Todd stared down at his new school ID with a sullen spirit. The photographer took several shots and quickly ushered Todd to the printer to pick up the badge, despite pleas from Todd to retake the photo. Now Todd would be stuck seeing his face contorted into a mixture of shock the next two years. There wouldn’t be another ID photo taken until tenth grade! The picture was so bad, it even surpassed the mid-sneeze, choir photo debacle of sixth grade. To make matters worse, the prep time Todd had counted on to cover any last minute subjects had run out.
Truthfully, he had ten minutes until the exam started, but Todd had a very particular study regimen: pre-review study, review, post review study, review study, and finally a post study review-review. Under normal circumstances, Todd needed at least twenty minutes to get through the process. This usually turned into spending the last ten minutes of the class before the test into test prep, leaving as soon as the bell rang, using his map of efficient class routes to arrive several minutes early, and studying until the moment the teacher placed the test on his desk. Now that he faced the most important exam of the year, Todd would be in complete shambles.
“Alrighty we’re going to get started in a couple minutes. There’s no assigned seats but there should be plenty of room for everyone.” the teacher, Mr. Wiling, in charge of the test said as Todd hurried to a seat near the front. The cafeteria, normally filled with energy and chatter as friends caught up on summer excursions, contained only a scant students; each one sat with eyes half open and still pining for lost sleep. “There’s not a lot of us so I’ll just pass out the tests rather than have you come up.” Mr. Wiling said. He stood in front of a long table at the head of the cafeteria with large stacks of packets and answer sheets. Todd wasted no time in unloading every testing aid he’d managed to fit into his backpack.
“Mr. Wiling. I have an upset stomach.” a boy yelled from the back.
“I thought that was you Jimmy. Welcome back, to you and your test averse stomach. That’s perfect timing because I want to stress today is the last testing day. Most of you are new, or returning to the district so it’s a little unfair but if you were supposed to have already tested and had to reschedule today is it. No more after this. So please try to finish within the allotted time. After pencils down, everything is sealed and shipped to district HQ.” Todd was oblivious to the speech as he flipped through his notebook at a frenzied pace.“You’ll need to put that away.” Mr. Wiling said. Todd looked up, as Mr. Wiling placed a blank answer sheet in front of him.
“Right. Right. Of course.” Todd said, startled. “Just wanted a last minute refresher.”
“Relax. It’s just an aptitude test for class placement. It’s not graded.” Mr. Wiling said.
“I know. It’s just...it is scored which is technically a type of grading.” Todd said. Mr. WILLING folded his arms. “Got it.” Todd said quickly. He clumsily threw the notes into his book bag, a bead of sweat dropped from his forehead.
“Those too.” Mr. Wiling said. He pointed at the several items which Todd had laid out on the desk. .
“They’re just standard issue testing supplies. ” Todd said hopefully.
“You will not a T-square, a ruler, the Chicago Style manual, a protractor, for any reason. I have no clue how or why you have an abacus.”
“Power outage?” Todd said. A look from Mr. Wiling cause Todd to relent and he put everything back into his book bag.
“We have a few minutes left. Get a drink a water, take a deep breath, relax, and you’ll be fine. We’ll get you in the right classes. You can stow your book bag right outside the door.” Mr. Wiling said.
“But I want to get the best classes and I can only do that if I score as good as I did last time.” Todd said, his voice almost a whine. Mr. Wiling looked at Todd as if he were trying to place the name of a long lost relative. “I got the highest score last year.” Todd said. “I got the open spot to attend Viltburg.” Mr. Wiling scratched his chin. “I was in your class two years ago...Remember the take home quiz when we had that snow day? I suggested it and the rest of the class was not happy about it. At all. I had to eat lunch in your classroom for a week!” Mr. Wiling continued to study Todd.
“Doesn’t ring a bell. But we have a so many students here, you know?” Mr. Wiling placed the answer sheet in front of Todd and moved on to the next student. “Konstantinos Alxeopoulos! Your family moved back from Tuscon? Did you Dad decide to switch from being an Actuary to a Piano Salesman like you mentioned during the meet and greet at parent’s night three years ago?” Todd shook his head. He had only been gone a year, he was never mister popular but surely his placement test score alone merited some level of recollection.
“Am I that forgettable?” Todd whispered. Truth be told he had hoped to be able to slide back into school and not garner unwanted attention, but it was as if nobody noticed he left. He looked down at the answer sheet and the reality of the situation began to hit him hard: it was actually here, the moment he’d been dreaming of ever since he returned home. Todd’s stomach churned and he started to feel a bit dizzy. He shot up from his seat and ran to the door.
