Meet Me After Class

Chapter 50: A Ticket to New York

Ugh, finals week is finally over! As I walked out of my last exam, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Penny and Melissa were waiting for me outside, just as anxious to be done.

"Thank god that's over!" Penny exclaimed, giving me a high five. "I really thought my brain was going to explode during that chemistry final. So many formulas!"

"I know, I barely kept it together in calculus," I said. "But we made it! No more pens, no more books..."

"No more teacher's dirty looks!" Melissa chimed in, laughing. We all giggled at the old-school rhyme.

The three of us linked arms and skipped towards the parking lot, giddy with end-of-finals delirium. I was running on about five hours of sleep total during finals week, so the post-test haze was real.

"Just two more weeks until graduation!" Penny grinned. "Can you believe high school is almost over?"

"Barely," I admitted. "It feels just like yesterday, when we were nervous freshmen trying to open our lockers." We all cringed, thinking back four years.

"Ugh, don't remind me of the awkward days," Penny said. "Though watching you get your backpack stuck in the locker that one time was pretty hilarious."

"Oh my god, I tried to block that memory out!" I groaned, my cheeks flushing. Penny and Melissa just laughed.

Okay, so maybe some of my early high school moments were funny in hindsight. But I've come a long way since freshman year!

As we walked to the parking lot, I felt that mix of nostalgia and excitement you get towards the end of senior year. Just two more weeks as high school students, and then it's off to start the next chapter.

Where did the time go? I couldn't help but smile thinking about it. Graduation, here we come!

As we walked towards Melissa's car, I suddenly caught sight of a familiar face across the parking lot—Adam. He was walking with Jay, headed towards his mom's car.

My stomach dropped, and my palms got sweaty. Seeing him now brought up a wave of emotions. I missed him. I missed joking around with him. I missed our weekend shift at Brown's and reading marathons.

As I watched him load his backpack into the car, I wondered if his finals had gone okay. I knew he'd ace calculus. Part of me wanted to walk over and ask him how his exams went. But the tension between us hung in the air, even from a distance.

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I snapped out of my Adam-related thoughts and pulled it out to see a new text—from Mr. Scott.

My cheeks flushed pink. Mr. Scott and I hadn't spoken since finals week. In class, he had been consistently casual and polite, just like his usual friendly self with everyone else. He hadn't called or texted me either, so receiving a text from him now was quite a surprise.

"Earth to Wendy!" Melissa said, waving her hand in front of my face. "You ready to go?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry," I muttered, tearing my eyes away from my phone. As I climbed into the passenger seat of her car, I opened Mr. Scott's text with shaky hands and read:

Hey, finals are finally done! Meet you at the library? The same spot where we worked on your play.

My heart skipped about ten beats. Oh, my god.

"Umm, I just remembered I forgot something back in my locker," I told Penny and Melissa, fumbling to undo my seatbelt. "You guys, go ahead!"

Penny gave me a knowing look. "We can wait for you, Wendy. It will literally take a minute to run in and get whatever you forgot."