Trapped in a Room with the Top Student for Better Scores Chapter 08

Trapped in a Room with the Top Student for Better Scores Chapter 08

The “Improve Your Grades or You Can’t Leave” room was quiet. Just the scratch of pens on paper.

A cup of milk and a bag of snacks sat in front of me.

Declan sat across from me again.

His hair was half dry, falling into his eyes. He wasn’t looking at me, just spinning his pen.

Something was off. Why was he mad again?

He caught me staring and looked up.

“Stuck on a problem, so you want to talk?”

He held out his palm. “Chatting isn’t free.”

I reached for it without thinking.

He was faster. His fingers curled away before I could touch them.

“Get back to work,” he said. “Score high enough to make the AP track, and we’re both out of here.”

Seeing him every night had almost made me forget.

He didn’t choose this. Stay trapped with someone long enough, and eventually they’d get sick of

you.

Once the room let us go, we’d go back to being strangers.

That night, I worked through old exams until my brain was mush. The system stayed silent: no

rewards.

A summer storm rolled in. The air went thick and wet.

It rained straight through to the next afternoon, then finally stopped.

Lunch rolled into PE, and our class had the period at the same time as the AP class.

The guys from both classes threw together a pickup basketball game. Declan sat on the bleachers, long legs stretched out, impossible not to notice.

“Hey, you!” The gym teacher waved me over. I was the only one not watching the game. He handed me a stack of cones to haul back to the equipment room.

On my way across the field, I saw a group of girls heading toward Declan with water bottles.

I stacked the cones in the corner of the equipment room.

I was about to head back when the system chimed in my head.

Ding.

[Congratulations on raising your scores. Reward unlocked!]

[By now you two should be comfortable enough for this, right?]

[Physical contact required: touch your partner’s face for five minutes. Time remaining: fifteen

minutes.]

I stopped dead.

Why was the window so short this time?

At least it was PE, so the rules were looser, and I’d snuck my phone out.

Declan’s text popped up.

[Where are you?]

[Outside the equipment room.]

No reply.

I looked around. Students drifted past under the trees nearby. The equipment room was the only

spot with any privacy.

I went back inside and waited.

I’d barely stepped inside when I heard footsteps.

My heart jumped. I ducked behind the shelves and peered through the gap.

Not him.

Two guys from the AP class, grabbing a different ball.

“I’m dying out there. Let’s go.”

“We’re tied with the other class. Where the hell is Declan? We need him to close it out.”

“No idea where he went. We’ll find him after.”

A whistle blew outside, and they left.

The room went still. A ceiling fan turned overhead, barely moving the air. Cicadas hummed through

the window.

I checked my phone. Still nothing from Declan.

All I could do was wait.

I glanced toward the back of the room. The last row of shelves was darker, more tucked away.

I started walking toward it. I’d made it to the next-to-last row when a hand reached out from behind a shelf and pulled me in.

I yelped.

My back hit his chest. I tried to look up, and the back of my head cracked into his jaw.

He let out a low grunt, his chest vibrating against my spine.

I didn’t need to turn around. The lime scent told me everything.

The guys had mentioned it before class: Declan had played the first half at lunch, then ducked into

the locker room to shower.

His hands were ice cold, and he smelled clean, like soap and open air.

The next second, his palm pressed over my mouth and he pulled me deeper against him.

The door banged open. Those two guys were back.

“Crap, I almost forgot my phone.” One of them grabbed it, and they were gone.

The door shut behind them.

Declan dropped his hand and stepped back, putting space between us.

[Time remaining: five minutes.]

The aisle between shelves was barely wide enough for two.

“The system didn’t specify who had to do it.” His voice was flat, all business. “You touch me.”

He found a stool, sat, and folded his long legs to fit the space.

I was so tired of these rewards pushing us somewhere we weren’t supposed to go.

“Let’s just take the punishment.”

“I’ll do your problem sets for you.”

He’d agree. Neither of us wanted this.

But he said, “I don’t want the punishment. I want the reward. Is that a problem?”

I blinked.

Did competition kids hate problem sets that much too?

Fine. It was just a face.

I nodded and reached for him.

