Page 11 of Scars of Anatomy

Tests

I walk into the anatomy lecture hall to find everyone either anxiously talking among themselves or frantically flipping through their notes, trying to soak in every last second to study.

Four weeks into the semester and it’s our first test. Around this time, almost every class is handing out tests, and it fucking sucks.

Olivia, Rat Boy, and Delilah are all looking over their notes.

I walk up to our row and resist the urge to smack Rat Boy in the back of his head as I pass.

Walking past Olivia, I glide my fingertips across the back of her upper arm, across her back, and to her other arm, catching a strand of her long, silky caramel-colored hair.

I twirl it around my finger and let it naturally unravel itself.

Olivia twists around in her seat, smiling when she realizes it’s me.

“Hey, Finch,” I greet her, placing my hand on the back of her chair.

“Hey,” she greets me quietly, trying not to disturb those around us. “Ready?” she asks, her tone and her face portraying her nerves.

“Ready to get it over with,” I admit.

She gives me an understanding smile.

“Take your seats and put away all study materials,” our professor announces, walking into the room with a stack of tests.

Good luck , Olivia mouths.

You too , I mouth back, even though I’m sure she doesn’t need it, and take the seat on the other side of Delilah.

Our professor rattles off instructions before passing out the multiple-choice tests. As soon as the paper lands in front of me and I read the first few questions, I know I’m fucked.

Is it A or C? It has to be C, right? I question myself. Or could it be D?

Fuck.

You have C for four questions in a row! That can’t be right, there can’t be that many in a row , I realize, scolding myself for being such a fucking idiot and not studying as much as I should have.

Not even thirty minutes in the legs of the chair next to me scrape against the floor, and Delilah stands confidently with her test in her hands, turning it in before exiting the classroom. How the hell can she be done so fast?

Five minutes later Rat Boy stands and turns his in, just as confident as Delilah and even a bit cocky.

Olivia is still in her seat, randomly flipping through pages to double-check her answers, but eventually she stands ten minutes after Rat Boy leaves to turn in her test. I catch her eyes just before she goes, and she flashes me a reassuring smile.

If only that smile could help me get a better grade than I’m sure I’m going to get.

When the teacher announces that there’s only five minutes left, I throw in the towel, giving up. If I don’t know now, I won’t know it five minutes from now either. Defeated, I get up and reluctantly hand my test in to the professor and walk out. There are only a few other kids left struggling.

Less than confident, I step into the hallway to find Olivia sitting on one of the benches, reading a textbook. She looks up at the sound of the door shutting behind me and gives me an anxious smile. “How did it go?” she asks.

I stop in my tracks. I hadn’t expected her to be waiting for me.

I know she means well, but now I feel like even more of an idiot by having her know I ate up all the time while she and her friends didn’t spend nearly as much and even walked out with confidence.

I’m not usually one to feel embarrassed by not doing well on a test, but this one is different.

Having her know I spent so much time on it is humiliating.

Playing off my bruised ego, I let out an overdramatic groan in response, plopping onto the bench next to her.

She lets out a giggle and, surprisingly, pats my thigh in sympathy. “Yeah, some of them were a little tricky,” she says genuinely, although I’m convinced that she’s just trying to spare my feelings.

“You waited for me, Finch?” I ask, my voice slightly teasing, although deep down I can’t deny the fact that she waited for me actually makes me feel a bit giddy.

Her cheeks heat up. “Not necessarily. I have some time before my next class starts, and the study lounges are usually packed this time of day.”

“Mh-mm. Just admit you’re obsessed with me,” I tease, bumping my thigh with hers.

She rolls her eyes, closing her textbook and stuffing it into her backpack. She stands, slinging her bag over shoulder before looking down at me expectantly.

I stand. “How long do you have until your next class starts?”

She looks down at the dainty silver watch on her wrist. “About forty minutes.”

“Have you eaten lunch yet?”

She shakes her head. “No, I was too nervous to eat before the test.”

Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes at her. “Finch, you’re a genius. You have nothing to worry about,” I assure her, slinging my arm over her shoulders and guiding her toward the cafeteria.

She gives me side-eye, scoffing humbly. “I am not a genius.”

“Whatever you say, Einstein Junior,” I taunt. “Just add a mustache and—”

She gasps, offended, and lightly swats me in the chest.

I laugh, catching her hand and holding the back of it to my chest for a few seconds longer. “I’m just teasin’, Finch. You’re way too pretty to be compared to Einstein. Physically at least.”

She blushes, shyly darting her gaze away from mine as we walk the rest of the way to the cafeteria.

“Time’s up!” Tracy announces, scurrying around the classroom to pick up our quizzes.

I hand in my quiz more willingly this time, feeling a bit more confident after actually studying for this one. I know I didn’t get 100 percent or anything like that, but I know I did better than the previous quizzes.

Once Tracy is finished collecting papers, she places them on her desk and grabs another pile sitting there. “Good news, class. Your professor has finished grading your tests from last week, and I can hand them back to you now,” she says, calling out names to have us come collect them.

“Olivia McCausland,” she calls, and Olivia stands, walking up to Tracy to grab her test. “Good job,” I hear Tracy say as she hands Olivia her test, smiling.

Olivia scans her test on the way back to her seat, sitting down and placing it face down on the table.

“What did you get?” Delilah asks, stretching over the table and snatching Olivia’s test. Olivia lunges to prevent her from doing so, but Delilah is too quick for her.

