"Mai, I am so proud of you." Lauryn grins. It was probably the kazillionth time she had said that in the past 10 minutes.
"Lauryn," I hiss under my breath, "We're about to take a test. Please, shut up."
I glance warily to the front where our math teacher, Mr Kressway was handing out papers to each student, reminding us the repercussions of cheating, although it wasn't even a major test.
"I know, I know," Lauryn goes on unfazed, "But I haven't seen you properly since yesterday when you disappeared after lunch."
"It was mostly to avoid this situation right now." I mutter in response. "How was I supposed to know you'd jeopardize your grade just so you can gossip?"
"Oh, calm down, Mai. Kressie loves you, he wouldn't do that." Lauryn replied nonchalantly. Luckily for the two of us however, she manages to shut her mouth by the time Mr Kressway made his way to us.
Instead she opted for an overly enthusiastic 'thumbs up' before facing her paper.
I simply shook my head in response. You'd think she'd be more worried, considering how she failed her last math test. But then again, that's Lauryn for you.
❊ ❊ ❊
Maybe it was the creepy Joker grin she had on her face, or the way she was squealing all the way to the cafeteria but I had a feeling that the test had gone well. Either that or Lauryn was feeling hyper today.
Mr Kressway had managed to not only mark our tests during the lesson, but also give us back our final grades too. Lauryn had refused to tell me what she got until all the others were present so I had to reluctantly follow after her as she literally skipped down the hallways.
"Ethan!" She exclaimed, as soon as she spotted our friends. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!"
She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped him into a tight hug.
Poor Ethan looked like a mixture between surprised and about to pass out from her cutting off his circulation.
"You're ...welcome?" He breathes. Ethan looks at me for some sort of explanation as to get Lauryn was hugging him. I rolled my eyes in response, mouthing 'tutoring' to him.
"Ohh," Ethan says, extricating himself from Lauryn, "So I'm guessing it went well?"
"I got a B plus!" Lauryn squeals again. Tables from behind us give us odd looks, which I'm slowly getting accustomed to, "I mean, I was only expecting to get a C. Maybe a C plus at best."
"That's great, Laur." Ethan grins, taking Lauryn into a final hug.
I glance around to look for Connor. He's sat with his friends today but doesn't seem to be involved in their conversation. Instead, he looks distracted by the number of times his gaze wanders off.
My first assumption is that he's looking at Lauryn before I realize he's facing the other direction. He seems to be having a wordless conversation with whoever he was looking at, but didn't see to want his friends to know about it.
A small frown begins forms on my face when I am asked a question.
"Sorry, what?" I turn to Ryan just as he finishes his question.
"I said, what did you get?" Ryan repeats.
"Oh." I scrunch my nose as I try to remember my grade.
"Mai, here, who I will now be calling the closet genius," Lauryn interjects, "got an A+ and the highest in our class."
"Whoa, Mai. Well done," Alyssa congratulates, "You might be moved into the advanced set."
"I know," I pout slightly. "Then I wouldn't be in the same class as Lauryn."
"Please don't tell me you've been downplaying your grades just for me." Lauryn gasps. I shrug.
"Mai!" Lauryn exclaims, swatting my arm.
"Hey!" I object, "What was that for?"
"For you being an idiot." She answers bluntly, "Mai, we can always find something else to do together. You don't have to fake bad grades just for me."
"Some of us count B's as good grades, you know." Ryan points out.
"Shut up, Ry. Lauryn's on a role. You're ruining the moment." Jodie reprimands, through bites of her tofu burger. Usually, I wasn't very keen on tofu, but the school had somehow managed to make fake meat in a bun look appetising.
"As I was saying," Lauryn continues, "I know it's hard when we don't share any other lessons and all that but at least we still have the same lunch and see each other out of sch- Mai, stop looking at Jodie's food."
"Sorry, I'm hungry." I whine, no longer paying attention to Lauryn's speech.
Lauryn sighs heavily, "Fine. Let's go buy some food."
I perk up, "Yay."
"We aren't done with this conversation, Mai." Lauryn states as we make our way through the lunchroom.
"Boo..."
"Plus we need to go find Lover Boy." She adds as an afterthought. "Before he changes his mind and decides not to sit with us."
"Can we not call Cameron that?" I wince at the nickname. I'm slowly beginning to regret informing her that Cameron was sitting with us today.
"Well you knew who I was referring to, so how about no." Lauryn says, I can almost see the wide smirk on her face, despite facing her back.
"I'll buy you dessert?" I offer.
Lauryn pauses for a moment. "Hmm... I may just consider it."
When in doubt, stoop to bribing.
❊ ❊ ❊
"So Lover Boy, isn't our table the best or what?" Lauryn suddenly asks Cameron, midway through prepping for this month's first OAAC meeting.
I groan loudly, pausing my rifling through takeaway leaflets, "Why, Laur, why? You promised!"
"That was yesterday," Lauryn replies offhandedly, "Besides, I said I'd consider it."
So maybe bribing didn't always work.
"Did you just call me lover boy...?" Cameron asks unsurely.
"Just answer the question," Lauryn retorts, pulling out the intimidating card before Cameron can fully question her choice of words.
"Err, yeah, sure." Cameron replies with a shrug, "I mean, it beats sitting alone. Plus, it's hard to get bored sitting in a big group with up to three conversations going on at the same time. You guys are cool."