He leaned back, just out of reach.

I thought he’d changed his mind.

He asked something completely unrelated.

“The pen. Am I getting what he turned down?”

The question came out of nowhere, but I understood immediately.

“No,” I said quietly. “I made a new one.”

He searched my face for a few seconds, then leaned back in.

I reached out again. Declan tilted his jaw up, eyes fixed on mine, unblinking.

“Can you close your eyes?”

His brow arched, that insufferable confidence bleeding through. “Why?”

“Close them.”

He drew out a low “oh,” and let his eyes fall shut. His lashes flickered once.

I touched his face. Cool skin, sharp jaw, every angle precise.

His eyes snapped open. The look in them pinned me in place.

I started to pull away.

He caught my hand and pressed it back against his face.

“Time’s not up.”

His voice was lower than I’d ever heard it.

My fingers were trembling, and he could feel every bit of it.

Shadows moved past the window. The distant thud of a basketball drifted in.

“Move your hand.”

He said it like it was nothing. “Or it won’t count.”

I didn’t move.

My hand had gone completely numb.

I stared at the window behind him, the trees outside it, the ants on the branches that I absolutely

could not see from this distance.

Anywhere but his face.

He laughed, soft and low, and something in my chest unclenched.

I let him guide my hand, moving it where he wanted: slow, aimless, in no particular direction.

The system chimed: [Reward completed!]

[Great job! Keep supporting each other. Good luck on the next exam!]

He let go.

Then asked, out of nowhere: “That chemistry guy. The one who’s top in chemistry?”

Why was he bringing that up? The guy had a name.

“His grades are solid,” I said. “Been first in chem since freshman year, apparently.”

Declan hummed. Then, for no apparent reason: “I’m first, too.”

I tilted my head. So?

Everyone knew that. What was there to brag about?

I was first in English. You didn’t see me going around announcing it.

Wait.

Declan never bragged about his grades. Ever.

It clicked. I grinned, matching his flat tone.

“Oh. You’re first, too.”

He leaned back, realizing a beat too late what he’d just done, and turned his head to dodge my eyes.

I pressed my advantage. He kept turning away, and I waved my hand in front of his face.

“Wow, you’re in first place? I had no idea!”

“Wait, who? Who’s in first place?”

He caught my wrist, laughed under his breath, and stood, leaning in close.

“You’re not gonna stop, are you?”

Our eyes locked.

His grip on my wrist shifted, sliding up, threading through my fingers, and he pressed my hand back against his face.

“Declan, the reward’s over.”

“Yeah. I know.”

He was about to say something when the door flew open.

“Holy crap!”

Gavin stood there, eyes wide, witnessing Declan letting someone touch his face like some

domesticated animal for the first time in his life.

It took him a few seconds to reboot.

“I was wondering why you skipped the second half. You even went to the locker room to shower.”

Declan dropped my hand, walked over to Gavin, and shoved him toward the door.

“So that’s why you’ve been handwriting notes in class. And when I asked you to play, you were writing, too. Mystery solved.”

“Wait…” Gavin whipped around to look at me. “I know you! You’re that girl from the… oh my God.”

Declan smacked the back of his head, but Gavin was undeterred.

“You poached someone’s girlfriend? You play the untouchable golden boy, but you’re actually a homewrecker.”

“Are you the simp or the side piece here?”

“No title, no label, and you’re out here letting her feel you up?”

Gavin’s voice faded down the hallway until I couldn’t hear him anymore.

I walked out of the equipment room and back to the field.

Next time, I was skipping the reward. No question.

Except, when I looked down at my hands, I couldn’t tell anymore whether my heart was racing because of the system or because of him.

And I had no idea if I was the only one.

I thought about it. Couldn’t figure it out.

I pulled a stack of vocab flashcards out of my pocket.

Whatever. Studying was what mattered.

I looked up and walked straight into Nolan.

“Where’d you disappear to?” He glanced at my flashcards. “Still on those basic terms? You going to be okay for finals?”

I knew he and Blair had been grinding. Their plan was to knock me down a spot and clear the way for Blair to make the AP track.

Too bad for them. I wanted that spot for myself.