The Prom Night Planner

Chapter 4 - Serena

This scene was difficult to write, I hope you'll enjoy it. Remember the names of Serena's classmates. They are going to be there in the book. And tell me...

Do you like Serena so far?

...

"Are you prepared?"

"Don't ask such questions, Ari. Please." I say in a dormant tone.

Ariana and I are crossing the corridor to reach for our next class. Now we've World History class with Mr Millar and my heartbeat is only rising with every step I'm taking towards the classroom.

Last night, I stayed awake most of the hours, went through all of the Mr Millar's notes and even scanned Google search related to global history just to get ready for every kind of quiz exam. Instead of duvet, notes and papers were spread all over my bed.

At this moment, my vision is still not clear. A black dot is wandering in front of eyes and my mind is full of those full-text images I was reading online. This happens when you study last minute. But it's not my fault. If I would've remembered teacher's announcement, I would've started preparing for it right after the class.

I'm not a brain-dead student or numpty. I study hard. My GPA is 3.00 and that's why I tried to exert myself to prepare for the quiz because I don't want to flunk. I don't want to put my GPA at stake.

"What's wrong?" Ariana examines my face, "Your eyes look swollen."

I picture my last night's state among those endless papers, "Don't ask. Keep moving."

I cross pass her and enter the class. With slow, lazy steps, I move towards the empty desk and settle down. Fatigue envelopes me. I decide to put my head down on the desk and rest for some minutes until teacher will come. After this class I've told Dad I'll come to office and he has even fixed a meeting with his staff to discuss prom. With this state, I don't think I'll be able to focus in that meeting.

"Greeting, class." Mr Millar's voice makes me sit up straight.

Looking around, I see now all desks are occupied and Ariana is sitting in another row. She waves at me and I pass her a smile. Mr Millar starts taking attendance at first, calling out everyone's name. Then, he announces, "I'm thinking to take a short quiz before we continue with today's lecture."

Mumbling begins in whole of the class. Tension, fear crosses everyone's face. Blinking few times to make my dead brain alive again, I start recalling the main historical events for instance early civilizations in Europe, Middle East and Asia, ancient Empires and World Wars.

I've been expecting a multiple choices test, but you never know, because Mr Millar is very creative when it comes to surprise tests. He loves to bombard students with his testing tactics. Few weeks ago, he all of a sudden wrote a topic on green board and then asked the students to elaborate it.

"Oral quiz." Mr Millar forms the sarcastic smile on his face.

Huh?

"It is an oral quiz. Answers should be of one word or one liner. I'll start from the front desks and if any student doesn't know the answer, I'll give a chance to whole of the class to tell the correct answer, but not in unison. Just raise your hand if you know it. Every student at least has to give one correct answer to pass the quiz. Are we clear?"

Oh. My. Prom!

I gulp fearfully. Verbal quiz means no multiple choices? It means I would get no clue at all?

All my drowsiness evaporates away, replaces by the fidgety - acute fidgety. My heart pounds against my chest for no reason as it got its own brain that detected the danger coming.