Claire Davis. Genius, kinda pretty, introverted, kind. Her life has never been in such rock bottom until he comes along.
Callahan Taylor. Genius, introverted, piano master. His life has never been in such loftiest until she comes along.
One event. O...
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After what feels like an eternity, Mr. Hale comes back with his duffel bag on one hand. He sits down next to Callahan and places his back on the chair next to him. He unzips it and takes out test papers and a red pen.
I sigh. When will this wait finish? I can't wait to get it over with.
I flip through pages of the textbook and try to memorize all patterns and understand them. God, I seriously need a whole year to really understand these. This is just too heavy.
I unlock my phone and open LINE. I'm hoping some memes posted by official accounts can cheer me up. Blink! One message? Who on earth did send me a message at school hour?
I touch the message icon and find a name on the top. Callahan. I glance at him and back to the text. I touch his name and the chat room appears.
Callahan : Claire 6:34 am Callahan : Where are you? 6:34 am
Oh my god. It's an hour and twenty-one minutes ago! Damn it!
I quickly type a reply to him. Uh oh. I don't want to mess this up.
Claire : ohmygod sorry i've just opened it 7:55 am
I wait for a reply. But he only reads it and leaves nothing behind. I sigh. Yup, I've messed it up. I put my phone under my textbook and start to study again.
A song is played through speakers but there are no use. I can't even catch a word of it. The voice is muffled by shouts from some kids playing Uno Block.
"Let's go," Mr. Hale suddenly says.
I look up to see if he's serious. And he is. He puts back the papers into his bag and stands up, followed by Callahan a second later.
I quickly put my textbook into my backpack and zip it close. I push the wooden chair backwards and grab the backpack with one hand. I place it on my shoulder and follow them.
We walk back to the building. When the lift door slides open, some college students dressed in their committee uniform welcome us and show us the way to get to the auditorium where they will open the event formally.
As soon as we step into the auditorium, I see not so many people have sat down on plastic chairs that are connected to each other in a row. The lights are mostly off. The only bright light comes from the projector projecting slideshows to the screen in front.
"Where do you want to sit?" Mr. Hale asks as there are so many empty seats.
"Up to you," we both answer.
We walk around a little bit until Mr. Hale stops and turns to sit down. It's the third row from behind. So we both sit down next to him and place our backpacks on the floor just like Mr. Hale did and wait.
Music plays through the speakers. This time I can hear the songs. Maps, Payphone, et cetera. I take my cellphone out and start to play Temple Run. I glance at him to see what he's doing. Turns out he's checking his Instagram. I look back at my phone and... DANG! A sentence shows up on my screen : Use save me? 1 gem. I press skip and start to play again.
"Hm, it's been thirty minutes," Callahan suddenly says.
"Yup," I reply. "Trust me it's going to be another thirty minutes till they start."
Callahan smirks. "Yeah."
After more than thirty minutes later, they finally start. Opening from hosts and a few words from coordinators. There are also performances from mathematics college students. Finally the hosts say with cheery voice, "Let the championship begins!"
"For olympiad, please follow me," a girl says. She is standing so far away at the front and is waving to get everyone's attention.
Callahan and I stand up and grab our bags. I really can't wait to get this over with.
"I'll be at the cafetaria," Mr. Hale says, smirkiking.
"Okay, Sir," we nod.
We struggle to get to the clear path because those people leave their chairs without tidying them up. So this room literally looks like a sinking ship right now.
Finally we get to her. But by the time we get there, we're the last. As the result, we have to be at the middle near the last row. Well, actually I have no grudge against it. But I don't get it. What kind of punishment is that?
The girl leads us out of the room and orders us to line up neatly. Hey, don't you know that lining up neatly is our thing? Ha! That's right. Our school is so discipline especially in lining up. So, no problem, mate. I'm going to make your life easier.
After counting us one by one, she leads us to the lift and presses the down button. After a few seconds, there's a ding! and the door slides open. She walks into the lift and presses the open button to keep the lift stay open until everyone gets in.
"Come on!" she says all cheery.
Everyone steps inside, filling the lift. They look like sardines in packaged can. Seriously. I can't imagine how fetid it is in there.
"Come on, you!" she says pointing at Callahan. "One more person."
As he steps into the lift, he turns back and looks at me and our eyes locked for a moment. It feels like we're making a secret agreement that I have no idea what it is about. Somehow my heart beats faster than it should be. It feels like it's going to burst out of my chest.
Callahan steps out of the lift but he never breaks the eye contact. He stands next to me where he was a moment ago.
"We'll take the next one, okay?" he says. I think it's rhetorical question since he surely knows that I will never leave his side because he's the only person I know. But I nod anyway.
The door slides close before us. We wait for the next one to arrive. After a minute, it arrives and the rest of us get in. There are five of us inside and two college students. Callahan presses the G button and the door slides close.
