CLOUD 9INE (OG)

5

The arena magically morphed into a gymnasium with a large number of desks all lined in unaligned rows and columns. A collective sigh from all the sufferers of anxiety, including Tetra, rang out.

Evyn had woken up and was propping up Ava on her shoulder. Lo offered to help, but Evyn declined; her eyes had strangely stayed purple since she'd tried to assault Rob. Tetra and Ava noticed, but both kept silent.

"Well, Heaveners," Rob's voice said. "This is the test of mental strength. Take a seat!" All the remaining participants were magically whisked away to separate seats. Tetra noticed her friends weren't there with her. She began to feel alone and curl into a ball, but before she could, Rob spoke.

"Now mind you, this isn't some easy test. Everyone is going to get low scores! But it's the 100 highest scores that get to go. You have as long as you need, but if you're caught not trying to finish the test...just don't worry about that. Enjoy! When you're done, bring it to the front."

Number 2 pencils and large paper packets appeared on everyone's desks. Tetra, trying hard to hold back her tics, picked up her pencil and turned the first page. Math. Science. English. History. Only four subjects in the table of contents.

Tetra sighed from relief and turned the page to begin on the math. A calculator appeared on the desk. Although when she read the first question, she saw that the problem was nearly unrecognizable from anything she'd ever learned before. The world began to shrink around her, but she began taking the test.

Halfway through the math section, she saw a participant go up in flames after trying to cheat. Her eyes bolted down to her paper to avoid any false accusations of cheating. Minutes turned to hours, but eventually, she finished the math and science portions. She wiped the light beads of sweat from her brow as she saw a few participants walk up to the front to turn their tests in.

Did they already finish? Am I that slow?

The intrusive thoughts continued, but she pushed on as person after person walked up to the front. Soon she saw Ava, Lo, and Evyn pass her as well. After about the sixth hour, she had a mere six questions left on the test. All the other people had gone to sit down after finishing their tests, but she felt their cold, hard stares.

The sound of a ticking clock invaded her mind, making it harder to focus. The final question glared at her with the fierceness of a lion. She wanted to curl up and disappear, but then Lo's face filled her mind; his hair slicked back embarrassingly on that one day there was a dance in Cloud Nine. She didn't get to go with him but watching him dance about with another girl didn't make her mad. It just made her want him more.

Without thinking and full of determination, she finished the last question and walked up to turn in her test. Rob was waiting there with a warm smile, an ugly look for a demon. Once her test was turned in, Rob took all of the papers and fed them through a large machine.

"Give it about 3 hours to finish. Just cause it's a magic grading machine doesn't mean that we don't like torturing you guys a bit more with anticipation."

Tetra immediately ran to find her friends. She found them near the back and Rich was with them as well.

"Hey Tetra!" said Rich as he accidentally tripped over nothing.

Tetra rolled her eyes playfully and turned towards Lo. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, that test was a doozy."

Tetra laughed like she hadn't laughed in a long time. The pressure was getting to her after a while. "It sure was."

Ava was sitting down at a desk beside Evyn, who was staring intently at the podium Rob stood on.