Convincing Amy (Amy, #1)

Chapter 36: Disturbances

Chapter Thirty-Six
DISTURBANCES

Upon Jake’s leaving the following week, Amy’s study schedule increased tenfold. Her lecturers were heavily revising ahead of the exams, and Amy was struggling to keep up, as was Matthew; upon completing his exams, he would have his full Law Degree to begin practicing as a commercial lawyer. Each had had to complete numerous amounts of readings and essays alongside additional readings that were intended to benefit the reader only – the reading was not compulsory. It all would have been simple for Amy, had it not been for the amount of distractions affecting her.

For one, Allison had called in regards to Matthew. She questioned Amy on every aspect that a relationship entailed and seemed to be in a fury at the end of the two-hour call. As Allison had asked every question possible about Matthew, she’d compared the answers to TJ, greatly upsetting Amy, but she tried not to let it show. Matthew noticed her depressed mood and questioned her about such, and Amy answered with disinterest of Matthew moving to Melbourne with her. Matthew wouldn’t hear any of it, and by the end of a long and heated discussion, Amy had finally disregarded anything her sister had said and tried to focus solely on her revision. Pippa wasn’t so considerate.

Barging into her shared dormitory one night, Pippa had screamed her lungs out before breaking down into a fit of tears. Amy, utterly bewildered at such a shocking outburst of emotion, sat on the couch with Pippa, holding her supportively as she calmed down, which wasn’t until well into the night. When words were finally comprehensible for Pippa, she’d explained that Nick had ended their relationship. When she asked why, Amy’s answer was one where Nick blamed Pippa for distracting him during his revision. However, when Amy had called Nick the following morning to ask about it, she’d discovered that Nick was stressing over the exams and had asked Pippa to leave him alone for the day. Pippa had taken it too personally, and even though she had been informed of Nick’s reasoning, she refused to be in the same room with him at all. This put a huge amount of stress, as Pippa tried as hard as she possibly could to prevent Amy socialising with Nick, even though it was Nick’s company she preferred over Pippa’s. She’d caved in reluctantly and tried to spend as little time as possible with either of them; let them sort out their own issues.

To top it all off, Jake became obsessed with Yani. In the evenings in which Amy spent with Matthew, Jake would regularly call – something that he had scarcely done before – and talk to Matthew for the briefest moment before asking to speak with Amy. At first, Amy felt it was adorable that Jake had become so keen and interested in someone; someone so different from him in every way possible. However, after a constant week of such phone calls, Amy feigned illnesses to prevent Jake from speaking with her. And as though karma was on a mission to spread regret, Amy had come down with hay fever, something she often experienced in spring. She and Matthew were in the Yale library one night when it all became too much...

Matthew’s phone started ringing and Amy groaned. She’d only finished one paragraph of her extensive essay and she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the other eight paragraphs if Matthew was going to be talking on the phone.

“It’s Jake,” Matthew announced to Amy whose face dropped dramatically. “It can go to voice mail,” he reluctantly said, turning off his phone before putting it back in his breast pocket.

“Thank you,” murmured Amy, taking a long drink of water, finishing the bottle’s contents.

The table between Amy and Matthew was littered with hundreds of papers, some of which were food wrappers. They’d spent the entire day cooped up indoors, studying as hard as they possibly could for their upcoming exams, missing out on the bright and sunny spring day. The library was stuffy and becoming most uncomfortable for the pair of them, but neither wanted to leave for they’d only scraped off the thinnest layer of study.