A few weeks passed by and the day of the results finally arrived. I was so nervous I could fill an olympic pool with my sweat. Jane was more nervous than me, somehow. She couldn’t stop walking around in circles.

After a few minutes of biting my nails, Emmi entered the apartment with an envelope in hand that had the school logo on it.

We all gathered in the living room. I grabbed the envelope and stared at it. The results are here. Whatever says inside will dictate my future. It will decide if I will attend such a prestigious school or not.

Slowly, I open the envelope, my hand shaking a little. I take a deep breath, pull out the letter inside and start reading.

“...” Jane and Emmi stare at me, holding their breath.

“So…?”Jane asks.

“-gulp-” I cleared my throat “I- I…passed…”.

“Oh my god! congrats Chris!” Jane hugs me so tight I could explode.

“You aren’t that stupid after all Chris, congratulations” Emmi, with her weird way to show love, congratulates me as well.

Now, I feel my shoulders lighter, I am relieved. Although I was confident of myself, maybe deep down I was not so sure, probably I doubted myself. But now everything is okay, because I made it. All those nights studying were worth it. In the end, my hard work paid off.

Some days after, I was called by my counselor to meet and receive class schedules. I was feeling a little nervous but I was in high spirits. After all, my new high school life was getting started. Well, today was more of a prologue. Although I wanted to say this is going to be a good day, I have this strange feeling that I would jinx it. Last time I thought the day was going to be fine, things didn’t go so great.

You know what? Screw it. Today will surely be a good day. I think my luck has just started to manifest. From now on, only good things await me.

That said… Why did I get call at seven in the morning? Isn’t this extremely early for a meet up. Well, it's a high school after all, so maybe that’s how they do things… Oh! Maybe the counselor wants to test my punctuality. Yeah that must be it, a test to see if I have what is needed to attend this school.

Hahaha!! Shame on you dear counselor, I am thirty minutes earlier. I’ll show you how much will power I have. Even if I have to make sure I don’t blink because I may fall asleep.

When I got to school, I walked towards the counselor's office and knocked on the door nervously.

“Come in,” said a familiar voice.

“Excuse me, Mr. Barret” I entered.

“Hi there Chris, nice to see you again”.

A tall man built like a fort greeted me.

“My apologies, seems like I entered the wrong room” I turn around and start living.

“Hey! Don’t be so cruel”.

“...” I turn around and stare at him.

“It’s me, Bernard”.

“...”.

“Come on, Bernard Barret. The guy that took care of you and Emmi whenever your aunt Jane couldn’t. The guy that took you to so many carnivals. The guy that spoiled you, when you were a kid”.

“...” I keep staring.

“I literally visit you every weekend”.

“Ohhh…”.

“Are you finally going to stop playing dumb?”.

“Yeah, Bernard, I remember that name. The guy that will come every weekend to try and flirt with my aunt but with no success at all. Yeah I do remember you”.

“Ah! What do you mean by no success!! -Ahem- I mean, I don’t flirt with your Jane at all. I don't have that type of feeling towards her, I don't know what you are talking about…” He said that while having his cheeks all read. He won’t even look me in the eyes. He is so bad at lying sometimes. Well, he is not a bad guy. As he said, he would often take care of me and Emmi when Jane was busy with work. He’s been a great help all these years. I personally wouldn’t mind if he gets with Jane, but it's been a few years since I noticed him trying to win over Jane and he hasn’t made any progress at all. Even though I sometimes give him a hand by taking Emmi to the park and giving him time alone with Jane whenever he visited us. He always ends up doing nothing at all. But, putting his ineptness in love aside. Why is Bernard here?

“You may be asking, why am I here?”.

Does he read minds or what?

“Haha, why are you surprised? you knew that I work as a counselor”.

“Yeah, but you worked at the middle school outside town”.

“Well, I just felt like being a counselor here”.

“...” that was bullshit surely.

“Surprise!” he said, opening his arms with a big smile.

I look at his stupid face for a few seconds. I don't really know how I should approach this. I am sure he knew everything about me and this school way before I did, but he decided to keep it a secret. Which kinda pisses me off. He also decided to call me here early, when he could easily pass by home later or another day. Should I smack him? I think I am going to smack him.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Now, before anything let me explain a little” like seeing my intentions, Bernard starts to explain the situation.

“First of all, congrats on passing the entrance exam”.

“T-thanks”.

“It's nice that you passed, but that isn’t important right now”.

“What do you mean it’s not important?! I have literally been preparing for this for almost two months, day and night”.

“I know. Jane told me all about it. But we need to discuss your passing grade” he changed his expression to a more serious one “You passed with fifty two”.

“Argh… '' seems like I passed with the bare minimum again.

“Passing the exam doesn't mean anything if you keep your grades like this. You know? You need to improve if you want to stay here another year”.

“Yeah…”.

“I need you to improve by the end of the year”.

“I'll do my best to show the person that recommended me that he did the right thing”.

“But of course, I know that I did the right thing”.

"Eh? What do you mean?".

“-sigh- Who do you think recommended you?” he said looking at me like I am an idiot.

I am confused. I don't understand what he meant there. It is seven in the morning, okay? And because I wanted to be even earlier I hadn't had a proper breakfast, so I am dumber than usual.

