Love, Lies, and Deception(19)

Once the time hit two o’clock we were free. As everyone gathered their belongings, Ms. Tatum announced, “All right everyone, I hope you copied down all the notes. There’ll be a test on Friday, and as you all know your lab will count for a percentage of the grade. Study hard, and have a good afternoon.”

“What do you think our scores are?” Kristian asked, packing up his books. He sounded so excited, and it was a definite change of pace from his mood that morning.

Ms. Tatum had her head down, smiling at the opened bright blue notebook on her desk. It was mine and Kristian’s. “I don’t know. It all depends on what we made on our thesis papers we turned in.”

When all the students cleared out of the room, Kristian and I approached Ms. Tatum excitedly. Ever since he and I became friends, our competitive streaks in our classes probably hit an all new unhealthy level, but we enjoyed battling it out. If it wasn’t for him pushing me there was no way I’d be doing as good on my tests as I had.

The professor peered up at us with her green, beady eyes. “Okay you two. Are you ready for your bi-weekly report?” she asked jubilantly.

I nodded. “Yes, definitely, and please tell me I’m in the lead. I’m getting sick of hearing Kristian brag all the damn time. Plus, I don’t want to owe him two hundred dollars.”

Kristian elbowed me in the side. “Hey, I can’t help it that I’m smarter. Also, if you recall correctly, I did come back with a counteroffer to the money.”

Yeah, his counteroffer was running around the campus naked. That would’ve gotten me kicked out of school, or worse. When he requested that, I immediately agreed to the money. “Yeah, and that counteroffer would’ve landed me in jail,” I muttered nonsensically, rolling my eyes.

Ms. Tatum gaped at us, and suddenly laughed. “You two are a breath of fresh air. Although, I am curious to know what your terms were, Mr. Mabe, but I think it would be wise if I didn’t know.” She paused to look down at the notebook. “Okay, let’s see …” she began, “… Kristian, your average as of right now is 97.68, and Marissa, yours is 97.42. Your thesis brought you up higher, Ms. Chase, and if you score better than Mr. Holden on the exam then you’re sure to win. Good job, by the way.”

I squealed while Kristian crossed his arms over his chest, pretending to be angry. He was proud of me even though I was getting close to his score. “I’m almost there, Kris. Those two hundred dollars will make a nice deposit for my new apartment at the beach.”

“Speaking of which,” Ms. Tatum cut in. “Your thesis was amazing, Marissa. I didn’t know you wanted to continue on to marine biology. Where exactly are you going to go?”

I beamed. “Wilmington, Ms. Tatum. I’ll be attending the University of Wilmington in the fall. My friend Emily and I will be moving there this summer. I didn’t really decide to do this until a couple of months ago.”

“I’m impressed,” Ms. Tatum murmured. “I know a lot of you young folk like to get out into the world and make money instead of going to school.”

I shrugged. “I just want to explore all my options before I get too old to go back.”

She chuckled. “Smart girl, Ms. Chase.” She turned to Kristian and asked, “So what are you going to do after you graduate, Kristian? I know you’re studying forensics, which by the way is an interesting field. You have to have a strong stomach to endure seeing the things you’ll be seeing, my dear.”

Yes, you do, I thought to myself. There was no way in hell I could look at dead bodies or go to crime scenes to gather evidence. I loved watching television shows like Criminal Minds, but there wasn’t a single bone in my body that would want to do any of that type of research.

Kristian snorted arrogantly and brushed off his shoulders. “Trust me,” he remarked, smiling wolfishly, “solving problems is my specialty.”

Ms. Tatum grinned. “I have no doubt. Where will you look for jobs after you graduate?”

Kristian snuck a sideways glance at me and smirked. “Oh, I don’t know. I might try my luck on the coast. This one here …” he said, putting his arm around my shoulder, “… would be lost without me.”

Gasping, I squealed in his ear and glanced up at him. “Are you serious? You’re coming to Wilmington?”

He squeezed my shoulder. “That’s right,” he muttered, beaming down at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He grinned. “Because I wanted it to be a surprise. Justin is thinking about it, too.”

I wanted to laugh, cry, and jump around at the same time. I was more than happy that Emily was moving in with me, but having Justin and Kristian there was going to be phenomenal. They were all like my family, and now I wouldn’t have to miss them because they’d be right there with me. Our fun didn’t have to come to an end.

Ms. Tatum closed the notebook and set it aside. “Well, good luck you two. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. I haven’t had students with your optimism and spunk in a long time. It’s refreshing.”

“Thank you, Ms. Tatum,” Kristian and I said in unison before strolling out of her class, which was the last one for the day.

As soon as we were out the door, I smacked Kristian on the arm. “How could you not tell me you were thinking about moving to Wilmington? That’s so wrong in so many ways.”