Linger

E I G H T Y

"Um, excuse me!!" Alice squealed. 

I stopped in the middle of grabbing a chocolate chip muffin and turned to her. "What?" 

"You didn't tell me you were engaged!"

My eyes went wide. "What?!?"

"Is that what the family emergency was?" Chelsea nodded to my ring on my left hand. "You're literally starting a family??"

"No!!" I exclaimed before moving the ring to my other hand. "There."

It was currently lunch break and the three of us were taking advantage of the sunny day and spending it outside in the courtyard instead of the crowded, stuffy cafeteria. 

"It's so pretty." Alice took my hand, getting a closer look at the ring. "Did he give it to you?" She looked up at me, a smile growing on her face. 

"Maybeee," I sang, taking a chocolate chip muffin from the box she and Chelsea had brought for lunch and biting into it.  

Alice's jaw dropped as her bright eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, you really are in love."

"Is that why he was so weird in class earlier?" Chelsea asked. 

I finished my bite before asking. "What do you mean?"

"He's been weird for the past week, Chels." Alice laughed. 

"Yeah, but he actually let us grade our tests in class. He never lets us grade our tests in class. Ever." 

I stopped chewing my bite. 

"Yeah, but that doesn't have anything to do with Maddie," Alice said with a laugh as she turned to me. "Does it?"

Chelsea lifted her eyes to me, noticing my expression. "What?!" she exclaimed. "It does?!"

"I can explain. I can explain," I said, waving my hands quickly. 

"I don't know if I want you to!"

"It's nothing bad, I promise." 

"Maddie, this whole situation is bad. It's prohibited."

I slumped in my seat, placing my head in my hands. "He had a lot to deal with over the weekend so I suggested grading our tests in class so it was one less thing for him to worry about."

"That's why he let us grade our tests in class?!" 

I hesitantly lifted my eyes to her with a sigh, chewing my lip. 

"Is that why he made our test open note that one time too?"

I shrugged. 

"Maddie!" she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows at me. 

"What's the big deal? He's still our teacher and we're still learning." 

"The big deal is we always completed our study guides the night before and studied even more the morning of. Now, you're barely even remembering we had a test in the first place."

I picked at the muffin wrapper. "I'll study."

"For an open-note test?" She cocked an eyebrow.

I sighed, putting the muffin down. "I didn't make him turn the test into open-note to, like, use him. I'm not trying to take advantage of him."

"No. But he's making you forget literally everything else." 

I gawked at her. "No, he's not--"

"Hey, did you guys get the notes for Chemistry?"