The Beautiful Monster

"Believe in yourselves," she said. She gave Zoe a pointed look since she was still being stubborn.

"Come on. We should take our seats," Elias said as he motioned for them to follow him inside the classroom as more people arrived.

Alyssa could feel the nervousness in the room. People hurriedly flipped through their notes and textbooks for last minute studying.

Some just fiddled around on their phone. They were either incredibly confident or didn't care at all about the test.

She wished she could be that chill, but she had always strived for the best grades she could muster.

Once Alyssa sat down in her usual seat, she pulled out a mechanical pencil and set it on her desk before drawing in a deep breath.

She knew what she needed to do. She had the information to do it. She had been through more tests than she could count, and this was just another one to deal with.

The mental pep talk calmed her nerves some as she watched Dr. Pierce and his teaching assistant arrive. It was almost time, and she noticed people shifting nervously in their seats.

She ran over the sleep cycles in her head a few times, trying to remember each and every detail that she studied.

"Good morning, everyone. Today, we're taking the midterm exam. I hope you all have gotten a good night's rest and at least reviewed the material," Dr. Pierce said from the stage as he pulled a stack of papers out of his messenger bag.

Elias turned around in his seat and shot Alyssa a quick smile.

"Good luck," he said.

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"Good luck," Alyssa replied with a glowing face. She couldn't wait to properly talk to him after the test.

It only took Dr. Pierce an hour to put the scores into their online gradebook, so her, Zoe, and Elias were all going to wait and read their results together.

Alyssa glanced over at Zoe, who lifted her eyebrows in a teasing manner. She shook her head as she glanced down at her desk.

She wished that Elias would make some sort of move so that she knew how he felt about her. It was tiring trying to guess.

When Dr. Pierce and his teaching assistant passed out all the tests, Alyssa breathed in deeply before writing her name on the side of the scantron she was using to record her answers. She hoped that there weren't any discussion questions.

Like anyone else, she hated those, and they were always worth way more points than the other questions.

Luckily, all of the questions were multiple choice. She figured that was easier for Dr. Pierce to grade quickly.

Even teachers were scrambling to get everything done in time. She was looking forward to this week being over and celebrating all of her hard work.

Alyssa tapped the end of her mechanical pencil against her chin as she read one of the conditioning questions.

She filled in the B bubble on her scantron before moving on. She flew through some parts of the exam. Other parts made her stop and think for a few minutes.

All in all, she was one of the first ones out of the classroom in under forty-five minutes. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she lingered out in the hallway, waiting for Elias and Zoe to get done.

She had a feeling that Zoe wouldn't be far behind her, but Elias would take a little longer. He was the most nervous. He was going to triple check his answers.

Like she expected, Zoe came nearly flying out of the classroom a few minutes later. She groaned loudly. Her voice echoed up and down the hallway.

"That was so long," she said as she plopped down on one of the benches in the hallway.

Alyssa sat down next to her. It was a long test, but at least it was multiple choice. It would've taken way longer if there were discussion questions or fill in the blank questions.

"How do you think you did?" Alyssa asked her.

Zoe shrugged.

"I think I passed. I knew at least fifty percent for sure," she replied.

"That's good odds," Alyssa said in a comforting manner. She tried to hide a smile.

"Oh, shut up," Zoe smirked as she pushed her shoulder against Alyssa's. "I bet you got an A."

Alyssa laughed as she steadied herself. 

"Maybe. I hope so," she replied. She knew a majority of the questions, but some did trip her up a little. It would be close, and she was anxious of the results.

"You'll do just fine," Zoe assured her.

The door to the classroom then swung open as Elias stepped through. He looked slightly flushed as he moved to sit next to Alyssa.

"That was not fun," he huffed. "I think I did okay, though. I remembered the flashcards."

"See? I told you those flashcards work," Alyssa told them as she smiled at them. Once she introduced flashcards into her studying sessions, her grades went up on her tests. She wanted to pass her tips and tricks on to them.

"Yeah, yeah, smarty pants. Let's go to the café and await our fates," Zoe smirked as she motioned for them to follow her down the hallway toward the exit.

Alyssa walked at Elias' side, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye every so often. He looked like he was calming down more.

"I'm sure you did great," she told him encouragingly. He got better and better with each study session, and she had drilled topic after topic into his head until he got it down. She believed in him.

"Thanks," Elias told her sincerely.

Zoe glanced back at them.

"Without Alyssa and her persistence, we would've failed," she pointed out.

Alyssa glanced down bashfully. She wasn't used to being prided on so much, but it felt nice. She had worked hard to get them all prepared for this test, and she hoped that paid off.