A New Nathan

Nathan arrived at the university. There was still an hour before the classes started, nonetheless he went to the classroom.

He was surprised when he entered the room. He thought that the only person in this class this early was him, but he was mistaken.

There was a girl sitting by the window reading textbooks, she didn't even notice that Nathan had just entered the room.

He sat down on where he usually sits, and casually took a glance at her. Nathan doesn't remember seeing her, well to be fair, he had never really paid attention to other people in this university except the teachers and Warlock.

It was the second semester, so he was kind of embarrassed that he had not paid any attention at all. But it will all change now, so Nathan doesn't need to fill his head with things.

Time passed by and many of his classmates began entering the room, Warlock then soon entered.

"Yo, how come you're early today. Something up?" Warlock was surprised as he didn't expect Nathan to be early, usually Nathan appears right before the bell rings.

"Did going to the tomb help you in clearing your mind?" Warlock grinned.

"I guess so," Nathan shrugged.

After a while the professor entered, and also, he was shocked to see Nathan.

He was Professor Damian, a renowned old faculty that has a good relationship with students, well that is until Nathan gets here.

The first semester had just finished, and Nathan was figuratively a well-known tightrope man. People don't know if it's intentional or Nathan is dumb but his grades are walking at the edge of a cliff. Some students even refer to him as the cockroach man even before he was just a highschooler.

"It might be quite late to do this, but should I say congratulations that you're earlier than me?" The professor smiled. It was quite wonderful that Nathan began going to the university, but he needs to do more than that.

The class also wondered why Nathan decided to come early today, but before they could continue thinking about it, the professor talked.

"Before we start, I like to say that there will be a math competition next week to celebrate the math week. Any volunteers for the challenge? We can't be the only class that doesn't have a representative." Professor Damian announced.

He was from the Math department; therefore, he needed the cooperation of all classrooms for the event to run smoothly.

"I'm not forcing you to win, just participate. I know you're not fond of math, but maybe you'll win, you never know."

Though hesitation was inside the room, coincidentally, two hands simultaneously raised their hands. This shocked the people in the room, not because there were people willing to enter a competition but because a certain someone volunteered.

It was Nathan, He raised his hands nonchalantly not bothering the gazes looking at him. He looked at the other person who volunteered, which also looked at him.

The one who raised their hand was the first person in the room a while ago, she looked at Nathan before turning her head away.

'Did I do something?' Nathan thought before Damian spoke again.

"Are you sure you're up to this Nathan? Though we professors are not pressuring you, it's still a competition." Damian was serious, he let go of his shocked expression as he put himself forward as a professor.

Damian didn't wait for Nathan to answer him as he followed up his remark, "Seeing that there are two volunteers, I think it's better if we have the class to vote for the representative."

Damian's proposition was logical that the student body agreed.

Who was Nathan? He was hailed as the worst of the students who have passed, just barely in fact. Who was he up against? It was Selene, the top student of the class and ranks at the top 3 of their department. Why would they even pick Nathan? If Selene didn't volunteer herself, one student would surely nominate her.

Seeing the enthusiastic look on the students' faces, Damian said with a smile, "Well, that's it. I hope you'll do your best next week Selene"

Selene was not happy though as she said, "The representative should be decided by intellect as it is a math competition, so why are we deciding it by voting when there's clearly another person who volunteered?"

The class was stunned, they didn't expect Selene to let go of the position, they thought she was competitive since she always tops the ranking.

"So you don't want it?" Damian asked. He was bewildered as to why Selene would reject his idea.

"I'm not saying I don't want it, I volunteered. What I'm saying is that I deserve that position" Selene clarified calmly.

This made Damian even more confused, 'Don't deserve the position of a representative? Then who in this class is more deserving than you?'

Damian looked at Nathan, but he couldn't understand why Selene would propose this situation.

"Um… if you put it that way, then I'll make a set of questions and I'll get back to you tomorrow. Are you okay with that arrangement?" Damian solemnly said.

"I agree with that," Selene uttered.

Everyone didn't understand what happened and looked at Nathan in confusion.

"I also agree," Nathan didn't know why Selene helped him get a chance.

Nathan had never talked nor really paid attention to Selene other than this day, so even he was confused by the progression of the events.

To be honest, he wanted to join the competition to gain recognition and get his honor up. He wanted to see if this competition would be a step up in using the system.

After the short announcement of Damian, the lesson continued until their schedule for the subject was done for today.

Damian bid farewell after confirming that Selene was not going to change his mind. He gave up since there was no way Nathan would win this demo competition. If he somehow wins then It would be even more amazing.