𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙚 [discontinued]

Chapter Twenty One

"Taking the determinant, we will find the inverse of this matrice.."

Behind me, I heard Zayn's pen hurriedly scratching notes into his register. I snapped back to reality, dragging myself away from the distant land my mind had wandered off to.

Someone gave a small snore beside me: Emily. Her head on the desk, she had fallen asleep on her registers. It was a good thing we were sitting at the back, for the teacher did not appreciate students sleeping in her class.

"Psst, Emily," I hissed, elbowing her arms. "Wake up, idiot."

"Five more minutes, mother," she mumbled sleepily.

"What? Em, if the teacher looks here you are so in trouble."

Emily muttered something indistinct about what sounded like unicorns, turned her face to the other side and fell back asleep.

Wow.

Shrugging, I turned my attention to the clock above the blackboard, its long ivory hands moving slower than snails, now that today was the last day of school.

Tick tock, tick tock. The hands edged their way to the number twelve.

Come on, come on, I thought, staring at the clock face with all my might. Just a little more.

3.. 2.. 1..

The shrill sound of the last bell sharply cut through the air, jolting students from their usual stupor.

Next to me, Emily jerked her head from her desk. "Finally," she cried. "I thought this day would never end."

"Says the one who slept through the entire class," I remarked, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, anything was better than listening to people buying sixty watermelons."

We laughed as we shoved our books into our bags, determined not to touch them again till next year.

Zayn joined us outside of class, as Emily and I stood with our backs against the wall, trying not to drown in the waves of excited students flowing through the corridor.

"Have you got enough notes to pass your college entrance test?" Emily asked jokingly, as he walked over to us.

Whether Zayn heard her or chose to ignore her comment, I'll never know. Instead, he shouldered his bag and smiled.

"The first day of summer has arrived, ladies," he said in a mock reporter voice. "Shady Oaks thanks it's students for sticking around the year and enduring the torture known as studies."

I swatted his arm. "Who are you to complain? You actually enjoyed studying," I said.

"Who, me?" He said with fake innocence.

The main ground accurately displayed the student's emotions at the last day of school. Everyone was cheerful and carefree, after all, for the first time, we would be going home without the prospect of homework or tests. A group of boys turned their bags upside down and dumped all their books in the recycling cans.

"Hey!"

Isabella, a tall girl with a chirpy voice, and president of the student body council walked over with a pile of brightly coloured yearbooks in her hand.

"Here you go, guys!" She said cheerfully, handing each of us a yearbook. "Happy end of term! See you all in high school!"

"Sweet," Emily said, flipping through the pages. "Hey Lu, sign it, please."

I borrowed a pen from Zayn, and opened Emily's yearbook to the autographs page. I scribbled my name, with a tiny heart at the end.

We exchanged signatures on our yearbooks. Zayn signed mine in the end, and handed it over to me. I was just about to open it, when Emily's Mom pulled in the driveway.