‘Only a few hours left.’

  In English class, I sat and acted as if I was giving the lesson my full attention. When in actuality, I was too busy anticipating something.

  I was anticipating receiving my report card for the marking period.

  Yup, that’s right, it was the day that I’d read my first report card in high school.

  As you already know, I wanted to have the highest grades in my class so I couldn't help but think about the results.

  ‘I should be doing decently well in all my classes. I know I’m not failing any of them so everything should be fine.’

  I began to consider different possibilities in my mind.

  But I wasn’t able to fully focus on those thoughts due to my english class.

  So I decided to push away those thoughts for a while.

  Fortunately, in my next period which was Math, I wasn’t thinking about my report card much.

  That was because it was a math class on Thursday, meaning all my friends were in the same class.

  We weren’t able to do something like the uno game since Ms. Rivers was present, but I was still happy to be around them.

  I whispered to them during class and worked with them for group work.

  It was a really fun time.

  Eventually, that time came to an end and I had to go to my next period class which was Science.

  Fortunately, I had the class with Aurora.

  That day, we were performing an experiment to calculate the density of liquids.

  “Alright, you can all begin the experiment in your groups,” Mr Bostav instructed.

  I turned my attention to my group members.

  Currently, we were in a different room than our normal science classroom. Instead, we were in the school’s science lab.

  There were two other people at a table with Aurora and I, making them my group members.

  Our table had a few different pieces of laboratory equipment along with two containers with liquids inside.

  Also, for whatever reason, we were wearing goggles even though we didn’t need them.

  “Okay so we should split the work. You two can measure pour out the syrup and we’ll pour out the honey,” I suggested.

  Everyone seemed to agree with me so we began the experiment.

  However, there was a problem.

  “Aurora, you’re pouring too much,” I said, referring to her pouring the honey graduated cylinder.

  “Yeah, yeah, shut it, I got th…” Aurora began before going silent in the middle of her sentence.

  Aurora had poured 6.5 milliners of honey when we were only supposed to pour 4 milliliters.

  I sighed.

  ‘I hate when people don’t listen.’

  I picked up the graduated cylinder and spoke.

  “I’ll pour it out,” I said, walking to the sink in the classroom.

  A few moments later, I came back with the empty graduated cylinder.

  “I’ll help this time,” I stated.

  “Okay,” Aurora responded.

  This time, as Aurora lifted up the container, I put my hands over hers.

  Once again, her hands were soft and warm.

  Even though it felt like a while, it was only a few moments before it was time to stop pouring.

  “Alright stop now,” I instructed.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Aurora replied as she stopped pouring.

  From there, we continued on with the rest of the experiment and exchanged our information with our other group members. Once we finished, the period had ended.

  For my next period, I had art.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  That was when I could get the chance to properly think, and when I did, I thought about my report card.

  It was difficult, but I was able to stop focusing on it that much.

  I thought back to the work I’ve put in so far and realized that if I don’t focus on my class, my grades will suffer for the next marking period.

  And so, I put all my attention on drawing until the period ended.

  Then, it was time for lunch.

  “I’m starving,” I mumbled as I took at my lunch.

  It was a tuna sandwich. Don’t worry, I had mints for my breath afterward.

  As I ate, I noticed Tristan was reading a different book than usual.

  ‘A cat? Is he reading a book about pets?’

  I wasn’t able to see the cover of the book, but based on the images of cats on the front, I came to that conclusion.

  I didn’t dwell much on that thought though since I saw Aurora, Nishimoya, Soriel coming to the table.

  “Hey guys,” I said before taking another bite of my sandwich.

  “Heya,” Nishimoya greeted.

  “Hello!” Soriel responded.

  “Hey,” Aurora replied.

  All three of the girls sat down.

  ‘I wonder why they all came together. Did they meet up on the way downstairs? Eh, I guess it’s not that important.’

  The girls began to talk amongst themselves while I was busy pondering over a question I had just thought of.

  Eventually, Soriel noticed I wasn’t speaking.

  “Elliot, are you alright?” She asked.

  “Im fine, just thinking about something,” I replied.

  Aurora raised her eyebrow.

  “What are you thinking about?” Aurora questioned.

  I paused for a moment before speaking.

  “How many boyfriends have you had in middle school?” I asked.

  Aurora stared at me for a moment and made a thoughtful expression.

  “Probably…six, I think?” Aurora answered.

  My facial expression didn’t change but I was still a bit surprised.

  ‘I remember that most of the time in middle school, Aurora was dating people but I didn’t think it’d be that many. Or maybe that’s a normal amount?

  Either way, that's still 2 boyfriends per year which means her relationships didn’t really last long. Oh crap, that also means I’ll have to be a better boyfriend than 6 different guys.’

  I pushed these thoughts aside and responded to Aurora.

  “Oh okay, thanks,” I said, maintaining a normal expression.

  ‘Whatever, I shouldn’t make a big deal over it.’

