Our Hope

19 - Cole

Later that evening Cole sat on Skye's couch, reviewing the weekly GPA report on his viewer. Her reality show, Being Skye, played in front of him on her projection screen. Her chef made him breakfast which included pumpkin pancakes. The pumpkin and cinnamon scent reminded him of pumpkin pies. He wished for his mom to make one. She typically made two or three during the holidays.

"Look, Marcus bought me more wine." Skye held up a bottle. She wore athletic shorts and a black-and-white striped referee T-shirt from her new clothing line.

"Cool." He did not care.

"Do you want some?"

"No, thanks."

"Why not?" She danced in a circle and sang, "It's Friday."

"I promised Hope that I'd help her."

"Do what?"

He inspected the GPA rankings they updated last week. "We're running out of time and I need to focus on my grades. I slipped to tenth place." In addition to their two classroom grades, the school also gave weekly assessment exams which counted for 1/3 of their grades.

He held it up for her to see. She did not glance at it. Dread rose inside of him when he feared that he had waited too long.

Skye handed the bottle to Elena. She placed the wine opener into the cork and opened it. The champagne bottle popped, echoing through the house. The bubbly liquid overflowed into the sink.

"Don't worry. You're the smartest, right?"

Tenth? Dammit! How did so much time pass? He was in a haze when Skye was around.

"I have to go. I promised Hope to spend the weekend working on the project."

"I can't persuade you to stay." She strutted closer to him and pressed her body against his, then she kissed his neck. The warm and wet provocation had worked until now. "This is serious. If we don't win, I don't go."

"I'm being serious too."

She waited for him to give in. He did not this time. He used the trick of staring at the wall instead of her to make it less painful.

"Fine. I'll be here with my best friend." She filled her glass and drank half of it. "Woo-hoo! That tastes great. Hey Maria!" She searched around her house and yelled again. "Maria?"

"I think she's over with Hope." He grabbed his viewer and left her house.

"Tell her to come back when you get there."

Cole headed outside. He did not go outside often, so he took several deep breaths of fresh air. Tenth place was bad. Horrible.

He entered Hope's house and marched straight to her testing room. Hope sat in her chair hastily typing the new code changes into the 3D printing program.

"You got tenth," Hope shouted, angrily. "You're getting worse."

Hope appeared tired. Her eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them. He positioned himself in front of Maria, blocking her view.

"Hey!" Maria shouted.

"Oh yeah. The Princess summoned you," Cole told her. He peeked over Hope's shoulder and examined what she was typing.

"To hell with that. I can't leave when I have a front-row seat for this season's challenge with Cole and Hope."

"I can't believe you're here," Hope said with astonishment, "I was starting to think you might move into her place."