Asher King's life has revolved around putting up an involuntary mask to hide his true self. With successful parents boasting about his 'pretend' success, Asher feels as though the life he is living was never his to begin with, and a home of happines...
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"Alright, let's get this shit started," Vincent says, throwing himself on my bed in Oliver's apartment. "Did you do those practice problems I told you about?"
"Mhm," I respond, digging through my backpack, which is thrown about on my bedside table. After rummaging around for a few seconds, I finally find my green folder full of math problems. I grab the worksheet in question and hand it to Vincent.
He starts munching away on a bag of chips as he looks over my answers. I nervously bite my lip and sit on the bed next to him. There were a lot of challenging problems on this worksheet and I stayed up all night trying to finish it. I didn't tell Leo just because I wanted to see how well I was doing on my own and if I had any improvement.
Please tell me I did good.
I anxiously shift in my spot as Vincent sets the paper down on the bed in front of me. He looks at me with a blank expression. He says nothing.
I punch him on the shoulder and whine, "Vincent, just tell me already. Quit being mean."
He laughs before shoving another Cheeto in his mouth and talking with his mouth full. "What? All I did was look at you."
"Yeah, well, you have a scary face," I say teasingly and steal a chip from his bag. "C'mon, tell me. How did I do?"
He rolls his eyes but smirks. "You really wanna know?"
"Yes," I huff.
"But are you really ready?"
"Yes, Vincent."
"Are you really, really read–"
"Vincent!" I shout. This idiot isn't making my anxiety any better.
He laughs, "I'm just fucking with you, Asher. You did great."
"Really?!" I say excitedly.
He nods, "You only missed two problems. I'd say that is an improvement." He holds up his hand for a high-five, which I happily return. "I think at this rate, you can finish this class with a B."
I am barely able to contain my excitement.
I just can't believe it. I'm finally at the point where I can do my schoolwork without having a mental breakdown. It's crazy to think that with a bit of help from my friends, everything becomes much easier.
I'm interrupted by a knock on the door. The door creaks open and I see Oliver on the other side.
"Hey, just thought I'd check on you guys before I went to work. Do you need anything?" Oliver says with a smile.
"No, I think we are good," I smile back.
"Where's superstar, by the way?" he questions.
"He's working at the flower shop today," I inform.
