June has been going by quickly and without another incident. But I've seen less of Raven's apartment, and less of the abandoned school, and more of my desk in my room than ever. Final exams are soon and I've been spending as much time as possible studying. Mostly to stay on Laura's good side, because I dread to think what might happen, how she'd act, if I failed an exam of all things. But also because I happen to care about my grades, back to my old self in that regard.

Ryder, on the other hand, doesn't care as much as I do. He wants to pass, of course, but he also likes spray painting all corners of the building that he hasn't already touched, or else painting over old art. Not to mention getting stoned. Sometimes I wish I was in there with him instead of trying to absorb mathematical equations and French grammatical rules.

"You know, I wonder why I'm even doing this sometimes," I say as I rest my hands on my palms, my elbows propped up on the cafeteria table.

"I wonder that all the time," Ryder says back. Unlike me, he doesn't have his nose stuck in a book, or a hand cramping over pages of notes. He's just peacefully eating his lunch.

"I've been studying so much the days are just bleeding into each other. I don't even know what day it is today."

Ryder is quiet for a few seconds as he thinks, then says, "It's a Friday. Uh, June twenty-sixth."

"Jesus Christ," I say as I lie my head on the table. "Less than a week 'til exams start."

"Guess you're not coming over tonight for a movie?" Ryder guesses.

I shake my head without lifting it from the table.

He groans. "You have to be more like me sometimes."

"What?" I ask, finally looking up at him tiredly. "You want me to bleach my hair? Pierce my lip? Or— I got it— you want me to fail tenth grade?"

He looks at me sideways, exasperated. "Actually, on second thought, you need a nap."

"I need a helmet that when you put in on, all the shit that you're supposed to know just zaps into your brain. I'd be a fucking genius and I wouldn't feel like crying when I look at the quadratic formula."

I'm saved from listening to another smart ass reply from Ryder when he freezes suddenly, listening to the chatter of the cafeteria. He says slowly, "Are the kids behind us speaking French?"

I strain my ears. "Yeah, they are."

"Are they in your French class?"

"No, I think they're in the other one, but they're in my history class."

"Well, what are they saying?"

"I can't just eavesdr—" I cut myself off when I hear one of the girls say my name and that's when I start listening to how they're saying I showed up out of nowhere, made one friend with the "weird gay kid," and somehow got to the top of my class within weeks. How it wasn't fair and I should just go back to wherever I came from.

"Well?" Ryder asks.

"They're... they're taking about me," I whisper, "so keep it down."

He lowers his voice and leans across the table closer to me. "Want me to go tell them to shut the fuck up?"

"No, I'd rather mess with them."

Ryder grins, rubs his hands together excitedly. "Now that's what I mean by being more like me sometimes. What are you gonna do?"

"Just watch." I get up from the table and go around to the one behind Ryder, then casually sit next to the girls who abruptly stop their conversation and look at me with a mix of confusion and suspicion. Before either of them can say anything, I lean forward with fake innocence on my face and dripping from my voice. "Were you guys speaking French?"

"Uh, yeah," one of them, I think her name is Alisha, says. She has a high, dark ponytail and glasses which she pushes up the bridge of her nose as she asks, "Why are you asking?"

"I've always wanted to learn French," I say with that same innocence. "Mind teaching me how to say something?"

The girls look at each other briefly. The one who hasn't said anything yet— Julie, or Jenny, or something that starts with a J— shrugs and says, "Yeah, whatever. What do you want to learn?"

I look down at the table as I pretend to think for a couple seconds, tap my fingernails on the surface, then look up as though a lightbulb has gone off in my head. "How about, 'I speak French,' that should be easy, right?"

"Yeah, super easy," Alisha says, then clearly pronounces how I should say that sentence in French.

I pretend to trip over my words, then pretend to give up and say, "Hold on, say it again, but more slowly this time."

She turns her face away and rolls her eyes, but isn't discreet about it in the slightest, then we spend the next minute practicing how to say the simple phrase, "I speak French," in French. When I've finally said it correctly, I slap a proud smile on my face and say, "Okay, I think I'm ready for something harder." Before either of them can argue, which I'm sure they're desperate to do, I say, "How about we add onto that sentence and make it harder?"

"Fine, but let's make it quick. The bell's about to ring," Alisha says, clearly annoyed.

"Okay, how about, 'I speak French... and I understood everything you were saying about me earlier so maybe you should shut up?'"

It takes a moment for them to realize what I actually said, but when they do their eyes widen.

J-girl tries to stutter out a defence, "Um, we weren't... it's not what it—" She turns to her friend for help, panic written all over her face and satisfaction on mine.

Just then, the bell rings.

"Saved by the bell," Alisha says under her breath, and drags her friend to their next class.

When I turn around, I grin at Ryder, giving him a double thumbs up. He's doubled over laughing and gasps, "Did you see their faces!?"

"Yeah, Ryde. I did," I say, then I quickly gather up my stuff from the lunch table and head off to my next class.

• • •

There's a knocking at my bedroom door. Two short raps. I push my chair away from my desk before standing up and opening the door. Laura stands there, of course, because who else would it be?

"I know you're studying, so I didn't want to disturb you, but I made you something to eat before I go to work." She hands me a plate with a PB&J.

I thank her and then she tells me she'll be home by nine o'clock tonight. I tell her I'll probably still be studying by then, and then she leaves. The only break from frying my brain with my school notes I've taken since I got home from school was to text Emerald and all the guys about today's event in the cafeteria.

Frank was the most proud of me and Emerald couldn't believe it because I "barely ever stand up for" myself. Her words, not mine, though I couldn't deny it.

A couple hours later, when my head is lying on my desk and I'm half asleep and probably drooling over my history textbook, I'm jolted awake by a sound outside my window. It happens again a few moments later, a sudden tap that bounces off the glass.

I spin around in my chair just as a pebble bounces off the window and, when I cross the room and pull back the curtain, I spot Raven standing on the ground outside. I'm happy to see them, but what makes me even more happy is when I notice Jersey the cat behind them on a leash.

I quickly push the window open, stick my head out, and call down to them, "You put the cat on a leash!?"

"Yeah, she likes it!" Raven calls back.

"What are you even doing here?"

"Ryder said you've been studying and, like, that's it. I thought you might need a break, pet a cat."

I glance back at my work on my desk, then back down at Raven and Jersey with her adorable face, and say decidedly, "Fuck it. Come in, Laura's still gonna be gone for a couple hours."

As soon as Raven reaches my room I take the cat from them and sit on my bed with her in my lap. She cuddles up against me and immediately starts purring. "You're gonna get fur all over me, aren't you girl?" I say to her. "And I'm gonna have to change my clothes before Laura asks where the fuck it all came from."

Despite the fur, I really wish I had a cat. I think it could help on lonely nights, or when I need a distraction or someone to talk to that isn't myself.

Raven, rifling through the stack of paper on my desk, says, "I'm so glad I'm done with this school shit."

"I don't blame you. What's Ryder up to? Finally studying?"

Raven nods. "Yeah."

"Oh," I say, raising my eyebrows. "I was joking, I didn't really think he was studying."

"Well, he said something about how you reminded him that maybe he doesn't want to fail tenth grade again?"

And so I tell Raven about that conversation in the cafeteria today. Then, delighted that Ryder didn't already tell them himself (albeit slightly surprised, but not as surprised as I was to find out he really is studying), I tell them about how I messed with those girls. We both agree that nothing I ever do in the rest of my high school career will top it.

• • •

just a filler :/