Outside of the cafeteria, Todd slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. His book bag dropped from his hand and he sighed. Briefly, he envisioned himself walking out the front doors, going home, firing up his computer, and hoping one of a huge list of games he’d ignored the past year. A smile crept across Todd’s face and his eyes snapped open. He checked the time: only a minute had passed. Todd felt a bit lighter and walked to the water fountain.
“Ahh.” Todd said as he leaned back from the fountain. He wasn’t sure if it was just the time away or something in the pipes, but something about the water really hit the spot. Todd started to walk back towards the cafeteria when something caught his eye: a solitary slip of paper laying on the ground. In Todd’s quest to bolster his transcript for Viltburg, he joined a ludicrous amount of extracurricular clubs, including the “Friends of Fillmore”, which turned out to be an after school clean up crew made from misbehaving students. Todd’s time in the club was short, and often included being dumped into a trash can on wheels and sent careening through a hallway, but it gave him a keen eye for litter. Todd picked up the paper and narrowed his eyes upon recognizing what he’d found. He quickly looked around and the turned the paper over to confirm his suspicion: he had stumbled upon a filled out answer key.
Possibilities flooded Todd’s mind even as he tried his best to think about how to do the right thing. Obviously, he couldn’t just show up with an answer key; what if they accused him of cheating? Todd pursed his lips. Some students, mostly jealous honor students, already thought he cheated on last year’s test somehow, it would be justice to actually do it. Todd shook his head, and looked down at the answer key. That was when he noticed the bold printed letter across the page which read: INSERT LAST TO COMPLETE SCORING. Todd sighed out of a mixture of embarrassment and relief. The paper was a calibration form for the scoring machine. “Those answers probably aren’t even real.” Todd said to himself. He swallowed his guilt over what almost occurred and looked for a trash can, but the sound of the bell ringing brought his attention to the clock hanging from the ceiling across the hall. He was in danger of being late to start the test.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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“Pencils up and begin.” Mr. Wiling said from the front of the cafeteria. Todd sat in his seat, still huffing from his run back to cafeteria. He was in no way an athlete so even the short distance was enough to leave him a bit winded. The sound of pencils scraping paper filled the room as each student tore into the test, eager to be done. Some whispered questions to themselves, others counted, and Todd could do little more than stare at the packet of questions.
“Okay. Just gotta calm down and catch my breath.” Todd said to himself. Truthfully, he couldn’t decide where to begin. He could take the test sequentially, but Todd reasoned it may make more sense to start with questions he knew and get his confidence rolling. Or seek the questions he wasn’t sure about so there would be as much time as possible to work them out. Todd snapped his fingers. He’d alternate back and forth between what he knew and didn’t to keep a good flow going.
The sound of a chair scraping the ground broke Todd’s concentration. He watched, eyebrows raised, as another students brought her test up to the front and left. Todd scoffed. “No double check? No chance.” he said. Last year, Todd wasn’t the first and still scored high enough to be placed in Viltburg. Another chair was pushed back and a second student walked to the front. Todd gulped. “Why would two students just rush through like that?” A third student stood up and then a fourth. “Did they schedule me with all the smartest kids outside of the district?” Todd muttered. “How could they possibly finish in only-” Todd’s mouth dropped open as he looked at the time on Mr. Wiling’s table. Forty-five minutes were already gone and Todd had not answered a single question. Todd’s throat suddenly felt dry and his shoulders stiff as he tried to concentrate on the test.
The one comfort Todd found was that everyone else seemed to be taking the test as if they were possessed. The languid, unwilling students which entered the room had transformed into hyper focused scholars. Todd took a sly glance around the room and saw everyone working on their test with something more than diligence, something Todd couldn’t place. There was one exception: the boy in the hooded jacket from the ID photo line. He sat staring out at the crowd but didn’t to appear to have so much as filled his name out. “At least I won’t have to deal with you anymore.” Todd said quietly. He took a deep breath, and after a couple more agonizing minutes, forced himself to answer a question. In time, he got into a flow and knocked off answer after answer. Todd was forced to rush, but still made sure to double check as best he could before filling in an answer. He did his best to ignore the sounds of the others turning their tests in, but when the sound came from right next to him, it too much to overlook.
Todd glanced in the direction of the sound and nearly fell out of his seat. The boy in the jacket was sitting next to him, acting completely normal. Todd looked up to see if Mr. Wiling had noticed, but the teacher was busy chatting with Konstantinos. When Todd looked again, the boy was leaning over towards him.
“Psst.” The boy whispered. “I can’t see. Move your scrap paper.” Dumbfounded Todd looked down at his test: it was partially covered by the work Todd had done to figure out a few questions.
