16 16) FINAL EXAMS

Time passed by quickly and it was already the end of the year. Cecil and Noah's relationship was neither too close nor too far. There was always a thin line dividing them and it was their friendship. Neither of them dared to cross that line. They were both walking on thin ice and none of them dared to press it hard in fear of breaking it. They were just cherishing their precious moments as friends.

The final exam of this semester was coming near. All of the students were busy preparing for their exams. There was always revision and extra classes. Greenwood High School was always strict regarding their study matters. There was a great value of exams. The first student in their class would get a scholarship next year. There was a competitive atmosphere in every class. Cecil was also the same. He had always wanted to get a scholarship so that some of the financial load would get off his mother's shoulder. There always used to be fierce competition between Cecil and Aerial for the first position in their class. They would always lose to each other just by 1/2 points.

Last year, he was defeated by Aerial but this time he wanted to be first when they transferred to grade seven next year. Becoming first of the class was also a matter of pride for him. So, these days he was always concentrating on his studies. It was already winter. Everywhere there was the winter solstice. Their exam would end before Christmas.

Cecil was prone to cold so, every winter he would dress heavily. After dressing he would look like a furball. This time he was wearing a woolen black cap, a scarf around his neck and three layers of clothes inside his blazer. He would put on gloves too. When Noah saw Cecil like that he just laughed and hugged Cecil saying he was warm.

That day, they were having a maths revision class. Cecil always had problems with maths. In fact, maths was his hatest subject. If someday god asked him what would he like to delete permanently from this world, he would say maths without hesitating. The teacher had given them some problen=ms to solve and Cecil was having a hard time solving them.

He was furrowing his eyebrows and sometimes fixing his glasses. He turned to Noah to look at his answers but found Noah staring at him intensely who knew how long. Cecil literally got chills.

"What?"

Noah smiled and said, "Nothing. I haven't solved this problem as well if you wanted to see."

Cecil obviously knew it. What could he expect from Noah? Cecil knew Noah didn't like studying. He was wondering how Noah would pass the exams.

Noah then again said, "I am waiting for you to solve all these problems, the first boy so I can copy it. Hurry up."

Cecil glared at Noah. He was also having a hard time, okay. Don't expect too much from him too. Before turning to look at Aaron's answer, he looked at Noah's right hand. He was wearing a black glove and of course, that black glove belonged to Cecil. Cecil himself didn't know why but since the first day he wore gloves, Noah grabbed the ownership of one of his gloves. Every time he came to school, he had to give one glove to Noah.

Seeing Cecil glaring at him, Noah remembered a cat. Noah never got along with cats. Every time he got close to cats, they would glare at him raising their furs. At this time he thought, Cecil looked more like a cat instead of a little bunny.

Cecil finally solved the problems with the help of Aaron and sighed in relief. He looked on his watch and found still ten minutes were remaining before the bell rings. He turned to Noah was saw Noah looking at him. He didn't know what Noah was thinking. He pushed his copy towards Noah and said, "Copy fast. Only 10 minutes are remaining."

Noah smiled at Cecil and started copying answers. He finished within five minutes. Their maths teacher, Ms Ava had already started collecting their answer copies. They submitted their copies in time.

After the class was over, everyone went out of the class. Katherine had gone out with some of her other friends while Samaira was still in the class talking with her deskmates. Cecil didn't know since when Samaira and he started to drift afar. They would occasionally talk but not as frequently as before. Cecil didn't know how he had angered Samaira.

As Cecil was deeply thinking, Noah, hugged his shoulder and talked in a coquettish tone.

"What would I do without you, Cecil? Thanks for showing me the answers. You are my lifesaver."

Cecil also smiled and shrugged off his shoulders. He would always help Noah. As long as Noah needed him, he would always be there for him. Just as Cecil had decided before, he would always be with Noah as long as Noah needed him.