“Who would be the only idiot to recommend someone like you to this prestigious school?”.

“Hey!...” I finally understood. It took me one minute to connect the wires in my head, but I figured out that Bernard is the person that recommended me. Don't judge me, okay? I say it already, there is a lot going on and it is too early in the morning so my brain isn't working properly.

“Eh!! Really?!” my reaction came a bit late.

“It really took you time to figure it out…”.

“Shut up!! It's your fault for calling me too early in the morning”.

“-sign- Whatever. Do you have any plans to bump your grades for this semester?”

“Study non stop” I said pridefully.

“An actual plan Chris”.

“Well…” that was my actual plan.

“Normally, students are required to get more than sixty in order to pass the semester exams. But luckily you only need more than fifty one”.

“Really?!”.

“Only for this semester. Then you will need more than sixty, like everyone else”.

“Now that I think about it. These are really strange requirements the school is putting for me”.

“Do you think so? I think that these are very good requirements”.

“I mean, yeah they are, but why only me?”.

“Because I was the one that made those arrangements for you” he said with a big grin.

“What?!” I yelled in disbelief.

“You see. The principal owed me some small favors, so I used that to get you in. He accepted without a fuss”.

“This ain’t small favor Bernard. What did you do to get the principal to owe this much?”.

“...”.

“-Aham-… Continuing with your grades”.

“Hey, don't ignore the question”.

“Since I know that your only plan is to stupidly study until you pass out, which we know is not going to help you”.

“-Eek-” he saw through me.

“I decided to assign you a tutor”.

“Say what?!”.

“It's clear that you alone can’t make any progress. I think you would learn better with another student helping you. And you can also use the opportunity to socialize a little bit”.

“Well, yeah, but a tutor all of a sudden… Wait! Did you say another student?”.

“What better than someone that is learning the same, but just not stupid?”.

“Imma smack you”.

“You also need to start to socialize. Jane has been very worried that throughout your middle school years, you haven’t brought or went to any friend's house”.

“W-who said I didn’t have friends? I-I have plenty…”.

“Ohh… Are you sure you want to lie to me? Remember that Jane punishes lies harshly”.

“Eeek!” Just remembering what happened to me last time I lied to Jane makes me shiver in terror “Please don’t tell her!” I begged Bernard on my knees.

“So you admit you don't have friends?”.

“Well… that’s” as I hesitate, Bernard pulls his phone out and starts a phone call.

“Hi Jane”.

“Whaaa! Wait Bernard!” In beg Bernard in terror.

“There is something I want to tell you…” Bernard turns his eyes to me.

“Okay! Okay! I-I don't have any friends! Are you happy?!” I cried in embarrassment.

“...” he grins at me “I’ll stop by later today” he tells Jane.

After he makes me do something so embarrassing as to yell out loud that I don't have any friends he starts chatting with Jane over the phone. And before you can also laugh, let me tell you that the reason I don't have friends is not because I am socially inept, but because I choose to study instead of form any type of relationship. With how bad my grades were at the time (yes, my grades were even worse) all I did was study and study all day. I would use lunch time to study, I would use my free time to study. I used every opportunity I had to study and improve my grades. I don't think I ever talk to anybody of my age in middle school. It is not something that bothers me though. My main goal was and it is still to have good grades and get into a top university. So, making friends is not something I have in mind. Well, that said, it is not that I don't want to have any friends, on the contrary, it would be nice to have someone to study with. But I can't really afford to focus on that right now. Either way, the idea of having a classmate teach me just because he wants me to socialize doesn’t feel right. I think it is going to interfere in my progress.

After Bernard stops talking to Jane, I immediately try to persuade him to drop his crazy idea.

“Don’t you think that giving a classmate as a tutor just so I can make a friend is too much? I can make it just by being in class, and I don’t really need any tutor.”

“On the contrary, I think it is not enough” I failed in my persuasion.

“Two students will be even better”.

“Two?!” My jaw drops in disbelief.

“I have prepared the best tutors for you. They are the best students in the whole grade, I have already seen their entrance exam results and they ace them”.

“Wha- that’s incredible!”.

“Right?!”.

They ace the entrance exam? They must be geniuses. If they really achieve such a thing, then maybe I can learn a thing or two from them. Still, I'm unsure about it. Maybe we will not get along and that will make the whole tutoring process useless. Since it's been a few years since I socialized with people my age, I'm not sure I know how to handle people my age, let alone two geniuses. What could they be like? I am sure they are way different from your regular students. Maybe they are a very elegant pair, perfectly looking guys. Or maybe they are the stereotypical “nerd” guys with glasses, carrying their books everywhere. There is also the possibility that they are the type that look super plain and boring, but in reality is the contrary.

(Knock-knock)

While I was lost in thought, someone knocked on the door.

“Mr. Barret?” a feminine and soft voice comes from the other side of the door.

“Oh! Must be them. Come in!” exclaimed Bernard excitedly.

I am somehow excited and terrified at the same time. I mean, I am about to meet the best Freshmen in a private school. Who are they?? How do they look?? I’m burning my only three neurons trying to make an image of them in my mind.

Just as I nervously stare at the door, this one opens, and someone enters the room.