Chapter 36: Finals
Santana, Nate, and Elijah all sit in a square in Elijah's living room. Binders lay open on the floor, but the three seniors have long-since gotten bored with studying and decided to take a brief (or not so brief) break with some snacks. They've done this each and every year since the three of them were nothing more than freshmen, but it's hard for them to care about these boring tests with so much more going on.
Elijah got accepted into the college he'd wanted for the major he wanted. He's been ecstatic ever since. He and his father have been helping Linus and Arrow apply for every scholarship that's offered and that they're eligible for. Elijah and his father are determined to get them into college.
Nate got accepted into a college that's five hours away from their small town, in a whole different state. He got into the robotics program that he'd been looking after for years. Though the distance makes him nervous, Nate is happy.
Santana got accepted into multiple colleges and she's still unsure what she wants to do and where she wants to go. On top of that, the time she has to tell Jason her feelings again is getting smaller and smaller. She just doesn't know if she can do it, though. He's rejected her once, and made it very clear that he's not ready for a relationship yet. She'll just have to live with it. The only day of the year she'll get to see him after that would be the alumni night for band: and who knows if he'll even want to see her. What if he forgets about her?
So, that's just the reason that the calculus binders full of final review are unimportant to them currently. They can't wait to graduate. The new senior leaders have been chosen for the marching band, and everything is set for next year. Elijah, Santana, and Nate aren't senior leaders anymore.
The three of them sit and gossip to each other. Nate and Elijah talk about their happy relationships, both smiling dreamily and causing Santana to roll her eyes.
She's glad that they're happy, really, it's just that she wishes she could be just as happy with someone. She still hasn't told her two best friends that her crush on Jason has come back.
Nate already knows. He's known it for a while, back when they were dating. He hasn't said anything about it to anyone because if there's one person that you don't want to have angry at you, it would be Santana Villanueva.
She's sick of calculating derivatives and wants the school year to be over already. Boy, she wishes there weren't so many snow days in the year. But, on the bright side, the Villanueva storage room (Ike's old bedroom) is beginning to fill up with things Santana will need for college. And, she won't have to endure any more summer gym! Santana is glad, but Elijah and Nate secretly adored summer gym, though they would never admit that.
"Should we get back to this?" Nate asks, holding up his math. Though it wouldn't seem like it, Nate is probably the biggest math nerd of the three, considering he wants to go into robotics and inventing. He's taken two math classes this year.
Elijah is the most musical of the three, though he's planning to major in biology to be a veterinarian. The only thing better than keeping stray animals as pets is helping people to keep their pets healthy. He took AP Biology, and found it not only interesting but also somewhat easier than his expectations.
Santana is still unsure of what she wants to do. She doesn't deal with people well enough to be a counselor, and her life experiences haven't really given way to any special interests. She just keeps thinking about it, flipping through papers with colleges and majors listed on them.
The three lay on the floor on their stomachs, eating strawberries dipped in sugar, eventually looking back down at their binders. Soon, the group gets to making tests for each other and then taking each other's tests. Santana's tests are always intentionally as challenging as possible, while Nate's are tolerable and Elijah's are easy.
After studying math, they decide to move onto English, and then review the science they share. Soon, though, the other subjects don't match up, and they have to stop their collaboration and study on their own. Elijah puts on instrumental music in the background, but soon, they end up gossiping instead of studying school.
But that's how it's always turned out for them, anyways.
Meanwhile, Kelley invites Bonnie and Posy over for a study sleepover weekend.
The three freshmen share more classes, so they're able to collaborate a lot more. Edward helps them out with anything they have questions about. Kelley, Posy, and Bonnie spend the majority of Saturday on their geometry vocabulary and equations. They make quizzes, ask questions, and finish their review packets together.
Then, they study English. They read the Sparknotes for each story and take the quizzes. They read passages and discuss the meanings: especially with Romeo and Juliet. Soon, they all start to act out the scenes, with Kelley as the ever-so-charming Romeo and the two girls rotating as Juliet. As it gets late, they make the mistake of reading Fanfiction for the stories and soon can't stop giggling.
Then, they study their history, talking about the Russian Revolution, among the other tidbits of world history they reviewed. Then, they move onto biology, which is Bonnie's worst subject but Posy's best. They all make flashcards for important terms and highlight their notes.
They decide to stop studying around 8:30, and Kelley makes some popcorn and they put on Tangled. Edward, who went to study with Rue and Skeeter, comes back in a particularly good mood and watches the movie with them. Bonnie and Posy each take one of Kelley's arms and lay on his shoulders, watching the television and picking at the large bowl of popcorn on his lap.
Edward goes over and sits on a recliner, away from the couch with the two girls and oblivious boy. Every once in a while, he looks over and grins.
