I did not power my way through the midterm exams. To recap, I had spent all my free time with Isaiah, to the point that I had entirely neglected to study a single topic from a single class. I am of course a learned sort, I am a prince after all, I had nothing but the best tutors available in the kingdom from the age of four till fourteen. That being said, I had spent the next three days forgoing all free time to catch up on my studying. I was not a cram at the last minute type, but I had no choice, failure was not an option.

"Come-on Bonbon, it's gettin really late," Isa urged me on our final night before exams to go to bed, though I was a little more than reluctant to heed his advice.

"I am almost done rereading this chapter, I should at least finish it and the next one before I retire," time was running out, and admittedly I was stumped, calculus was hardly something that came natural to me, so I wanted to make extra certain I could understand the material we had been expected to know.

"You're pushin yourself too hard, come on, let's get ya to bed," he grabbed me from under my arms and lifted, guiding me out of my chair. I tried to protest more, told him I needed this, but he dismissed my complaints, "sleep is just as important to your performance as studyin is." He had dragged me to our bunk beds and pointed up the ladder, "uppies time."

"You are not going to let this go, are you?" He shook his head, tapping his foot as he waited for me to ascend the ladder to my bed, "I really just need another hour, then I promise I will sleep."

He sighed a breath of defeat, then a light glimmered in his eyes and he cracked a devilish smirk, "fine then guess we're doin it this way!" Without warning he grappled me in his arms and pulled me into his bed, his grip around my body holding me in place as I tried to wrestle my way back up.

"Isaiah, what are you doing?" I struggled against him, but he had far more uper body strength than me.

"Imma keep you in bed till you fall asleep," he pressed his head to my back, "cuddle time, you go sleep sleep now!" It was a bit infantilizing, but I would be lying if I said I hated it. 

Soon enough, I stopped struggling and gave in, "fine," I huffed and pouted, "I will sleep with you." A moment of silence passed, before our brains caught up, lagging behind from sheer embarrassment. "I mean I will go to sleep now!"

"Yea, yea, sleep as in slumber right? Like not as in… well you know!"

"Yes, slumber, let us slumber now, that is what it is called!" I would have been remiss if the walls of our dormitory were paper thin. Surely by now our neighbors would have thought something fishy was going on were they able to hear us. When my flustered brain mellowed and I could think clearly again I sighed and wished Isaiah a good night.

"Good night, Bonbon," he responded while squeezing my body in his arms slightly, "you're goin to do fine tomorrow, I'm sure of it."

With that final bode of confidence, my mind found itself at ease, and I fell soundly asleep in my friend's arms.

The next day came, and with it the first three classes of our exams. I was more prepared then I had been only a few days ago, and moved into the day with a renewed sense of confidence. 

My first class was history, and seeing as it was history that had directly related to my own royal family, it was actually not too hard. I would not go so far as to say I aced it, but I certainly had an easier time than I had expected. The same, however, could not be said for our general studies courses. I will not pretend to be a genius, I find calculus quite difficult, and even this early into the school year, I already knew it would be the bane of my existence. 

Two tests down and I had already felt as though my brain was reduced to a fried egg. Luckily for me, we only took three a day, so after the next one I would have a little time to recuperate before the remaining three tests. That brought me to my fencing class, which in lieu of a traditional exam, had a match where we would have to demonstrate technique and form, something I excelled at. My sparring partner was none other than Isaiah, and honestly I would have had it no other way. 

Over the course of the past three months he had developed a little more technique than before, no longer swinging wildly with reckless abandon. That being said, he still struck at me with heavy handed blows and a constant offense. It is as though he did not know how to hold back, and I preferred it that way. Fighting him was an excellent test of my own reflexes as I struggled to keep up with his lightning strikes. By the end of our match I was thoroughly exhausted, but confident that we had performed well.                  

After class, I melted into Isaiah's bed, too tired to climb the ladder into my own, while he sat next to me and played with my hair. He asked if I was okay, but I could not even muster the energy to respond properly, so instead I just groaned. “Ah, that bad huh?” He continued to fiddle with strands of my hair and humm as I started drifting off to sleep.

Some time later I awoke to find that I was tucked in nicely underneath his covers, while he sat at the edge of the bed, drawing in his sketchpad. I tried to peer over and see what he was sketching, but the blanket I was tucked in tugged from underneath him catching his attention. “Heya sleepyhead, feelin any better?” He closed the book and crawled over to me.

