The clock ticked its endless tick. It always ticked. Ellie felt anxious as a result of it. It made her feel like she was on some time limit. She glanced around the room at the other kids. They were all absorbed in their test. She couldn't handle it. None of these questions made sense to her. It felt like she'd never even been introduced to this material. A failing grade was inevitable.
After class, Marco approached Ellie in the hallway. "I think I aced it!" He exclaimed. She nodded to be polite and continued walking alongside Marco, not really paying attention to him. "Today has been great," he went on. "I love birthdays." He hinted to her.
Ellie stopped dead in her tracks, remembering. "Oh God Marco...I'm really sorry, I completely forgot..." She felt terrible.
"It's okay," he shrugged a little disappointed. Marco had hoped she'd be waiting until the end of the day to try and make him beleive she forgot, and then really end up doing something great. "I understand."
"I...I..." Ellie's voice drifted off, as Marco and her separated ways in the hallway. She sighed, took a deep breath and continued walking. Although, she wasn't looking where she was going and soon ran into somone. "Sorry..." She started.
An obnoxious laugh met her apology. "Hon, you might want to watch where you're walking next time. I don't associate with the dark side, remember?" It was Paige.
Ellie just shook her head and kept walking towards her locker which she shared with Ashley. She was secretly releived that Ashley wasn't there when she arrived. "It'll make for a quick exit," she thought. Ellie opened the locker, and started gathering the books into her backpack. She was about to shut it and leave when a familiar voice stopped her.
"Ellie! Wait!" Ashley called from a ways down the hall. Ellie sighed and waited for her friend. Ashley neared and and gave an exasperated smile. "Where have you been all day?? You're suddenly the hardest person to reach!" She joked, gathering her things into her backpack. "I looked for you at lunch but you weren't there." Ashley waited for an explanation which Ellie had hoped not to have to give.
"I uh...I had to go to the computer lab to do some research for my English paper." She lied, but thankfully Ashley bought it.
"Oh alright, well, do you want to do something? I was thinking we could go check out that new music store at the mall."
Ellie hesitated. "I..well...I really have a lot of homework to be doing...the teachers just piled it on today," She told Ashley, trying to sound let down.
"But...it's Friday..." Ashley told her, realizing that Ellie was acting a bit stranger. "If you don't want to thats fi-" Ellie cut her off.
"You're right...I have the whole weekend for homework. Let's go."
"Great," Her best friend told her. "We can drop our backpacks off at my house." Together they walked out of Degrassi High, towards Ashley's house.