The stepsister

14> The last exam

After a few days, there was just under a week left to finish the course. I spent every afternoon in the university library among books and rarely set foot in my house, only to eat and sleep. I only had one exam left, but it was the most important.
I barely had a social life or saw my family, I was very focused but, above all, nervous. And, my father made everything worse, he did nothing but call me every day to make sure I was studying and that I knew everything, he even sent me work papers so that I would have more advantage over my classmates and so that I would get used to it. He did everything except come see me one day to see if I was okay. He cared more about the company than his own daughter.

There were two days left and I was getting more and more unbearable. People talked to me and I didn't listen to them, I was in my world, I got irritated by anything and it was hard for me to sleep at night, however, during the day I was dying of sleep.
That afternoon I decided to study at home because if I spent one more afternoon in the library I was going to go crazy. I sat at the desk with several open books and began to review some things, I had finished drinking a coffee.
I heard that someone would open the door, it was Melanie, she peeked out a bit without saying anything and finally decided to go in. I had been busy for so many days that I didn't realize how little attention I had paid to her and I felt bad about it. Melanie approached without making much noise and I felt a small kiss on her shoulder. She surely didn't want to bother me.

I had barely been there for a minute and I noticed that she was leaving, I wanted to tell her something to make her stay but I was unable, I was so tied to the books that I didn't say anything and I felt worse than before. However, before I could regret it, I saw her go back inside. She was carrying a tray with a juice and some chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't stop smiling seeing how much she cared about me despite everything.

I closed the books and got up. I took her hand because she was about to leave again and asked her to stay a while to keep me company. I put the tray on the bed and sat down to eat. Melanie sat down too but all she did was look at me and smile.

“Let's see how you like those cookies” she said.

“They are my favorites, do you want?” I offered her one of hers and she made an angry face.

“No, thanks. Eat it, you're growing up” she said, laughing maliciously.

“I can't wait for everything to end and to be able to spend more time with you”

“Less is left. Anyway, you can take a little break”

“When?”

“Right now. If you don't have much time, we could go out on the porch for a while and, like this, you get some air”

“Yes, come on, let's go”

We left the house and sat outside. I had forgotten how good it felt to be in the fresh air outside and in the warm sun of spring, even though summer was not long now. As usual, there wasn't much to see except cars speeding down the road in front.
We were silent for a long time, just thoughtfully looking at the road until Melanie broke the silence by saying:

“How about your classmates? You never told me about them”

“There is not much to tell. I've known them a little for a few years but I'm not friends with them”

“Then you won't miss them”

“Well, a little, yes, they are very funny, but I guess I'll get over it soon”

“But you'll still see Kat, right?” She looked at me a little more seriously.

“We may still see each other or, at least, chat. I don't know... I guess we'll be very busy, that we'll lose contact a bit. You know, the usual”