Results For The 5th Challenge

December 8th. Friday, 4:18 AM.

Here we are again, back in the main hall.

All the students are back inside, sitting and waiting for their representatives to arrive. Once the challenge ended, the students were allowed to go back to their dorms or chill around campus as they had time to kill until their representatives returned to the academy. The students came back into the hall at around four and were allocated seats where their class would sit.

Some classes were more excited than others for obvious reasons. Some classes knew where they would place. Others weren't too sure. 1-C and 1-A were the two classes that were sneaking glances at each other to gauge their emotions.

1-A were confident, but from Destiny's camera angle, they saw that 1-C had many plastic balls. It looked like a similar amount to what they had, which worried them a little.

1-C was less confident but had a little hope that Malakai might've pulled something off. They watched him and saw his poor performance by his standards, but it wasn't as bad as they had made it because he still got a decent amount of plastic balls. The poor part of his performance was that he could've gotten more but chose to have fun. They were unsure if they did well or not, but the glances from 1-A made them think they did better than expected.

"Mally isn't responding", Lucas anxiously said, looking at his phone.

"Delilah isn't either", Benjamin added, opening the group chat.

The boys texted in their group chat with all of them, including Delilah, Tanisha, and Maria.

"Maybe they don't have connection", Ray said, leaning forward to look at Lucas.

"Mally's got 4G, bro, and the texts have been delivered. They just haven't read them", Lucas replied.

"They'll be here soon. We don't need to be impatient", David said, sitting next to him. "He's not going to know the results anyway".

"I know, but I wanna know how he's feeling", Lucas replied, putting his phone away.

Benjamin glanced over at William.

"You're looking a lil nervous", he said, nudging him.

"Am I?" William asked, stuck in his own world and unaware of the expression he was making.

"You're not talking as much", Benjamin replied.

"Dammit", William ruffled his hair. "Seeing the other classes and how they're acting is making me nervous", he said. "Then comparing it to our class is making it worse".

"Our class?".

Benjamin looked around the hall. Classes 1-A, and 1-B looked comfortable, 1-E was hard to judge as some students were happy while others were unsure, and 1-D looked bleak. He looked at the seats around him, and it didn't fill him with confidence. The vibe was low. He hadn't realised it before as he had been talking to his friends the whole time. This was the first time he was taking in the atmosphere around him. The longer the wait, the less confidence 1-C had. The glances from other classes weren't helping as it somehow added more pressure.

William could see it on Benjamin's face. It hit him.

"Yeeaahhh, Mally needs to pull through", Benjamin smirked, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Yawwwwn".

Lorenzo side-eyed Luke.

"What?" Luke noticed his inviting look.

"You're yawning more than usual", Lorenzo said, turning his head.

"I did a lot today".

"You barely did anything".

Lorenzo wasn't on his phone. He wanted to be social, but he didn't know how to be social. The only person he could comfortably talk to was Luke.

"I did more than I usually do", Luke replied, rubbing his eyes.

After rubbing his eyes, he observed a few of his classmates.

"They all look confident", Luke said, seeing smiles on faces.

"Ryan did great near the end. He managed to pull it back", Lorenzo proudly replied.

"Akari did good, too", Luke reminded him.

Lorenzo scoffed, "She slacked off near the end. She could've gotten more plastic balls if she wasn't walking the whole time".

"C'mon, she tried", Luke replied. "She's the reason Ryan did well in the end. She got the tracker".

Lorenzo rolled his eyes and turned his head.

Luke saw his reluctancy to admit it, "You need to be nice to everyone, Lorenzo. Especially our classmates".

"They're not nice to me", Lorenzo shrugged, looking away.

"You sure?" Luke questioned. "I haven't seen anyone being mean to you".

"They don't talk to me. They ignore me. Like I'm not even there", Lorenzo said with his gaze down.

Luke could hear it in his voice. Lorenzo was being genuine. He didn't like being ignored.

"So it does bug him that he's pushed aside. I thought he didn't care", Luke thought.

"Is that their fault or yours?" Luke asked.

"Tsk", Lorenzo didn't want to answer that.

"If you want people to talk to you, you should put more effort in", Luke told him.

"You can't say that. No one talks to you", Lorenzo was deflecting from himself.

"I don't mind. I don't like small talk. It's a waste of energy", Luke replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Besides, if I wanted to talk to someone, I could".

