Chapter Seventeen: Josh // we need to talk, jishwa

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Chapter Seventeen: Third Person POV

Josh:

The first paper Josh had was anatomy, and without any shock or surprise, Josh found Charlie sitting next to him, a smile on his face.

“I'm not helping you” was the first thing Josh said to him, looking away.

Charlie laughed and leaned back in his chair, “I don't need you to. Tutoring, remember?”

“Right! I never really thought that'd work or that you were paying attention. You looked like you were ready to murder Tyler.” Josh joked, turning to face Charlie.

Charlie rolled his eyes, “Right, Tyler. Your super amazing boyfriend” he said with sarcasm leaking from his voice.

“He is amazing isn't he” Josh grinned with a distant look on his face.

“Don't day dream about him, I'm right here” Charlie said with a scowl on his face.

Josh chuckled but didn't say a thing, facing forward as he heard the large double doors of the lecture room open. In came professor Levine with a smile on his face and numerous exam papers in his hands.

“Hey, guys. We're about to start so I suggest you'd remove all technological devices - including watches” he said with a stern smile, reminding them of the time a student cheated with a watch on one of their test, “And carry your bags to the front of the lecture hall, thank you. You have ten minutes to skim through what you have read, after which the exams begin. ”

Without saying a word, Josh got up with his phone and bag and jogged down the blue catpetted stairs, passing lots of seats - seeing as he was in the top middle row - and went to the front of the hall, where he scanned through his pages, being satisfied before he reclaimed his seat.

He had worry lines written all over hia forehead causing Charlie to lean over and touch his shoulder comfortingly, “You'll be fine, Josh. You've prepared a lot for this and from the way you taught me, I'd say you're very smart. Don't they say you learn when you teach? You'll do great” and he actually had a genuine smile on his face which shocked Josh but he found a small smile gracing his lips anyway as he sighed.

“Thanks, Charlie. I really needed that”

And none of them spoke for the remainder of the five minutes before the exam but the way their lips stretched at each corner indicated it was a comfortable silence.

“All right” Professor Levine began, clapping his hands, “Since everyone is done skimming, let's begin. Sam, please come help me distribute the papers on the left axis” he said.

A short light skinned girl with red hair went jogging down the stairs and took a handful of question and answer sheets from Professor Levine and began distributing it on Josh's row.

Josh closed his eyes and muttered a quick prayer under his breath, after which he went over what he'd read in his head. By the time Sam and the professor were done sharing, Mr Levine yelled out,

“Begin! You have two hours.”

Question One:

Physical and chemical changes or reactions that occur within the body are collectively known as?

A)  Metabolism

B) Assimilation

C) Excretion

D)  Physiology

Josh rolled his eyes and scoffed, immediately ticking metabolism. And so did the rest of the two hours go, with him finishing thirty minutes early and checking and cross checking his work before finally turning it in.

He decided to head straight home after bidding Charlie good bye, because he needed to read for his elective course BioChem 101.

No one was home when he arrived which Josh found to be a good thing, since he could just sit back and read with a nice glass of apple juice.

Liam and Tyler had gone to school and were still there - since it was exam week and so Josh uni closed by three while the highschool closed by 3:30PM, his mother and Chris were at work. The Miller kids were officially three days old and they were a mess of tears. They were so loud and were crying half the time but Amelia and Travis wouldn't have it any other way.

After reading for thirty minutes, Josh heard the front door open and listened to the excited chatter of Liam and Tyler. His heart immediately stopped when he heard Tyler's quiet voice.

He quickly ran to close his door, leaning against it with a sigh. His heart was going thump-thump-thump.  Ever since the incident at the hospital, Josh hadn't been able to look Tyler in the eye. He'd been avoiding him for three whole days which meant from Wednesday to Saturday.

“Guess no ones home” Josh heard Liam say from downstairs.

“Josh should be home. His exams end by three” Tyler pondered.

He memorised the time? Josh asked with that distant look in his eyes and his cheeks turning red. Stop, Joshua. This is wrong.

He tried to remind himself like he'd been doing the past days but something about Tyler just made everything feel right.

He heard the stairs creaking faintly but he wasn't paying attention, that dopey smile on his face as he continued daydreaming. It wasn't until he heard a knock on his door that he broke out of his thoughts, clearing his throat and yelling a “Come in!”

Tyler slowly appeared from behind the door with a side smile, “Hey, I knew you should've been home by now” he smiled.

“Yeah. Sorry, I was a little engrossed in my reading. I have to study for my BioChem exam tomorrow” he tried not to talk too much and hopefully put on a chill facade to mask his rapidly beating heart.

“Right. How'd your exam go?” Tyler asked, coming to sit on the bed.

“Is he there?” Liam yelled from downstairs. They'd totally forgotten about him.

“Yeah. He's just reading” Tyler yelled back.

Liam yelled a small okay back and went to his room. Tyler turned back to Josh and disregarded his other question when he pointed out,

“We need to talk, Jishwa”

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So hey, how're you guys doing? x

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