Chapter 5: Test and Date

It was already mid-afternoon. Elise thought her finals went well. She was gathering her things and was starting out of the room after everybody had already left.

“Goodbye, Mrs. Dickson!” she bade to her Algebra teacher before leaving the classroom.

Her teacher just looked up and smiled at her.

She was walking alone down the hallway to her next subject and final exam, World History. She was looking down at her book and stopped dead. She looked up. There it went again. Her heart was racing at the sight of him.

“Hi!” It was Kent, smiling brightly at her.

She smiled shyly and greeted him back. He was also alone, which was not so often, she noticed. And she wondered where her brother could be at this time. Usually, these guys were inseparable.

“Going to your final subject?” he asked.

“Yeah. World History,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I see.”

They smiled at each other before Kent spoke again. “Do you have rehearsals after your exam?” He acted casual but Elise seemed ready to swoon.

“Uh, no.” She shook her head. “Tomorrow. Why?”

“May I invite you to go to Menominee’s Hut later? I finished with all my exams today. I just felt like… celebrating.” He grinned boyishly and charmingly.

“Oh! S-sure.” She could not almost contain her smile and excitement. But she did well, for her dignity’s sake.

“Great! See you later then. I will wait for you in my car—at the exit gate.”

“Okay. See you later then,” she said, and he went with her to her next classroom.

She knew that the other girls were so into him that their looks of jealousy and irritation were cast upon her.

“See you later,” Kent murmured gently and walked away.

She proceeded to her assigned chair with her shivering happy heart and ignored all the girls’ stares thrown in her direction—especially Aubrey’s. She opened her World History book and scanned it until their teacher came into their classroom.

Mr. Wolfe gave each student in front the set A and set B test papers for them to answer. Elise received the set B test paper and wrote her name on top of the paper before she went over to check the test questions.

Part one was essay, Part two was multiple choice and Part three was fill-in the blanks. She thought she’d manage. The questions seemed easy for her. She had studied hard since a few days ago.

She was not the first one to finish the exam even when an hour or so had passed by. She was struggling to keep herself from shutting her eyes. The images she saw while she was in her bathroom came rushing in again. And it seemed that the images were too many now. She saw a spear, a river, brick muddy walls, and many people. It was as if she was actually there. This was getting weirder and weirder each day.

She breathed in and out deeply. She was trying so hard to control her feelings and the images. Then the vision receded on its own. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued answering her test questions. Only half of the class was left unfinished, including her.

She stood up and passed her answer paper. She went back to her chair to gather her things and walked away, out of the classroom.

****

Elise had to contain the smile on her lips. She was truly excited right now. She had a date with Kent. Their first date and it was only the two of them!

But she was somehow disappointed when she saw her brother talking with Kent.

Are you sure it’s really a date? Look now. Her mind seemed to antagonize her openly by pointing out this fact. Her brother. Urgh! Why does he have to be here?

However, she forced herself to move her feet forward and greeted them.

“Hi!”

“Oh, it’s time for you to arrive,” said Eric.

She saw the apologetic smile on Kent’s face, and she smiled at him reassuringly. Her brother opened the door for her, and she was seated next to Kent who was driving his car.

She knew then that it was not in the plan to let her brother join in with them. Nonetheless, she was happy enough that he invited her to eat out at the famous local fast food in town.

The three of them went inside Menominee’s Hut. Amy waved at them, and they were guided to a vacant table.

“What would you like to have this time?” Amy asked no one in particular; her hand was poised, ready to scribble on a piece of paper.

“A family size pizza and orange juice,” Eric said hastily.

Kent grinned at his friend. Elise could not help herself but to smile because of her brother’s character. He is just one in a million, she thought almost bitterly.

“Three glasses of orange juice?”

“Oh, no. Mine would be iced tea,” Elise said to Amy.

“Okay, young lady. How about you?” Amy turned to Kent and winked at him.

“Same as her, iced tea.” Kent flashed a devastating smile at Amy.

“Alright! Will get them all for you, young people,” Amy announced. She winked at them before she turned around on her heels and walked away.

“You left me without even saying you wanted to invite my sister,” Eric confronted Kent after a while. They were all digging in the big-sized pizza.

“You were too slow,” said Kent.

“Huh! Slow? You were running away from me as I passed my answer paper to Mr. Thomas,” he complained loudly, snorting.

Elise could not believe her ears. Her brother was busting Kent up because of that scene. She could not believe Kent wanted to ditch her brother after all but Eric was fast to catch up.

“Well, if I didn’t I wouldn’t catch Elise. She was already walking down the hall to her next exam.”

Elise couldn’t help herself but laugh. “Really? You were running away from my brother to catch up with me?” And her heart almost sang and danced!

“Well, yeah. Anything wrong with that? He won’t give me your number.”

“Why should I? You would pester my sister, I know that,” Eric answered with a scowl, a mouthful of pizza was in his mouth.

Kent grinned. His usual charming grin. Then Elise took out her pen and a piece of paper. She wrote down her number and gave it to Kent. Her brother gave her a resigned look.

“Well? He asked for my number,” she pointed out to her brother. Deep inside, she was more than glad to give Kent her digits.

“Thanks!” Kent said to Elise and put the piece of paper in his wallet.

“Hey, what’s that?” asked Eric when he caught a glimpse of a picture.