I decided to take the train to quicken the usual gloomy journey I've been stuck in for the past two months of my life. Disembarking, I swiped my card and prepared to cross when I noticed a woman — a mother of two — struggling with her kids. The older one, as expected, was being as unreasonable as it gets, pushing his mom roughly, probably because she hadn't agreed to a probably ridiculous demand, while the other was in the baby carrier looking weirdly at the his brother.
I walked over — yes, I'm a goody-two-shoes (as if) — but it seemed like she needed help, and I was already pissed, so I figured I could help while giving the older kid a gentle pinch to get him to behave.
"Hello, ma'am. Do you need help?" I asked smiling warmly to show i didn't mean any harm.
She looked up, confused, probably wondering if I was some kind of kidnapper or worse. Then her eyes landed on the emblem of my school on my breast pocket, and she nodded in approval. Her apparent decision was probably fuelled by the older kid's increasing violence and the prestige my school badge indicated yeah, I was going to pinch this guy so hard he'd forget his own gender
Yes, my school is prestigious — surprised? No. That's what I get for my father being missing on duty. Since they lacked sufficient evidence that he was a terrorist, they couldn't just withhold all the benefit especially considering that he had gained Honours quite a few times, high level ones at that. I still think we got cheated, what use is the prestige of the school especially one filled with snobbish kids
I helped her cross the boundary, then worked briskly, passing through the gates with the Phoenix engraving. Beyond it, you could see statues of past, well-known colonels and generals. I scanned my ID to let myself in, walking down the busy hall full of running students all heading to their classes. I was late, yes, but I had a reasonable excuse — and anyway, all I had to do was keep my head down appear gloomy and no one would talk about it as the teacher all knew my circumstance.
I entered, looking up to see our prefect calling out names. She looked at me, her pretty face clouding with anger. Actually, there was one person who would or rather wouldn't care, and that's this perfectionist. I sat down, answering as she called my name. Then came the familiar "tap-tap."
Not bothering to look I asked, "Hello, Margaret. Is there a problem?"
Her face clouded further. "You know there is. Look at my watch — your time in is ridiculous and will affect our class points. You're an hour late!"
"Only an hour?" I said, my tone taking up a similar high pitch just, with an added touch of mock annoyance. "Just report me to the teacher. I'm trying to rest here and can't be bothered to continue this conversation." I looked away.
She prepared to scream at me, but thankfully the teacher came in. I looked up, then smiled mockingly at her causing her to huff and walk away.
"Settle down, please," he said.
The teacher, Mr Venyer, was lean, built with solid muscles his faces stern with discipline. His shoulders still held a trace of strength, though age had carved lines into his face and thinned the colour of his hair. It was cropped short, streaked with gray. He didn't tower, but his presence filled the room all the same — the kind of presence that made students sit straighter without realizing it.
He looked around the class with stern, frightening eyes — the kind of stare that could iron out wrinkles in your uniform without a single word. Each time his gaze landed on a student, they snapped upright so fast it was a miracle that no one pulled a muscle. Obviously, I didn't care one bit, about the guy. what was he going to do, order me to run 20 laps. The only thing I feared was his tendency to request a cup of tea with my mom on my behalf so I tried to show some respect.
I noticed he had stacks of papers in his arms, probably the mock exams we'd done last half-term Which am certain I flopped, But maybe lady luck was on my side.
"Good to see you all healthy and in one piece." He began.;;lolo "Frankly, I half-expected a few of you to come crawling in on stretchers after last week." A faint twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested it might have been a joke — though no one dared laugh. Laughing here would hint at severe mental disability, given his rules and how "humorous" the joke was. Last week the school had ordered a bunch of army routines that would break the backs of veterans talk of student, thankfully I trained before that torture.
He set a stack of papers on the desk with a thud before speaking.
"Now, onto business. Your exams" he sighed while rubbing his temples "Some of you wrote like you were trying to kill the paper rather than answer the questions." He tapped the pile once. "But these were only practice...In a month, you'll face the real exam — and compared to that, this little warm-up will feel like a stroll around the edges of the Scorched Barrens. Believe me when I say: you're not ready. Not yet."
"The exam," he continued, "will consist of ten papers: the three compulsory Science, Maths, Language — and your five choice subjects. Based on your average scores, I'd say some of you aren't even cut out for the military, though some might claim otherwise. The highest mark in this class was Margaret, as I expected, with a whopping 910 out of 1000. The lowest…" He glanced at me, his gaze sharp, I looked down at my desk, finding it rather interesting, but it wasn't enough to distract me from the tingling born from the expected stares of my classmates ."The lowest was 353. He then paused to let that simmer.
Simmer it did so much it boiled to a bunch of ooh's and aah's and whispers of if that was the lowest how bad could I have been, surely at least at average
"The average was around 650, thanks to our ten high scorers. The rest… well, you heard what I said earlier."
He paused. "The papers should be passed on during lunch." he turned to Margaret indicating she was responsible for that before turning to new sitting position
I had looked up at that time unfortunately a big mistake as his eyes were on me.
"Mr. Sebastian, you know where to be during lunch."
Then he turned briskly and walked away from the class.