Book boy

Chapter 17

Amara's POV

"Because I know you'd make my life a fucking mess"

Those words stabbed me in the heart.

I've been thinking about what he said all night. I couldn't sleep and I even cried a little.

(flashback)

———

"Why?" I asked with so much hurt clear on my voice.

Henry looked away from my eyes and sighed, shaking his head "I can't explain it"

I decided not to dig too much into it mostly because I'm on the edge of crying and i don't want to cry in front of him.

"Can we go back to studying now?" He asked looking into my eyes and I saw his eyes fill with guilt when he saw how sad I looked "yeah sure"

I looked away from him and gave her short responses.

I know it came out as pathetic because he probably thinks I'm mad that he rejected but I am not that type of person.

I just don't want to talk a lot because I can feel this weight on my chest, pressing down on it and basically suffocating me.

I don't want to talk to anyone, not just Henry.

Sure, I am so upset and sad that he doesn't want me and has a bad image of me in his head but I'm not going to bash him and get mad at him for not wanting me. It's okay.

Still hurts so much though.

(end of flashback)

———

"Hey" I looked up and saw Henry smiling at me as he sat down in front of me "hi" I cannot stop myself from smiling whenever I'm in his presence, especially when he's being nice.

"You ready?" He asked me and I nodded my head "yeah" even though I really am not ready for the exam.

All I can think about is you, Henry.

The teacher walked in and waited for the bell to ring to give us permission to start our exam.

The moment I saw the first question, I knew how much I'm going to fuck up.

I started biting my nails anxiously as my leg bounced up and down. I looked around at everyone to see all of them writing down and none of them were stuck on anything.

I feel so stupid right now.

Henry is going to be so disappointed in me.

I tried to look at Henyr's paper or anyone's paper honestly "keep your eyes on your paper, Amara." the teacher said sternly making me sit back and look down at the empty paper in front of me.

A person raised their hand and called over the teacher so Henry took this opportunity and turned to peak at my paper.

He looked over at the teacher and tried to whisper the answers to me but eventually he lifted his paper up to show me.

I started writing down everything I could "Amara, Henry!" We both looked towards the teacher who looked so angry.

"Out of the classroom, now" he demanded and we both stood up, making our way out of the classroom as he followed behind us.

"I expected so much better than you Henry. Go to the principal's office and wait for me there" he said to the both of us.

Henry sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing the side of his head "I'm so sorry, Henry" I said as we walked to the principal's office "it's okay"

We sat in the principal's office in front of his desk and waited for both the teacher and the principal to show up. The secretary told us to wait here.

"I really am sorry-" Henry cut me off "can you just stop apologizing? I willingly helped you. You didn't do this to me, I did it to myself" he said with an angry stern tone.

I looked down and nodded "okay" I mumbled, knowing that the last thing he wants to hear right now is me talking.

The principal walked in alongside Mr.Allan who stood beside us with his arms crossed "I am so extremely disappointed in you, Henry. You could've graduated with the perfect grades in all of your four years of high school but you did what she wanted?"

Okay why am I the villain?

"She didn't ask me to do it, I did it myself" Henry said standing up for me which made me smile a little "you don't have to defend her, Henry" the principal said leaning his elbows on his desk.

As if I'm not right here.

"Exactly, I don't have to defend her so I'm not. It's the truth that she didn't ask me for help, I just helped her because I wanted to"

"I saw Amara trying to look at other students' exam" Mr.Allan said making me sit back and looked down embarrassed "and? Can you imagine the amount of stress she's feeling when she has an exam? She studied so hard and I made sure that she did"

"Henry you can retake the exam." the principal said, now looking at me too. I just smiled at what he said "..but you Amara, you're getting an F"

That smile quickly died when I heard what he said.

"But sir, I studied really hard for it" I said sitting on the edge of my seat "you still cheated. You have been in my office many times for different reasons and your grades aren't the best so why do you care?"

Okay wow.

"Shouldn't you be happy that she cares? She's putting real dedication and effort into becoming a better student this year but you come here and destroy that in a matter of seconds because you think she shouldn't care about her grades"

"All what came out of your mouth was very poorly said sir. Not only did it show how you don't motivate your students but also how you favorite others. You either let us retake the exam together or fail us together. The choice is yours"

Dripping, screaming, shaking.

The principal sighed and rubbed the side of his forehead as he looked at Mr.Allan "you can both retake the exam but you get one try, tomorrow and that's it"

"Thank you, sir"