38

Katherine Thornes

"WHAT?" I questioned, shocked to my bones at what Alexander had just said. But there's no way we could possibly have a test tomorrow, all tests were supposed to begin next week.

How come Mr. Thomas fixed his test for tomorrow? And how come I wasn't aware? Or is Alex trying to mess with me? I am always current on anything concerning exams, studies, and tests. So what's the meaning of this now?

"What do you mean Alex? There's no test tomorrow, Mr. Thomas never announced that." I corrected him, Alex must be out of his mind or trying to play a sick prank on me right now.

"Do you have memory loss, Katherine? Mr. Thomas told us today in Chemistry class that— oohhhhh." Alexander cooed in realization. "You weren't at school today because you decided to get drunk and pass out the whole day," Alexander added, a hint of mockery in his tone.

I needed that. My bad life decisions and choices had led me to get drunk and miss a whole day of class. Now, I have nine hours until school tomorrow. I haven't slept, I haven't studied properly in days, and curse my luck, but I have Chemistry as my first class tomorrow!

"What the fuck?" I cussed, unable to believe what my ears were hearing.

Alexander snickered, "Katherine cussing? That's a rare occasion." I wonder what was so amusing about the fact that my life was going to end tomorrow.

"I'm being fucking serious here, Alexander. Why the hell would Mr. Thomas announce a test a day to it? Not just an ordinary test, but one that accounts for a whole freaking seventy percent of our total grade!" I was panicking, my heart was doing a frenzied loop and I was utterly confused. I began pacing to and fro my porch, I didn't know what to do.

"Relax Katherine, you're overreacting. I'm sure you know shit tons worth of Chemistry in that big brain of yours. You study more than everyone combined in that school, maybe even more than the teachers themselves. You'll ace this test." Alexander said. And I don't know if he was trying to encourage me or make me feel good about my predicament, but neither of them was working.

"That's the problem Alex, I haven't been studying!" I expressed.

He paused, looking at me like I had just said a taboo. "How can you say that? That's all you ever do— no offense, but you really don't do anything other than studying."

"That was before, Alex. Before I met you, before we started doing this stupid dating thing, and before we started fixing dates. They're all distractions. You're a distraction, Alex." I let all the loud and angry words fly out of my mouth unfiltered, not caring that it may hurt Alex's feelings. I immediately regretted each and every one of them though, but there was the honest and brutal truth.

I turned to face Alexander. I expected him to get angry of course, say something mean to me or storm back to his apartment angrily, or do both.

But on the contrary, he smiled at me. "I get you've just said all of this because you're panicking and to be honest, you are right. I've been nothing but a distraction ever since." He said and I was shocked, were these words coming from Alexander Walters?

"But I believe in you, you've studied a lot and all you need is a little revision to jolt your brain. A little overnight studying would help you do that." He stated and walked towards where I stood, taking my hand into his. "You've got this Katherine. Don't fret."

It was hard not to melt when those perfect eyes were staring straight at you and those perfect lips were encouraging you, "You can do this okay." He added, placing a kiss on my forehead.

"Thank you." I didn't even know when the words left my mouth, in a whisper-like tone.

"Sure." He stepped away from me. "Well, I might need a favor too." Alexander began.

"What's that?"

"Could you please tutor me? I don't know shit and I can't fail this test. Failing this test means failing the class this term and I'd be kicked out of the team." Alexander pleaded and I reasoned his plea.

Well, he really needs this and has no other option. Plus teaching someone is a good way to learn too. So, I guess I can help him.

"Okay. But we have to be very serious about this. Strictly studying." I said, mostly referring to the fact that his fingers were trailing up my arm. The feeling was giving me goosebumps, and it was not helping matters that he was staring into my eyes while doing that.

But this was our first step unto the 'strictly studying' rule, so I need his fingers off me now.

"Take them off, Alex."

"Sorry." He smiled charmingly, stepping away from me again.

"Understood, no distractions. Got it. I'll go get us energy drinks so we won't be sleepy." And then he left for his apartment to go get the drinks.