  Now that my question was answered, I discussed with the others like normal for the rest of lunch.

  Afterwards, I had study hall with Aurora.

  This time, we spoke a good bit, but it was mostly just a few jokes as we finished up our math work together.

  I helped her with the problems she was struggling with and she told me about sports in return.

  It was a relaxing time.

  When study hall ended, I had social studies for my next period.

  Like all social studies classes, it was a pain.

  But it was a class, so I pushed through.

  And finally it was my last period, which was Spanish with Soriel.

  “?De qué color se esté?” I asked in Spanish, pointing to a red pen.

  Soriel chuckled.

  “No, the right wording is actually ‘?De qué color es esté?’,” Soriel said, correcting me.

  “Dang it,” I muttered dishearteningly.

  Looking at Soriel, I noticed something about her that I hadn’t noticed before.

  ‘Huh? Am I seeing things?’

  Trying to confirm my observation, I spoke up.

  “Hey Soriel,” I said.

  “Yes?” She replied.

  “Do you have a mole on your neck?” I questioned calmly.

  Soriel’s expression froze for a moment, processing what I asked.

  Then, her eyes widened and she made a flustered expression. In just a moment, she had slammed her head on the table and covered her skull and neck with her arms.

  ‘Crap, I probably shouldn’t have asked.’

  “Ahh, this is so embarrassing. I know it looks weird, please don’t look at it,” Soriel mumbled, just loud enough so could hear.

  Seeing her like this, I felt guilt well up in my stomach.

  ‘Crap, I didn’t consider that it might’ve been an embarrassing thing to bring up. Because of her cheerful personality, I forgot she has insecurities too. Damn it, I’m such a bad friend.’

  I wanted to slap myself in the face, but I resisted the urge.

  Instead, I tried to fix my idiotic mistake.

  “Soriel, it doesn’t look weird at all. I just noticed it, that’s all. I’m serious, please just lift your head.”

  Those words weren’t a lie. I didn’t think Soriel’s mole looked weird at all.

  Yes, it wasn’t a particularly attractive feature, but it wasn’t a bad one.

  “Really? Do you mean it?” Soriel replied softly, slowly lifting her head.

  “Yeah, a hundred percent.”

  At that moment, Soriel’s face looked so happy I almost thought she’d start glowing.

  With a huge smile, she let out a large sigh of relief.

  “Ah, thank you. I’ve hated that mole since I was a kid and I was worried that’d I’d get judged for it,” Soriel explained.

  “But you’ve proved I have nothing to worry about…hopefully,” She added humorously.

  I smiled back.

  “Good.”

  We went back to studying Spanish together for most of the period.

  But before it was time to go, our teacher made an announcement.

  “Before you leave, I’ll be handing out your report cards,” Ms. Isabel said.

  ‘Finally.’

  Desk by desk, Ms Isabel placed report cards on each student's desk, and soon, she placed mine on my desk.

  In a hurry, I picked it up and read it.

  ‘Oh okay, I seem to be doing decently in most classes. It could be better though

  Reading each of my class grades, it was a relief to see that I had over a 94% in all my classes.

  At the very bottom of the paper, I could see my average and ranking.

  ‘My gpa is 3.91 and my ranking is…number 2.’

  It seemed someone in freshman year was doing better than I was.

  ‘Oh, I’m not good enough.’

  A small yet crippling feeling of sorrow pierced my soul.

  I had to beat them. Whoever held the number 1 spot.

  But that was for the future, at that moment, I had to go to track and field.

  So I quickly said goodbye to Soriel and went to the school locker room to get changed.

  When I finished, I headed over to the park near the school.

  And our coach was already there when I arrived.

  “Hey coach,” I greeted as I threw my bag to the ground and sat down.

  “Hey Elliot,” he replied.

  For a few moments, we stayed there in silence. Him standing and looking into the distance, while I sat down and did the same.

  But that silence was broken.

  “Elliot,” Coach said.

  “Yes?” I responded.

  ‘This is weird. Coach doesn’t really ask me stuff. Hell, he doesn’t even tell us his name. I wonder what’s going on in his head right now.’

  I straightened my back and listened attentively.

  “You must be pretty hard working, coming here early every day even though you don’t have to,” He said.

  ‘Huh?’

  A frown appeared on my face.

  “Thank you but you’re giving me too much credit,”

  He chuckled and said, “Sure. But don’t change that habit. It makes you look good.”

  “Okay,” I replied.

  After that short exchange we went silent again, leaving me with my thoughts.

  ‘I really wish I was as hard working as he thinks I am. But I’m not. I’m lazy and incompetent and I do things for no reason. Like now, I don’t even have to be here yet but I still am. There’s nothing admirable about that. It’s just useless, no matter if it looks good or not.’

  I looked towards the ground.

  ‘I’m grateful for the compliment but…I’m useless, no matter if it looks like it or not.’

  Soon later, the other guys came and we began practice, just like usual.