Forbidden Lessons

33

33

Sophia’s POV

Exam days always brought a sense of anxiety mixed with a peculiar thrill. This morning, the air was thick with anticipation, and the corridors of the university was bustling with students clutching notes, their faces masked with various degrees of nervousness and determination. As I walked to the exam hall, I felt the familiar fluttering in my stomach, a blend of excitement and nervousness. Today was my first exam, and it just happened to be history.

Entering the vast hall, the atmosphere was charged. The silence was heavy, punctuated only by the rustling of paper and the occasional cough. I found my seat, third row from the front, and settled in, trying to calm my racing heart. The invigilator, a stern-faced professor with a reputation for no-nonsense, handed out the exam papers.

I looked around, wondering where Ian was. Seeing him here right now would at least give me a bit of confidence but he wasn’t here. I sighed. Maybe his absence was what I needed right now. So I’ll be able to concentrate better.

I collected my exam papers and closed my eyes, saying a short prayer for myself. As I flipped it over, a wave of relief washed over me. The questions, though they were hard and tricky, were familiar. I had spent countless hours poring over my notes, and now it seemed those efforts were about to pay off.

The clock ticked steadily as I worked through the questions, my pen flying across the pages. There were moments when doubt crept in, but I pushed it aside, focusing on what I knew. Time seemed to blur as I moved from one question to the next, my confidence growing with each answer I penned down. By the time the invigilator announced that we had fifteen minutes left, I had already reviewed my answers twice. I leaned back, a satisfied smile tugging at my lips. It had gone well, better than I had hoped. And I wished Ian was here to see this grin my face right now. Knowingly or not, he had helped me with studying for his exam.

With the exam over, the hall buzzed with a different kind of energy as students exchanged glances, some relieved, others less so. I packed my things and made my way back to my dorm since this was the only exam I had today. The sun was shining brightly, a stark contrast to the tension-filled morning, and I felt a lightness in my step. The first exam was over, and it had gone well.

As I walked back to our dorm, I could feel the weight of the morning lifting. Pushing open the door to our room, I found Jenny sprawled on her bed, surrounded by a series of textbooks and notes. Her face lit up with a wide grin when she saw me.

“Hey, Soph! How did it go?” she asked, sitting up and pushing aside a pile of papers to make space for me.

I collapsed onto the bed next to her, feeling the tension from the exam finally melt away. “Pretty good, actually. I think I nailed it,” I said, a satisfied smile spreading across my face.

Jenny’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I knew you would! You’ve been studying like a maniac for weeks. Come on, tell me everything. What were the questions like?”

I laughed, glad to have someone so enthusiastic to share my experience with. Even if I knew she wouldn’t understand a word of wbay I was about to explain, it still made me happy to know that she wanted to hear it anyways. “Okay, so there was this question about the causes of the French Revolution. I was so worried it would be something obscure, but it was pretty straightforward. And then there was one about the impact of the Industrial Revolution on European societies. I think I wrote a solid essay on that one.”

Jenny nodded, her expression serious. “Those are right up your alley. I know you nailed them. What else?”

“There was a tricky one about the Treaty of Versailles,” I continued, “but I think I managed to cover all the main points. And then a question on the role of women in World War II, which was a breeze since we just covered that in class last week.”