“I, I think I am,” I was rested, but the anxiety still lingered. I curled up and held my knees to my chest, “I just can not wait for these tests to be done with.”

“Yea, I getcha there, school sucks,” he leaned against the wall next to me, laying his hand on the bed between us. For whatever reason, perhaps demonic possession, I felt compelled to reach out and grab hold of his hand. If I had any good sense left then I would know not to do it, and yet it was as though all my good sense were expunged from me by the day of rigorous testing. 

Timidly, I reached my hand down towards his, only to retract it back slightly, then once more slowly reach in. “Hey, Bonbon?” His sudden interruption disturbed my clouded train of thought and broke my confidence and so my hand retreated back to my side. 

“What is it, Isaiah?”

“I’m really happy you’re my roommate,” he sighed.

“I am happy to have you as my roommate as well.”

The next morning came and with it another slew of tests. The first being the one I was most apprehensive about, Scriptural studies. I was not a pious person, I honestly felt the idea of there being gods to be rather silly, but my father believed that all good kings must seek the wisdom of the gods. Of all the so-called higher powers, the only that ever caught my interest was the goddess Electrael, who created a network that connected many different worlds through cyberspace. That was fiction, of course, but it was an interesting concept, and messaging her online was always fun when she did manage to respond. I had always thought it was roleplay, so I was quite surprised to see questions about her actually appear on the test. The rest of the gods and goddess’ were far less interesting, and many I had never heard of. It is safe to say I did not do well on that exam. 

With that test down, I only had to worry about geography and literature next, one I would suffer through, the other I would excel in. I am certain it is obvious which one was which. At the end of the day I felt defeated, even if I scored high enough to keep myself from having to take remedial classes, my ego would be wounded by scoring any less than what was expected from me as the prince. Though, perhaps another part of me reveled in the knowledge that my imperfect nature would vex my father far more than it vexed me. 

After eating, I returned to my room for the evening ready to sleep away my stress once again. Isaiah was not around and I had grown genuinely concerned for a moment, until I had realized what day it was. “Oh, is it really that day already?” Normally I would be excited, another opportunity to wear my dress was of course a good thing, but I was exhausted and honestly just needed sleep. For a moment I even considered sleeping in the dress, but that would wrinkle it, not to mention the risk of Isaiah discovering me still wearing it come morning time. Sadly, I simply crawled into bed and allowed slumber to take hold of me and carry me into the next day.  

   "Hey sleepy, time to get up," a soft sweet voice coaxed me awake. Isaiah laid next to me, greeting me with a gentle smile, "sleep good?"

For a moment I let my eyes flutter shut again, intending to sleep longer, till my senses caught up with me and I vaulted upwards, nearly hitting my head on the bunk above me, "Isaiah, what are you?" Before finishing my question he reminded me I was in his bed, not the other way around. "Oh, that's right, I must have been too tired again…"

"It's okay, you make a nice cuddle partner," he wrapped his arms around me and dragged me back down laughing. My face turned crimson red, but I didn't struggle against him, in fact, I rather enjoyed his embrace. 

"Isaiah, I uh, I have a request," my face had turned into a red hot oven as I contemplated whether I should actually finish the question or not.

"You want me to let you go?" He released me and sat back up, his expression like that of a sad puppy dog that was denied ear scratches.

"No, actually quite the opposite," I sat up as well, turning my gaze as I forced myself to finish what had now been started, "I would like to hug you, if that is okay."

"Oh, really?" His face turned nearly as red as mine, "like, for real?"

I nodded, my lips quivering as all the blood in my body fought to rush to my face, "mhmm," was all I could manage to say. 

His bold brazenness was gone now, defeated and reduced into a nervous wreck who's timidity rivaled a mouse, the victim of my innocent request. "O…okie," he squeaked out as he slowly raised his arms toward me. Our eyes met for a moment, and then we casted our gaze aside, unable to face each other without reducing into puddles of embarrassment. As soon as his quivering hand met my shoulder, he became emboldened again, as if given new life from my touch, and wrapped his arms tightly around me without hesitation.  His body was soft and warm and strong and I, and I… I never wanted to leave his arms.

