Cheating Candidates

{Elira}

~**^**~

My pencil hovered over the first page, heart drumming so loud I feared those around me could hear it.

'Focus, Elira,' I told myself, pushing out every thought except the paper in front of me.

There were four subjects. My gaze swept across them quickly: Economics, Calculations, History—and then… Essay.

My breath caught in my throat.

The Essay topic leapt at me, the letters swimming for a heartbeat before settling into cruel clarity:

"Why do you want to get into ESA?"

For a long, frozen second, I just stared.

'It's the exact same topic Zenon made me write,' I realized, a strange tightness forming in my chest.

My thoughts tangled, breath shallowing.

Zenon is the Dean of Studies… Did he know this would appear? Did he deliberately make me prepare?

But… why?