Intertwined Destinies

Texts

Malak couldn't erase the permanent smile plastered on his face. He had been on cloud nine for weeks. His life was filled with rainbows and unicorns. The only thing he could think about was Kian. All the other things were pushed away. After their second meeting, everything happened so smoothly. After each day they spent together, their relationship became stronger and stronger. They went to the cinema, to play glow in the dark mini-golf, ate at different restaurants and so on. They did what normal friends would do. And only after a short month, they are now both so comfortable around each other that any outsider would think that they were childhood friends or lovers.

When they were not together, they were constantly texting and calling each other. And that also means when Malak was supposed to concentrate in class. Not only would this impede his studies but also his friends' and sister's curiosity. The more he sheepishly smiled at his phone while texting, the more they had the conviction that Malak was in love.

"Hey, I heard that the teacher is giving our exams back," Kayla sat next to her friends while nervously playing with her hair.

"Oh, shit!" Enrico exclaimed as he also looked nervous. "Damn, I hope I did well."

"Me too," Malak mumbled as he suddenly realized that he didn't study as much as he wanted because he always went out with Kian.

"What? You always have good grades. Why do you think it would be different this time?" Enrico brushed Malak's comment as the teacher entered the classroom.

The news must have travelled fast as the room quickly settled down. "Good morning, everyone," the teacher greeted as he put a stack of paper on the table in front of him. "As you already know, I have your exam here. But you'll only get it at the end of my class. So, open your books on page seventy-six."

Most of the students groaned as the teacher ignored them and started to talk and write on the board. Once everyone was convinced that he was serious, all the students diligently opened their books to take notes. After almost two hours of class, the instructor called out names, so the students could fetch their corrected exams. Soon enough, Malak's name was called. He stood up and nervously went to fetch his copy. Although he had it in his hands, he didn't dare to look at his grade. He had a bad feeling about it.

"I'm so relieved," Malak faintly hear Enrico sigh. "I got a 74. It could have been worse. What's yours?"

Kayla grinned before dropping her exam in front of the boy. His eyes bulged out when he read her grade.

"96."

"I wish I could have this kind of grades... You're so lucky," Enrico pouted before giving her back the sheet of paper.

"This has nothing to do with luck, but you studied well even if it was only a phase," she answered proudly. "What about you, Malak?"

When both teenagers turned their attention to him, they were both surprised at what they were seeing. Malak kept staring at his copy as his face drained from all colour.

"Hey, are you alright?" Enrico gently bumped him with his elbow. At the impact, he let go of the paper as his result was shown to his friends.

"62?!" Kayla loudly whispered in shock as she immediately grabbed it to examine it from a closer view. "This doesn't make any sense. You never had this kind of grade! I'll go see the teacher."

Before she could walk away, Malak quickly grabbed her arm. "Don't. You don't need to. There's no need for it."

"But there must be a mistake!"

"No, no mistake. It's my fault. I should have studied more."

After a moment of silence, Kayla respected her friend's wish. It wasn't as if she could do anything. It wasn't even her copy, and the teacher didn't unfairly give Malak a poor grade either. He was simply negligent in his studies while going out with Kian and daydreaming too much. For the rest of the day, they continued to receive their corrected exams and unfortunately, Malak received similar results for most of his classes. Seeing how dejected he was, his friends tried to cheer him up. Their encouragement usually worked for Enrico, but it didn't for Malak because he felt guilty and disappointed in himself.