That Summer (Completed)

Chapter 4

On the day we were going to pick up Jake, I woke up sick.

Not sick like a little bit of coughing and some sniffling, no, I woke up really sick. Like sore throat, headache, nose running like a faucet, and hacking up a lung kind of sick.

I think this was universe's way of telling me that today was probably not going to be on my list good days. I rarely ever got sick.

I couldn't even skip school because I had a Calculus test first period. Which, by the way, I was going to fail because Calculus was specifically created to give students a taste of Hell. It was probably my lowest mark currently because I just could not grasp the concepts and Mr. Cooper, my teacher, was going way too fast for me. If I failed this test, I was going to have to get a tutor.

No way was I letting one course prevent my chances of getting accepted into Stanford. I had a few scholarships set too but they'd be useless if I got rejected.

We had planned for Mom to pick us up from school after my test and then we'd all go to the airport together to pick up Jake and his mother. I started thinking about the party and felt myself get queasy. Miranda had invited so many people, the whole grade was part of her friends group. I don't think Mom was aware of the amount of people coming, she was gonna be thrilled.

I invited Anne, Sam, and Grace. At least I wasn't going to be thrown into this by myself. They had been so supportive and encouraging all week, I was so thankful for them.

After the incident with Miranda, she went back to ignoring me. Which was fine by me, it's not like we talked about personal stuff anyway.

******

After the Calc test was over, I walked to the front foyer of the school to wait for Mom to pick me up. I sat down and took out my phone to check Jake's flight information.

Every time I thought of him being here in just a few short hours, I felt my stomach flip. I looked up and saw Michael coming up to me.

"Hey Lauren, how's it going?" he asked, sitting down beside me. Wow, he really had the nicest brown eyes. How had I not noticed them before?

"Hey Michael," I said, smiling. "How was the test?"

"It was pretty good, straightforward, what about you?"

Well that was easy for him to say, he was probably getting a great mark, I thought grudgingly.

"Eh..it was ok, praying I did good. Yeah, calculus is definitely not my forte," I replied. I sneezed and blew my nose unattractively.

I hated being sick, I was probably going to end up losing my voice too.

"Well I hope you feel better, at least it's over right?" He said, shrugging. "Why don't you come over to study if you need help for the exam? I'd probably learn more that way anyway."

"Really?" I asked. "That would be perfect, I just can't seem to grasp the last couple of chapters."

"Yeah for sure, come over anytime," he said smiling. I was starting to like him more and more everyday, he was just so nice.

Before I could reply, Anne came around the corner and waved.

She came over and sat down. "Hey guys, how's it going? How was your test?"

"Good," replied Michael, just as I replied, "Bad."

Anne laughed and said, "I don't know how you guys are taking AP Calc, I would die."

Ugh, I wanted to cry thinking about my exam, way too much information. Hopefully Michael was being serious about studying, because I could really use the help.