The Safety Pin Affair

t h i r t y-t w o - i thought we stopped this

so go ahead, rip my heart out
show me what love's all a b o u t . . .

▪️▫️▪️

I went into my last class of the day feeling confident. I held my head high as I entered the classroom and felt good about myself for some reason.

It's the history elective that I signed up for only to find out that Blair had been put in the class at a different time slot. Regardless, it's still fine without her. It'd just be better if she were with me.

Mr. Kofta called out names from the front of the room as he handed back out tests from last week. I was feeling pretty good about it too, because I studied and I generally understand what we're learning at the moment.

"Victoria," he sang my name as he came across my paper. But the way his voice went down an octave toward the end made me nervous, as well as the disappointed look on his face.

He strolled over to my desk and held out my paper to me as I cautiously took it from him. I flashed him an uneasy smile and his expression didn't change, which made my heart plummet to my stomach.

With my fingers fumbling to flip it over, my eyes scanned across the red ink marked at the top of the page.

68. Accented with a frowning face next to it.

"Fuck," I mumbled under my breath.

So much for understanding the material.

I skimmed through the pages quickly before I jammed it in my folder and put it away. As Mr. Kofta passed out the remaining tests, I sank in my seat with my arms folded and a pout carved in my face. And just like that, my good mood is gone.

"I'm surprised at these test grades," Mr. Kofta acknowledged as he wandered to his desk at the front. He leaned back onto it, crossing his arms and staring at all of us. "Some were great, and some were not-so-great. It's getting to be towards the end of the year and I know you all have your minds on graduation." Someone quietly cheered from the back of the room as we all laughed. Mr. Kofta continued with a small grin, making me anxious for his next few words. "Long story short, I'm thinking about dropping your lowest test grade at the end of this term. If you did bad on this, don't worry. It might not count in the end."

All the students, including myself, breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief and the energy in the room lightened up.

Thank God for cool teachers.

After that, the rest of the class went by smoothly and we were out in no time. With it being Friday, I was eager for this day to end. Even though I have to babysit Gracie, Blair and I are hanging out tonight and I'm excited for it.

I stopped at my locker to get my jacket and whatever I'd need for the weekend, making it fast as I headed out to my car when I was done. Without Josh meeting me at my locker, the visit was quick.

He wasn't in school at all today. It's March 1, otherwise known as Day 1 of the wrestling state championship tournament. Luckily for him, it's just like a free day off from school with no penalty towards him.

All day I've been getting updates from him as he texts me. He's been there since 8 o'clock this morning and definitely won't get done until late tonight. If he makes it past tonight then he has all day tomorrow too, and the same goes for Sunday.