Ella was breathing heavily as she plopped down into her first period seat. Jacob shared this class with her, and they had both left Xavier at the main office to get a guest pass. The two were thirty seconds shy of being late.
"Impressive timing," a boy named Connor commented teasingly.
"Oh hush, O'Reilly," Ella retorted in the same joking manner, sticking out her tongue.
The class was algebra, a subject Ella struggled in. "Everyone to your seats." Mr. Jem, the math teacher and husband to Mrs. Jem, strode into the room, his folder loosely hanging from his hands. "As I'm sure you all know," he began. "There was a test yesterday." Groans could be heard around the room, coupled with the rare occurrence of someone calmly and confidently awaiting their scores. Mr. Jem's knit eyebrows relaxed a little as his expression softened. "I was mildly surprised, I must say," he continued.
Sighs of relief filled the room as the breath everyone had been holding was released. "However, The class average was still an eighty-two. There is room for improvement, so instead of new material for today, I'd like for you to go over your tests and correct your answers. I'll pass back your tests, so get to it."
"Morning study hall?" Connor turned to his friend Jack. "There really is a god!"
"Heck yeah, dude. I didn't do my physics homework," Jack laughed triumphantly, and they high-fived.
Ella braced herself for her score as Mr. Jem walked around the room. He stopped in front of Connor's desk and made eye contact with him as he dropped his test in front of him.
"I don't suspect there will be any wasted time over here, correct?" Jack snickered behind Connor, and Mr. Jem shot him a glance. "From either of you," he announced, placing Jack's test on his desk.
"Aw, man, my mom's gonna kill me," Jack groaned. Connor laughed, fueled by revenge.
Jacob got his test next, calmly turning it over after seeing his score. He didn't say as much, but he was very good at algebra.
And finally, "Ella, if there's anything you don't understand, come see me during study hall, I'll be happy to help," Mr. Jem stated as he handed Ella the very cause of all her worries. At the top of the test was the number seventy-nine. "However, you did better this time around. Nice work, Miss. Lockwood."
As soon as Mr. Jem had started on the next row, Ella squeaked in excitement. "Jacob!" she whispered, tapping the boy in front of her. "I thought I was gonna get a twenty!" she exclaimed, showing him her score.
"Guess that studying really paid off, eh?" Jacob chuckled as he held up his hand for her to high-five. She smacked his hand and scooted her desk beside his.
"Now I need help correcting it," she said, smiling sheepishly, causing Jacob to sigh as he smiled too.
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Heya, sorry for the short update haha. I'm tryin to go at a slow pace, but I'll pick it up at one point. For now, enjoy some silly side-characters (who might show up later so look for them ahaha) and a somewhat filler-chapter. Even though no serious plot has developed yet. I have a plan for this story, I swear hah. I'm not throwin away my shot (a tired author spouting tired references) goodbye, everyone!
