Welcome to the Academy

II

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Library Plans

"What'd you get?" Adonis asks T once he's returned to their shared dorm room from the school offices. He drops the package on his bed and takes off his jacket.

"Don't know. You can open it if you want." T says, brushing a hand over his head as he sits at his desk and watches his friend grab a scissor, ease it open and then drag it across the top of the box, slitting the tape down the middle before pulling the flaps open.

"Holycrap." Adonis says, gazing into the box in awe before pulling out two soccer jerseys and holding them up. "They're signed by both our favourite players." T stands and walks over to his friend, grabbing one of the offered jerseys he's handed and the two guys laugh in excitement.

Coming from backgrounds of wealth, it's sometimes shocking what your parents can get you.

Take these jerseys for example; they also come with four attached tickets to the upciming game T and Adonis were dying to go to that year, and now here they are, with jerseys signed by two team players, all sent to T by his uncle, as a "just 'cause" gift.

"Well, I guess there's no need to buy them ourselves anymore. VIP seats will already be waiting for us by the time this rolls around." Adonis tells T and they smack palms with big smiles on their faces. This year is starting out weird but has potential to turn out amazing, T thinks to himself, gazing down at the ticket in his hand.

*****

"I hope you still pondered your studies on your unexpected day off yesterday because I have a fun surprise planned for all of us today. Pop Quiz." Mr Harrison announces to the class and they all groan as he starts handing out the papers. "You have forty five minutes to complete the whole paper.

"You know the rules. Refrain from raising your eyes from your paper, and do not bother to talk because that automatically takes a few points off the quiz. Your time starts...now. Good luck." Mr Harrison leaves the classroom and T simply stares down at the paper on his desk, tapping his pen on his cheek. Screw it, he thinks and then he fills it in, not running into any errors he's aware of at the moment. Being a star player for the Thrive soccer team doesn't just require you being physically fit or naturally talented, it requires stable academic grades and levels so T had no choice but learn to be good in school since he generally didn't want the title handed over to him by most people's parents. Him and his friend Adonis always agreed on earning it when it came to their passions. Like soccer.

Adonis fills his paper in carefully, not really rushing it, but making sure he gets a decent grade on the test, no matter if it's supposed to be a revision test, he's a hardworker.

He watches a girl stand at the same time as his best friend T and they walk to the front of the class and place their test sheets on the desk of their teacher before going to sit down again and he smiles at his friend.

'Showoff', Adonis mouths and T chuckles to himself as he shrugs.

'Easy'. He mouths back.

"Something you'd like to share with the class Mr. Sideris and Mr. Cash?" Mr Harrison asks the two best friends and they share a smile before sheepishly keeping quiet again.

The rest of the students slowly hand in their papers once the timer goes off and then they're given a few pages to read from their textbooks, everyone annoyed and dreadful at the piles of homework they've been given especially so early in the year.

The bell rings, then everyone packs up their bags and they rush to leave class.

T and Adonis walk out of the classroom simultaneously and then someone runs past them, just barely missing running over them.