Chapter 58 The Syllabus of Distraction (We Begin Our Final Exams)
Chapter 58 The Syllabus of Distraction (We Begin Our Final Exams)
(Trish's POV)
It was finally the day we seniors all feared. Our final exams had just begun.
It was the morning where the sun rose over Mthland looking less like a beacon of hope and more like a spotlight on our collective incompetence.
The "April Shift" had arrived like a sudden executioner. For years, we’d been told we had until June to figure our lives out, but the school board had yanked the rug out from under us, moving the finals to April.
The walk to the testing hall felt like a funeral procession. Usually, the hallways were a battlefield of egos, but today, even the loud-mouthed varsity players were silent, clutching tattered flashcards like they were holy relics.
The pressure wasn't just about grades; in a town like this, these exams were the only exit tickets, to leave Mthland for greener pastures.
The first session was a bloodbath. I sat in my assigned seat, the scratching of a hundred pens sounding like a swarm of locusts. To my left, a girl was quietly sobbing; to my right, a boy was staring at his Calculus paper as if the numbers were shifting into ancient runes he couldn't decode.
I, however, was in a different world. As I filled in the bubbles and wrote my essays, I felt a strange, cold detachment. Every time I looked at a question about "future goals," I thought about the $500,000 sitting in my digital vault. I was the only person in that room who wasn't fighting for a future, I had already bought mine.
When the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the first day, the exodus was grim. I was halfway down the concrete steps when a shadow eclipsed the sun.
"Trish! Trish, wait! Please!"
I turned to find Joseph, and for a second, I didn't recognize him. He looked like he’d been dragged through a hedge backward. His tie was lopsided, his hair was a nest of stress-induced tangles, and his eyes were wide with a frantic, primal fear.
"I’m dead, Trish. I’m a walking corpse," he wheezed, grabbing my arm as we began the trek back to 7th Street. "That Math section? I didn't even recognize the symbols. If I fail these finals, the All-State scouts won't even look at my highlight reel. My career is over before I’ve even turned nineteen."
I didn't give him an easy out. I kept my pace brisk, my face a mask of stern "I-told-you-so" energy.
"Now the panic sets in? Joseph, how many times did I tell you to put down the football and pick up the Physics? You spent all your energy on those extra training sessions for the competitions, and now what? They’ve been called off because of the exams. You traded your brain for brawn, and today, brawn didn't have the answers to page four."
"I know!" he yelled, his voice cracking. He looked truly pathetic, a fallen king begging for a crumb of knowledge. "You were right. The energy, the resources, the time, it was all a waste. I was an arrogant idiot. Just... help me. Please. If I don't pass the next three days, I’m stuck in Mthland forever."
His desperation was real. The fear of being trapped in this "ghost town" was finally outweighing his ego. I let him suffer for another block before I finally let out a long, dramatic sigh.
"Six o'clock. My room. If you’re one minute late, I’m locking the door."
By 7:00 PM, the atmosphere in my room was a bizarre mix of academic rigor and high-voltage tension. We had finished dinner, another "grant-funded" meal that Miss Britney praised while I kept my deceitful lie tucked in my pocket, and now we were sprawled on my rug.
We shared a massive bowl of chocolate-chip ice cream, the cold sweetness a temporary balm for our fried brains. Joseph was in a state beyond exhaustion; he was "exam-drunk."
"Okay, look at the diagram," I said, pointing to his History text. "The treaty was signed in—"
"Trish?" he interrupted, his voice low and dreamy. He wasn't looking at the book. He was staring at me with an intensity that made the air in the room feel thin. "You’re so... symmetrical. Why are you so pretty when you’re angry at me?"
"Joseph, focus. The treaty—"
"No, for real," he mumbled, leaning in closer. The smell of his minty soap and the chocolate on his breath was a dangerous combination. He looked at me, his eyes glazed with sleep-deprivation and something much hotter. "You have your mom's eyes. I was looking at that old photo in the hall... You sure you ain't my sister? Because it feels like we’re too connected to be strangers."
I nearly choked on my spoon. "You are officially delusional. If you think I’m your sister, the exams have officially liquified your brain. Go back to the Industrial Revolution."
"I don't want the revolution," he whispered, his hand sliding across the floor to cover mine. "I want the girl who saved me."
The closeness was suffocating in the best way possible. My mind flashed back to the high school camp trip, the dark structure of the treehouse, the smell of pine, the way his skin felt against mine in the shadows. My heart started that familiar, frantic drumming.
"No!" I shouted, scrambling up and away from him. "We are not doing this! You are failing, Joseph! Study!"
He didn't stay down. A predatory, playful light ignited in his eyes, the fatigue vanished, replaced by the quarterback who loved a scramble. "One kiss, Trish! For the GPA! It’s a mnemonic device!"
"That's not how mnemonics work!" I screamed, bolting for the other side of the bed as he lunged.
I grabbed my heavy History textbook, wielding it like a shield. "Stop! Joseph, I’m serious! We have to study!"
"Chase me first!" he challenged, vaulting over my desk chair with a grace that shouldn't be possible for someone who just failed Math.
“But you're the one chasing me!” I yelled.
I was running circles around my bed, my room feeling smaller by the second, my laughter mixing with a nervous shriek. "Stop! You're going to break something! You're going to break the house!"
"I'll buy a new one!" he joked, unaware that I actually could.
I was breathless, my heart was racing not from the exercise, but from the sheer, terrifying joy of being chased by the boy I was about to leave behind soon.