Lorenzo started fidgeting with his hands. The stuff he was being told, he already knew. He wanted a different answer than he was getting. He wanted Luke to agree with him even though he was wrong.

"Yawwn. If you want people to talk to you, talk to them", Luke simply said. "What's the worst that could happen? They give you a bad response or ignore you? Who cares? If they do that, then it's a good thing because then you know not to talk to them. If you talk to enough people, you'll eventually find people that talk to you".

"You say that like it's easy", Lorenzo bitterly said.

"I'm not. But you do have it easier than other people", Luke replied. "You're Ryan's best friend. You'll have a lot of chances to talk to people".

Lorenzo thought back to the times people swarmed around Ryan, and he got pushed to the side. There were chances to talk to people, but he didn't take them. He was too busy judging them. He also didn't want to talk to them at the time, but now he was regretting it.

"You should also look more friendly when you talk to people", Luke said.

"What do you mean friendly?" Lorenzo asked, not understanding him.

"No offence, but you look annoyed all the time", Luke replied.

"I'm not annoyed. This is how I look", Lorenzo replied.

"You also give off a 'don't talk to me' vibe", Luke continued.

"What does that even mean?" Lorenzo asked, furrowing his eyes in confusion.

"I don't know, man. Yawwwn. I'm just saying what I think", Luke replied, stretching his arms and leaning back in his seat. "Next semester, I'll help you if you're still struggling. I should help you straight away because you're my friend, but I've used all my energy up for this semester. Yawwwnnn".

Hearing Luke call him his friend caught Lorenzo off guard. He wanted to say thanks, but he felt too awkward to say it. Hearing someone other than Ryan call him their friend felt weird.

Lorenzo pulled out his phone from his pocket but didn't turn it on. Instead, he looked at his reflection from the black screen.

"I don't look unfriendly".

"Isabella, you must be glad you didn't get chosen", Eve said.

The girls in 1-A were confident. They weren't talking about the potential results. Their conversations were more centred on what happened within the challenge.

"Yeah, Destiny got fucked up", Bri added.

"That nosebleed looked bad", Anya said, quickly joining the conversation. "I know we've already talked about it a lot, but I feel bad for her".

"She kinda deserved it", Bri replied. "The camera didn't catch it properly, but she was putting her hands on Delilah's face".

"She didn't have to punch her. I know we don't like her, but that's too much. Malakai already shot her", Anya said.

"I don't think Delilah punched her. If she did, she would've got punished", Eve replied.

"So you think she slapped her?" Bri asked.

"No, because if punching wasn't allowed, slapping wouldn't be either", Eve replied. "I think her hand accidentally hit Destiny's face".

"Accidentally? You think she accidentally hit her face?" Anya asked, not believing her.

Eve pursed her lips, "We'll give her the benefit of the doubt".

The three of them chuckled together, knowing that hit was no accident.

"How are you feeling?" Luna asked Isabella.

Despite Eve starting a conversation with Isabella, she got involved in another conversation before Isabella could respond and left her alone. So Isabella was sat alone in her own thoughts.

"Hm?" Isabella turned to Luna, just about hearing her.

"You've been out of it the whole day", Luna said.

"Oh... Yeah. I just haven't been... up for it today", Isabella replied, finding the right words. "It's just one of those days, you know, hehe", she awkwardly laughed and brushed her hair behind her ears.

Luan knew why she was acting like this. Well, most of the girls knew why she was feeling down.

"Do you think you would've done better?" Luna asked, not beating around the bush.

"I don't know", Isabella slowly replied, looking down. "The challenge looked hard. I think Destiny did better than I would've".

"You don't know that. Your strategy might have been better", Luna said. "You would've gotten into less fights, that's for sure".

"Heh, maybe", Isabella replied, giving a fake, weak smile.

Luna was getting tired of seeing Isabella like this.

"I don't know why you are so sad. Whatever the result is, it's a win-win for you".

Isabella looked at Luna.

"If they get the most points, then it's good for us. Our class comes first, and we get a lot of points. But if they don't come first, it proves to Alexander he chose wrong, and he should've chosen you. It'll also look bad on Destiny", Luna explained.

Isabella thought about it for a bit. Luna made sense. If they didn't get the most points, it only proves she should've been the other representative. However, if they got the most points, it proves that Alexander was right to change to Destiny, but Isabella would still get a lot of points. One option was more painful than the other, but they both ended in positives.