I leaned against the walls, my hands on either side of my arms and I rubbed them to drive away the cold.

Letting Alexander study with me, Is that really a good idea?

-:-

News Flash: It was a bad idea.

"Oh my God Katie! You have to go faster or we'll be late!" I yelled, urging her to step on that fucking acceleration pad and drive the hell faster.

"Don't you yell at me, Katherine, I'm not the one who overslept on a freaking test day!" Katie retorted, but still did as I said and increased her speed.

Okay, so this is exactly what happened. Nothing went according to plan, at all.

Bad Idea Count 1: Agreeing to study with Alexander.

Moments Before The Disaster: Alexander got the energy drinks and we both downed one can before beginning. We were pumped and energized and we got to business. Everything was going well and we read for a full hour and a half and then we decided to take a break.

We both decided to vote on what we would do with our twenty-minute break. I suggested we just listen to music, but Alexander suggested that we watched reruns of Love Island for twenty minutes.

Now, that was the beginning of the disaster.

Stupidly, I agreed to it because who doesn't simply love Love Island?

Bad Idea Count 2: Agreeing to watch twenty minutes of Love Island with Alexander.

So we started watching the reruns with chips and our energy drinks, but then the twenty minutes were over. The truth was that this episode was really suspenseful and interesting and we didn't want to leave halfway, so we decided to watch the whole full episode.

Bad Idea Count 3: Agreeing to watch the full episode of Love Island with Alexander.

The Calm In The Storm before the main disaster: The episode ended on a cliffhanger, and Alexander and I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. But we had to go back to studying, so we did.

But we couldn't really concentrate. We wanted to know what happened next!

Alexander slammed his textbook shut, "I really need to know if Tasha and Andrews leave." He said. "Just one episode and we'll come back to studying. It's 2am, we can watch one episode and then read till it's school time. Then after the test, we ditch school and come back home to sleep." He suggested. I agreed. I got distracted.

Bad Idea Count 4: Agreeing to watch one more episode of Love Island with Alexander.

And then when that episode ended, we wanted to know what happened in the next one. Alexander gave me some stupid convincing and I agreed.

We watched one more episode.

Two more.

Three more.

And halfway through the fourth, we slept off in each other's arms.

What woke me up in the morning at 7;30am was the blaring of Katie's horn outside of my house.

I overslept. Gotten distracted. And didn't get any studying done!

I pushed Alexander off my body and smeared toothpaste on my tongue, gargled, and spat out— no time for a brush, breakfast, or a shower. I wore the first thing I laid my hands on in my closet and hopped into Katie's car in less than ten minutes.

I didn't give a shit about Alexander. I hate him so much now. He's a distraction, a big one. My mother warned me. But I never listened.

I was doomed.

Bad Idea Count 5: Agreeing to date Alexander.

-:-

Katie and I ditched school the moment we finished that torturous test. Panic, fright, worry, anxiety, and apprehension— take all these words and mix them into a bowl, that's how I can accurately describe how I was feeling right now.

I think I was even having a high fever, add that to the list.

I have never scored anything less than a hundred on any test— no bluffs, no lies. I haven't been exaggerating when I said I had the most perfect of grades. Anything below a hundred would warrant insults from my mother. So I have always tried to score a hundred, only that this time was different.

I knew I didn't do well in the test. I was able to answer some, but there were others I couldn't answer or I wasn't sure I got the answers correctly.

The thought of it was making my stomach churn, I felt sick inside. My mother was going to murder me and it was all because of stupid Alex. I never want to see that idiot in my life ever again.

"Katherine, you look pale," Katie noted and I was snapped out of my thoughts. I felt like shit, figuratively and literally. I was also sweating and I had a fever.

We were in front of my apartment.

"Do you want me to take you to a hospital?" She offered.

"No. I'll be okay if I sleep." I was dismissed. But then, my vision started getting blurry.

"Okay, take care of yourself." She said and I nodded, opening the door to get out. But the moment I stepped out, I felt dizzy and the next thing I felt was the rough impact of my body hitting the ground.

"Katherine!"

I blacked out.