The Kissing Booth - The First Year

SATs - Elle

June and Matthew were very happy when they arrived back from Boston. Harvard won the game and now they were in the finals. They would play against Stanford and Noah had been chosen the MVP of that game.

"I think your present was really more than an amulet to him Elle" she hugged me and I was very happy... how I missed him.

"I told her that he would use it... she thought he would be only polite, just thanking her for the gift, I was sure he would use. You can thank me Rochelle Joni Evans... Flynn" Lee had to tease me and it was true, I had that bad feeling that Noah would not wear the necklace, but he said all the time that I was crazy.

"And how is he doing June?" I didn't want to be so direct, but I was dying to know how he was doing

"He's ok Elle, he's studying a lot and now he's going to have almost a month of intensive training for the final game," she paused and looked into my eyes "And he misses my princess... this is something he didn't even have to say, I know my Noah just by the way he looks, without that shine in his eyes." She gave a rather sad smile so I hugged her

We returned to the books and Rachel arrived with our dinner, along with Tuppen and Stacey. Joe had not been in our study groups since I came back from Harvard and talked to him. It was kind of hard for me to apologize again and admit that I almost used him, better I haved used him, to feel better about Noah. I also thanked him for telling everyone that nothing happened and confirmed that I had told Noah everything about our evening. 

He understood, but said he would need some space, *all men needing space... oh boy* he really was in love with me and of course he didn't want this feeling to interfere in our preparation for the SATs and finals. "We can still be friends after all this feeling ends up Elle," these were his last words. He kept going out with the boys, but we didn't talk much, we were just being polite to each other.

"My head hurts... a lot of calculations... we're going to focus on the tests tomorrow, and who will be the responsible for giving the tests and correct them?" Asked Tuppen

"Tomorrow's Lee's turn, and I'm really glad we did not have classes these days... I need to sleep more than 5 hours or my head will explode too!" I was really tired.

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And so the time passed by and the SAT day finally arrived... I was very nervous, but still I managed to remain confident. We had the longest and most tiring weeks, sleeping and eating little, but this would be my "welcome door" to Harvard and I needed to go well *1750 Elle points...* I just thought about it and when Lee came to get me, I had no more nails to bite at all.

The test started on time and my head was clear ... I tried to remember only everything we studied ... "170 questions and an assay: here I go".

After 3 hours I was sitting under a big tree, biting an apple and saw Rachel coming towards me.

"How was it Rach?"

"I panicked Elle... I guess I will not get the points I would need for Harvard" she was not happy about it "Maybe I can't even study with you and Lee next year ... and I don't know if I want to try a long-distance relationship." She stopped talking for a moment, and I realized that she had realized I had an ugly and annoyed face, Rachel already knew some of my expressions... "Sorry Elle, I didn't want you upset"

"It's okay, Rach... for Non and me this formula didn't work very well, but it's not like that for everyone... and I also think you're overreacting, you must have gone well in the test ... you always leave like this when we have tests at school and at the end always take the highest grades in the class. It will be fine and we will all go to Harvard. "

Lee and Warren happily arrived "I'm sure Stanford will welcome me next year!" said Warren.

"Sure Warren, and we'll be even happier not to see your face for a long time," Lee teased. "And my girls, how were your tests?"

"I think I went well... 1750 points and hello Harvard!" I was pretty sure I could

"And you, baby, you look a little sad..." he kissed Rachel and she said she was not so confident

"Don't worry my love, we studied a lot, I'm sure we'll all have good results, except Tuppen and Stacey in the relationship issue." We looked at the most explosive couple in recent times and there they were fighting again. "God knows what he did now ..." Lee was laughing loudly

We all went home, and as soon as I arrived, Dad came from the kitchen "How was it princess?"

"Good dad, I think I did well ... I really hope so!" I had already told him all the mess with Noah, including the part about sleeping with Joe, so he just kissed my forehead and completed

"You're going to make it, Elle, I'm sure of that. By the way, some envelopes arrived today, I think one of them is from UCLA, they're in your bed"

I ran upstairs and yes, I was accepted at UCLA before the SAT score "Well, at least if I don't go to Harvard, I can go to a college close to home... and away from Noah" that thought made my eyes fill with tears "No Rochelle, you will not cry for something that has not even happened yet"

The results would take almost a month too, and we had to start studying for the finals that would be in a month and a half. My stress was far from being over. I called Lee.

"Yo hey there stranger, long time without talking to you ..." he replied as a rapper and I laughed loudly

"Dude... I don't want to study this weekend anymore, can we focus on something else? Maybe ... our prom and next birthday?

"Elle, it's the end of March, you're talking about all June festivities ... don't you think it's too soon for that?"

"Lee ... it's going to be our 18th birthday party, and my dad's also going to San Francisco, so we need something big ... but I have no ideas for that."

"Well ... you're right. Since we will be practically in the beginning of summer, what do you think of a beach party? A Hawaiian luau maybe?"

"Hey... I liked it ... with bonfires, torches and everyone dressed up as Hawaiian natives - girls like Hula dancers, boys in that flowery shirt, or shirtless and Hawaiian necklaces... yeah, I think this will be super fun, I loved it"

"Then it's settled ... I thought we'd take hours to figure out a theme"

"Wow, me too ... okay, I'm going to get dressed and have dinner with my dad. Are you and Rachel coming after dinner? We can play Uno or Monopoly... "

"Yeah... and I think Tuppen will be going too, but without Stacey... that whole fight they had earlier in the garden was heavy, she broke up with him"

"You're kiddin' me, really? I'm sure it was over jealousy, Stacey needs to be more confident... anyway, see you later"

I was a bit shocked about this breaking up, Tuppen and Stacey looked pretty good together and seemed to get well too, but Stacey was a little crazy with jealousy, and that was something I always talked to her, mainly because at first I had suffered with Noah... I hoped they would be fine until our prom... and that's when I realized, even with the proml being a week after our birthday, with whom would I go? I was sure that the time that Noah asked for would not end before the middle of June, which was precisely the date the prom was going to happen, meaning that maybe he had not even be back to Los Angeles yet, I started to panic... I could not be alone in my prom night.