"You're right", Isabella replied with a weak but real smile.

After seeing her smile, Luna smiled, "As much as I want you to be happy, I don't want our class to lose", she said. "If our class doesn't get first place, I think our class will fall apart".

"FINALLY!"

"LOOK!".

"SSHHH!!".

"THEY'RE HERE!".

Loud voices behind caused Luna, Isabella and everyone around to turn around in their seats and look to the back of the hall towards the double doors. Mr White was walking in with people following behind.

The noise started to simmer down, but it wasn't silent. Students still had things to comment to each other about as the main characters of the hour made their way down the aisle and to the stage.

Alexander and Destiny were leading the line behind Mr White, while Malakai and Delilah were at the back.

Alexander kept his neutral expression as he walked, keeping his eyes forward. It was like he already knew the outcome.

Destiny had a little smile because of her main character syndrome due to walking down the aisle with everyone watching. The smile would've been bigger, but she was still annoyed about that nosebleed and ruined shirt. There was no evidence of the nosebleed, but the shirt still had that yellow splatter.

Ryan had his warm smile that everyone felt happy seeing.

Akari had a similar smile but a tired look in her eyes.

Dillon looked pissed and didn't look at his class as he walked past with his hands in his pockets.

Kayla looked pissed and looked towards her class as she walked past. She was trying to find Sabrina to see her expression as she thought it would make her happier, but even Sabrina's smile couldn't lighten her mood.

Justin had a shy but happy look. His class threw compliments and praise as he passed them.

Nada looked the happiest and most excited out of all the representatives. Waving to her classmates as she walked through.

Delilah's face was a neutral one. As she walked down the aisle, she looked at her class and tried to look for her friends. When she saw them, she couldn't help but smile a little. However, she noticed that there were a lot of eyes on her, so she stopped looking at them to avoid the eyes and faced forward.

Malakai had his signature smirk as he walked down the aisle. He took in the scenery and met every eye that met his. He got a similar feeling when he was chosen to be a representative. It wasn't exactly the same because he knew he couldn't be too proud and happy with himself. He kept his poker smile as he walked down, but when he turned his head left and saw his friends, that poker smile turned into a genuine one. All his teeth were showing. Seeing his best friends lifted his mood right up. He forgot about everything that happened in the past few hours. How he performed, felt like it didn't matter after seeing his friends smiling faces.

"Three band-aids is crazy", Benjamin said to his friends.

"He should've put one over his scar", Lucas joked.

Ray giggled, "That's a good idea. Why hasn't he done that yet?"

Benjamin looked over at William to see if his nervousness had settled. After seeing William's smile, it was clear that the nervousness was more than settled. It disappeared.

Mr White and the representatives made it to the stage, and the noise was dying down. No teacher was needed to tell them to be quiet. The students knew what to do. Mr White organised the representatives in classes. So 1-A was on the right-hand side with 1-B next to them and 1-C in the centre. 1-D was next to 1-C, and 1-E finished the line on the left-hand side of the stage.

The stage was set. Everything was set up. The representatives were in place. The crowd were silently waiting. All that was left was to start.

"Good evening, everyone", Mr White started, projecting his voice.

"Challenge five has finished. The last challenge of the semester is done. You don't have to worry about any more challenges this semester. Your final week can be stress-free without thinking about points. You can focus and catch up on your studies".

Mr White paused for two seconds and gave himself a little break, looking around the hall.

"It's been a long day, but I hope you enjoyed it. This was a new challenge. None of the previous years have done this challenge, so we hope you liked it. Unfortunately, Mr Donald was busy, so he couldn't announce the results to you. So you're stuck with me", he smiled.

Mr White was standing on the podium, which had been moved to the side. It was normally at the centre, but it was moved to the left side of the stage for this occasion to give the representatives the spotlight.

Mr White pulled out his phone from his pocket and opened his notes app, where the results were written.

"Before I read the results, I must inform you that some students made a mess in the academy library. They decided to turn the library into a warzone and throw books around. Those students know who they are, and we know who those students are. CCTV has identified the students involved, and those students will be sent an email to arrange a meeting with me", he said with a serious look. "You're lucky you're first years, otherwise we wouldn't be this lenient. Only a few students were involved, so I don't want to speak too much about this, but let this be a warning to the rest of you. You don't have an excuse to vandalise or mess around just because a challenge is going on. You're still in the academy building. Rules and standards still apply".

