"..."
[Erm, when are you... going to like, order?]
I was at the cafeteria, they were only a few minutes left till I come back. 'I'm actually curious about what food this cafeteria has...'
In the trial there was no cafeteria in Gardenia, The structure was different from the one here.
'It's more modern I guess?' The Gardenia in the trial was more disgusting, less maintained and It also smelled terrible
I pondered for a while, thinking about why The Gardenia in the trial didn't have a cafeteria.
[Hey! you gonna order already! stop daydreaming kid and come back to the real world!]
....bold words coming from a monster that would only appear in my nightmares. I raised my index finger and locked it on a somewhat big pizza slice.
'they have good food'
There were a lot of options, ranging from a Pizza slice to even Lasagna. I quickly realized however that I didn't have any money to give.
'please tell me its free or that he'll let it slide this one time'
I desperately prayed In my mind, my arms clasped behind my back, gripping each with so much force that I felt my nails pierce through my skin slightly.
[Here ya go!]
He gave me a plate, It was clean. Even when his sludge like hands grasped the plate, It maintained its clear and clean exterior.
[Bring the plate back to me, got it!]
I nodded, sweat trickled down my cheek, my poker face threatening to shatter like glass, however a miracle from the gods was witnessed.
Poof
Out of thin air, money fell down on the counter, The monster quickly grabbed them with his sticky hands.
[1...2 and 50 cents...]
He brought the money close to his face, counting carefully.
[good...it's all here]
'where did that money come from?'
my face turned to one of astonishment when I saw money appearing out of thin air. I stood dazed for a while before a voice called out to me.
[You gonna take it?]
"!"
I snapped out of my thoughts and took the plate and started walking to a table.
'It looks, soooo good!!!'
The pizza gleamed and shined, almost as if inviting me to eat it all up. I hastily sat down and laid the pizza down on the table.
I pick up the pizza that was ready to drip cheese at any moment, As I was about to take a bite my hand trembled.
"..."
The trembling didn't stop but I still picked the Pizza up and took a bite out of it... my mouth was then met with an unsatisfactory taste, a bland taste that made my stomach churn, my vision had also turned slightly dizzy .
Crunch
I lightly bite Into the pizza slice, doing my best to forget the churning and dizziness I felt.
[Cale?...]
A familiar voice was heard, It was Fiend. He stood opposite to me.
[How did you get- no that's not the important thing]
"...?" I tilted my head, confused.
***
'Geniuses?'
Fiend had come to me with some newfound Information, I hadn't expected him to Improvise and ask the Teachers about the humanoid monsters. It had completely slipped my mind that we could just simply ask them.
'but geniuses? those things?'
If they were talking about pure speed and strength, then they would fit that criteria perfectly.
I quickly finished eating and got up from my seat.
Trrr~
Trrr~
A soft ringing was heard, signaling the end of Recess.
[Ah, It's already over...]
An eerie gentle darkness consumed everything, I closed my eyes and waited.
"...."
"Everyone pay attention! this will be important in the test!" A teacher spoke, her voice rough from having to tell the students to stop talking every few minutes.
Finally the class turned tranquil, no one talked and simply payed attention.
A young boy opened his eyes to see that he was In class, the boy had light brown hair and light green eyes with a pink hue swirling fiercely in his retinas.
He sighed, no one heard him however... and they wouldn't spare a glance longer even if they did hear.
***
my eyelids felt heavy, it felt too difficult to try and open them up, so I only opened them partially.
It was a hazy scene at first, but as my eyes adapted to the sudden light, I could see the figures In front of me clearly.
A petite girl looked Intently at me, with a massive black bow decorating the back of her head.
Her pearl like pitch black eyes met mine and quivered slightly, almost as If expecting me to say something to her.
I turn my head to meet a tall young boy almost as tall as me, his blonde hair was a mess but had a strange charm stuck to it, making him look better despite it being a mess.
His Ocean-Like eyes stared Intently at me, awaiting for some kind of answer.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
My voice rang out crisp, yet it was bland, more monotone than before.
"Your textbook?"
"..?"