“No.” Todd hissed. He put his arm around the paper to block the view. He tried to continue taking the test, but the boy just leaned over further to see, so Todd turned his back to him. The victory was only a momentary as the boy got up and sat on the other side. Todd was bumped by the boy leaning over again, and had no choice but to hunch over the test with both arms. This made filling out the answer sheet cumbersome, but Todd refused to help someone cheat to a better score.
A few minutes of this new posture seemed to be enough and Todd heard the boy get up from the seat. Relieved, Todd relaxed a bit until a shadow appeared over his test. He looked up and saw the boy standing in front of the table, his phone held directly above Todd’s test. A quick click and flash later, a confused Todd watch the boy casually stroll away.
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Todd watched as the other students leave the building, one after another, seemingly dazed as they filed out of the cafeteria. He had even heard a couple mention how the test seemed like blur that they barely remembered taking. Normally, Todd would have chided them, from within his own head, about the dangerous of speeding through school work, but at the moment, he couldn’t summon the care. Not when he had his own test to worry about having sped through. It felt as if Todd were being crushed by disappointment the size of a planet. All summer, and more, he waited to get his shot, and now it came and went with Todd feeling as if he missed. Deep down he knew there was nothing he could expect Mr. Wiling to be able to do to help, but for some reason Todd wanted to ask. Saying out loud that he was worried about the outcome felt strangely relieving; even if he had left much less of an impact on the teacher than Todd might have expected.
“Which is why the ninth edition is actually more technically sound than the tenth, even though the tenth is more popular and has more flavor.” a voice said. Todd’s eyes widened and he looked in the direction it came from.
“I still think people would rather play the version they voted to play.” a girl’s voice replied.
“You’re not listening, it’s clearly inferior. Let me start from the top.” the first voice said. Todd almost took a moment to roll his eyes at the sound of an all too familiar stuck up voice making the same argument for the hundredth time, but his fear of being found pushed him onward to try the nearest door he could find. It was locked and a panicked Todd rushed away from the sound of the voice and tried a second door. It too wouldn’t open. Todd ran further down and tried a door he recognized and hoped would be accidentally unlocked, even though it was the least likely option. When he pulled on the handle and the door opened, Todd practically leaped into what turned out to be the A/V supply room; another club Todd had briefly been a member of, and actually enjoyed. He leaned down and pressed his ear against the door. Through the metal slots near the bottom, he could make out the tiresome arguments the first voice laid out, but focused on the footsteps.
They became harder to hear as they grew distant, and when Todd could no longer hear them, he waited a beat then slowly opened the door and peaked outside. The hallway was empty. Todd exhaled until he saw the digital clock hanging from the ceiling across the hall: the exam was due to start any moment. He started to walk outside when a voice which came from inside the A/V supply room caused Todd to jolt. He turned around and peered into the darkened path which lead to the room proper. A short corridor emptied into a larger room which the A/V club used as both storage and base of operations. Todd had been very surprised how spacious the club premises had been. The “front desk” of A/V was stationed at the corner turn into the supply room.
“Are you sure this is safe?” the voice asked. It sounded older than a student, and the words were pronounced as if the speaker were straining to communicate in an abnormally formal manner.
“Not for you, but I’ve taken every precaution. Hand me the cords.” another voice said. This voice spoke very quickly and sounded as if its patience had long run out. There was an unnatural depth to its’ tone. “What is this?”
“The cords.” The first voice said.
“These are pants.”
“Yeah, corduroy pants. Cords.”
“You call corduroy pants, cords? And you thought when I instructed you to bring a specific set of cords, I wanted pants?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“What...did you think I needed corduroy pants for?” the second voice audibly struggled to contain its annoyance. “Setting a fire with my legs?”
“We could but seems like a lot work.”
“Of course it’s a lot of work. It’s a stupid idea, it’s a lot of work.” the second voice said through gritted teeth. “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.” the voice had taken on almost a growl as it spoke. Todd heard the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass, then silence. He watched as fine, sparkling, purple mist wafted from the room around the corner and through the entrance way. It shined like glitter as it floated, before vanishing. Todd felt something he couldn’t describe as the cloud floated around him, he tried to get away from it and tripped backwards into the door.
“What was that?” the second voice asked, still half a growl.
“What?”
“Shh.”
“What?”
“Someone could be there.” The second voice said quietly.
“I can’t hear what you said, speak up.”
“Stop talking.” There was silence, then Todd heard muffled footsteps heading his direction. He threw caution to the wind and ran out of the room still hunched over. His escape was so hasty, Todd lost his balance and crashed into someone standing in the hallway outside. Todd looked up from the ground and his heart jumped into his throat. Above him, stood the boy in the hooded jacket, but what caught Todd was the unearthly blue glow of the boy’s eyes. The ferocity in the boy’s concentrated stare was unlike anything Todd had ever seen.
“Do you realize what you’ve just done?” the boy asked