ʜᴇᴀʀᴛʙᴇᴀᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴀʟʟᴡᴀʏꜱ

.The Exam༊˚

AUTHOR'S POV :

The next morning, Avni woke up early. It was Monday, the day of their exam. She went through her morning routine, then went to catch the bus to reach school on time. She revised a few things on the bus and entered the school, reading her notebook.

She was so focused on her notebook that she didn't see the pillar and was about to walk right into it. But her forehead landed on a palm instead. She looked up to find Ishan.

Avni said, "Thanks."

Ishan whispered, "So focused on your studies instead of me."

Avni asked, "What?"

Ishan replied, "Nothing. Let's go, or else we'll be late."

Avni followed him to their classroom and found Nidhi and Aaron doing last-minute revision.

Nidhi asked when she saw Avni, "Do you feel prepared?"

Avni replied, smiling, "Yes, all thanks to you."

Nidhi said, "Let's go inside. Let's do our best."

Avni nodded and said, "Yes!"

Nidhi wished Aaron and Ishan, "All the best!" They both replied with the same.

Neha joined them, saying, "All the best, Ishan. I know you're smart enough that you don't even need my wishes."

Ishan sighed and replied, "Save your wishes for yourself." He then went inside the room, leaving his bag outside.

They all took their seats: Nidhi in the second row, fourth bench; Ishan in the second last bench of the third row; Aaron in the second bench of the third row; and Avni in the first bench of the first row.

The examination began, and the room fell into a focused silence.

The invigilator handed out the exam papers. Avni took hers and quickly scanned the questions. A smile tugged at her lips as she realized she knew all the answers. She began writing down her answers, moving swiftly from one question to the next.

The test was scheduled for 2.5 hours, but Avni completed her paper in 2 hours. She reviewed her answers once, then closed her answer sheet and rested her head on the desk. She glanced around; everyone was writing nervously, except Ishan, who appeared calm.

She noticed Ishan glancing up and catching her eye. He signaled, "Are you done?" while the teacher wasn’t looking. Avni nodded. He gave her a thumbs-up and then refocused on his own paper.

Next, Avni saw Nidhi looking at her, signaling, "The answer for question 7 is option 3, right?" Avni nodded in confirmation before Nidhi went back to writing her answers. Avni closed her eyes and faced downwards.

With ten minutes left to submit the papers, she reviewed her answer sheet one last time to ensure she hadn't missed anything. The invigilator then began collecting the papers.

Avni handed her answer sheet to the invigilator and then gathered her belongings, walking out of the exam room.

In the hallway, she met up with Nidhi, Aaron, and Ishan. They packed their bags and began discussing about the examination.

Nidhi said, "Thank you for confirming the answer, Avni."

Avni replied, "It was nothing. You had already written the correct answer."

Aaron asked, "You two cheated?"

Nidhi said, "That's not cheating."

Avni added, "It was just helping my best friend out. The questions were quite easy."

Nidhi said, "Easy for you, Miss. I left two or three questions blank and got a couple wrong, but I'll still pass the test."

This made everyone chuckle.

Nidhi said, "What is it? Why are you all laughing? The test was hard, okay? I agree Ishan and Avni are intelligent, so they laughed. What about you? Why did you laugh, Aaron?

Nidhi gave Aaron a playful death stare.

Aaron replied, "I-I didn't laugh. Why would I? You’re so smart."

Just then, Mr. Gupta arrived in the hall, and everyone went silent.

He said, "Everyone go back to your classrooms. There are only 20 minutes left in this period, and teachers won’t be coming around. Don’t make any noise and stay in your seats."

then added, "Avni and Ishan, come with me to the staff room."

Avni and Ishan followed him.