Teenage Millionaire

Chapter 41: Test

"So? How do you feel?"

"What do you think?" I ask him sarcastically.

He surveys me momentarily with a slightly raised eyebrow, before looking back at the road to change lanes. "You look like you feel very confident and prepared."

I do not in any way feel confident or prepared.

Henry's driving me to my road test. I've been practicing with his instructor every day after school for a few hours for several weeks. The idea was to get this done as soon as possible, to reduce the risk of my parents seeing me in the extremely expensive convertible and wondering where the heck it came from. I don't want them to feel bad, or try and cut off my friendship (friendship?) with Henry because they think he's a bad influence or something.

Anyways, the instructor basically said I could've taken the test after only a few sessions. I did not feel prepared, though, so we kept going. I felt bad, because Henry is paying for my driving lessons, but he kept reassuring me that he didn't care about the money. I still don't really understand why he wants me to get my license enough to pay for all this stuff, but it's a bit of a reassurance that he wants me to be able to drive to his house. It makes it easier to believe him when he says I'm welcome there anytime.

So, this whole chain of events is what led to where I am now: in the passenger seat of the convertible that he insists is mine, with him driving me to my road test.

I feel pale and anxious and a little nauseous from nerves. Oh, and I'm shaking. All of me is shaking.

"Todd, you look like you did when I was test driving cars a few weeks ago, when I bought the purple car. Honestly, where does all your blood go? Calm down, you'll be fine. You're a good driver. You're better than me, and I passed on my second- no, third try. You can keep taking it until you pass, okay? And if the instructor thinks that you're an actual hazard to other drivers, the test will be terminated."

"Did that happen to you?"

"Yes. That was my first time, before I hired my instructor."

"You tried to take the driving test before hiring an instructor?"

He flashes me a toothy grin. "I figured I was an experienced enough driver from Mario Kart."

"No wonder it took you three tries."

He smirks, but doesn't respond, and that's when I realize that he's pulling up to the place where I'm supposed to take my test, and I remember to be nervous. He parks, then leans over the console to talk, gently lifting my chin up to make me meet his eyes. When I do, I get nervous for a different reason.

"Todd, you know how to drive. You'll do wonderfully. Perfectly, even. I'll bet you finish with zero points."

I roll my eyes.

"No, really. Come on, you study for tests at school, right? Have you ever failed?"

"No," I say quietly.

"Then- well, you can stand to be taken down a peg or two, first of all. But honestly, you're not going to fail. And even if you do, nothing bad is going to happen. It's not like your parents are going to get pissed at you, they don't even know. And if you do fail, which you won't because you're more than prepared for this, you'll be proving me wrong. And you've seemed to enjoy doing that, recently."

It's true. The more I hang out with him, the snarkier and more sarcastic I seem to get. It only causes him to smirk more.

"So stop worrying, okay? You'll ace it. And I'll call Raymond to come celebrate with us for the rest of the day."