The Octagon

Chapter 5-Xan

~Xander

I hate tests. The only thing written on my paper was my name. 

I couldn't focus. All I could think about was the pool and how the cool water would feel on my skin. I was stiff as a board, but the thought relaxed me a little.

Tests made me nervous, especially math tests. I wasn't failing or anything but Calculus was hard. I was right on the edge and flunking a test meant the end for me. I had to keep my grades up.

It's not like I didn't try so that I would look cool. I tried so hard. I payed attention in class. I even studied. 

I looked up at the clock.

Fourth period ends at 12:05 so I have 20 minutes.

I tapped my pencil nervously on my desk. I was probably annoying whoever was next to me with my constant foot and pencil tapping.

I looked to my right and saw a guy just as confused as I was. He was staring at the test like it was written in some foreign language. I think his name was Ace. I was pretty sure he was a junior, a grade below me. Everyone seemed to know him, but he never talked to people. He gave off this cocky vibe like he didn't think anyone was worth his time. He was struggling just as much as I was. It amused me.

I looked to my left. The girl next to me was working intensely on her paper, except her test was turned over and she was sketching a person's neck. I watched as she erased, then went over, then defined what looked like collar bones. It was actually pretty good although an odd thing to draw in my opinion.

Wait. She's already finished with her test?

I had heard about this girl. Her name was Artemisa Devons. She was new at our school and was supposedly a genius. She kept to herself a lot.  She was also a junior.

It reminded me of another junior girl I knew-well kind of knew. Alana Blake was actually absent today of all day, a test day. I didn't know her that well but we had gone to school together since kindergarten. She was always one to follow the rules and everyone knew it.

I finally realized that I was staring at Artemisa when she started making faces at me. I pretended to space out and watched the interesting way she chose to get my attention. She widened her eyes and stuck out her tongue. When that didn't work, she crossed her eyes and lifted the right side of her top lip. Finally she put her thumb to her nose and lifted it up while she tucked in her top lip and crossed her eyes again. At this, I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing. She smiled at me satisfied and motioned for me to finish my test. I nodded and looked back down at my paper while she continued her drawing.

I felt a lot less nervous, but I still wanted to just give up and write down some random numbers and hope that I was psychic or something. I only needed to take four classes this year which meant I was done with school at lunch and I would get to swim with my teammates.