Chapter 5: Unexpected results

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I spent all my Thursday with some friends on a game I used to play for hundreds of hours, called Sodeuf. It was a strategy kind of game, where we each were incarnating a class that could do spells. The difference with other games was the fact that we played turn by turn, making it very chess-like.

We were preparing for an important tournament that would take place at the end of August. Since the exam was already over, I had no more restrictions on playing.

And that's how Friday came faster than expected. Results were expected to be displayed in three minutes.

"Are you ready?" I asked Lin and Jade, who were both here.

"Let's cross our fingers..."

"I couldn't even sleep last night because of stress..."

There were a lot of people, even families, waiting for the results to be displayed. When lights appeared on the walls, we could hear the relief of the crowd, letting out a big "Aaaah!".

Then some text began to appear.

2012 graduation success rate...

2012 graduations...

2012 failed graduations...

We all waited for the text to be completed. One second, two seconds... three seconds... and then it appeared.

2012 graduation success rate... 73%

2012 graduations... 273 310

2012 failed graduations... 101 087

The number of students who failed seemed huge, and we all gulped down. More than one hundred thousands failed... And I could really be one of them because of that second part of the test...

Everyone then rushed to the wall. By putting their hand on it, their names were displayed with the result. We could already see cries of joy and tears everywhere.

When we managed to reach the wall, Lin was the first to check her results.

Lin SALIVAD... Graduated

She even jumped from happiness while we were congratulating her. It was then Jade's turn.

Jade DARGER... Graduated

Jade heaved a sigh of relief, before looking at me, indicating it was my turn to check. I was really afraid and wanted to run away. I didn't want to fail, and didn't think I failed, but that was a huge possibility... I put my hand on the whole, my eyes closed.

The next thing I heard was Jade and Lin screaming at the same time "Congratulations!!!!".

I then opened my eyes, to see my results.

Az ADAX... Graduated

I suddenly felt as light as air. I had graduated, at least. Next was the display of the exact scores at 11:00 AM, to know if that application' step was validated... We had to wait forty five minutes, during which the stress began to grow again, as if nothing happened. Excitation on everyone's face quickly dissipated, to let anguish take the upper hand.

Even us, stopped talking almost ten minutes before the detailed result appeared. And we waited in silence. Everyone waited in silence. The atmosphere was really weird, almost like a burial ceremony.

Finally, text appeared again on the walls.

2012 graduation success rate... 73%

2012 graduations... 273 310

2012 failed graduations... 101 087

2012 applications... 325 091

2012 qualification rate... 14%

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