Catrina pointed at the textbook nestled In my arms, she then brushed her hair aside with her other hand.
"I need to copy the material for the test Cale"
"Ah..."
I gave her the textbook, she grabbed it swiftly with her hand snapping through the wind with ferocious force.
"Thanks, I'll give it back~"
She started scribbling In her textbook, The pen in her hand scribbled on the dry paper so fast It had slightly impressed me.
"Where is the teacher?" I asked Gabriel, tearing my gaze away from the scribbling Catrina.
"I don't know...It's been 10 minutes already, I think he said he needed to get some papers to give to us since they are really Important to the upcoming test"
"..."
Test... the word lingered In my mind, these past few days- No, ever since classes first started I've been doing everything In my power to try and listen to the teachers words, but no matter how hard I tried to. I couldn't make sense of anything they said.
'It went in one ear and out the other' I knew It was Important, there was no way it wasn't Important If the contents of the letter empathized that It would directly effect my chances of survival.
But I just couldn't, It was frustrating, whatever studying method I had found never worked, I tried to learn history by heart, It had worked but it still wasn't enough, It was just...average. I tried to understand algebra on a deep level and geometry as well, but no matter how much I pounded on my brain to try to remember and understand the countless equation on my textbook, I just wasn't able to, wasn't capable of doing it.
Ba-Thump!
Ba-Thump!
My heart rang so loudly I could vividly hear it in my head.
"h-hooo"
I exhaled and took deep breaths.
Creakkkk~
A door creaked slowly revealing the figure of Carlos Ashen holding a stack of papers on one arm while the other opened the door.
He walked to his desk carefully, making sure the stack of papers don't fall on the way there.
"You're probably wondering what these papers are about right?"
Everyone nodded their heads, Catrina, Gabriel and me Included.
"Today we're not going to need the textbook"
"...?"
Carlos raised his glasses slightly and spoke with a beaming smile on his face.
"I'm going to give everyone here a small test"
"What?!"
"oh I'm really screwed"
One by one, students started complaining left and right.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Carlos started clapping his hands, telling the students to stop.
"Hey! everyone stop talking, you haven't even let me finish yet"
After a few more minutes the class had calmed down at the unexpected test.
"This test only serves to see what you've learned these past few weeks, we will obviously have similar test like these In the future as well"
His voice reached every ear in the classroom.
"Which also means this won't directly Influence your Grades"
A student raised their hand
"Yes?"
The student started speaking, It was Raven Stone
"What do you mean by 'Directly' sir?"
Carlos cleared his throat, coughing a few times before speaking to answer Raven.
"It means that If any of you don't put in the effort to try and solve the test, I will obviously lower your grades"
Carlos then turned and faced every student In the classroom.
"Think it's unfair? these small tests were meant to make you aware of how difficult the test will be if you don't pay attention to my classes, I didn't need to put In any effort in making these papers you know?"
He waved a few of the papers that he set on the desk before.
"The content In this test isn't any different from what I have shown In class"
He took all the papers on the desk and started giving them out to the students In a swift and efficient motion.
"If you have listened and paid attention to my classes, you will know how to easily solve them"
He reached my desk before long and gave me a piece of paper like the others.
"..."
multiple complex equations littered the paper.
I payed special attention to Carlos's classes knowing it would be difficult to get even a good grade If I didn't do so. In other words this would be easy.
'I focused so much In class....yet I can't even...'
It was at this moment that I truly realized how much of a worthless piece of trash I was, I had paid so much attention to the teachers lessons, trying my best to make some sense of it, but I was met with something that I couldn't solve, even though I should be able to... If I paid so much attention In class, shouldn't I be able to solve at least one part of this? that way my efforts In trying to genuinely learn wouldn't be so wasted...
I wasn't angry or frustrated, I was just enlightened on how I couldn't even do something ordinary people could do by just paying attention.
I knew I wasn't capable of maintaining high grades, so I tried to at least get the average.
But I couldn't do even something as simple like that.
I clenched my pen for a while, my eyes locked on the sheet.
I started writing, anything I could remember, anything that came to mind that sounded right to me...anything is fine, just try... that is all I wanted to do at least.