"See, Mai," Lauryn says with a grin, turning to face me, "Cameron thinks our table is cool. Not everyone is disturbed by our conversations."
I roll my eyes at her invalid argument, "Lena says she and her friends can hear us at lunch, and they sit on the patio area outside. Plus, people on the table next to us literally move away when all 6 of us are sat together."
"Psh." Lauryn replies with an off handed scoff. "You and your wild imagination, Greenely."
I roll my eyes again, but I'm unable to hide the amused smile that creeps it's way on to my face, "Just help me sort through these leaflets."
Luckily, she obliges, choosing to help me complete the final touches for the Obscure Animals Appreciation meeting today.
Tonight, it was only me, Lauryn and Cameron attending.
Well, obviously, not just us, hopefully; but in terms of my friends, they were the only two able to make it tonight.
Jodie and Ryan had some family event to go to, Alyssa was involved in some charity related work with the cheerleaders which was also met that Wednesday, and Ethan said the robotics club did not appreciate him 'fraternizing with the enemy' apparently, but he also mentioned he was willing to help if we had any technical difficulties.
So far, things had been running smoothly. Everything was nearly set up, and I knew of at least 15 people who promised to show up today. Last time I spoke to the principal, I needed an average of at least 10 people weekly for the club to keep running, so the odds were in my favor.
I migrated towards the computer in search of the presentation about servals, aka obscure animal of the month. "That's odd," I mutter to myself mostly.
"What?" Cameron asks, coming over to me. "You can't find the presentation?"
"Um, no," I reply, my eyes still trained to the computer screen, "I was just sure I had more than these in this folder."
"Hmm," Cameron leans in closer with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Maybe... you saved it somewhere else?"
"Maybe..." I agree.
"Guys," Lauryn interrupts, "No time to chat, I hear people!"
❊ ❊ ❊
"See, that didn't go so bad," Cameron says, passing me a side grin soon after the last of the attendees disappeared through the door.
I shrug, trying to remain indifferent but the giddy smile on my face betrayed my true emotions.
Despite the little setback, everything else went according to plan, with more than enough people showing up. And for once, no one ran out in tears, but that was probably because I had started being selective about the animals I featured – as unfair as that was to the demon stinger fish.
"It's 7 already?" Lauryn says, surprised, "Mai, you should really consider having your club at an earlier time. Like maybe 4."
"It used to be," I explain, "Except it clashed with another club that used to run a couple months ago so I moved it down."
"I didn't know that," Lauryn replies, "Anyway, I've got to go now. I told my dad we'd be done by half six, so who knows how long he's been waiting."
"Half an hour?" I replied with a knowing grin.
"Ha ha ha." Lauryn says drily. "Well, bye Mai. See you and Lover Boy tomorrow!"
With that she quickly hurried away, probably knowing I was only seconds from throwing Sergei the Serval at her.
"Do I want to know why she calls me that?" Cameron suddenly says, breaking the silence.
"Probably not," I reply, pushing myself off the table I was leaning against.
"Hey, Mai," Cameron says again, a moment later, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," I answer back absentmindedly, proceeding to clear up the area at the same time.
"Would you like to-"
"Dammit," I interrupt, raising up a wad of paperwork, "I was going to ask Lauryn if she could take this for me."
"I-"
I spin round to face Cameron, standing up close and placing the heavy stack against his chest, "Could you please, please, please drop this off at the principal's office?" I beg.
"Bu-"
"I just need to get something from my locker before the janitor locks that part of the school, I'll only be a minute, I promise."
"I just-" Cameron stops himself sighing, "Okay."
"Thanks!" I say enthusiastically, dumping the papers into his open hands before taking off, "Remember, it's the first office three doors to the left."
"I know..."
"I'll be right back, okay?" I assure him, exiting the room backwards, "Hold on to that question."
He doesn't get to reply as I am already running in the opposite direction towards my locker.
It doesn't take me too long to find the book I was looking for. Ms Montgomery, the teacher who took us for English Lit, hinted on a pop quiz on Thursday and I still needed to read the chapter which it was being set on.
I was about to make my back to Cameron, when I noticed a strange light coming from the end of the hallway, probably leading to outside.
I cautiously follow it, curious to see what was going on outside. It wasn't that late, but it was late enough that no average joe would be lurking around the school for legal reasons.
"Hey, is anybody out there?" I call, hesitantly stepping out the building.
I peer ahead, and look left and right to see if there was anyone close by. But of course, like every girl from a horror movie, I forget to look back.
And that's when everything went dark.
____
So I decided to keep the last chapter for a bit longer. Idk, I'm a sadist I suppose.
Anyway, heyyyy, it's me again. Back with a new chapter 24 hours late. Not that that is surprising. I mean, it's me. When do I ever keep to my word? So I had a lot to say, but I've forgotten most of it. I just want to say thanks to all of you for reading and putting up with this book because I really appreciate. Contrary to the last chapter, this book is nowhere near an end, though I have finalised all the details for said ending, so perhaps I'll be updating more regularly,,, On another note, I was also considering a cast list for the characters. I finally decided on someone for Mai, but I'd like any suggestions for Cameron and the rest of the guys.
That's really all I have to say... If I think of anything else I'll ask later.
Carmen~