The Degenerates - Under Edit

t w e n t y n i ne

My hands shook, and my heart pounded steadily in my chest. I smelt the dust of the hall, heard the creaks of the chairs, felt my palms sweat. The building was so quiet I heard my own breathing.

My last exam of midterms was Psychology. I had tried immensely to catch up on the missed schoolwork and I forced Sasha and Lila to study with me, and we could only have breaks for the bathroom, to fill our water bottles, or have lunch.

I tucked my foot behind my other ankle when I had had enough of my knee bouncing, but that in turn only made my foot restless, bouncing in tune with my breath.

The clock still states there are two minutes remaining of the exam. I re read my papers twice, double checking the top corners where the unit numbers are, making sure I had spelt my own name correctly. Had I finished too quickly?

I examined the hall, there were still students writing. Some looked determined, some looked completely stoic, others looked utterly terrified. I wondered how I looked. Were the examiners watching me?

"Time is up. Stop writing, drop your pencils."

I heard a bout of sighed relief, the echo of lead hitting the table top surrounded me. I awaited a supervisor to collect my papers, and then awaited permission to leave.

I followed the sea of students outside the hall, a breath of fresh air calmed me down slightly. I collected my bag from the cubes assigned to us outside the building, turning my phone back on. I wandered down the stairs and began walking across the courtyard back to the dorm.

I stopped in my path as I noticed a figure behind the toilet block. He was alone, and he was watching me.

I stared at the figure, making my presence known. They did not move.

I could not make out who they were, and against everything I had taught myself these last two weeks, I approached the toilet block.

The figure lazily moved behind the block as I neared, and I trotted to catch them. I turned the corner and wasn't in the least surprised when I saw a familiar blonde leaning back against the bricks.

I sighed, exasperated, "What do you want?"

"No hi?" Theo asked with a wry grin, "Well hello to you anyway."

"What do you want?" I asked again.

Theo shrugged, "Just checking if you're alive really. I haven't seen you around, I was worried."

I ignored his cynicism, attempting to walk away, "Goodbye Theo,"

"No, wait," Theo stepped in front of me, "where have you been?"

"Away from you,"

Theo grinned a toothy grin, "Why? I'm a pleasant human being."

Theo studied my face nodding, "So you found out,"

I swallowed, trying not to think about it, "Yeah, so what?"

"So what? You haven't spoken to him in weeks."

"Since when were you his best friend? Let alone his messenger."

Theo's face remained serious, "It's not that bad, half of the town doesn't even know, and the ones that do, know he isn't anything like his father, come on."

"I don't want to talk about this with you." I answered flatly.

"You're a hypocrite," he said.

"What?" I asked, glaring at him.

"You act all terrified of Trey but you'd do anything to be with him right? Like still talking to me right now," Theo said casually, "and we all know that I haven't been very nice to some people."