That desire of course could not be met, as we had one final day left of classes to go over our test results before our break would begin. Unlike a normal day of classes, we spent that day in our homeroom, where we were handed back an evaluation form with our grades for the quarter. 

Sweat crept down my back as I slowly turned my form over to reveal my grades. First one, National history, passed with flying colors. I had expected as much, but it was still a great relief to see a nearly perfect score regardless. The notes simply stated, "demonstrates an in depth understanding of the material covered", not an amazing evaluation but definitely good.

Next topic however, I had just barely failed. I knew I was not the greatest when it came to math, but I had never expected to do so poorly. The fact I was mere points away from an adequate score made it all the worse. "Students' understanding of the material covered falls below expected levels", ouch, that hurts. If I had more time to study, I would have probably done well enough, it was my own fault that I scored so low.

The third was fencing, which of course was not graded traditionally, that said I received a "proficient" score which counted as passing. The fourth topic, religious studies I unsurprisingly failed, having gotten only fifteen percent of the questions right. "Student has no understanding of the material", they were not wrong, I really did not care to understand it. Geography however I barely passed, which was a relief.

Lastly was literature, which I passed with relatively high marks. Again, not surprising, it was mainly reading comprehension which was something I would like to believe I excel at.

The final verdict, written at the bottom of my form is what killed me, and any hope I had that I would enjoy the next couple weeks. "Student must attend remedial classes for Calculus and Scriptural studies over the course of the break." That would not have been so terrible, had I not made plans with Isaiah. More than anything I was sad that I would disappoint him, he was just so happy that I had agreed to spend the break with him, I did not want to crush his heart.

Class was short, though it felt prolonged as I sat there watching the minutes tick by on the clock, preparing myself to break the news to Isaiah. The final bell rang, and with it came a mix of relief and dread. I lingered at my desk, allowing the other students to clear out first, chewing on the ends of my shirt sleeve as I thought of what to tell him.

“Hey Bonbon, we can head off now silly,” Isaiah's bright and cheery voice both soothed and startled me all at once, “come on, let’s go grab some food!” He leaned over to be at eye level with me, grinning wide and adorably. 

“Alright, that sounds like a good idea,” my voice was low and glum, but Isaiah’s own sweet disposition lifted my mood a little, “let us go then,” I smiled back at him and together we left for the cafeteria. 

While walking, he told me about all his favorite spots in his home city, from shops to parks and his favorite caffe, excitement spilling out of him like an overfilled glass. My heart felt even more empty knowing I would have to miss out on visiting these places he so eagerly wished to show me. “I am sorry Isaiah,” I finally thought to say before I raised his hopes any further, “I will not be able to join you over the break.”

Stopping in place for a moment, he responded with just an, "oh," then continued on to the cafeteria. He smiled as we sat together eating our food, but I could see the disappointment in his eye. "So you did that bad huh?" He ripped the proverbial bandage off, "lemme guess, scripture class gotcha right?"

"That, and math as well, yes, my scores were less than adequate," I deflated into my seat, barely able to nibble on the food I had in front of me. "How did you fare?"

"Far better apparently," he chuckled, "got mid eighties on everythin except literature. Had points deducted for spellin so I got like a seventy-nine." I was not sure if I was more in shock that literature was his lowest score, or that he had done so much better than me in general. Where I spent the three days since studying, he continued to just jot down notes for our novel. 

"How, I am sorry, but how did you do it?" I was flabbergasted, not to think ill of my friends capabilities, but still, "did you study in secret?"

"Nah, I'm just good at retainin information," to say I was envious of such an ability was an understatement. Cute and a naturally gifted learner, he was honestly perfect. Okay, no he was far from perfect, but perhaps he was perfect in an imperfect way. I am losing my train of thought, the point here was I wished I could be as carefree as he was. "It really sucks we won't be able to spend the break with each other, but there's always the next one."

"Yes, I promise I will improve my grades so that I will be able to join you come spring break," I affirmed with a determined look on my face.

"Bet, Imma hold you to it," he presented his hand, his pinky extended and looked at me expectantly. Confused, for just a moment, I stared back at him, "you're supposed to grab my pinky with yours, silly." Blushing, I reached my hand to his and interlocked our pinkies together. "It's a promise then," his gentle smile filled me with a comfy warmness, as did the softness of his hand. 

"Yes, a promise."