Award Ceremony (Part 1)

Victor's POV

Today is the day of the Award Ceremony. The students were sorted in alphabetical order by grades, not classes. That unfortunately means many will be surrounded by unfamiliar faces. First years, second and third years students all assembled in the auditorium. In a single file, the students respectfully marched in the auditorium and stood before their seats.

Just a reminder, students who scored the average of 60 but less than 70 will receive two weeks worth of free lunch tickets. The meals this school produce is delicious so it was not a bad prize to start off with. For students who scored the midterm average over 70 but less than 80. He or she will receive unknown amount of cash along with free tutoring on any course they want. Students with an average over 80 but less than 90 has the privilege to know twenty percent of the answers for the upcoming final exams. And as for any Student who scores 100, he or she will receive all rewards along with the position of Class Captain. Get lower than the pass mark 60 and you're abandoned. Abandoned meaning, he or she will have to repeat the grade.

Mrs Emi thankfully told our class that none of us failed. That was good news, I don't have to worry about a sudden change in students behaviour during this ceremony. Once every student arrived inside the auditorium, the teachers followed right after. As with every ceremony, they start off by wasting time. Never getting to the point immediately. All Star Academy's Queen and Vice President Alice Souken went up on stage, staring down on all the students. Her bright smile was cutest yet, it had my heart skipping.

"Teachers are supposed to be the one opening this ceremony. It really looks like Student council cares about us more than the teachers sometimes". Fugo's voice echoed inside the auditorium. He made sure that everyone heard him. I just realized he was sitting in the row in front of me. The only familiar face near me just had to be him. What luck!!

Alice picked up a microphone and greeted her fellow students. "Good Morning boys and girls. You are all shining bright today! Why's that?".

"Because We Are Stars!!"

In response to her question, all the second and third year students shouted in reply filled with energy and hype. Alice looked dissatisfied while she pointed at the group of freshman.

"No good little ones! You have to say it too. What are we!?".

"We are stars!". Only some of the freshman shouted including me. It was a pathetic shout compared to the seniors.

"What was that, a test run? Try for real this time. You know you want to!" she yelled hopping on stage.

"WE ARE STARS!!". Our shout was way louder this time. Reason was obviously because of Xavier. The moment all the girls and some of the guys see him shouting, they followed his lead.

"Great, as the stars you are. We have rewards to give everyone one of you. Good news is that nobody failed mid-terms this year. Great right".

"YAAAAYYY!!".

Alice got the students hyped for their rewards before she showcased them. Their weren't any trophies or medals. This school has never been known for those things. They prefer to give students money or a special service. Ricardo Quilge and another student council member that I know little about brought the table onto the stage. "Wow, the teachers sure could be of some use here" Fugo said loudly.

For some reason he is trying to rile up the teachers. At a normal academy, the teacher would have all the responsibilities while students do nothing but go to class. All Star Academy gives the student council plenty of responsibilities, so much in fact it's kind of scary. In Stephano's case he can expand the school grounds using the school's budget without anyone complaining about it. Alice is most likely the one who plans most events, festivals and ceremonies for the students. Ricardo told me once that he's in charge of club fundraising and have to fix the mistakes of Alice and Stephano. They normally make alot of mistakes. After graduating, the students of the council will be extraordinary. Built different from the rest.

Alice gave us a five minute prayer while we all closed our eyes and bowed our heads. After she was finished, next was a little entertainment. Like I said, ceremonies normally starts off idling. Two students walked up on stage, one of them surprised me completely. Aoi Quin, she had a violin in her hand, averting her eyes from the crowd.

"Before we get down to business. I would like to acknowledge these two prodigies. Aoi Quin from Class 1B and Kazuma Shijo from Class 2A. It is no secret that on some early mornings we would hear a beautiful melody to calm our spirits".

Before she continued talking, Alice brought Aoi forward. "She has remarkable talent and has been blessing our ears since the second week she arrived here. Applaud her".

Again, Xavier happily clapped and suddenly all the other first years felt like clapping. This time it really bugged me. I took out my phone and messaged a classmate of mine. "Tell the students to stop the bullshitting next time" I texted. The applause I am hearing from the first years now. They don't mean it, Aoi knows this which is why there isn't a smile on her face. If Xavier didn't clap, most of them wouldn't. At a time like this, it would be perfect for her to play the violin in front of everyone. Too bad she decided not to because of the half-assed applause.

"Our next prodigy is Kazuma! This man knows how to write a good story. He puts in a lot of effort into every newspaper he makes. No information passes this man and he's the best at his job. Applaud him" Alice told everyone. The talk about newspapers made me consider attending club meetings. I joined the newspaper Club but so far I haven't shown myself to the other members. So this is the man responsible for publicising me on the newspaper. Even to this day I still see articles about how I was caught in my underwear. "He sucks".

Almost no freshman clapped their hands. Xavier waited to see if anyone was going to. Sadly, he ended having to lead the applause once again.

"Morons! Y'all are Dumbasses!"

"Show the people on stage some respect will ya. Is Xavier your dad? Are you guys willing to jump off a cliff for him? Stop being his friggin shadow!".

"No more bullshitting!". Out of nowhere, Takeshi's outburst caught everyone's attention. Most were upset with him until Xavier spoke. "Hahaha, he ain't wrong" he laughed. Takeshi was not escorted out of the auditorium for disrupting the ceremony. Instead Alice simply gave him a thumbs up and told him to settle down.

"Good try Takeshi. We'll see how they'll act now" I sighed.

Back in middle school, whenever my name is called during reward ceremonies I never got a single applause. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon and ignored me. After shedding some light on Aoi and Kazuma, Alice proceeded to call forth Mr. Raihan. He gave us a very short speech about results of hard work. He barely stays on stage, giving Alice the mike after finish speaking. Finally it was time for rewards distribution. Yesterday Mrs Emi asked me if I sat the exam. Hopefully there is nothing wrong with my scores. I tried my absolute hardest to ace every test. If I get the highest average of the entire grade, Alice will grant me one wish.

....

The patience is eating away at me.

Ricardo walked up on stage, he will give the girls their rewards while us guys get the liberty to receive rewards from Alice. The reward distribution was split in four sets. First set of students to receive rewards are those with the average equal or between 60 and 70.

They began with the students from Class 1C. Out of the 30 students in that class, 25 of them received two weeks worth of lunch tickets. Most of them barely made it over 60%. It took a whole half an hour to distribute the tickets to the students of Class 1C. Alice and Ricardo continued onward to Class 1B.

Not many students scored in the 60s in my class. Aoi, Takeshi, Darwin and Alisa were called up for lunch tickets. Thankfully, my classmates applaud Aoi properly this time. Perhaps Takeshi's outburst caused them to rethink their actions. "Nice". Next was Class 2C.

"Wait, they skipped 1A" Fugo said surprisingly.

"That means all of their grades are higher than average. We'll most likely hear their names in the next set" I told Fugo from behind. Fugo looked at me even more shocked. He almost stood up rearing to punch me.

"Dude! When did you get here!?".

"Uh, I have been here since the beginning".