“Noah?”
I swallowed. “Yeah?”
“This doesn’t mean anything, okay?”
I nodded, anything to get him to kiss me again.Of course, this didn’t mean anything.
That night was torture. I remember laying in my bed, staring at the ceiling, imagining Henry getting grossed out and never talking to me again.
But the next day he called and asked if I wanted to go swimming again.
Now, Henry inspects the tattoo Alison gave him, and my heart twists.
I hate that this thing with Henry isn’t just about getting off. I mean, it is for him, but I want to hold hands with him. I hate it when he flirts with other girls. At least he doesn’t have a girlfriend.
From the other side of me, Declan turns away from his conversation with Tiana and Kaito and yawns. “I can’t wait to go home,” he says. “And we have that Psych test after lunch. Fuck.”
I take a while to process what he said. “Psych test?” I echo. I pull out my school diary and flick to today’s date. Thursday. Psychology periods 5 and 6, after lunch. There’s a scrawl, I take a minute to decipher the word. Test.
Shit.
“Yeah,” Declan answers. “About the nervous system and shit.”
“You know, I don’t think I’m going to fail this one,” Henry says, looking over. “It’s just memorisation.”
I can’t believe I forgot I have a test today. I haven’t studied in the slightest — and worse than that, I’ve paid next to no attention in class.
“You know,” Declan says, “if we were smart people we could have used this double period to study.”
Shit, shit, shit. Did I spend a double period daydreaming when I could have been studying for the test next period that I will almost certainly fail? I rip my laptop out of its case.
“When you say smart, do you mean common sense smart or academically smart?” Kaito pipes up. “Because academically smart people don’t need to study last minute.”
I’m so going to fail. My parents are going to kill me. Ben told me to do Psychology because it was an easy science. He’s going to think I’m such an idiot …
“Obviously, I mean common sense smart,” Declan replies. “You’renot smart if you have to ask that.”
“I forgot about the test.” I glance at the time in the corner of my laptop screen — I have fifteen minutes left of this class and an hour of lunch.
“Classic Noah,” Declan laughs. I can’t get annoyed because it’s the truth.
Instead, I search through my documents to find my Psych notes — which are half completed — and pray to God that I’m suddenly blessed with a photographic memory.
7
Eve: Pro Bono Tutor
It’s one of those rare lunchtimes when Oliver is sitting with Ruby and me. We ran into each other in the line for the canteen, and Oliver brought up the latest Agatha Christie adaption that has recently come out.
Ruby rolled her eyes, saying that Agatha Christie was overrated, but I was flattered that Oliver remembered much I love period movies, especially ones that involve murder mysteries.
We chatted about it while buying food, and Oliver followed Ruby and me to our usual spot under the tree. At one point, Ruby told Oliver to go away, but Oliver ignored her.
Now they discuss the Senior Summer Social, held for Year 11s and 12s at the end of the semester, deciding whether it will be fun.
I’m eating my wrap when my phone buzzes.
Noah: EVE.
