To My Dearest Roseanne

Chapter 32

"Get up. It's time for school!"

"Huh... What?"

Cho barely regained consciousness when Roseanne threw the uniform at her and kicked towards the bus stop. It was Friday. The last day to survive before the weekend.

The girl felt exhausted after the previous night. They stayed up for definitely too long.

She crawled her way up the school stairs and into Mr Orville's classroom. Emily was already sitting at her desk with her biker jacket on and a helmet resting on a window sill. She had bloodshot eyes and bone-dry lips, but she still smiled at the sight of her friend.

"Hello, Ch...ch is... is that charcoal on your stripe, Roseanne?"

"No, it isn't."

Cho sat beside Emily. They were alone in the classroom. As she was unpacking her coursebooks, Cho gave Emily an angry look for nearly blowing her cover. Emily looked away with a red blush on her cheeks.

Mr Orville has finished writing on the board and turned away.

"Oh, Roseanne. A woman of the hour I needed to see today!"

Cho raised her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

Mr Orville approached her desk, holding a slip of paper in his hands.

"I have some good news and better news, which one would you like to hear first?"

"Uhm... the better news."

"You don't have to attend classes today."

Upon hearing this, Emily exhaled profusely.

"What's the good news then?"

"Instead, you are going to participate in today's interdisciplinary scientific decathlon organised by the Pathway to Excellence Foundation and the Ministry of Education. I apologise for such short notice, Roseanne, but I found out about the submission forms for schools just yesterday."

Emily tried the best she could to withhold a cascade of chuckling. Cho, on the other hand, immediately went pale.

"Thank you very much, Mr Orville. But isn't it a competition to which a student should prepare beforehand?"

"In theory, yes, but practically... it's impossible to master that amount of the material. The Ministry from the get-go expects you to be excellent at the humanities, languages, and science. It's a fool's errand, really. Of course, I don't want to stress you and put you on the spot, but I thought it could be cool to check your strengths. At the end, you get a certificate of participation, and if you win, you can get a single-term scholarship."

Cho thought for a while about the offer, and then she looked at Emily who was micro-trembling from Cho's indisposition.

"Okay, I can do this, but I think Emily should also check herself."

"My sentiments exactly."

"What?!" Emily shouted.

***

Half an hour later the two of them were sitting in a separate class together with half a dozen of other "fortunately" selected students. Some tall guy came in, he was wearing a grey suit and had tons of rings on his fingers and a golden watch. His face was so rectangular that it reminded Cho of that GigaChad meme.

The GigaChad imitation adjusted his tie and introduced himself as the representative of the organising foundation. In the course of the competition, the participants were to solve three one-hour-long tests and also have a discussion in a special interview panel with qualified lecturers. In total, the duration of the marathon, with breaks taken into account, was estimated to be five hours.