When the World Turns

9. This Friday Night

D's POV

I nervously glanced at Asher as Mr. Howie called his name. "Johnson." I gave him a thumbs up sign, watching as he went up to grab his test from him. I observed his face, carefully checking for anything that could tell me what he got, but I frowned as his face seemed to drop.

I watched him trudge back to our partnered desks, plopping down in the seat next to me.

"What'd you get?" I asked, nervously biting my lower lip and chewing on it—a habit I'd learned from him. "Check for yourself." He tossed it at me—somewhat gently—and I nervously flipped through it.

There were only twenty questions, so just missing a few could have seriously lowered his grade. I kept opening page after page, looking through question after question, but I didn't seem to find any wrong. (Except for questions eighteen, nineteen, and twenty.)

"Woah," I looked at him with wide eyes and a smile just as big to match. "You got an eighty-five?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "No," he looked genuinely confused. "I got a fricking fifteen." He huffed, crossing his arms and I practically laughed in his face. "Did you-"

It suddenly dawned on me that Mr. Howie's plus signs looked an awful lot like x's. "Did you think that these are wrong because of the marks on them?" He nodded, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah. That's what they mean, right?"

I face palmed. "Asher. Honey. Listen. Very carefully. Those, are the ones you got right."

He looked at me like I was crazy, running a hand through his hair. "I don't understand. Why doesn't he mark out the ones that are wrong? Like a normal person."

I shrugged. "Heck if I know. But, hey, all that matters is that you only missed three!" I frowned slightly. "But what happened on the last three?" He laughed nervously, scratching the nape of his neck. "I got kinda lazy at the end..." I rolled my eyes. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that. Just don't do it again, okay?"

"Do what again?" He winked, smirking slightly. I found myself staring into his pretty, blue eyes, staring off into space. And the weird thing was, he seemed to be staring into my eyes. We were quiet for a minute, just looking at each other, and everything seemed peaceful. Until the bell rang.

I practically jumped a foot in the air, taking in a sharp breath as I realized it was just the end of the school day.

"Chill," he chuckled, standing up and swinging his bag over his shoulder. "Oh, whatever," I rolled my eyes, punching his shoulder. "Ouch, Sunshine. That really hurt." He faked mock hurt, but I just stared at him. "What did you call me?"

He blushed, realizing what he'd said. "Nothing." I giggled. "Is that your nickname for me? Sunshine?" He shrugged. "Yeah... So?" I shrugged back, grinning from ear to ear. "I like it. It's nice. Not very original, though." He looked offended. "Excuse me, sir," he scoffed.

"Sir?" I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, ma'am," I fired back. "I am not a sir."

"And I'm not a ma'am." I laughed. "Tell that to your lady parts." He raised an eyebrow this time. "Excuse me, my lady parts? No. Last time I checked, I had the male anatomy, but if you wanted to check for yourself." I blushed as he wiggled his eyebrows, smirking at me. "You're disgusting."

I rolled my eyes, starting to walk out the door when he gently grabbed my hand to pull me back. "Wait." I tensed up as I turned around, only to find him inches away from me. "You know," he whispered. "I was thinking-"

"That's dangerous," I giggled, trying to make up for my nervousness.

Wait. Why was I nervous?