Falling Apart

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

                “Before everyone leaves, I’ve graded last week’s exam and I have the papers now to hand back.” Mr. Richter announced to the class just a little less than two minutes before the bell rang.

                I watched timidly as Mr. Richter grabbed the stack of papers from his desk, which were all messily stacked in a pile with red markings showing corrections written on all pages. I was a nervous wreck as he called out name after name, handing each student their paper faced down. Normally, I wouldn’t be this anxious to get back a test grade, but I knew I didn’t do my best on this one just because of everything that’s been happening lately.

                “Jace Wasson,” Mr. Richter called out as he handed Jace his paper, “good job. I see your tutoring sessions with Everly are working out perfectly.”

                Jace nodded as Mr. Richter moved on, calling out the next name. Jace stared at his grade as I craned my neck to try to get a peek at what he got on the test. “No,” Jace shook his head as the slightest smirk made its way onto his lips, “I’m not showing you what I got until you get your grade.”

                I grumbled under my breath as Mr. Richter called out my name, startling me. He handed me my paper slowly, leaning in slightly just so that he was able to speak low enough to the point where no one but the two of us could hear what he was saying. “This isn’t your best grade, Everly.” Mr. Richter sternly said. “I want to see improvements on the next test. You have a near perfect average in my class and I’d hate to see it go down.”

                I nodded slowly as my heart sank. I didn’t even have to look at my test paper to see that I did badly because the disappointment lingering in Mr. Richter’s voice spoke for the shame itself. The bell finally rang as I crumpled the test in my hands, refusing to look at my grade. I stormed out of the class, but I didn’t get too far because I felt a gravitational pull on my back.

                Jace had his hands on the back collar of my shirt as he stopped me from escaping. “Hey, what’s with the hurry?” Jace asked. “You have lunch next period.”

                “I did really badly on the test.” I glared at the test paper, now in the form of a sphere.

                Jace carefully took the paper from my hands, smoothing out the wrinkles I made to see my horrendous grade. “What are you so upset for?” Jace asked, frowning. “You didn’t do that bad.”

                I let out an exaggerated breath as I snatched the paper from his hands, staring at the big sixty seven that was written on the top of my paper with a fat, red marker. The number that was my grade haunted my vision as I gasped, tossing the paper out in the nearest trash can. “A sixty seven?!” I choked. “That’s barely passing!”

                “Just be happy that you passed this one and redeem yourself on the next test, no biggie.” Jace advised.

                I narrowed my eyes at him, finally accepting the fact that he had a point. “So, what did you get?” I asked.

                The tip of Jace’s ears turned red as his eyes shifted away from mine. “It doesn’t matter.” He muttered under his breath before entering through the double doors, towards the cafeteria.

                Before Jace got to enter the lunch room, though, I pushed him back, stopping him. “Jace, what did you get?” I asked, but he didn’t budge. “Hey, it’s not fair! I showed you what I got!”