Glory Days

Chapter 12: The Midterm

-Kira-

In AP Bio, hardly anything out of the ordinary happens. It is pretty much my only predictable class. Which is why I'm thrown off that we have a midterm, TODAY. I walked into class and Mrs. Devero writes on the board.

MIDTERM TODAY, INSTRUCTIONS GIEN WHEN BELL RINGS. PLEASE FIND YOUR NEW SEATS.

New seats? Nooooo. I loved my lab partner. Her name was Leslie and she was great. Look at the seating chart in the front of class and fin my name... and my new lab partner. It's Aaron. We haven't talked much after football season ended. We kind of went our sperate ways and moved on, I guess. I sit down in my new seat and rest my head on the desk.

"Well someone's tired." I hear a familiar voice say. I look up and its him.

"Yeah, maybe a little. But I can catch up during winter break." I say as he sits next to me.

"Are you going anywhere for break?"

"No, my family usually goes on a big trip with my extended family, but not this year. What about you?"

"I'm going to Italy for a week. My mom's Italian."

"That sounds like fun. Italy is beautiful." I say. The bell rings and Aaron shrugs. I get the sense that he is not looking forward to the trip.

"Good afternoon class. As you read, I will be giving you the midterm today. I know I did not tell you about it, that is the point. It is due to me by Friday, that gives you three days to turn it in. It is online, but you may not look anything up." Mrs. Devero tells the class. Everyone groans. "Oh, and you may work with your new lab partner. I hope you all are friends because this is your partner for the rest of the year."

"The rest of the year?" Someone asks from the back.

"Yes, unless you have a major problem. Oh, I forgot to tell you. If you turn it in by midnight tonight, I will give you extra credit. Good luck everyone." Mrs. Devero says then walks back to her desk.

"I have my computer." I say and pull it out of my bag. I log onto google classroom as Aaron takes out some paper. I open the assignment. "80 questions?"

"Whoa, that's a lot of questions. Let's try to get it done by the end of class." He says. We look at the first question, it is specifically designed that you can't look up the answers online and you can't split the work up between partners. After working almost, the whole class, I check the time.

"5 minutes till the bell rings, what question are we on?"

"Question 55. I leave for Italy tomorrow afternoon so I'm not going to school." Aaron says.

"Um, what do you want to do?" I ask him. He thinks for a minute, but I come up with an idea. "Would you be able to come to my house after school?"

"Um, I think so. Would your parents be ok with that?"

"Yeah, I'll text my dad, but he won't be home till late." I and pull out my phone and text my dad. "Will yours?"

"Um yeah my dad should be fine with it. Did you drive today?" He asks. Wait how does he know that I... ohhh we have close parking spots, that's right.

"Yeah I drove today." I say. My phone vibrates; it's a text from my dad saying yes Aaron can come home. Then he sends another asking if he would want dinner. "My dad said its fine for you to com, he also asked if you would want dinner?"

"Oh, if your family doesn't mind."

"Of course not."

"Where do you want to meet after class?" He asks.

"How about I text you." I say.

"I don't think I have your number." He says, pulling out his phone. Wait... was I just flirting...

"Oh, I guess I'll give it to you then." I say and take his phone. Smooth, real smooth. I give him my phone number and the bell rings. "See you after school." I say and grab my bag.

"Yep, see you soon." He says and smiles. Don't blush don't blush... too late. I quickly walk out of bio to my next class, history. I don't pay attention most of class, waiting for the bell to ring so I can leave. When the bell rings after what felt like hours, I rush to my locker. I feel my phone vibrate and it's a text from an unknown number.

Hey, its Aaron, where do you want to meet?

Yay I got my number right! Its Kira, and I guess you can meet me at my locker, it's by our homeroom.

"Who are you texting?" I hear Shaina behind me ask. I quickly turn off my phone.

"Um, Markus. He's home from college." I lie.

"Mhm, sure. Well, my offer to come down to my grandparents beach house still stands if you ever change your mind." She says and smiles. Shania asked me if I wanted to go back down to the beach with her during break, but I said no because I want to spend more time with my family, now that my brother is home.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm actually excited to spend time with my family, especially with Markus home. It's been weird not having him home."

"Yeah, I bet. Well, see you soon." She says and gives me a hug. I turn back to my locker and grab my last textbook and close it when Aaron walks up.

"You ready to go?" I ask and pull out my keys.

"Yep, lead the way." He says. We walk out to my car, student glancing at us as we walk past. When we pull up to my house, Aaron seems shocked by the size.

"I didn't know you lived in this neighborhood." He said as we walk into my house.

"Yeah, I guess I live in that neighborhood of snobby rich people." I say and laugh. My neighborhood has quite the 'high and mighty' reputation of rich people in big houses. But My family never acts like that stereotype, even before my mom's cancer.

"For the record, I never would've guessed you lived here." He says.

"My dad's a lawyer." I tell him. We walk past a family picture from when I was little, maybe 10. My mom is holding 12-year-old Markus on her lap, her long blond hair in curls. I'm sitting on my dad's lap, his hair is brown and wavy like mine. Markus has blond hair like my mom, or at least when she had hair.

"Is that little you?" Aaron asks, looking at the photo.

"Yeah, I was 10."

"You were so small." He says and looks at me. "Still are." He says and laughs.

"Ha ha, very funny." I say and walk towards the kitchen. I sit on one of the bar stools in the kitchen. Aaron sits next to me. "My dad and brother should be home in an hour with dinner. Hopefully we will be done with 70 questions by then."

"Yeah, that's a good goal. Then we can finish the rest after dinner and submit, get the extra credit and be done with it." Aaron says. I pull out my computer when he asks, "Where's your mom?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said your brother and dad are at work, but you never said where your mom is."

"Oh, um she's upstairs... resting." I say, shyly. He nods his head, not asking any further questions.

He's probably going to figure it out anyway.