Ocean Blue & You

Emma's bribe

Every day now, all I could think about was Jack. He was on my mind constantly, no matter how hard I tried to shake him off. I thought my huge crush on him would eventually fade away, or at least not get any more strong than it already was. But clearly I had been wrong. We didn't have art lessons much at the moment, but I still saw him a lot. We'd both taken to walking round the school courtyard at lunch times and sometimes at break, just talking as friends about each other and school. Sometimes Anna and Faith would get a little irritated if we had planned to meet up and I had talked to Jack instead, but they eventually understood.

It had been two weeks since the exams, and our results were going to be given to us that week. Everyone was buzzing with worry and anxiety and excitement to see how they did, and Anna and Faith were surprised when I wasn't as stressed out as them.

"Posy! How are you not the slightest bit nervous right now?" Faith hissed to me as we sat in History waiting for our results. She had been on the edge of her seat and biting her nails since we arrived. Anna was crossing her fingers under her desk and whispering little words of comfort to herself, her eyebrows raised and her expression a general look of panic as Mr Timothy entered the classroom with a stack of tests in his hand.

"I am - a little," I replied. The truth was, I wasn't really. I knew I had done well, because I revised like crazy, and plus, these weren't even our real A-levels. Only the mocks.

"How?!" Faith repeated.

"Well, I know I did okay. And- it's not like these are our A-levels!"

"They might as well be!" Anna exclaimed, turning round in her seat to face me, "these may be our mocks, Posy, but they are still really important! They tell us what our grades will probably be like when we take our examinations next June!"

After that, I tensed up a little.

"Well, great! Thanks a bunch for making me feel stressed!" I said, irritated.

"Your welcome!" she hissed, turning back to face Mr Timothy as he cleared his throat.

"Alright class! Settle down! I have your tests in my hands right now. And I must say, I was pleasantly surprised and irritated by the results." Faith shuffled nervously in her chair and I blinked.

"Some of you passed with flying colours! Others, well- let's just say I highly doubt you will pass your A-levels."

Even the boys who always messed around at the back of History class now were silent and anxious. Everyone was quiet and staring at Mr Timothy.

"Right, now I will hand these out to you all. If I see so much as a whisper asking what others' scores were or anything like that, you will be given immediate detention," he said sharply, and then began walking through the rows of desks handing tests out. I watched him as he handed them out, saying to some people "well done" and others gave a disapproving grunt before moving on. I watched him with bated breath as he drew closer and closer to me along the desks. Anna had succeeded in stressing me out to the maximum and thoughts were flashing through my head, like how it might feel if I got a C or lower. I was sure I wouldn't, but the possibility was still there, though small it could be.

And then Mr Timothy was at my desk, and passed my test to me, saying, "Well done," with a slightly forced smile. I took a deep breath, and then looked at the front of my test. I had got an A*! I was overjoyed when I saw, flipping through the test at my answers, and seeing I had only lost about 6 marks! I was ecstatic, and relief washed all over me. After I had gotten over this high rush of happiness with myself and relief, I looked over at Anna. She was grinning at her test, sighing with relief. I almost lent over to her and asked her what she got, but then remembered what Mr Timothy said, and thought of asking her after class. So now all I had to go off was their facial expressions, but they gave away a general idea of what their grades would be anyway. I looked to my left at Faith, and she was half smiling. It sort of looked like she was happy with her mark, but not excited. She probably must have gotten a B or lower then.