Climax

Curiosity Made Carl Gay - 6

Carl

With all the stress of deciding about the date venue, I forgot about homework. Just my luck, first class is math. And no one has come in yet to copy from.

I look at the quiz paper and groan. There is no chance I can finish all these problems in half an hour. I can as well move on to other subjects. Or I can just do nothing at all. I have a study hour next. I can do the others then. That idea relaxes my tense shoulders. I put the pen down with a sigh and look up.

Terry is staring at me from his desk. He smiles when I catch his stare. And that makes me happy. This is what I wanted. For him to smile and not look away. I grin big at my achievement. Then suddenly our chat conversation bubbles up in my mind. Oh, no. I tuck my chin in and look away. I told him I touched my butt. How bad.

"Hi Carl."

I moan. "Go away."

Terry laughs. "We don't have to talk about last night. Can I sit here?"

I finally glance at him. He is still smiling. I nod.

"You haven't finished the quiz?" Terry takes a look at my pathetic attempt at homework.

"As you know, I was busy last evening."

Terry clears his throat. "Yes, we still have time. Finish it now."

I perk up. "Can I have yours? I'll copy it in a minute."

Terry's eyes widened. "No... no... no... I'll help you do it."

My shoulders slump. "It'll take time. I can't finish it all."

Terry nudges my shoulder. "But you'd have done it on your own, without copying. That's what matters. Come on."

He pulls the quiz and the book and sets out explaining the questions. He is so eager, I don't want to pop his bubble, so I try my best to follow and do it.

By the time the first bell rings I'm on my fifth problem. There are three more.

"This is so stressful." I complain. I hate stress.

Terry pats my arm. "You did good. Really. You don't have to do the rest now. You can tell, you'll submit it before the end of the day. Just finish this. Only two more steps."

That is a good idea. I throw the pen at the desk. "I'll finish the two steps with the others."

"I swear you're one stubborn, lazy kid." Terry shakes his head, but just like mom he is smiling. He is fine with me being lazy. I understand now what he meant yesterday. While you talk face-to-face, you get to read more than what they are saying.

"You like me though." I say with a cheeky grin.

"Kill me now!" Terry gets up with another shake of the head.

I laugh at his back, the second bell drowns it. He says we can't be friends, but aren't we already friends?

Instead of copying, I follow his advice and try to finish as much homework as possible during study hours. When there is only fifteen minutes left, there is this one big essay left.

I groan. I can't copy it. I should have started with it first, the chemistry, I could have easily copied. Essays are one thing you can't copy, you've to be really creative to not get caught. Which I'm not.

I stare at my notebook until my eyes water. And shut everything up and pack. It's okay, I'll write it during lunch.

I did finish two, no three, including math homework on my own.