Pedestrian |✓

|32| f r i e s

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. I continued the so-called 'calming' chant in my head as I wrap my hand around the silver doorknob of the school paper's writers and editors' office.

I sighed nervously, wondering if the paper inside the manila envelope that I worked on for straight eight hours, would lead me to my wishful destination - the school paper.

Working on it isn't easy. It took me twenty-three times of sharpening, probably sixty times of erasing (and 8478283748 of removing of the eraser dust), seventeen crumpled sheets of paper and four cups of steaming hot chocolate. Oh, and of course, a hundred and seventeen worth of messages exchanged between Austin and I throughout the course of my "writing".

It's probably the heat that caused beads of sweat to slowly trickle down the nape of my neck, or it could be the anxiousness and nervousness that don't sit well in my stomach. I pursed my lips tightly together and briefly closed my eyes. With all the stock strength that I could muster, I twist the knob and pushed open the door.

There, seated on a white plastic stool is Jamie, with a silver Mac laptop in front of her. She slowly raised her gaze to meet mine, a huge grin on her face.

"Anna! Finally! So, where's your entry?" Her eyes traveled from my face to both of my hands. "Oh! Oh! Is it in that envelope?"

I scratched my head, nodding at her warily. Oh gods, this is making my stomach churn.

She quickly took the folder from my grasp, too fast for me to hold it back. I just let out a deep sigh and watched her skim my two-paged entry.

Her brows furrowed together - obviously deep in thought. She briefly nodded her head at some parts and raised her eyebrow at some too - an expression that made me cringe to the bones.

She slowly nodded her head and muttered a soft hmhmm, before placing the pages back into the envelope.

I looked at her expectantly, waiting for her verdict as I held my breath in. Okay, okay, calm down Anna. You can do this.

She flashed me a huge smile. "You can check out the bulletin board outside for the results by Monday. Oh! No, no. Tuesday. Yep, Tuesday. I have three quizzes on Monday, so yeah..."

Uh what?

Staring at her incredously, I opened my mouth to say something along the lines of 'What!? No! I need the answers NOW. As in, now. I won't be able to go to sleep tonight of you leave me hanging.' But, instead, I nodded and smiled at her.

"Sure." Ugh.

She smiled back at me, a signal that said I should get going. So, I turned on my heels and walked towards the door.

But... but...

Realizing that this wouldn't really make me sleep, I spun in my heel and sprinted back towards her. Jamie gave me a confused smile (she smiles most of the time, I'm actually starting to consider this as her favorite hobby). "Jamie?"

"Yeah...?"

"Hmm. Last year, it wasn't like this."

"What do you mean?"

I swayed my head a little. "Y'know, like this, um... you guys just plain outright tell us if we made it or not. This set-up had been going on for years, so why stop now?"

Last school-year, including the years before that, applicants for the school paper pass their entry and get the result faster than you can blink. It was a lot more practical back then, and you may be hurt faster than lightning, but at least you wouldn't look stupid searching for your name when it isn't there.