Shadow

Chapter 32

"What is a covalent bond?" Zayn questioned, eyeing me expectantly.

"A bond in which electrons are shared between two atoms to achieve a full octet shell," I blurted.

"What's an osteoclast?"

"It's what breaks down bone cells."

"Newton's third law?"

"Every action will have an equal and opposite reaction."

"Alright! Year 12's!" A lady shouted, snapping me out of my daze, "Line up! The exam will be starting shortly!"

"You'll be fine," Zayn assured, "Remember to breathe, okay?"

I nodded and lined up behind the many students in front of me, patiently waiting to be let into the exam room. When the teacher finally opened the gate, students rushed inside as though waiting a second longer would wipe all the last minute cramming they had done.

I skimmed through the desks to find my assigned spot and took a seat. I could see Zayn sitting near all the other people that had their last name's beginning with the letter 'M'.  Aidan and Brent would have been somewhere near the front, and Josh somewhere behind me.

Once one of the ten teachers monitoring the hall checked that everyone was present, she walked to the front of the large room, moving up the staircase onto the third step so everyone could see her.

"You may begin writing," She announced.

The sound of hundreds of papers flipping simultaneously was by far the most stressful sound that I'd ever had to encounter, and I'd been surrounded by guns most of my life.

I remembered my pen touching the surface of the page as I began to write the answer to the first question, and the rest is history.

...

"Fuck," Josh groaned as soon as the exam finished, "I can already picture the 'F' on my paper."

"You couldn't have done that bad," I reassured, "And have some faith in yourself, will you?"

"How did you go?"

"I put down what I remembered," I smiled.

"Josh, Raven!" Zayn called, jogging up to us, "Let's go outside, Aidan and Brent are already there."

We nodded and followed Zayn out of the hall, which most students had already evacuated. We found Aidan and Brent quietly conversing in a corner, both looking more relaxed than ninety-per cent of people around us.

"Hey guys, how'd you go?" Brent smiled.

"Decent," I replied, "You?"

"It was surprisingly easy," He grinned, "Managed to answer everything."

"Lucky for you, huh?" Josh snapped, "My parents are going to kill me."

Josh pushed past me and walked away, leaving all of us equally as confused as the other.

"We should go talk to him," I said, turning back to the guys.

"I'm so stupid," Brent sighed, "I should have known."

"It's okay," I assured, "I'll go talk to him, you guys should head back home."

The guys nodded and I walked away from them, following where I saw Josh head towards. A crowd of people were standing in the middle of the corridor, probably talking about their exams and how they went. I pushed past them and jogged down the corridor, peeking my head through every turn that Josh could possibly have walked through.