) I ran out of creativity. I'm sorry for this short chapter. I know after the previous chapters you wanted some spice but, hey, I got Zane back in the story!
QOTD : What is your fatal weakness?
AOTD : Failure.
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Love Escape ✔️
Teen Fiction"Were you scared?" she asked as our foreheads collided together. I shook my head no. I have to act brave and masculine, right? "No. You're lying," she said as she wiped tears off my cheeks and showed me her wet fingers. Wait, I was crying? "I didn'...
