Read I'd Rather Not Be Dead for Free Online Page B

but
any wheels at all would be an improvement over my current life. Of
course without classes like calc, I might be able to get a job and
buy my own car, but it seemed easier to go along with Dad's plan
than to listen to him complain about me wasting my potential for
the rest of my life. That was back when I had no idea how short my
life would be. If I'd known I wouldn't survive the school year,
there's no way I'd have wasted my last months fighting with
derivatives.
    It's not surprising that the
other me doesn't look happy to be in calculus, but she seems more
upset about Cris than the class or the impending test. She's trying
to talk to him but he's ignoring her so completely that she could
be me. I lean against the wall behind them and shake my head. “Give
it up, TOM.”
    Cooper Finnegan looks up from a
page of notes to squint at me.
    “The Other Me,” I translate for
him. “TOM.”
    He raises and lowers his
eyebrows, then goes back to his cramming.
    At the front of the room, the
teacher clears his throat and tells the class to be seated. In
theory, he's talking to the whole room but TOM and I are the only
two standing. She sits. I stay where I am in the dim hope he's now
going to say, “I told you to sit down, Drew. Hey, why are there two
of you?” But he just produces a stack of papers from inside a
briefcase and starts handing them out.
    TOM looks sick, then wings a
lethal glare at Cris. She obviously didn't know there was a test
today. Maybe if Cris hadn't been so busy being a jerk to her and
hitting on other girls all weekend, he'd have told her about
it.
    The living start to work and I
hover over TOM's shoulder. She's completely bombing this thing even
though it's multiple-guess, but I know how to do it. Is it
something I'm remembering or could she have passed if she wasn't
upset and nervous?
    I let out a groan of frustration
as she falls for one of those traps math teachers love to set up to
exploit common mistakes. “It's D, you idiot. It could only be A if
x isn't zero. Which it probably isn't, but you don't know
that.”
    I fall silent when I realize
Cooper Finnegan's staring at me. His mouth opens a little and he
looks away. His eyes narrow on his paper and then close as he
shakes his head.
    “You missed it too, didn't
you?”
    He nods, then continues to work
further down the page.
    “Well, change it.”
    He shakes his head again.
    Though it leaves a string of
people shivering in my wake, I cross through the rows to his desk.
“You'd have noticed when you went over it. You always ace these
things.”
    Cooper Finnegan just shrugs and
keeps puzzling out a later problem. Guess one question isn't all
that important to him anyway. But then I pay attention to his
answers. He has at least as many wrong as I do. What the hell?
“Forget to study?”
    He shoots me an annoyed
glance.
    “Sorry. I'll just let you get
back to failing then.”
    I go lean against the wall next
to TOM again, but my eyes keep drifting back toward Cooper
Finnegan. He doesn't look right. He's too pale and there are huge
circles under his eyes. His hair's clean and combed, but it lays
flat and lifeless, looking depressed. His nails are chewed off. His
clothes are looser than usual, more casual, more skater-influenced
and less preppy than what he normally wears. Is he alright?
    He looks at me when he tosses
his test on the teacher's desk. The other me bristles and glares.
He looks away from her, stares at the floor for the rest of the
period, then rushes from the room.
    Cris gives TOM a haughty look
before he departs, but she doesn't notice because she's frantically
circling random answers.
    “Drew,” Mr. White says gently.
“You forgot about this test, didn't you?” He lets out a long
breath. “You can do better than this.”
    Not a good thing for him to say
if he really wanted to talk to me. Anyone who deals with teenagers
on a daily basis should know that. TOM rolls her eyes at him.
“Whatever,” she grumbles before thrusting