I walked into school on the first day of mock week.
I would be sitting a 2 hour maths paper this morning.
I sat with Baxton and Alex at the back of the atrium as usual.
At 8:25, the music went off and we, along with the rest of our year, made our way outside to our first period teachers and await further instructions.
We waited and the teachers started to give us instructions, as well as getting some students, who would be taking their exams in either the Dance Studio, Drama Studio or the Activity Studio.
The rest of us would be in the Sports Hall.
Class by class, we were escorted upstairs to the first floor where the venues were located.
The Sports Hall was essentially a big blue box with high ceilings and windows that were so high they had to be remotely operated.
There were several multi-purpose lines, marking out volleyball, basketball/netball, badminton and tennis courts. There were four courts in total, with curtains in their holders, ready to be drawn.
On this occasion, there were rows of folding chairs and tables. Each had 3 names on them, clearly labeled for different years and student names.
There were four projection boards on each court, with a 2 hour timer.
Each table also all had a pouch of equipment: sharp pencil, black ballpoint pen, 15cm ruler, rubber, highlighter, compass and a scientific calculator.
This was probably to minimise any cheating and eliminate missing equipment.
Names were organised by surname. I went over to the A's and worked systematically until I found mine.
I didn't have to go far to find it, I was still on the first court.
Mine and Baxton's surnames were 9 letters apart and Baxter and Alex's surnames' letters were right next to each other.
They had to go to the second court to find their spaces.
I took my seat and ran through some of the revision that I'd done.
Pythagoras- A^2 +B^2= C^2
Circumference- π×Diameter
Area of circles- π×radius^2.
I breathed.
The examiner had taken his place at the front, staff members scattered about.
He ran through the rules and regulations as well as asking wether anyone needed equipment.
The curtains were drawn.
Then, he started the timers and we were off for our exam.
***
1 hour and 50 minutes left.
I sat, counting down the seconds.
I'd finished my full exam, checked everything twice and was waiting.
Whilst I was waiting, I reflected upon myself.
I was very different from what I was before I attended this school.
Before, I was alone, I had nobody.
Now, I had Baxton and Alex, my bestest friends.
They were truly amazing and I feel lucky to have met them.
I love my teachers too.
They had personality and were all full of life, unlike my old teachers.
The alarms went off and time was up.
One down, five more to go.