Academics of Excellence in Academics (BOOK 2)

Chapter 9-Points

"Before we go to the canteen, let us go to the bookshop." Mentor said as they walked over to a room. It was a beautiful little shop with everything that a student living there might need. Mentor gave them 5 minutes to look around and buy what they want, but smirked knowing that in total, they had 30 points amongst them. Other students were buying whatever they wanted and seemed to be living comfortably. "I think we should get pads..." Kate whispered and everyone agreed. Thus, they dashed over to the ladies' section to find their necessities. "WHAT? One pack is 10 points...." Macey exclaimed as quietly as she could. They were shocked. That was a lot of points for pads. "Here there is a cheaper one, it is only 5 points." Hailey noted. However, they found out that it was the extremely uncomfortable one, but they had no choice. They wanted to save their points. Mentor grinned to himself to see them struggle with basic necessities, even muttering under his breath, "women are so high-maintainence..."

After getting one item, they went to the canteen. "Here you buy your own food. If you do not have any points, there is always the free section there. After all, we are legally forced to keep everyone alive." Mentor rolled his eyes and stated. The girls went over to look at the menu. Most food costs 10 points while some of the nicer food even went up to 40 points! Then they looked over at the free section—porridge that smelt bad and plain bread that looked extremely questionable. There were no drinks and only provided water, but they were not complaining. At least they had something to drink. "I suggest we just eat from the free section, so we can save money..." Jenna explained and everyone agreed. The smell of fresh food out of the oven wafted towards them and they could only stare at student's mushroom soup and egg omelets in envy as they took the bread. It did not even come with butter!

"Ew...." Kate groaned in disgust. "It's hard!!! Like solid rock hard!" Hailey exasperatedly exclaimed knocking the bread on the table to show how it did not even break and threw her hands up in the air. They looked around trying to find ideas to fill their stomach. Unfortunately, they could not think of any. "I guess we can make up for this later during lunch?" Jenna tried to reason. They sighed and nodded. As Kate still looked around, she noticed Mentor staring at them and she felt creeped out. "Yea..sure..." they replied in a daze.

Later that day, the girls were lazing around in bed since they still did not have school and did not notice Hailey leave until lunch time. "Where's Hailey? We should really go for lunch now..." Macey asked and everyone looked towards Hailey's bed. They decided to go look for her and came across the study. The lights were on and they went in to see a very very tired Hailey. They walked over to see what she was doing and were surprised to see her doing practice papers. The academic year had not even started and she was already being so hardworking? She was so strange...Just then, Hailey looked up and forced a smile. "Hey girls!" She greeted as cheerfully as she could muster. "Why are you here doing these? You should live a little, come have lunch with us." Jenna invited as she held out a hand to which Hailey took gratefully. As Hailey cracked her aching bones and stretched, Macey burst out, "We could not find you this whole time and you made us so worried!" Hailey apologised and brought them to Mentor's room.

"Come in. What do you want?" Mentor asked them after they were seated on the sofa. "I want to turn in these practice books. I heard from a senior that doing practice books can be exchanged for points." She explained, passing him a stack of 2 thick books. Mentor frowned and looked through them. "Alright, give me a moment." He groaned and placed the books into a scanner which helped to automatically mark the answers. "You did not do very well...so I will not be able to give you a lot of points. I will just give you 20 points." Everyone's eyes widened. 20 ONLY? THAT WAS SO LITTLE FOR THE AMOUNT OF WORK HAILEY PUT IN! Hailey quickly rushed, "YOU CANNOT DO THAT MENTOR! I heard that there are rules—10 points per completed book and at least the percentage score I got divided by 2! " Mentor stared back at her and yelled, "DON'T YOU DARE DISRESPECT ME!" His face went red as his fists shook in anger, threatening her with just his looks. They trembled and Kate thought to herself, "I will get my daddy to buy me points. I do not care!" She huffed. Mentor pushed them out of the room and Hailey felt a buzz on her pendent. She opened it up and found 60 points added, to which she grinned. "We are gonna have lunch girls—good lunch."

Everyone stared at their respective food and pulled Hailey into a hug. "H-how....y-you are so nice..." Jenna gushed and tucked into the spaghetti in front of her. Jenna's stomach grumbled despite her furiously stuffing food into her mouth already. It had costed merel 15 points and yet it tasted so much better. The free section consisted of (probably expired) macaroni and strange looking soup. They were more than thankful for a proper meal. Hailey just smiled and massaged her tired hand as she too tucked into her 10 points meal. They decided to save up now knowing how precious the points were. Not only was the school not going to provide them with basic necessities, even their stationery costed points! They were finishing up their food when Jenna grabbed something from her pocket. "I have a surprise!" She exclaimed and placed a finger to her lips, as if telling them to keep it a secret. Jenna then held up a couple of expensive looking desserts.  "How?" Kate whispered angrily. Jenna shrugged and thought back at the open door to a dorm when they were searching for Hailey. "I found it in someone's dorm." She calmly said, proud of herself.

Hailey felt anger boiling up in her, drilling holes into Jenna with her glare. "I COULD HAVE BOUGHT THEM FOR YOU IF YOU SO WANTED THEM! WHY? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO-" She screamed miserably. Not only did she feel like she was cheated of her hard work, she was worried. If Mentor found out....if anyone found out....why was Jenna so foolish? "Hailey...Hailey.....this may not be as bad as it seems....and she meant well, right?" Macey put her arm around Hailey's shoulder, soothingly talking to console her. Jenna whispered a "sorry..." and Hailey felt mildly guilty. Everyone in the cafeteria were staring by now, and they were extremely confused. Why did Hailey burst out like that? Hailey sighed and apologised before finishing her food. Was she jealous, worried or guilty for her friend? She wanted to take care of the group, and seeeing Jenna try to please everyone with her little chocolates seemed way too cheap and dishonest. It was infuriating. What was she really feeling? She wanted to put a finger on her emotions, and to know what to do. She needed a guiding hand, but Mentor was definitely not the one (despite what they called him). She bit her lip and ignored them again, figuring herself out.

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1277 words if you wanna know
Hello there! I am back with another chapter, I hope I was quick enough this time. Thank you all for your support, and I do read your comments. I know that a lot of people want to see Sir again, (seems like he is your favourite character 😂) but I am sorry, this is part of the storyline. Maybe, just maybe, if you convince me enough, something magical could happen....you never know ;) Meanwhile, remember to vote, comment and follow me! Do stay safe and healthy out there, wishing you all the best! Peace out ✌️ 💕