CHAPTER THIRTY

Are you ready?”

Taylor jumped at the sound of Jamar’s voice coming from just over her shoulder. A sudden burst of panic flared to life in her belly, but she managed to quell it before it could grab hold of her.

After turning him down several times last night and this morning, Taylor had finally accepted his offer to help her prepare for the college entrance exam. Jamar had braved the Black Friday shoppers, driving to the bookstore to pick up a practice test booklet. He would read the questions aloud to her, just as the proctor would do if Taylor qualified for testing accommodations.

She fixed a smile to her face before turning to face him. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

She followed him into the dining room, where he’d already set the test booklet and two sharpened pencils at the head of the table.

She did her best to tame the butterflies in her belly at the sight of the testing materials. Sweat formed on her palms as a rapid thud began to pound in her chest.

“Breathe,” Jamar said.

She looked into his eyes and instantly felt better. His gentle, encouraging smile put her at ease.

“Remember, we’re just looking for a baseline here. This will give you a picture of where you stand with the benefit of testing accommodations,” he said. “Let’s just see how it goes.”

She nodded and sat at the dining room table, but then she popped back up. “Those bananas we bought last week are super ripe. Maybe I should bake some banana bread before they go bad.”

He clamped his hands on her shoulders and guided her back into the chair. “No baking. It’s a practice test. There’s no need to be nervous.”

“You’re right. I’m ready.”

“Okay,” Jamar said in that calm, steady voice. “How closely do you want this to mimic the actual testing session?”

“What do you mean?”

He held up his phone and showed her the screen. “Are we doing this with the timer or without?”

Panic began to rise again, but she stanched it.

“With the timer,” Taylor said. “That’s one of the things that has always made me nervous. I need to learn how to control my anxiety while under the clock.”

“Just remember that extra time to complete tasks is another accommodation given to students with certain learning disorders. We’ll stick to customary time limits, but there’s no need to freak out if we have to tack on a few extra minutes, okay?”

She nodded. “Yes. Okay.” Taylor sucked in a deep breath and slowly released it. “I’m ready,” she said again.

Jamar read the instructions and, a minute later, gave her permission to open the testing booklet. The first section was English, her least favorite subject.