“Delilah!” Olivia scolds.

Delilah’s eyes grow wide, and then her brow furrows in confusion. “How?” she breathes out in disbelief and aggravation. She picks up her own test, frantically flipping through the pages, scanning and comparing her test to Olivia’s.

While Delilah is messing with the tests, Rat Boy gets called up and scurries back with his own test, looking pissed.

He scoots close to Delilah to search Olivia’s paper, intently comparing answers.

Between all the page swapping, I manage to see that both Delilah and Rat Boy got a 95 percent while Olivia achieved a 100.

“Bronx Miller.” Tracy calls my name, and I pop out of my seat to grab my test from her, expecting the worst. By the grim look on Tracy’s face, I know it’s not good.

I grab my test and immediately frown at the D+ scribbled in red ink staring back at me. Fuck.

Beyond frustrated with myself, I rid my face of any emotion when I return to my seat, not wanting to give away my horrible test score to my brainiac tablemates, feeling uncharacteristically embarrassed and ashamed.

I can only imagine the shit Rat Boy would give me if he knew my test score.

And Olivia . . . she’d probably think I’m the biggest idiot alive.

When I return to the table I take my seat and immediately shove my test into my backpack to hide it from any wandering, curious eyes.

“How did you do?” Delilah asks curiously, looking up at me from the pages in front of her.

“Well,” I lie, giving a casual shrug.

“Define well ,” Rat Boy presses, almost knowing.

“Can I have my test back now?” Olivia cuts in, unamused that her friends are fawning over her perfect test.

Delilah scowls, reluctantly handing Olivia back her test, but not before asking her numerous questions, wondering how she got some answers wrong.

While the girls debate, I feel Rat Boy’s beady gaze on me, staring me down.

There’s a hint of a malicious smirk tugging at his lips, like he knows how poorly I did on the test and is criticizing me for it.

You’re so stupid, Bronx! You’ll never amount to anything!

My eyes snap to Olivia, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s still explaining concepts to Delilah.

What the hell?

Shaking my head, I try my best to clear my thoughts, but the negative judgments keep crawling to the forefront of my mind. The whole lab period I fight with the voice swirling around my head, and Rat Boy’s shrewd smile and stare aren’t helping one bit.

“Bronx?”

I swing my gaze to Olivia to see that she is, in fact, speaking to me this time.

“Are you okay?” she asks, looking at me with concern.

“Yeah. Yeah,” I lie, realizing I’ve totally been zoning out on her this whole lab period.

She looks at me skeptically, but before she can confront me further Tracy dismisses the class.

“I’ll see you later,” I tell Olivia, ducking out the door in the opposite direction of her and her friends.

I walk down the hall, pacing at the end of it, trying to release some of the pent-up anger and irritation vibrating through me.

“What’s the matter, Bronx?” someone asks, feigning concern. I’d know that condescending voice anywhere.

I look over my shoulder to spot Adrianna standing behind me. She’s managed to squeeze her curves into the tightest pair of jeans, and her breasts are almost popping out of her ribbed black tank top.

Those piercing green eyes stare back at me, practically begging for a challenge.

Without a word, I charge her, gripping the back of her head and forcing her with my body to take a few steps back into a nearby empty classroom. As soon as we step inside, I kick the door shut behind us and Adrianna pushes me against the door before sealing her lips to mine.

Instinctively, I let out a groan, loving the feel of her plump pink lips and how her tongue swirls around mine. I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I can’t stop. As much as I can’t stand Adrianna most of the time, I have to admit, she’s one hell of a distraction and an immediate ego boost.

Adrianna roughly rakes her fingers through my hair and jumps, wrapping her legs around my torso.

With one hand supporting her back, I walk forward and blindly find the nearest desk, setting her on top of it.

With one swift movement, never breaking my lips from hers, I roughly shove the desk with her on it over to the door, blocking it to prevent anyone from coming in.

She giggles against my lips, momentarily breaking contact. “Eager, huh? I guess someone really missed me,” she taunts, and before she can say more to put me off, I slam my lips to hers to prevent her from saying anything else.

I practically sprint to English, running late after my little lunch hookup with Adrianna.

The AC greets me as soon as I get inside, and I pause right around the corner. Running my hands through my hair, I try to make myself seem as put together as possible, despite feeling anything but.

While my hookup with Adrianna was an impulsive decision that made me feel good in the moment, I feel disgusted now.

Once I compose myself, I walk into our English class with my head held high, masking my shame to save face in front of Olivia.

“Hey, Finch,” I say, plopping into the desk next to her.

“Hey.” She looks over at me, giving me that signature smile, but it falters after a few seconds.

I watch as a handful of emotions scroll over her face, her expression eventually landing on suppressed surprise.

“What’s up?” I ask hesitantly. I know my face is probably still flushed from my lunch break activities, but that can easily be excused as the heat outside.

“Uhh,” she stutters, chewing at the corner of her lip, debating whether to tell me or not. It’s then I realize she’s staring at my neck.

“Yeah?” I softly urge her, already swiping at my neck.

“You, uh, have something—” She pauses, pointing at her neck, just below her ear, to signal to me.

I swipe higher on my neck and peer at my fingers, finding a faint pink sparkly tint smearing them.

Fucking hell .

I let out an uneasy laugh, then excuse myself to the restroom to wash off Adrianna’s lingering lip gloss, damning everything to hell.