It's All For One

three; lunch

[Oli Empyreal]

"What the hell?" Adam said with a glare. "How did you let your grade fall to 40%?"

"Aasia hasn't been here," Jayla answered, not looking up from frantically copying Peyton's organized algebra notes. "We get homework everyday for every main class, making it harder to catch up. She hasn't made up any of the work."

Adam was bitter about having a 60%. I couldn't blame him, though. He's been working his butt off ever since 7th grade. If he can't raise it up, what's he gonna do? Would it all go to waste?

Aasia narrowed her eyes at Jayla with a scowl. "I know I'm failing! I tried to keep it up, Jayla! You can't expect me to do all of that work!"

Glancing at me before asking, Jayla asked, "Are your grades good, atleast?"

I nodded, not wanting to get involved with this mess. After my encounter with the blond High Tier, I have not wanted to utter even a single word to anyone of my grade-obsessed friends. For once, I wanted to talk about drawing, or even anime! Now it's just reports cards, quiz scores, overall grades, kids getting dragged down the hallway...

A lightbulb popped up over my head and I fixed my slouch. "Guys, what do you think happens exactly to people whose grades fall?"

Adam looked at me like I was a madman. "Why would you want to know that?"

I shrugged.

"I'm surprised you don't know," Jayla said. "People only know what happens when you get between a 60% and 40%. That's mostly kept among the High Tiers, though."

"Aren't you apart of them? The High Tiers?" I questioned.

"A 60% isn't that bad," she continued. "I can't say the same for 40."

The table shook. We turned and looked at Adam, who looked like he was about to combust. He had slammed his fist on the wooden table. "You die, Rwigyema. If you don't raise your overall grade up by the next quarter, you're dead. All of your future is gone and a waste."

Why did I ask this question.

I'll make a note to not bring this up again.

[Adam]

I was a nervous wreck.

I'm failing. After all the damn hard work I put into that class, I end up with a failing grade. It sucks. I can't deal with it. It feels like I've failed the teachers. It feels like I've failed everyone.

I'd rather worry about other things. Anime, drawing — hell, even taking care of my brothers would be better than this mess. I'm not even joking at this point. I want to get out of here. I don't want to be trapped here at this hell of an academy.

"Please report to your final class of the day. Remember to be here tomorrow by 11 PM for your 3rd quarter testing scores. We will not be accepting any excuses."

I'll tell my mom that I want to move. Then, I'll be free. Once that happens, I'll be able to get my friends out of here. They can't suffer any longer.

"Hey," I heard Oli say behind me. "It'll be okay. You'll be able to raise up your grade. Don't stress about it too much."

"Easy for you to say," I responded with a sigh. "You can keep your grades above a C by just doing your homework last minute."

Oli shrugged. "I can't say anything about that. But hey... at least you're not in Aasia's place," she reminded in a low whisper.

Aasia couldn't raise her grade up. She went from a 22% to 40%. She put in all of that hard work for it to just go to waste. In the, she wasn't the success that CC High wished her to be.

"...What's going to be happen to her?" I asked Oli as if she knew. "I haven't seen Samantha or that boy ever since they got dragged down the hallway."

Oli gave me a blank look. "Like I would know."' She sighed again. "The only one who knows is Jayla, and she's probably not allowed to tell us."

Damn you, High Tiers.

"Whatever," I said, acting like I don't care. "Aasia will be fine. Everything is just a hoax—"

"IS THAT AN ARM?"

We paused. A few feet away from us were our English classmates surrounding something. The nervous tension in the air made me want to run far, far away.

"That can't be his arm. It has to be Samantha's, right?"

"Samantha's grade was a 40%. This must be the boy."

Both of us looked around. In one place, there was a thigh and leg sitting in the corner. At the very end of the hall, there was a piece of torso left on the ground. No sign of a weapon or the boy's head was found.

"H...his body p...parts...are all over the place..." I turned to look at Oli, but she was long gone. Probably went somewhere to puke because she thought their must've been blood.

There wasn't. The boys arm looked like a doll's.

"Haven't you heard?" A boy with dirty blonde hair from behind started to say. "The people who get a 50% get their body parts cut in half. It's because half of 100 is 50. This school is scary, man. Scary."

A girl with blond hair chuckled. "You think that's scary? What about the girl?"

Samantha?

They looked over at me. Dropping all my textbooks, I slammed through the door and ran downstairs. My mind went dark as I felt the adrenaline flowing through my veins. Everybody watched me run past and everything turned into slow motion.

Then, a slow hand wrapped itself around my mouth.