The long night finally broke, yielding to a crisp, tense morning. Ethan and Daisy walked side-by-side on their usual route to the academy. Ethan's eyes were practically glued to his physics textbook, trying to cram a few last-minute formulas, while Daisy strolled casually beside him, her hands tucked into her pockets.
"You're not going to revise at all?" Ethan asked, not looking up from the pages.
"I already did," she replied smoothly.
Ethan blinked, finally looking at her. "When?"
"Early this morning. Right after dawn." Daisy turned her head to face him, her expression turning unusually serious. "And just so you know, Brother... the exams here are notoriously brutal, and the proctors don't miss a single thing."
"Hey, you're supposed to be giving me a motivational speech, not trying to scare me," Ethan joked, a faint smirk touching his lips.
But internally, a shadow of doubt crossed Ethan's mind. Our invigilator today is Mr. Henry. In his presence, things are going to be incredibly difficult.
They reached the grand iron gates of the academy, and the heavy atmosphere inside the hallways was palpable. Daisy offered him a final nod before parting ways toward the underclassman wing. Ethan let out a slow, steady sigh, mentally preparing himself as he pushed open the door to his classroom.
The blackboard at the front of the room had been cleared. In its place, a meticulous grid of names and numbers was scrawled in white chalk.
Before Ethan could fully process the layout, a heavy hand clapped down firmly on his shoulder. He spun around defensively, but his muscles relaxed when he saw Finn standing there, sporting a massive, reassuring smile.
"Good morning," Ethan said, letting out a breath.
"Good morning, man," Finn countered, nudging him. "You ready to face the firing squad?"
Ethan just sighed heavily, refusing to answer the question. He pointed a thumb at the blackboard. "Anyway, what's the deal with the numbers and names on the board?"
"Oh, right—this is your first official exam cycle here," Finn realized. "Those are our designated seating arrangements for the finals. Left column starts with seat number one, matching the first name on the list, and it grids out from there."
Finn squinted, leaning in closely to read the chalk. "Damn it... I'm stuck at the very front of the second column. As for you, looks like you got assigned to the very last seat in the first row."
Ethan nodded, walking over to the left corner of the room and sliding into his designated desk. A few minutes later, Madison entered the room just ahead of Allen. She scanned the board, located her number, and walked straight over, sliding into the desk directly in front of Ethan. Allen's seat was far across the room, tucked into the far-right column.
Madison settled her bag, then turned around in her chair to look at Ethan. "Good morning."
Ethan offered a polite nod. "Good morning."
Madison said, "Did you actually study?"
"Enough to get by. What about you?" Ethan asked.
Madison just offered a cryptic, confident smile and turned back around without answering. Within minutes, the remaining students filed in, filling the tense, quiet room.
BRRRRRING.
The loud, metallic school bell shattered the silence. Right on cue, the door swung open and Mr. Henry stepped inside, a remarkably relaxed smile on his face.
"Good morning, kids," Henry announced, his sharp eyes scanning the room like a hawk as he laid a thick stack of exam papers on the podium. "I certainly hope you all spent your weekend preparing for this."
"No way, Sir. We aren't ready for this kind of psychological torture," someone groaned from the back row, prompting a few nervous chuckles.
"Well, today you're going to see the exact value of your hard work," Henry replied smoothly. "Just a reminder: you will all be occupying these exact seats throughout the entire exam week. Now... let's begin."
Henry moved down the aisles, dropping the test sheets face-down on each desk. The moment he gave the signal, the room erupted into the frantic sound of flipping pages and scratching pens.
Ethan flipped his paper over and scanned the questions. A wave of relief washed over him. The nights spent grinding through the material had actually paid off—he knew the answers. His pen moved with fluid precision, knocking down question after question.
Time bled away in complete silence. After an hour and a half, Ethan finally hit a wall. He was completely finished, save for one massive, highly complex question at the very bottom of the final page.
No way! Ethan thought.