The Secrets of the Aorta Ruins

Chapter Nineteen

Becca quickly found out what the big deal about midterm week was and why it had the whole school panicked. The first day alone was exhausting. It took the entire school day to complete one exam. Dare had told her their schedules were modified for the week too. She met up with him in the cafeteria after the exam was done, thankful she was excused from the library for the week. She now joined the rest of the students in eating her meal in silence, Dare even quieter than usual. The only time they spoke was to thank the wait staff before disappearing into her room. They both collapsed onto her bed.

"So, you survived the day," Dare observed.

"Barely," she admitted.

"What subject did you have to take today?" he asked.

"Math," she groaned.

"That explains why it was such a rough day then. At least its out of the way early," he said, trying to look on the bright side for her. He did have a point.

"Science tomorrow too," she complained.

"Ouch," he sympathized. It wasn't long until she was asleep despite him being in the room and in her bed. She thought for sure he would only be moments behind her, but when she woke up a few hours later she was alone. She checked that he locked the door when he left before climbing back into her bed for the night. Only six more days of exams to go. The worse part was, unlike the history final she had taken already that semester, she wasn't allowed to know the results until the rest of the students knew their results too.

Friday finally came, though Becca was starting to doubt the day would ever arrive. It was the only exam day she had been looking forward to. The headmistress had been saying she was going to bring Becca a few of the other history finals for her to try for fun and kept pushing it off but today was finally the day she was going to bring them, and Becca could try as many as she had time to get done in a day. After that, the students were free to take their winter break and those with permission to leave would begin packing to leave in the morning. She still needed to get the details of getting to go to Dare's for part of the break from him and the headmistress.

She got her coffee from the cafeteria and quietly watched Dare pick at his breakfast. Everyone was anxious for the day to be over. It wasn't like him to not eat but she understood the feeling; she wasn't having anything herself. She waited until he was done to ask, watching the time move on his watch.

"So, what's up with plans over break at the moment?" she asked as he thanked someone for taking his plate when he finished.

"Well, we're leaving in the morning. Mom said you can stay for a week of the break, so we still have the holidays as just family. Then we'll make sure you meet up with whoever the headmistress sends to get you back here. We all already talked about it," he said. He tried to sound like his usual cheerful self, but it was hard with one last exam hanging over everyone's head.

Dare checked his watch, and saw it was time for them to go get the last day of testing over with. With a quick hug and exchange of good luck, they parted ways for the day. For once they weren't planning to meet up when their day was over; they both had to pack to be up early. Becca felt a bit sad about it, but excited too.

She unlocked the door and within a few minutes she was joined by the headmistress. It was the easiest day of exams by far since it was her easiest subject. She hoped Dare was having just as easy a day but she doubted it since his exam was actually counting towards his grade. These were just for her own amusement. She managed to get through both the freshman and sophomore ones with time to spare. The headmistress didn't bring the junior year one with her and said she definitely wouldn't have had the time needed to finish that one even if she had. It was half an hour from the time classes were supposed to let out anyway.

The headmistress didn't get Becca any indication as to how she did on any of the exams, as she already warned Becca would be the case; no one would know results until after the break, but Becca had been hoping anyway. She wished her a happy break though as Becca began locking the door to her room. The headmistress began walking to her office before doubling back. The usually strict headmistress did something that then surprised Becca, she gave her a hug before disappearing into her office.

Happily, and taking it as a good sign for the result on her exams, and just happy to be done, she made her way into the cafeteria. She was the first one there, the other students likely still being held hostage by their testing. The kitchen staff even seemed more relaxed, knowing the students would be returning to normal soon and most would be leaving for break after breakfast the following morning.

Becca ate her lunch, even requesting seconds to make up for not eating over the last few days, and seeing she still had plenty of time to spare decided to head into the library for a few minutes to say goodbye to the librarian for the break. Her stopping in seemed less of a surprise this time as Becca received yet another hug for the day.

"I'm getting quite a lot of those today," she said, hugging the librarian back.

"Are you complaining?"

"No, I suppose not," Becca answered with a smile.

"You're here to say goodbye for break I'm guessing?" the librarian asked sadly.

"Yeah, I couldn't leave without saying goodbye first,"

"Well tell your family the friendly librarian said hello and that I think you're wonderful," she said smiling once again.

"I'm not going to see my family," Becca replied, no longer feeling sorry for herself about it.

"Oh? Are you going to this male friend's family instead?" the librarian asked now smirking.

"Yeah but it isn't like that!" Becca said, instantly getting defensive.

"Sure it is, you're going to meet the parents,"

"No, my family just didn't want me," Becca replied trying not to sound hurt about it again. Every time she thought she was over that fact she was reminded she wasn't.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that,"

"It's fine. It's my own fault," Becca said.

"I doubt that's true," the librarian said confidently, without even needing to know the story.

"Anyway, I need to go pack. Have a nice break," Becca said trying to cheer up.

"Wear something nice when you meet his parents!" the librarian called after her, winking and smirking. She hadn't been worried about what to pack before but now she suddenly was. Suddenly thankful for having some extra time, she decided to bring some of her clothes down to the laundry room they had. As she made her way through that door, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Of course she had two texts. One from Dare, and one she wasn't expecting. It was from Derek. She hadn't heard from him in a while.

She put her clothes in the washer before opening them. Dare's was a lot easier to read and respond to 'I'm packed already, you?' 'No,' she typed back before opening Derek's, 'Hey, you coming home for winter break? When is you break? I miss you. You promised not to forget us. Seems like you have...'