Smiley and Sunshine

2.

"Alright Class, settle down. Settle down! You know the drill. That was the bell." Hayes watched Mr. Simmons pace back and forth in front of the classroom. "Happy Friday everyone! First things, first, phones in your backpack and backpacks in the front of the room please. It's time to get this party started!" Cue the jazz hands. That was his normal behavior, but this time he held in his hand the test papers. They shimmered with the gesture.

Having dropped her bag in the front when she walked into the classroom, Hayes was ready to start.

"Good luck." Margot whispered from where she sat at the desk beside Hayes.

Hayes turned her head to the side and shot her a grin and pounded Margot's outstretched fist. "May the odds be ever in our favor." It has been their pre-test ritual since they first became friends in elementary school. Margot was her only friend.

Margot winked before turning forward in her seat. Mr. Simmons began handing out the test papers.

Hayes took the papers from the classmate in front of her, muttering a thank you. She took the top sheet before passing along the rest to the person sat behind her.

"Does everyone have a test?" Mr. Simmons looked around the room. Seeing no complaints, he smiled. "You may begin."

Deep breath in and out. Let's do this.

———

Now she knew why Glen had gotten aggravated last night. Hayes couldn't focus on anything but the tapping of the pencil. She glared at the back of the head of the kid sitting in front of her. Tap. Tap. Tap. Stupid Brendon. If she was impulsive, she would totally kick the back of his chair. But alas, impulsivity was not in her nature so she settled with the glare. A total killer, she was.

Hayes let out a little sigh and looked back at her test. Focus Hayes. She was so close to being done. The test wasn't so hard and she had been able to confidently fly through it.

Flipping to the last page of the test, she expertly filled in the scantron bubbles with no hesitation. She double checked all her answers before letting herself relax. If she had to guess, out of 50 questions, 2 or 3 questions max wrong. Glen would just have to live with that.

She handed her test in to Mr. Simmons and sat back down. With 10 minutes left until lunch time, she rested her head on her arms thinking about the food she was about to consume. She had skipped breakfast that morning only managing to eat a browning banana because her stomach was a bundle of nerves and she was suffering the consequences now.

-------

"Pencils down! Turn in your test on your way out if you haven't done so yet." Mr. Simmons stood up at his desk. "And I hope you all have a good weekend. See you on Monday."

Hayes grabbed her backpack and walked out into the hallway waiting for Margot to catch up with her. They sat together in the cafeteria along with Glen and his buddies. The girls didn't really mingle with the boys, but Glen made it obvious that Hayes was a package deal and so his friends didn't mind the company. Plus, she'd been tagging along to all their playdates and hangouts since Glen met them that she was basically one of the guys.

"Woah, did you see this?" Hayes glanced at Margot to see her looking at her phone. Unlike Hayes, Margot always had her phone and was probably too attached to it.

"See what?"

"There was a dead body found this morning. But they haven't released the name yet." Margot scrolled down reading the news, "That's sad."