Eric laughed nervously, glancing at his peers. “I’m in trouble now.” He added more to the air than to anyone. Getting no response, he rushed off to Master Brown’s room mumbling under his breath, “well I was just saying…”
Master Brown’s bedroom was split into her office and her sleeping quarters. She was at her desk, her spectacles on, writing letters. She took off her brown speckled glasses as Eric approached her. He handed her the thick sealed envelope.
“So how was the testing?” Master Brown asked conversationally as she opened the package.
“Long.” Eric ran his fingers through his hair boyishly. Master Brown smiled knowingly.
“Yeah. He’s a very thorough evaluator, but he captures how people think. You’ve already had so much instruction, I didn’t want to have you retake everything.” She was looking through the papers. Just scanning them. He watched her brow furrow, confused. Eric swallowed, a sinking anticipation in his stomach. “Eric, were you applying yourself? Did you understand what he was asking?” Master Brown set the papers down and looked up at Eric. The soft glow of her desk light made her seem older.
“Uh.” Eric smiled. Shuffled his feet. “Yeah…”
“Okay.” Master Brown nodded, glancing at the papers again. “Okay, well you weren’t lying.” She pressed the score sheets down with her palm. “I’ll go through these later. Just glancing through though, I think we’ll find someone to tutor you over the summer and in the fall we’ll place you into a class.” She patted the paper, filing that thought away for later. “Tomorrow you have nothing, but on Wednesday you have a chemistry test, which will be similarly long. On Thursday you have a biology test, and on Friday you have physics. You have the weekend off. “ Master Brown smiled at him. “It will take a while, but by fall you will be on track again.”
She waved him off in a playful dismissal gesture. Eric laughed a little bit and left. His hands in his pockets.
* * *
His original optimism faded with Jamie’s silence. Bridgett and Dahlia had started a lively conversation about Bridgett’s homeland to cover the awkwardness. Jamie drove on the way over, Bridgett taking shotgun. Leaning over her left shoulder to talk to Dahlia in the backseat.
He sat kiddy-corner from Jamie in the booth, and was mostly silent during the meal. Talking to order. The conversation had shifted to boys. Dahlia, apparently, hadn’t met anyone during the spring quarter, nor during the summer quarter so far.
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