The Senior Project

Chapter Twenty Seven | Friends, right?

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN~

"FRIENDS, RIGHT?"

Weeks had passed since the tentative resolution between James and myself. We were both too caught up in the storm of work the teachers hurled at us as they tried to make up for the month of school we'd missed. Even though exams had been cancelled, there seemed to be more work than ever before. I was regretting my decision to take on a full course load.

At lunch, students flooded the library trying to type out reports and desperate to study for the endless stream of tests and quizzes. I was amongst them.

I flipped another page of my biology textbook and scribbled down more notes in an illegible mess of smudged pencil. I scrawled out a few answers on the separate worksheet before dropping the pencil to rest my aching hand.

"Mind if I join you?" asked a slightly forced voice.

I glanced up and smiled tiredly at a shifty James. We weren't back to before, James was still stiff sometimes but he was trying.

I gestured to the grand array of papers, binders, sticky notes and assorted stationary before me.

"If you can make space, please do," I murmured through a huge yawn as I wondered if Soraya had anything to do with his sudden approach.

"Messy," James commented, shuffling some of my papers around in order to make room for his own stack of books.

"You haven't seen anything yet. When exams happen, you should see my room."

"What, you put sticky notes everywhere and madly recite the elements of the periodic table every day?"

"Something like that," I said, thinking of the countless sticky notes that littered my notes and textbooks. "Sticky notes are useful to help me understand things!"

"Ha, right. I can see that," James said, smiling slightly as he gestured to the biology textbook in front of me. "I think you've doubled the thickness of the textbook with all your sticky notes."

"Yeah, yeah, now hush, let me get back to work. You've distracted me enough."

James didn't reply.

We worked in relative silence, aside from the occasional question we asked each other.

By the time the warning bell rang, I wasn't even halfway done with my work. I groaned loudly, barely able to hear the warning music playing over the chatter of students around me.

"Damn," I cussed, raising my arms in a luxurious stretch. I winced as my back cracked a few times. "That was exhausting. I'm not even close to done. And I have another two classes."

James looked up from his own work and shrugged. "I have a spare period."

"Lucky ass," I mumbled, as I cleared up my papers as neatly as possible.

"Yep," James said simply, plugging in his headphones back in and returning to his textbooks.

I packed up the last of my stuff and slung the heavy bag over one shoulder.

"See ya," I called.

He didn't hear me. Or, at least, if he did, he didn't respond.

I hoped it was the former.

<<∞>>

"They're trying to murder us, I swear it," Soraya stated firmly as she put aside another worksheet.

"I know. I'm swamped in projects and all this other crap," I agreed as I finished off another math problem.

"I'm done! Nope! No more! I've been working all week and I refuse to work for a second longer."