Another Reason To Live (Watty Awards 2014)

Chapter 27

 Chapter 27:

“Which mechanism is needed to add hydrochloric acid to pentan-2-ol?”

I rolled my eyes at that one.  I looked down at the four possible options that accompanied the question.  Of course, this was the point of the exam where everything started blurring together, as if water were blurring the ink.  This question – number 48 – was related to a topic that wasn’t even close to being accessible by my memory.  After a solid four seconds of looking at the question, I decided on B.  Luck of the draw.

Two questions later, I was finally done with my chemistry final.  I knew that it wasn’t exactly ‘A’ material, but I knew that I definitely didn’t fail.  And that’s all that really mattered to me.

I glanced at the clock as I walked up the isle to the front of the room, where we had to turn in our exams.  Only five minutes remained of the exam period and I’d be free.  My plan was to walk right out of this building and straight to the park, where I knew Gerard would be waiting.  With only half days of school remaining until graduation, which was in four days, Gerard wanted to hang out afterward.

Butterflies took flight in my stomach at the thought of seeing Gerard again, since I hadn’t seen him since we kissed, which was three days ago.  I had studying to do, and he texted me the next day to set up a time to meet today.  He didn’t mention the kiss, but I had a feeling that it would be a topic of conversation this afternoon.

Finally, the bell rang and I’m pretty sure I was out of the room before the sounds finished ringing through the halls.  I nearly jogged out of the school and made it onto the sidewalk, beating most of the end of the day rush.  As I walked, I took deep breaths in an attempt to calm my nerves.  I had to figure out things before I made it to the park.  I knew that Gerard would want to figure out exactly what we wanted out of the kiss.

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what was going to come out of it.  All I knew is that when I kissed Gerard, it felt perfect.  It felt right.  And when I had a dream about it, I was disappointed that it wasn’t real.  Even I could see that that meant that I liked Gerard, but it was a risky thing.  He would probably be leaving soon for art school, I would have to figure out what I wanted to do.  Maybe he didn’t want to be tied down in a long distance relationship once he moved to New York. 

Once the entrance to the park became visible, my speed picked up some, regardless of my nerves.  I was tired of the uncertainty of things after the kiss, and now was the opportunity to sort through all of that.

My feet left the paved sidewalk and crunched on the dirt path that would lead me around the corner and to the playground.  My guess was that Gerard would be laying on the platform in the middle of the playground’s main structure, and sure enough, I saw his form laying still dead center.  I couldn’t help but let a small smile creep onto my lips.

As I drew closer, I saw that his eyes were closed and his hands were clasped together and behind his head.  He seemed to be deep in thought, which would explain why he didn’t even flinch when I quietly ascended up the stairs and to where he was.  Instead of waking him up or disturbing him, I simply laid down next to him.

His steady breathing hinted that he had in fact dozed off and was asleep.  I looked up at the gray clouds that slowly passed over us, shielding us from the sun.  After a few moments, I spoke.

“My chemistry exam today was ridiculous,” I said.  “I don’t think I did an awesome job, but at least it’s over.”

I turned my head to look at him.  His eyes remained closed, but a smile had begun to form on his lips.