As expected, everyone at the middle school was swept up in the chaos that was the final examination once the brand new week began. Even the guards and the janitors were aware of the pressure.
The exam ran from Tuesday to Friday as scheduled.
For Lariette and her colleagues, the week had become a blur of invigilation, the quiet hum of students scribbling their answers and their frantic glances at clocks.
Tension also hovered in the teachers' lounge. They brought back boxes of printed exam papers every time an exam ended, each one marked with student names.
For safety measures, the papers were sorted and kept inside a locked room before the grading began. The teachers wouldn't touch them until the end of the exam.
Like the others, Lariette was under a state of pressure. Even though she didn't lack food and care thanks to Ruediger, she barely had an appetite and couldn't rest much these days.
