The school-bell rang, and I was forced to sit beside him once more. He ignored me, didn’t apologize, nor did he have anything else to say. 

I, too, decided to pay him no mind for once, forcing my gaze forward and never towards him. I was sure I could survive this class, would thrust myself deep into the upcoming test, and I would completely forget Oliver was even sitting beside me. 

But our neighborhood at the desk came to a rather quick, surprising end, when the physics teacher told Oliver to move into the back row. 

I gulped when I heard those words out of our teacher’s mouth.

“Why?” Oliver asked in a deep growl, his annoyance barely hidden away in his voice. In fact, he made sure it was heard. Mr Roth and Oliver seemed to have some kind of history going on, with Oliver having been the troublemaker for most of his classes last year. 

Mr Roth tucked his hands into his hips, a loud sigh to follow as he rolled his eyes. 

“You sit next to Finn, and expect me to trust you not to cheat on the test?”

"Huh?" Oliver hissed. 

 

My heart practically stopped, eyes bulging out of my head. All blood rushed out of my face once more, and I wished to disappear as quickly as possible when Oliver, with his angry breath, stared at me, digging holes through me with his eyes. That’s not how it was … I had sat next to Oliver, not the other way around, and we both knew that.

"Last row, please. Go on."

"Why can't he move?" 

"Don't make a fuss, Oliver." From our teacher's side, that was the last of it. Discussion ended. 

Oliver didn’t know just yet how good of a student I was, and how most teachers praised me as their favorite. It wasn’t something I was necessarily proud of, but of course, it made me happy to be recognized that way. 

But for Oliver to find out this way, and to be accused of wanting to cheat simply because I sat beside him … I should have said something. Corrected our teacher, and helped him out. Especially when Oliver wouldn’t cease to stare at me, eyes turning into those of a rabid animal. His hands turned to fists, even, trembling atop the desk. 

Great. If it wasn’t for what happened before, I was sure to become his victim, now. Now, he hated me, for sure. I gulped, and was terrified of the lunch break to come. I knew I should have said something, but my body was frozen in fear, and instead, I lowered my head and avoided all kinds of gazes, trying to pretend they didn’t exist. 

When Oliver jerked upwards, his chair violently dropping backwards onto the ground, its loud bang echoing through the classroom, I flinched. He snatched his pencil case off the desk, stomped past me and into the last row of the room, and never even bothered fixing the chair he’d smashed over. 

Mr Roth shook his head and grumbled something I couldn’t quite hear, and once more, Oliver forced a chair to squeak as he dragged it across the floor, only to sit on it right after. 

Even now, I felt his gaze on my back, burning through my clothes. I didn’t dare turn around, stared down at my notes and pretended to study for the upcoming test. Dammit. 

I didn’t want Oliver to become my enemy, that much had been clear from the very first day of school. I’d been nothing but nice to him so far, had introduced myself and didn’t bother him, realized he enjoyed being left alone. I tried my very best to not be a nuisance, and now, within only a few minutes, 

I’d ruined it all. He hated me, didn’t he? He totally did. 

The test wasn’t all that hard — I finished rather quickly, but we weren’t allowed to leave until class finished. To kill time, I read over my test over and over again, double and triple checking all the results, but eventually, I couldn’t help but turn my head around. 

There he was. 

Sitting in the very last row, Oliver didn’t appear all that angry anymore. Instead, he hunched over his test, chewed on the plastic lid of his pen, and pressed numbers into his calculator, only to scratch his head every now and then. 

I could see clearly how his shoulders would slump in confusion when things didn’t work out the way he expected it to, and how it annoyed him. He clicked his tongue, scratched through his answers multiple times, and tried again. 

A slight smile emerged on my lips. 

He’s trying his best, I thought — or so, it appeared, and that was almost adorable. He wouldn’t have cheated by writing off my answers, I was sure. It was unfair to think so just because he was Oliver, and I was Finn. Right now, I saw him try his very hardest. 

I stared, now, completely lost in my thoughts. As I watched him, completely stumped about the questions he was asked in his test, Oliver leaned back, grumbling and sighing. All the sudden, his head lifted, his eyes meeting mine almost instantly, and I twitched around, a cold sweat rushing over my body.

Already, I expected him to wait for me outside of class, to drag me into the restrooms, and to beat me up for the humiliation he’d faced. 

“What am I gonna do? Hell, he’s totally pissed,” I whispered to myself, my hands rushing into my hair, pulling at it in desperation. 

Class ended, my heart raced, and I packed my stuff as fast as possible, wishing to flee before he could catch me, but before I knew it, he’d already proven me wrong.

He came back to our desk to pick up his backpack, and in his usual hurry, he packed his books, pencils, and disappeared. 

"Huh?" A relieved chuckle escaped me. Without ever paying me any mind, he left the classroom, and I was spared, only to begin to wonder where he rushed off to during his breaks.