Marcel

Chapter 6

Marcel's POV

Cami and I are at lunch and something seems wrong. She seems worried.

(If you're wondering, Ethan hasn't taken my food since Cami poured milk on him.)

“Are you alright?” I ask Cami.

She sighs, “I'm nervous about the bio test...I just don't understand it. I wasn't learning the things you guys are on at my old school.”

“I'll help you if you want. I can come over today and study.”

“Really?” she says, her face hopeful, “That sounds great.”

*

“I have a brother named Sam, he's really annoying,” Cami tells me on the drive to her house, “My mom will probably be embarrassing.”

“What about your dad?”

“He, uh, he died a few months ago...”

“Oh, I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry.”

“Don't worry about it, it's okay.”

Thank goodness we've pulled up to her house so this awkward conversation is over.

“Mom, I'm home!” Cami shouts, “I brought a friend!”

I smile at the fact she thinks of us as friends too.

Her mom is in the kitchen and she stops to talk.

“Hi! Nice to meet you! You must be Marcel!” she says, shaking my hand.

Cami blushes.

She already knows who I am? I smile at the thought of Cami talking about me.

“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. O'Donnell,” I say, a little nervous.

“Call me Beth!”

“Well, we're gonna go study,” Cami says.

“Okay, do you want anything to eat?” Mrs. O'Donnell, I mean, Beth asks.

Cami looks at me and I shrug, “We'll have some chips and lemonade, I guess,” she says.

We walk upstairs to Cami's room. There's some boxes, she still hasn't finished unpacking. The walls are bare except for a few pictures and one poster.

“Sorry about the mess, I'm decorating my room this weekend so I didn't feel the need to unpack everything,” Cami says.

“I don't mind. How are you decorating it?

“I'm painting the walls like a turquoise color. This walls gonna be all pictures and I have some posters of bands.”

“Sounds interesting.”

Cami puts out a bunch of paper and flash cards and her bio book.

“How do you like to study?” I ask her.

“Flash cards. I'll write them, you tell me what to write. Then you can test me. Does that sound good?”

“Sure, whichever's best for you. I'll tell you little tricks to remembering the facts too.”

“I'm so glad you're here to help. I would be screwed for Thursday's test.”

“Once you understand it all, it's pretty simple to remember. At least for me.”

“You're also a straight A+ student,” she says smiling.

I blush.

We study for about two hours before Beth makes dinner. She invites me to stay, so I do. My mom has the night shift tonight, so I might as well.

I like Cami's mom and brother. They're just like her. They talk to me and actually want to hear my response. It's weird for me to know that people actually care about me for once.

After dinner, we're sitting on Cami's bed, studying again. She's doing really well and I think she'll do good on the test.

“Marcel, I have a question...” she asks.

“What is it? Are you confused on something?”

She giggles, “No, it has nothing to do with bio. It has to do with you.”

I start to get nervous. She's gonna tell me she doesn't want to be my friend, “Yeah?”

“I don't know how to ask you though with out being weird....”

“Just ask.”

“Your voice, it changes. Like right now, it's low and slow. But at school it's high and fast.”

I laugh, “That's your question?”

She blushes “Yeah! I was wondering about it!” Now we're both laughing.

“When I get nervous, my voice gets higher and stuttery. Which is most of the time,” I tell her.

“Oh... I'm sorry if that was a weird question.”

“I don't mind,” I say smiling, “If that's it, let's get back to studying. I want you to ace this test!”

*

(The next night)

I'm laying in bed when my phone starts to ring. It's 11:00, I usually don't get calls this late. It's Cami.

“Hi Cami,” I say sleepily.

“Marcel, I forget everything.”

“What do you mean you forget everything?”

“I've been going through the flashcards for two hours. I can't remember any of it.”

“It's late, Cami. Try going to bed. The brain usually remembers stuff once you wake up.”

“Marcel... I'm really nervous. I can't remember anything,” she says, her voice wavering.

“Okay, okay. I'll stay up for a little bit. What do you need help with?”

I helped her for half an hour before going to bed. She seemed tired and I told her she just needs to rest. I hope she didn't stay up much longer.

I slowly drift off to sleep.

I finished my test early so I was reading my book. I glanced over at Cami, she was struggling. She tapped her pencil on her desk and squirmed in her seat. Snakes came crawling from the eraser of her pencil, coming towards me.

“Cami hates you,” they hiss, “She's using you for your smarts. You're embarrassing her. She doesn't like you. You're a loser. She's not your friend.”

The snakes laugh in my face and stick their tongues out at me.

“You'll never have friends. You're a loser nerd!”

One of the snakes try to bite me, but I back away.

I wake up and bolt upright. I'm shaking. I glance at the clock, 1:32. What if my dream was right? What if Cami does hate me? I am a loser, how could she be friends with me? No, she's my friend. Right? I try to calm my racing thoughts and fall back to sleep. Hopefully with no more dreams.

SCREAMING BECAUSE 1.4K READS. OH MY GOD. I LOVE YOU GUYS.

I don't know if I like this chapter a lot, but I hope you guys do. The next chapter is interesting, I think. You'll see how Cami does on the test! I never expected this many reads or votes, thank you so much. <3

Random question, do any of you guys use 8tracks? I started using it yesterday, I love it! Comment your username if you have one and I'll check out your playlists :)