Chapter 26
The professor decided to break out a pop quiz in the middle of class. She walked over to the students and went in rows, handing the quizzes out in one hand and holding them firmly in the other, using all the contempt she could muster up while doing it. When she got to Nicolas, he could feel the heat radiating from her stare burning his head. He knew not to look up; you should never look a demon in the eyes.
He quietly took the paper she was so aggressively handing to him. He waited until she left to actually examine the test.
As he did, he felt a chilling wind grace his ear, getting colder and colder until he heard a peculiar voice... as cold and hollow as the wind itself.
"Look up!"
Nicolas could hear the crack of his neck when he snapped it to the side, searching vainly for the one who commanded him. He failed; everyone he saw was either clenching their hair in great frustration, looking out of the window as if the answer was there, or actually fully immersed in the quiz. No one looked suspicious...
He reluctantly went back to scanning the page. The equations were easier than he thought, albeit hard. Thinking he figured one out, he hastily grabbed his pen and touched the ballpoint gently on the paper before he heard the same ghostly voice again. "Look up!" the voice kept demanding. This time, when Nicolas went to turn his head, a sudden force pushed his chin upward, and held his tongue from audibly retorting. His eyes went wide once he saw what was... up.
It was an apparent apparition of the quiz currently on his desk, suspended in the air as if in disagreement with gravity. It had an ominous white glow to it, powerful almost. The ghost quiz had every question with a marked answer, signifying that he should replicate it. Nicolas was shocked to the spine, and he began to think that he was going crazy.
He found that he could move his head again, thankfully. He was tempted to scream out to the others if they saw this... But what if this actually was the path to the best grade? Should he risk it and tell the others, potentially being seen as insane if they didn't see the floating paper?
...
No, he thought. I must have faith in the evidently divine tools.
Casting all doubt aside, he gained the courage to jot the supposed answers down on the quiz, and prayed to anyone that could hear him that this wasn't some sort of mental break he was having.
Moments later...
The professor gathered all the quizzes after a short amount of time. Nicolas glanced over to Zachary, who had both of his fingers crossed and his leg jumping like crazy. He could tell that they were both avoiding Goldman's eyes as they all waited for a grading.
Nicolas watched her hands fly through the papers as she graded them as if she wasn't even checking the answers. He was certain that she was giving them all F's, or at the very least, assigning grades at random. Regardless, he found himself nervously twiddling his thumbs. Thoughts of regret piled on his conscience; he shouldn't have trusted that strange occurrence. At most, he should really get his brain checked out.
Professor Goldman instantly stood up, giving the jumpy Nicolas a bit of a start. She was grasping the papers so firm that they looked seconds away from cracking.
She walked over to the students, stiffly handing the students back their results like a misanthrope. Zachary matched something of a human fountain by the time Goldman passed his paper onto him. He took several, melodramatic deep breaths with his eyes closed before opening them to see what he got. His eyes widened, but he remained silent.
Nicolas watched as Azure got hers. She wasn't as excessive as her brother, but instead sort of smug as she smirked to herself. Her excellent grade was obvious.
Then, the teacher made her way over to Nicolas, a much-awaited time for him. It felt like she was getting farther away the closer she got, and he felt a waterfall beginning to pour from his temple.
Goldman stared at him for what felt like hours. This time, Nicolas was staring back. Straight into her eyes, unafraid and at the same time trembling in his shoes. Everything was in slow motion; her hand hesitated before reaching into the pile of papers and taking out one that looked as if it was... glowing?
Instead of giving it to him, she turned the paper amidst her fingers just so he could see what was in big, red numbers in the middle of the paper.
"You have earned yourself a full score," she said in a semi-impressed tone. "One hundred percent."
End of Chapter
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I'M SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SUCH A LONG TIME, OH MY CHEESE—
I hope you guys find that worth it :D
Love ya'll,
nobodyimportant out—
