Silent Pain

Stressful Finals

"Sydney, please don't cry. It'll be okay, I promise." Kate says, rubbing my back. "They will get into trouble for this muchacha, it's what they get for breaking the law." Javier says, sounding reassuring. I was listening, but also crying so hard, I barely understood what they were saying. Mom and dad were in the room too, trying to get me to calm down so my friends could talk to me. "Sydney, I know it's hard, but Allen wouldn't want you to be this way." Mom says. I lifted my head and looked at my mom. She smiled at me. Someone wiped away a tear that was falling down my cheek. I thought it was my dad until I looked over and saw that it was Javier. He had a loving look in his eyes. "Maybe the three of us could go to my house and study for our finals via a review game in my finished basement?" Kate suggested. "Sure. I'll meet you there." "No you won't, you're upset, you can't drive, so I will be driving you." "I'll wait for you downstairs." Javier says, leaving the room. Each of my parents kissed me and followed Javier out of my room. Kate opened my closet door and suggested a red sweater and black jeans. While I put it on, she grabbed a pair of black boots, black headband and the locket Allen got for me for Christmas last year. By the time we were done, it had been thirty minutes. Javier, Kate and I went over to Kate's house and her mother had their basement set up for a game. There was another kid from one of Javier's classes named Brett. We were teaming up, boys against girls.

What way to spend time preparing for finals than to play a game? How this worked is that there were four categories: English, Math, Science and History. Mrs. Livington made about ten questions per category and let us use whatever books we have to look up answers. The team in turn picks a category and they have thirty seconds to answer the question correctly. If they do, someone from the team grabs an index card that says either "gain" or "lose" the amount of points on the card. If the team doesn't answer correctly or on time, the other team can steal. The team with the most points in the end wins. This year, Mrs. Livington added a new detail. If you get a minus card, you can turn it into a plus by answering an additional question. It didn't seem to be worth it because the minus cards were things like minus ten or minus five versus gain five hundred or gain ten thousand. I love this game.

Whoever went first depended on who could answer the most lighting round questions correctly. Mrs. Livington asked as many questions as she could in 30 seconds and one contestant from each team used a bell. Whichever contestant rang their bell first answers. Mrs. Livington always mixed up the subjects to make it more challenging. Of course, she would have Kate and Javier in the lightning round, probably because she believes in girl power and wants her daughter's team to win. It was tough for Javier, easy for Kate and amusing for me. Watching my two best friends compete for points to ensure all of us are ready for exams. For once, Javier and Kate tied in the lightning round so Javier gave us the first round. Kate asked for a question in history and Mrs. Livington read one off a paper she had. I scrambled through my notes for less than five seconds when Kate answered. Do I even need my notes when I have Kate? I went to pick up an index card and it said gain 500 points. What a start. Javier gave us the first round, Kate answered instantly and I just unintentionally gave my friend and me 500 points. Brett seems to like being competitive in this game because he was shocked. Now that it's Javier's turn, they chose Chemistry. After Mrs. Livington asked the question, Javier answered, his answer was correct then Brett picked up a card that said gain 350. He was still disappointed but at least we were all still having fun while studying.

At our break time, the girls were winning 1,550 to 1,290. We went upstairs with Mrs. Livington and talked about our finals while Mrs. Livington made lunch and gave us drinks. "I think we're all going to pass our finals." Javier says. "You don't say?" Kate added. "Girl, we all know you're going to pass your exams, you're the smartest student in eleventh grade, maybe even the whole school." I said. "Yeah, being the smartest kid in school is too exaggerated." "Yeah, but there's a chance you'll test in the top 1% when we take the SAT's." "Don't even try to bring those up muchacha, we're not seniors yet." "Lunch is ready." We got up out of our seats in the lounge and went to the kitchen. After lunch, we played our game for another half hour. I think all four of us are ready, because we finished our game with girls 1,720 and boys 1,700. After gathering my belongings, I headed home.