How To Stay Afloat (BxB)

Chapter 174: Orange and fat

"And?" I ask Austin impatiently as he comes walks out of the classroom.

He's been told his grades for written finals and most importantly found out if he passed maths or not, so it's a huge deal because he wasn't actually sure.

We had our maths finals on thursday and it's currently tuesday and we're finally getting the results.

He looks bored and doesn't show any emotion as he stops next to me. I'm bouncing up and down, impatient to hear the results.

"And?" I ask him again. "Did you pass?"

He smiles slightly. "I failed math."

"What?" I ask him surprised. He told me he was doing good during the exam.

He shrugs and then smiles. "But got an A in english and a B in psychology."

"You failed maths?" I ask.

He nods. "Yep. I was pretty close, though."

I wrap my arms around him. "I'm sorry. I really thought you'd make it."

"Yeah, I also hoped so."

"Are you gonna try the oral one to compensate for your grade?" I ask him.

For every failed written exam we can do an additional oral one to fix the grade.

"Nah. If I failed written, I highly doubt I can make it through this one. It would just be super awkward and embarrassing." He tells me. "I'll just try again in september."

"Fuck. That sucks." I say.

He just shrugs. "Yeah. Stupid. But it's not like it matters when I graduate. I don't have any plans to go studying soon anyways. At least I finally got through the senior year."

I sigh. "You're right, but now your whole summer is ruined because you have to stress about-"

He cuts me off with a kiss and grabs my hands. "Nothing's ruined. I'll pass the other oral exams this week and then I'll take a break from studying for two or three weeks and then prepare again. It's fine. Really."

"Are you sure?" I ask him quietly.

"Yeah, now go in and get your grades." He says and turns me around.

_____

Obviously I passed. I never doubted I would. Three A's and one B. That's alright.

Austin gets excited for me, tells me he's proud of me. But all I can think about is the fact that he did not pass and doesn't even take the chance to try and fix it with the oral exam.

I think it bothers me more than it bothers him. I just don't get how he can stay so relaxed. On the other hand I'm glad he's not stressing over it.

Harry, Carla and Adam also passed all exams. Carla did with straight A's.

Only three other students from our class failed the written part of our final exams. Two of them also in math, one in english.

Everyone's pretty disappointed because of Austin's results. He seems more upset about us telling him encouraging words than about his grades, though.

So here I am, ignoring the fact that he failed, trying my hardest not to mention it. I don't want him to feel like a failure, to be pitied.

But it's not easy. Because if I was him I'd cry every day. I'd want to be told I can do it.

"Right?" Austin asks me, tabbing my shoulder.

"Uh." I say, trying to remember what he was saying while I was thinking.