After that mini announcement, it was finally time.

"Okay, I won't waste any more time. I'll tell you the results", Mr White said, looking down at his phone.

Smiles formed, blood was pumping, and hearts were beating around the hall. This was what they were waiting for.

The results.

"In fifth place with 685 points is class 1-D".

Wow!!!! Who saw that coming????

Disappointed looks from the students of 1-D. They knew it was coming, but hearing it get announced in front of all the other classes was the most embarrassing part. They weren't even involved that much, and it was still embarrassing.

Dillon kept his head down and didn't look up. Despite averting his eyes, he stood with his back straight and hands in his pockets. He couldn't hide anywhere, so he had to show strong body language. His face couldn't follow, but his stance had to be strong to protect his pride.

Kayla was also looking down but didn't have the same strong body language Dillon had. She wanted this to be over. She was happy this would only last a few minutes. She wanted to go back to her dorm and go to sleep. Lucky for her, it was a Friday, and the weekend was waiting for her. If this was any other weekday, she would've skipped the classes for the rest of the week.

The 1-D students kept quiet. They could feel the taunting, condescending glances from other classes.

"If last place got 685 points, first place must have got a lot of points", Sabrina thought, sitting back with her arms folded. She looked at Dillon and Kayla, "Where would we have placed if I was a representative?".

Malakai slightly turned his head to the right, sneaking a look at a dejected Dillon and Kayla, "Damn, I feel kinda bad. I probably shouldn't have helped Destiny or taken their plastic balls".

"In fourth place with 733 points is", Mr White kept going as there was no noise stopping him.

"Class 1-B".

Faces dropped from various places in the hall. Ryan and Akari looked the most shocked on stage. They looked at each other, bug-eyed and with mouths hanging. They thought they did good. Neither of them had been in any other safe zone, so they didn't know how good they were in comparison to others. In the last round, however, they collected a lot of plastic balls. With how many balls they collected, they thought for sure they did good enough.

Luke was leaning back in his seat and side-eyed Lorenzo to see his reaction. Lorenzo was staring at his best friend with his mouth slightly open.

"He said he was expecting third or fourth. We've got fourth, and he's shocked", Luke thought. "Guess he didn't believe himself when he said that, or maybe he's shocked to see his friend pull a face like that. Who knows? This day sure has been tiring. But it has also been interesting".

"Yawn".

Owen was shaking his head and looking down. This result wasn't a surprise to him as he watched both of them do the whole challenge. It annoyed him how everyone else in his class was shocked because they watched the same thing. It was clear both of them didn't do well, but they were the 'leaders' of the class, so everyone believed in them no matter what.

Owen turned his head left and right to look at his classmate's faces. Every one of their faces annoyed him.

"I hate this class".

"Woah, Ryan got fourth", Lucas said, sitting up.

"I didn't think they would do that bad", Benajmin replied. "Look at Malakai, look how he's smiling", he subtly pointed. Malakai was smiling towards the floor.

"Imagine if he landed a shot on Ryan, 1-B probably would've been last", Lucas said.

"1-B is lucky Malakai isn't American", David joked.

Akari's lip was quivering. She was trying to keep it together because she didn't want to cry on stage. She felt like she let down the whole class, and the thought of everyone feeling disappointed was tearing her apart. She wanted to run off the stage and hide, but even if she wanted to, she physically couldn't. It would be an awkward, slow walk instead of a rush off stage. All she could do was try not to cry.

Ryan was staring at the floor, thinking where it went wrong.

"How? We got less than fifty more points than 1-D. We would've come last if I didn't find that item".

Ryan found an item card which gave him one hundred points. Without that, item 1-B would've had the least points.

Ryan was clenching his fist hard. He knew that they weren't going to get first place because of what Nada did, but he thought they would get top three at least. Fourth place was terrible. Once again in a challenge he got beaten.

"In third place".

Mr White wasn't stopping. The little conversations in between the reveals quickly appeared and disappeared. No noise fully broke out, which allowed Mr White to swiftly continue reading the results.

"With 937 points".

But now it was the top three. The three classes left were hoping they didn't hear their class called next, but everyone was expecting to hear one class.

"Class 1-C".