The Fear of Falling

Three

Walking into my chemistry classroom was the most dreadful thing that's happened to me today. It was Monday which meant that I'd have to take the Chemistry test that I've been cramming up the whole weekend to study for. I had to turn down a day of hanging out with Dylan just to be prepared for the exam that would either bring my grade up or drastically drop them down.

I slowly took my seat taking my time. No matter how much I reviewed for this, I still never felt like I had studied enough. My chemistry teacher walked through the door as the final bell rang.

"Hello class," Mr. Hellten greeted. "I hope you're all ready to take this test. It's worth 15 percent of you're grade so don't fail it," he said seriously which only caused the class to chuckle.

He passed out the tests to the rest of the class as I stared at the paper on my desk. It was asking questions about how to identify acids and bases and how to calculate chemical reactions. I smiled at it, confident that I knew the answers to most of the questions that were given.

In less than twenty minutes, students were getting up to hand their papers back to the teacher. I was the last person to give him my finished exam when the fire alarm sounded.

I flinched, startled as the loud ringing continuously repeated over and over. As mandatory fire procedures, we were ordered to line up in a straight line with our teacher leading us to the front of the school. Students were chattering, talking about who could have pulled the alarm or whether this was a fire drill or a real situation.

Once my class was at the front, I looked around the sea of students for Hayley and Dylan. I spotted Hayley through the crowd but there was no sign of my boyfriend anywhere. I walked towards her as she smiled at me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged "My bet is that some idiot pulled the alarm."

I smiled at her response when our school principal walked out carrying a megaphone in his hand. "Attention everyone, we are still figuring out what caused the alarm but due to precautionary reasons, school will be cancelled today," he stated.

Teenagers began to cheer and applaud as they walked out of campus to enjoy their free day. I turned to look at Hayley and smiled happily. She squealed jumping up and down, excitement filled her eyes.

"Hey," a voice said. Suddenly, strong arms were wrapped around my waist as I turned around with Dylan in my sight. He kissed my lips softly and lifted me up hugging me tightly.

"Um, hello? I'm still here," Hayley coughed. I looked at her and smiled feeling my cheeks heat as she raised an eyebrow playfully. "I don't mean to interrupt but I actually want to do something fun instead of watching you two love birds make out in front of me."

Dylan and I laughed as she let out a quiet chuckle. "So let's go do something," I chimed.

The beach was an instant resolution to our boredom. We didn't have time to get our swimsuits, considering the nearest coastline was far away and it was around 3 in the afternoon. Although, there were multiple kiosks selling cheap swimsuits everywhere and plenty of snacks in the nearest gas station.

We blasted the music and sang like our lives depended on it. Hayley had volunteered Dylan to drive and as a form of revenge, he invited one of his football buddies to come along. They were avidly talking about, would you guess it, football. It made me feel uneasy seeing as that's what Dylan and I fought about last. The marks on my body were fading fast but it would never be something I didn't think about before falling asleep.

Hayley shimmied her shoulders and jerked me out of my thoughts. I laughed so hard I snorted, resulting in her sweet giggles.

"You're so ridiculous!" I told her through laughs. My stomach started to hurt from chortling and my cheeks felt like they were gonna fall off from smiling so much. She flipped her hair in my face and I pushed her as far away as I could in the small car space.