High Life | ✔️

29

THE HALLWAYS WERE rife with "vote Callie for prez, can't go wrong with a Faction One in charge!"s and "you guys need a hot guy to represent the student body, vote for Lucas"s. Against the barbaric behaviors of unnamed faces and flyers being shoved in my face, I finally arrived at Room 513, Block Augustine. Calculus class.

Ms. Elliot was already at her desk, despite it being ten minutes before class time.

My seat mate, Jaxon was surprisingly not present. I don't think I can recall a time he had been later than me for this dreadful class. Ms. Elliot was wearing a smirk on her face as her manicured fingers stroked the stack of papers before her. I belatedly realized that we had a test today.

Shortly after my discovery, Jaxon entered.

I turned to him as soon as he sat beside me. "If you let me copy off your test I'll do anything for you."

Jaxon, slightly out of breath, didn't immediately respond to me. He took his sweet time to arrange Calculus Volume II along a line of ballpoint pens before deigning to meet my gaze. I watched as his left eyebrow slowly raised.

"What were you doing last night?" He asked in a cautious tone.

"Just please - help me this time. I, I can't afford to fail this again." I peeped on Ms. Elliot as I said this, relieved to realize that she wasn't paying this suspicious conversation any attention.

Jaxon shrugged. "Copy at your own risk. This conversation never took place."

I grabbed his wrist, flashing him smile to convey my gratitude.

He seemed caught off guard, with his gaze casting downwards at the sight of olive skin against pale skin - a combination that could work. He brushed me off with another shrug. There was definitely something on his mind.

The moment the 8:00am bell rang, Ms. Elliot locked the doors and proceeded to hand the test papers to us. When she was done, she returned to her spot to stare at her alarm clock for several seconds. When she said "go", the uncapping of pens along with the rustling of papers met my ears.

I leaned against my chair, inhaling, exhaling and clearing my mind to the best of my ability before uncapping my own pen and labelling the paper with my own name. The were ten questions in total, with the first three being do-able, kudos to my own hard-work and Jaxon's tutoring.

However, fourth question wasn't something I was very familiar with. I wasn't a newbie when it came to cheating on tests. There was a rhythm - one that you could grasp given enough observation. For example, I knew Ms. Elliot took thirty second breaks to stare at the mirror at the back of the classroom with each round she made. In a few seconds, she would be reaching the mirror and I would have half a minute to discreetly peek at Jaxon's paper.

Jaxon wasn't putting any effort to conceal his answers from me. He was working on his second page, which put his first page on full display, with answers that I needed for the fourth question.

Peering through my peripheral vision, I managed to paste Jaxon's answers on my own paper with little effort. Then I decided to copy the fifth question, then the sixth.

By the time Ms. Elliot's alarm rang (signalling the end of the test), I was positive that I would acquire a good score. I handed in the paper with a beating heart, hoping no one saw me cheating. Consequences for cheating at Richmond Park Academy cannot be light.

Hushed conversations surrounded me as I stood up, gathering my possessions. An arm rested on my shoulder, prompting me to turn around. I was slightly disappointed to realize it wasn't Jaxon.

"Hey Emily," I greeted my ex-seat mate, the girl who had to move one row behind to accommodate Jaxon.

"I totes saw what you did just now," she said, wide eyed.