It was the dreaded morning of the tests. It was a finale in core subject to see if you learned anything in the year or you were a dumbass.
Madeleine had feared this moment. He knew if he failed, it meant no prom. No sweet, memorable moment to share with his boyfriend, Espresso. Of course he had to be the dumb student who happened to be dating a smart dude. He even asked Espresso to the prom in a REALLY cringe way;all for nothing.
It was the math portion first. Madeleine was only a little bit confident about this one. Math was one of his decent subjects. But aside from that and Science, which was his best subject, he sucked at everything else. Once all the test averaged out, he had to make a 75 or above to be allowed into the prom.
He was practically shaking as calculators were being dished out. Just the mere sight of a test tool sent him into a frenzy. But,,, it was time. And he had to begin the test. So he did. He spent many moments procrastinating over answers and trying to remember when he learned such ways to find answers for the questions. Even if he paid attention in class, he struggled to retain information for tests.
The math test was only slightly unbearable. He thought he did reasonably well, despite being terrible at a lot of subjects. And with English and history, it was a different story. He was pretty sure he failed those. Science he was sure he did well.
After testing, the whole class stayed silent for another hour as the teacher calculated results. He began calling them out one by one.
"Allie: Average 82"
Madeleine drowned out the names. He was very nervous. He just wanted to meet the 75 grade criteria so he would be allowed to the prom. He heard his name called.
"Madeleine."
There was a small pause. Very brief, almost as the teacher was judging or felt bad for him. He could feel sweat beading, even thought it was short moments.
"Average... 74"
Madeleine felt the world crash around him. He stared wide eyed at his lap, having no other things to look to. He only looked up for a brief moment. All eyes darted towards his direction. He tried to sink into his seat, but it didn't help that he happened to be wearing the brightest shirt if the existence of clothing, along with bright red hair clips. (hc 🤤)
He didn't pay attention to any of the names called after his. He was distraught. He made plans for what to wear, what to say, and how to prepare for the special dance, and inevitable kiss. All for nothing!
Most of the rest of class was a blur for him. He just had burdening thoughts. What would espresso think? How would he respond?? He was very nervous. He didn't want to upset his boyfriend at all. What if he was angry or disappointed or—
No, he had to put the fear aside. For now, he had to be brave as to not draw more attention to himself... it was quite embarrassing with all the eyes on him. His slouched in his chair, trying to blend in as best he could. He couldn't wait until school got out...
~~~~
Students crowded the smelly school hallways as the bell rang. It was Friday, so naturally everybody was quick to leave. Madeleine crept out of his class, trying not to cause any unwanted stares. Nobody in the class heard what happened in his testing site, but he was still quite paranoid. He was deep in thought.
A tap on his shoulder snapped him out of his trance, although startling him a little bit. Madeleine seemed to jump slightly, "O-Uhm... Heyy babe." He faked a laid back personality, which Espresso could easily see through. "How are you? Has your day been okay?" the blonde asked with a fake smile.
