Exams

"Kaia, watch out." Max pulled her by the necktie away from hitting a pole. "Be careful."

"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly at him then went back to her book.

"Still reading that book?" He asked, looking over her shoulders.

"It's interesting."

"I'm sure it is but if you don't pay attention to your surrounding-" he steered her to the left with her shoulders, just past a hole on the ground "-you'll fall down the pothole."

"Sorry. Again."

"How about this? You tuck the book inside your bag and worry about the exam you'll be doing today." He took the book from her and gave her another one.

"I'm confident I'll do fine." She reassured him as the snow fell, her winter uniform keeping her cosy and warm.

"Sure. How much time did you spend studying and how much time did you spend reading this book?"

Kaia proudly held up ten fingers.

"Ten what?"

"Minutes."

"Kaia."

"I promise I studied."

"Ok. If you pass, I'll give you back the book and if you fail, I'll never give it back."

"Deal." They shook hands as the snow continued to fall and cover the road on their way to school.

"Oh? There you guys finally are." Dorran waited for them at the gate. He and Max were not in uniforms, earning the stares of many other student. "You were about to be late, you know that? Don't tell me she was reading that book the entire way here."

"Take a guess." Max crossed his arms and looked at Kaia.

"Kaia. After the uproar we caused?" He pressed the bridge of his nose.

"I'll pass. I promise. What you guys did for me will not go in vain." She reassured them as she ran to the exam room.

"Do you trust her?" Dorran asked.

"Not a word. But she'll do fine. I guess. She got in towards the end of the school year after all."

"She is the luckiest, unlucky person in the world. Remember how we had to convince the principal to let her still attend?"

"Yeah, man. We threatened to drop out."

When Kaia was better, she went back to the school to plead with them to take her back.

She was present for only two days and absent for the rest of the year classes, that and the fact that she came just as the school year was about to end, didn't work in her favour.

They didn't want to take her back but after Max and Dorran's 'convincing' speech they decided to give her a chance to come back if she could clear that year's exam with the other students from her class, with a week to prepare. The students have just one intense day of exam at the end of the year and this will determine if they'll go to the next class or not.

The results and exams are computer generated, so when they will answer on a holographic sheet that will be handed to them. When they were done, they will take the sheet to the front of the classroom and insert it into the computer at the teacher's desk.

The computer checks and calculates everything and they get their results almost instantly.

She accepted immediately and Max, Dorran, Caitlyn, and Shia took turns tutoring her for the week. The older three finished their exam already and Caitlyn is appearing the same exam so she studied with Kaia.

"Honestly I'm surprised they didn't want to lose us," Max said.

"You are the school's sports captain and I am only second best to you. We won several awards for the school. If we leave, they are going to suffer huge losses."

"Really? Wait, you are part of the school's sports team?"

Dorran looked at him with disappointment. "Well, what did I expect from you. I am the vice-captain."

"Really? You're not lying right?" Max looks genuinely surprised.

"Yes. I can't believ- Never mind. What's taking her so long? I'm getting nervous." Dor pulled the coat tighter around him feeling the cold.

"She entered only ten minutes ago."

"So? The questions are all digital and just objective types. She should finish it in another twenty minutes. I'm too cold."

"Tutoring her was fun though. She caught on so fast."

"Yeah, but I thought we would get to relax after our exam was over a week before theirs. Yet I was stuck with her. I can understand how teachers feel now when their students go for their exams." He blew into his gloves while shaking in his legs.

"Feeling that cold?" Max mused. "Should have worn more clothes."

"I'm just not good with cold. That's all."

"Sure."

Dor began playing with the snow to cure his boredom. "Why are we waiting again?"

"They give answers immediately, remember? Don't you want to see if your hard work paid off?"

"Yeah. I just hope she hurries up."

♣

"How was it?" Max and Dorran nearly pounced on Kaia the moment she came out.

"Calm down. It'll be out in a few minutes. We just have to wait." She grinned confidently at them.

"More waiting. Great." Dorran rubbed his arms.

"Guys!" Caitlyn called from the gate, holding a plastic bag in hand.

"My angel is here." Dorran ran to her, leaving the two to follow after him.

"How confident do you feel?" Max asked Kaia as they walked.

"I am feeling kinda confident. It is just so weird to see someone wait for me after the exam. It feels nice."

"I'm glad. Hi, Caitlyn. How was your exam?"

"Kaia." She jumped on Kaia and laughed. "Hi, Max. I only got ninety-nine. So how was it, Kaia?"

"We'll know the result in a couple of minutes," Dorran answered her from a packet of heat packs. "Congratulations, you did great."

"Thank you. This is so nerve-wracking. I feel like a teacher waits for their student's result." She looked a little too excited to be worried.

"That's exactly what I said." Dorran pointed at her.

"Really? Then you must be very nervous too." She looked at him.

"I'm not sure if what I feel is nervous or cold. But it's one of them. Thank you for bringing the heat packs."

"I know how cold it can get, so don't worry. Anyway. I have a surprise for Kaia if she passes." She held her hands and smiled at her.

"We know that even if she doesn't pass, you'll still give it to her." Max retorted, checking the plastic Caitlyn and taking out a hot beef bun. They could see the steam and almost feel the heat from it.

"Shush. No one asked your opinion." She raised her hands to her hips and tried to look angry but was too excited to be angry. "Pass me one."

Kaia looked at them laughing and talking, before guilt would come when she saw this but she felt only warmth. They can take care of themselves, without her.

Ding!

They froze in their spots, turning to Kaia.

