College Pandemonium

Chapter 4

 Time flew. Classes were much harder than Cheryl had anticipated. The professors at Kymbre were indeed relentless with homework, and Professor Austin, Cheryl's English teacher, was extremely bad about letting students have a full lunch break. 

  "Students in college nowadays are much too relaxed," she would say, stalking about the classroom. "In college, you must learn, learn, and learn some more! Otherwise you will get absolutely nowhere in the future."

  As a result, Cheryl would often end up missing lunch due to the sheer amount of time taken up by her English professor. In addition, her biology professor seemed to hate her for some reason. On the very first day, after reading her name aloud for roll call, Professor Miller had sniffed haughtily and murmured "commoner" extremely loudly. The front row had burst into laughter, leaving Cheryl to wonder whether she was in college or elementary school.

  Lukina and Elias-- or rather Ellie-- shared all of Cheryl's classes, with the exception of physical education. On the first day, Cheryl was secretly thankful for that, since P.E. was most likely her worst subject. She could barely dribble a basketball right. Yet much to her surprise, she had topped the class in that subject. All of the other girls were much too concerned about chipping a nail or scraping their knees to be running after a falling volleyball. They couldn't-- or rather wouldn't-- run either, and when they did, they would huff and puff and fall over within the first five minutes.

  The main problem was her studies, however. As a scholarship student, Cheryl had to work to stay within the top three in the academy overall in order to keep her scholarship. Lukina and Elias were natural genius's, so they always dominated the first two positions. Unlike P.E., however, there were many students who studied up a storm. In other words, Cheryl had quite a bit of competition when it came to testing.

  So she-- and everyone else-- was quite surprised when her name came out second on the weekly mock exams-- tied with Lukina.

  As of current, it was a couple of days after the mock exams-- and rumors were flying. Apparently no one had ever tied with the vice president before. Cheryl sighed as she walked through the hallways, listening to the now-familiar whispers that followed behind her.

  "That's impossible..."

  "Do you think that she cheated?"

  "To think she tied with our wonderful vice-president...What if she manages to tie with the president next?"

  "No! Not Miss Ellie!"

  And within the very first week of attending Kymbre University, Cheryl had somehow become the object of hostile intentions around the school.

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  Slamming the door open rather unceremoniously, Cheryl entered the dorm, dumping her bag on the couch and plopping herself down right next to it, arms crossed over her chest.

  "Cheryl? Is that you?" The black-haired girl glanced up sharply at the sound of Elias's voice, gritting her teeth. Elias exits his room a few minutes after he asks the question, grinning.

  "You didn't same 'I'm back!' That's not good, you know," he admonishes in a light tone, his hands on his hips. "Make sure you say it from now on, okay? Otherwise I won't know if some girl picked the lock to get in-"

  "Get. Away. From. Me," Cheryl hissed out, kicking out a leg which caused Elias to back up a good couple of feet. He pouts at her annoyed expression.

  "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he comments. "What's the matter now?"

  "Oh, nothing big," the black-haired girl says in the most annoying voice she could manage. "I worked extremely, extremely hard to maintain my grades and scholarship for this school, and my reward? Hundreds, if not thousands of girls all over the school badmouthing me! Honestly! So this is what I get for trying, is that right?"

  Elias was silent for a moment as Cheryl continued to rage, steam practically radiating off of the top of her head. When she finished, she fixed Elias with a heated glare.

  "And now they worry that I'm going to tie with you for the next mock exams! Who the heck do they think they are?!" Cheryl threw her hands into the air, her chest heaving slightly from anger. Elias chuckles.

  "Don't worry, Cheryl. That won't happen anytime soon."

  "...What was that?"

  "There's no way you'd be able to beat me on an examination. That's just the way it is."

  "You-" She opened her mouth to yell at the blond for being so arrogant, but stopped upon seeing the expression on Elias's face.

  Was he...

  ...upset?

  She swallows, all of a sudden feeling guilty for no reason. The look on Elias's face vanishes the next instant, however, and he grins cheekily down at Cheryl again.

  "If they think that you're not good enough to score high on a mock exam, then just prove them wrong."

  Cheryl glances at Elias, suspicious. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

  "Simple."

  The male walks over to the grand piano, opening the lid and pressing lightly down on a key. He looks over his shoulder, smiling at the confused girl.

  "You play music."

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  "Kymbre University was founded many years ago, and it was originally a music school. All of the people attending this college as of now may be studying to become scientists or engineers, but music probably runs deep within their family."

  "...And how do you know this?" Cheryl said, still doubting the simplicity of the solution. Elias chuckles.

  "It's natural that you wouldn't believe me. But it works. At least, it worked for Lukina and me."

  "You and...Lukina?"

  "Yep," Elias replied, sitting down on the piano chair. "We played a duet at the courtyard stage. You know, the one that anyone could go to and preform at at anytime?" The blond leans back in his seat, his eyes wistful and distant. "The first time we were here, Lukina and I were simply attending for our provisional week. We would stay at the academy for around seven to nine days, and experience what living here would be like."

  "We were able to snatch the top two spots that week, too. No one really believed us either." Elias chuckles as he says this. "That's when Lukina suggested that we'd hold a mini concert."

  "Concert?" Cheryl echoes. "You mean...piano and cello?"

  "Yeah, basically," Elias replied, leaning backwards a bit. "It was music that managed to get the others to accept Lukina and my abilities, in both extra curricular activities and academically. The only issue is that our song is missing a soprano."

  Elias gets to his feet, his smile spreading slowly across his face.

  "So, Miss Cheryl Cross, winner of the state violin championships for the past two years..." The blond gives a sweeping bow, before flashing the stunned girl a smile.

  "Won't you play violin for us?"