Kelley doesn't understand that either of them have a crush on him, and is completely oblivious to the fact. The Hawthorne girl is much better at hiding it than Bonnie, but even Posy's crush is obvious. Edward can see it from miles and miles away, and it amuses him greatly.
After the movie ends, Edward bids them all good night and goes upstairs to his bedroom. The three freshmen get into their sleeping bags and turn off the lights. Kelley puts on a playlist of his favorite songs and it plays quietly in the background. Both girls have one song on that list that they introduced to him.
Both of the girls fall asleep and have very sweet dreams. Kelley smiles at them before dozing off himself.
Rue and Skeeter study together at her house, both Saturday and Sunday. Edward comes over Saturday and they all three collaborate on chemistry (the bane of Skeeter's existence, but a class that Rue's good at) and then talk about The Tempest, The Divine Comedy (just the Inferno, though), and the guidelines of a paper written in MLA format.
After that, Rue and Edward ask all their questions about The Hobbit, as he was in the Lord of the Rings fandom before they had to read the first book for school purposes. Skeeter happily answers their questions about Middle Earth, Bilbo Baggins, and even my preciooouuussss.
After that, Edward has to get back to the freshman, so Rue and Skeeter go on to organize their World Cultures notes and notebooks, and then go back to their English notes to make flashcards with prefixes, suffixes, and roots.
Soon, Skeeter starts humming songs from Schoolhouse Rock, and the attention goes completely away from studying school and goes to watching old VCR tapes of Schoolhouse Rock in Rue's basement and singling along very loudly. Of course, the couple passes it off as studying. They are working on some kinds of skills, after all, aren't they?
Later they end up giggling and get back to their books, as boring as the simple words on paper might seem.
They're both glad that they have each other, though.
Tanner's focus is often driven away from his books.
He was never the brightest: he's in honor's chemistry with the sophomores and Algebra II, a step behind the other juniors. Marvel is in the same boat as him, though, so the two try to meet up, to bond a little. After all, they'll be running a glee club together next year.
Marvel and Tanner sit together in Tanner's living room, not talking at all. Both boys have found that they like to study individually, so the company of the other has no effect on either of them.
The only noise in the room is the ticking of a clock, quietly, in the background, and the occasional flipping of a page in someone's materials. Finally, Tanner slams his history textbook shut and groans, massaging his temples. "Man, I don't think my brain can handle reading one more word."
Marvel sighs in relief. He'd stopped studying for real a while ago, but didn't have the heart to admit it.
"Good, I feel the same way," Marvel says.
Tanner smiles slightly. "You know, I think we'll be alright. I mean, we can be friends."
"Yeah. You wouldn't believe it, what we tolerated last year, when Nathalia and Mason hated each other."
"That doesn't sound like fun. I know Nathalia and I know how stubborn she is."
"Stubborn's an understatement." The two juniors laugh, which reassures Tanner greatly. He wasn't sure how they'd get along, but this gave him a lot of hope.
"Well, now that we're not studying, what do you want to do?"
Marvel shrugs. "Did you take summer gym?" The two boys don't share any interests whatsoever, so talking is really the only option, as far as Marvel can see.
"Yeah. Last year was really fun, even though Hoffsteader was being malicious."
"Bullies suck."
"Ha, you don't know the half of it."
An air of tension hangs in the air due to their differing opinions on Ben.
"How about the show? Nervous?"
"Terrified," Tanner confesses. "And we're going to have to speak on stage next year!"
"It's only a short speech," Marvel sighs, feeling the same apprehension.
"I'm an awful writer, though," Tanner frowns. Marvel nods, frowning as well.
"We need to recruit people," Tanner says desperately. "We need seniors."
"Poppy wanted to join."
"She'll be good," Tanner smiles and Marvel agrees. The two of them think of who else to possibly invite, but come up with nothing.
"We just need to find bandies," Marvel points out, "And make them into singers."
"It sounds so easy…" Tanner says, but he knows that it isn't.
"We'll make it, though," Marvel says, "With a lot of help from the others."
Tanner smiles, "Yeah. I have faith in us."
The week comes quicker than anyone would've liked. The math final is easy for Tanner, Marvel, and the sophomores. They are all able to solve each problem, and plug in the multiple choice selections to find which one makes it equal.
The calculus test, however, is not so simple, as the kids were not allowed to use graphing calculators.
English comes around, and is hard for the sophomores, but delightfully surprising for the freshmen and seniors. On Wednesday, the kids all study their unique languages, but find the tests to be very easy as the language classes are basic. Thursday brings a science test for each of them. Kelley is unsure of this one, and Skeeter is almost positive that he failed. He and Jason take the test first period and spend the whole rest of the day worrying about how terrible they think they did. The last final exam is history, a final that is simple for each of the grades.
Now the kids are especially excited.
Tuesday is their last day of school!