"Iss phit ha-" Max took out the bun from his mouth and asked again. "Is it the exam result?"

"ID, Kaia. ID." Caitlyn squealed.

Dorran looked from his spot, almost crushing the heat packs when he heard the 'ding'.

Kaia took out her ID and entered her code. They all watched with bated breath as the hologram popped out and loaded her overall score.

95/100.

"Oh my goodness." Dorran sighed loudly, still gripping the heat packs, while Caitlyn squealed and hugged Kaia.

"Congratulations, Kaia." Max gave the book he took back to her.

"Thank you."

"I always knew you had it in you." Dorran congratulated.

"Thank you."

Ok! Time for my surprise!" She reached into her pocket and took out a silver necklace with all their names engraved into it with stylish purple handwriting and placed it in Kaia's hand.

"This is for you, Kaia." She took out a necklace from under her muffler and showed hers, engraved in yellow.

"Honestly, I think mine's better." Max showed his one, engraved in green.

"Past. It can't compare with mine. Look. Two colours." Ran showed his one engraved in red and gold.

Kaia and Max exchanged knowing looks when they saw his one but didn't say anything.

"Now that that's over. Let's go celebrate! Shia, Faith, and Aliya are already there in Dor-Ran's house preparing for the party. After Kaia changes out of her uniform in her house that is."

"Let's go! I need to get out of this cold." Dorran walked ahead with Max while Kaia and Caitlyn walked behind, talking.

♣

"I'm so full!" Aliya exclaimed, laying on the ground. "Also, Central heating is the best!"

"You ate a little too much don't you think?" Shia asked from the couch.

They were watching a movie on the big screen.

Max and Dorran were shoved to the ground while the girls took the couch. Kaia was still reading the book from that morning, laying her head on Shia's lap.

Faith and Caitlyn have their full attention on the movie, forgetting to even eat the popcorn they held.

"Why are we on the floor? Isn't that a little sexist?" Ran complained.

"You're on the ground because you lost the game of rock, paper, scissors," Shia responded.

"That's still not fair, two boys against the rest of you girls."

"You did boast that you could take all of us," Aliya answered him.

"Yeah, and I got stuck with you because you got too confident," Max grumbled at him.

"Don't he like that, man. We have to support each other, you know? Being the only two guys." Ran placed an arm around Max who pushed it off.

"You know that you'll desert me for Caitlyn. Don't talk about bro code."

"You're one to talk. You would do the same for Kaia. Speaking of Kaia." He turned his head to her. "Hey, Kaia. What have you found so far? You've been reading that book the entire day."

Dorran and Max were cleaning his library the day before Kaia's exam, when they came across the book that Kaia was reading now. Finding out that it's about the trinket and The Exchange, they dropped by Kaia's house to give it to her.

She was studying with Caitlyn when they arrived and as they expected, she took the book into her arms, reading it immediately.

Caitlyn looked at them disapprovingly.

"She's going to have her exam tomorrow. What were you thinking?" She scolded.

Then they stayed for another three hours, conversations and debates starting among them. When they left, Caitlyn went with them and they wished Kaia a good night. Reminding her to study.

"Nothing much yet. It just tells about how they discovered the way to achieve beauty through this exchange." Kaia signed at him, nose still buried in the book.

"So just normal stuff? We all know that this was discovered when someone accidentally released a trapped spirit and made the wish to be able to trade their lifespan for beauty. It sounds so much like a made-up story though." Ran took a bite of his popcorn as he said that. "Anything else?"

"A little about your trinket and that's it." She put the book down and rubbed her eyes.

"Just watch the movie with us now, Kaia," Caitlyn said to her, tugging at her leg. "We already made a plan for February right? So don't worry."

"Ok. Hand me a popcorn. What's this movie about?"

Kaia handed her the popcorn as she explained the movie. Shia helped Aliya climb up the couch and seat beside her, covering her in a blanket. Even the boys fell silent as they concentrated on the movie.

The darkness, snow, and cold stayed outside while they stayed snugly warm and comfortable inside.

Everyone is safe and sound.

♣

December came and gone, with Caitlyn's birthday drawing nearer. They all spent time together whenever they could during the winter vacation. Kaia got to meet Faith's parents properly and even Shia's ones.

They welcomed and treated each of the kids like their own children.

Each one of them could just enter the other's house and they treated it like their own home.

But everyone was a little nervous about Caitlyn's birthday, as the day draws nearer. But out of all of them, Kaia was the most worried about it.

"What happened exactly to me?" Caitlyn asked stopping her conversation with Ran, while Kaia was still recovering in his house. Aliya lay sprawling on the chair, on her phone, while Faith sat on the ground beside her doing the same. Shia sat on one of the couches, twirling a knife.

"Oh yeah. We have still have to plan for that." Max said as he entered the room. The rest of them focused their attention on Kaia from wherever they were.

Kaia slowly pushed herself up and began, "You were kidnapped on your birthday and when your parents didn't pay the ransom money, they burnt you alive in a live stream."

"That's a painful way to go." Shia stopped twirling her knife and looked at them.

"You know what's worse? I found out later on that they were sent by her parents."

"No way." Faith exclaimed.

"Typical. They needed to get rid of their daughter and will do it in any way they can." Caitlyn frowned at them. "As long as I'm alive, they'll keep doing things like this."

"So why don't we just kill you then?" Everyone turned to Ran with an expression that said, 'you'd better have a good explanation of what you just said if you want to live.'

"Don't give me that look. Just listen to my plan-"