Breaking Boundaries (unordinary love story)

Chapter 14: Head Over Heels <33333

I brought my finished egg drop project to school on Thursday.

Rick noticed and came up to me. "Looks like you finished it."

"Yeah," I said. "You like it?"

"Love it. Thanks, Misty."

"No problem."

I kept it on the top layer of my locker, where it would be stored, safe and sound. Then I noticed Rick had a bruise on his face. And it was literally blue.

I reached out to touch his cheek. I couldn't believe I actually touched him. "You're hurt."

"Yeah, um..." he chuckled. "My dad."

"You can tell someone about it," I said.

He shook his head. "No. It's fine."

"It's not fine..."

"Misty. I'll be alright. OK? I can't afford to lose my dad too."

I nodded. "OK."

Rick gently pressed his bruise and winced. "Ahhh, cripes that's painful."

I grimaced just as the bell shrilled.

Lunch time rolled by.

Tutor session with Rick.

I went through all the basics and algebra with Rick and then moved on to the hard stuff: inequalities, polynomials, quadratics, parabolas, and counting. I explained it deliberately and gave analogies and drew diagrams for him to see.

"Oh, it makes sense now," he said. "You make math seem so easy."

"Just make sure to study everything," I said. "You'll do fine if you do that."

Then I explained physics to him. I went through every chapter in the textbook and went through every physics formula there was. Gravity. Electrostatics. Momentum. Waves. And I told him to study everything as well.

He agreed to that, but I wasn't sure if he would. I was just hoping he would for himself. I knew he wanted to pass.

"Here," I said. "I made you a little cheat sheet for physics. It has all the formulas and main points from each concept. Then there's a trivia on the back. And for algebra, well, I made a formula cheat sheet as well. It has tips and formulas for everything."

"That's a lot of information," he said, looking at my cheat sheets.

"Just keep them safe and make sure to study with them," I said. "Good luck. I mean it."

"Thanks for your help," he said. "And I mean it too. Anyway, tomorrow's gonna be fun."

"Egg drop day?" I said.

"Yup," he said. "Let's do it."

My heart squeezed with excitement.

Every pair had their egg drop devices with them the next day. The teacher handed out raw expired eggs for us to secure in our devices. And then we headed up to the tenth story of the school (Northbrook did have lots of stories).

"Ready?" I asked Rick.

"You're the one dropping it. I should be asking you."

"OK then."

"Alrighty!" boomed Mrs. Strauss. "Does anyone want to volunteer to be the first dropper?"

"We'll go," said Rick.

"Perfect! You can drop from the window."

Rick and I made our way to the window. God, were we so high - one hundred feet up. It seemed like the ground would be the enemy of the egg at that height - and the ground would win.