Margarita's head hurt often.
She wasn't sure if the pain was because of her medication, or the fact that she barely got any sleep on account of stress and school, or if she stared at the screen of her computer to much, or if it was something entirely different. She did know that the pain was irritating and a source of distraction throughout her day-to-day life.
Besides, it always seemed to hurt at the most inconvenient times--such as now, taking the EOS (end of semester) test for Algebra II, the test that would determine whether or not she passed the class.
She only had six questions left, but her head was throbbing, and the problem she was on made no sense to her. 'Evaluate: 30-12÷3×2=.'
Margarita scrolled through the multiple choice options slowly.
'A. 30-12÷3×2=30-8=17
B. 30-12÷3×2=30-8=22
C. 30-12÷3×2=30-10=17
D. 30-12÷3×2=30-10=22'
Margarita gritted her teeth and raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. Giving up, she clicked C as a wild guess and flew through the other questions, clicking answers randomly. She submitted the test and, after notifying a teacher, left the room with her backpack. The test had taken her long past her first period class, and it was time for her to go to lunch.
When she walked into the cafeteria, she was hit with the roar of conversation and the heavy scent of Tex-Mex and nearly expired milk.
Her head ached.
She walked to the table she thought of as hers and her friends'. Its wasn't hers. It wasn't her friends'. It was bought by the school, made at a factory, and created from a dead tree and linoleum. Margarita didn't think about that, though.
Olive looked up and smiled as Margarita sat down. Olive had been friends with Margarita since the beginning of their seventh grade year, which was when Olive moved from North Carolina to the small town of Springsville, New Jersey, and each considered the other as her best friend.
"How do you think you did on the test?" Olive asked immediately.
"Probably horrible," Margarita responded, laughing, even though she didn't think failing such an important test would be funny.
"Yeah, I think I bombed my history test," Olive said, laughing as well.
Margarita nodded, but she didn't believe her. Olive had never failed a test in her life.
"Anyway, my parents said you could come over Friday if you can still hang out then," Olive said.
"That'd be great!" Margarita opened her lunch box and took out a ham and cheese sandwich she had hurriedly prepared that morning.
"Awesome. My mom wants to see you again. She really likes you."
Margarita smiled. "Can I spend the night or just the afternoon?"
Olive pulled a hairtie off of her wrist and pulled her dark, kinky hair back in a bun. "Mom said you could spend the night if you want."
"Okay." Margarita bit into her sandwich and realized she had forgotten to spread it with mayonnaise or mustard.
"So how're your parents?" Olive asked.
Margarita shrugged, picking her sandwich apart and taking a bite of her ham. "Good."
Olive frowned. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I guess. One of my online friends hasn't been active in a really long time, and I'm kinda worried."
YOU ARE READING
Crossing Stars
Teen Fiction[Quick warning: some of the sexual and death related content in this could bother some people. It's probably fine for most teenagers and older, but if that sort of thing bothers you a lot, you might not want to read it.] Life is hard, especially for...
