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It was the day of the big exam and as usual, Esme was pacing along the corridor, her heart beating faster than ever.
"Okay, you seriously need to calm the fuck down" Michelle snapped "Your pacing is doing my nut in"
Esme rolled her eyes, ignoring her friend and attempting to remember all the facts that she could, wanting desperately to pass the exam.
"The exam isn't even that important, Esme" Michelle stated "All you have to do is answer a couple of questions correctly, she'll think you're doing enough study and voila, you've got no more stress"
Erin rolled her eyes, leaning in towards Michelle as she took her eyes away from her own textbook.
"Shut up, you're not helping" Erin said.
Clare grinned, standing up in front of her friends and dragging Esme to sit in between James and Orla.
She stepped in the middle of the hallway, addressing her friends.
"Guys, no matter what, as you walk into the examination hall, remember that you were born to achieve great things in life. May all the luck of the universe be your companion in the examination hall" Clare said boldly.
The group were silent, attempting to figure out where Clare had gained those words from, the inspiring quote flying right over their heads.
"Shut up, Ghandi" Michelle said
Erin shook her head, smacking Michelle gently on the arm as she smiled softly at Clare who looked extremely proud of herself.
"I love Ghandi, he's cracker" Orla stated
Esme watched in fear as Sister Michael walked towards their class, a blank expression on her unreadable face as she folded her arms across her chest.
"No cheating, especially you James, I know what you English are like" The nun warned.
James' eyes grew wide as he nodded, grabbing his lucky pen in one hand and tapping Esme on the shoulder, causing her to turn around.
"What?" She asked
"I want you to use my lucky pen!" The boy beamed
"Seriously?" She asked "Thats so sweet"
"Anything to calm you down" He whispered, squeezing her hand lovingly.
Orla nudged both of them, knocking them forward slightly, a guilty look across her face as she took a swig from her energy drink, groaning.
"Right, get on with it"
***
The group left the exam hall, all of them feeling a variety of emotions.
"God, that went so well" James grinned as his expression continued to get more and more pleased
"I can't believe it" Erin said "I actually think it went okay"
The two teenagers turned around to see Orla, with one arm draped over Clare's shoulder and the other over Esme's shoulder.
Orla's face was pale, her eyes showing how exhausted she was as she struggled to move forward.
"We told you not to have any more energy drinks" Clare scolded her friend
Esme chuckled, rolling her eyes as her and Clare sat the teenager down, taking deep breaths.
"How did it go for you, Esme?" Erin asked
"Good, I managed to answer most of the questions" Esme nodded "Maybe it's the good luck pen!"
"You're not keeping it" James joked, winking at Esme as she blushed.
The group turned their attention to the brunette girl, her back leaning against the wall as she sighed loudly, her expression completely dull.
"What about you, Michelle?" James asked his cousin "How did you find it?"
There was a long pause between James' question and Michelle's answer, making the group frown, her wittiness being one of her traits they'd grown adore.
"It was on the desk in front of me" She replied, rolling her eyes.
A silence fell on the group as everyone glanced at each other awkwardly, their expressions full of sadness.
"Michelle, how was it?" Erin asked
The brunette turned to them, scowling at her best friends as they watched her fall apart in front of them for the first time.
"It went awfully, okay?" Michelle shouted, angrily "It went really bad, just like every other exam we do. I'm not smart, I'm not gonna ace exams like all of you do"
Esme stood up, slowly walking towards her best friend with pity disguised as tears in her eyes.
"You're all going to be going on, doing amazing wonderful things. Falling in love, having stable jobs and coming home to gorgeous families. You're going to be living these wonderful, impossible daydreams" Michelle said as she wiped her eyes "And i'm still going to be here, like I always am"
The group all sighed, standing up and walking towards their friend, creating a huddle between the small group.
"We'll help you study, we'll find places to go and we'll live those daydreams together, like we'd always planned to, okay?" Clare smiled
"We've got your back" James agreed
"And i've got energy drinks" Orla added.
The group laughed, falling into a massive group hug as they vowed to keep their very best friend from falling into the cycle of unhappiness.
•••
A/N:
omg 27k reads i'm in complete shock.
thank you for all the love, all the support and all the people binge reading.
i hope you're enjoying my book because your joy is what makes this worth doing.
