After our second exam, which was the obstacle course from hell, we were allowed time to eat in the main mess hall back at the renovated cathedral hotel. Alayna and I sat together and chatted about the dwindling number of students. This restaurant was completely full just the night before and now four seats were empty at each table. Voices around the room quieted down radically and I turned to see what caught their attention. The teachers and staff enter from the back of the room and line themselves against the wall with a pedestal centered. These pretentious pricks and their damn pedestals. Try saying that five times fast.
A woman of intense poise and structure took to the platform wearing a long fitted black dress, hair fastened into a French twist with large white envelopes in her hands. All eyes and ears were on this woman, she radiated power and was a wonderful image of a matriarch ruling an important council.
"Hello everyone, I am pleased to see that you all are still with us today. I am your graduating year's headmaster, Mrs. Finch. I have in my hands the placements for your final placement test. Some of you," she pauses staring into each and every one of our soles. "Will be in the group you had picked, some of you might be placed elsewhere. Lastly, if you aren't in any group, you have been dismissed from the university." She intimidates the crowd with her piercing glare and the remaining students look around like vultures ready to fight for their food on these placemtns.
Elderidge University is known to be an elite and prestigious industry, makes sense. Their expectations are incredibly high to weed out all unworthy candidates before assigning rooms. The nerves begin to take over my body and a sweat broke out on my brow. The headmaster instructed us to view the line ups of the groups on the front doors of the building and report to our new groups in twenty minutes, I note the time on my watch and take a water break with Alayna.
Back at the main entrance of the castle sat four black coach buses with our university's emblem splayed out in gold on the sides; our emblem is a golden moth with a halo of light encircling it. We shuffle into the seats, and they drive us about twenty minutes out to the nearest English town. They pull into the parking lot of a rather large mall complex spanning two blocks each way creating this eight story megaplex mall.
The appalling older man that announced our race earlier stood before all of us on my bus I was on. He turns and places both of his hands securely on the seats beside him and instructed us, "You will have one hour from the time we let you off of the bus to enter the mall. You will need to secure a way out of the mall without any instructor lined up at the exits noticing you." The audible gasp from everyone on the bus makes my heartbeat race and a sweat drip. We are all in matching black joggers and with every exit sealed by instructors we have to think quickly on our feet and creatively enough to not be caught.
The gentleman places his hands behind his back and solemnly says, "if you are spotted by an instructor whenever you exit or you don't arrive back in the bus at the end of the 60-minute time limit you will fail. Once again, if you fail you will be immediately sent home, even if you were better than the last ones who were eliminated." He lifts his left hand and holds out a timer and with zero warning clicks the damn thing.
All of us escape from the bus in a jammed mess, sprinting towards the mall entrance and the feeling of panic is zapping through the air by each student's continuously increasing anxiety. I look around and everyone is sprinting to get inside the mall. I enter and head three stories up on the escalator; looking for a spot to breathe and think. I spot a bench against a side wall and take the opportunity to sit and take in all the stores around my vicinity.
Immediately to my front was a lingerie store; definitely won't hide my identity in scraps of lace. Next a shoe department and hat store to the right; the left was a skater store containing clothes and a gothic store also containing clothes. On my side of the mall sat a children's store, giftshop, and candy store; all of which are not helpful. Both the gothic and skater stores were run by a single employee, a female and male. I need to work with who would be the best bet for me.
I ran into the skater store and to the back right where the female employee front-faced merchandise. I contorted my face up into one of fear and stop myself in a hands on my knee position a foot away from her.
"Hun," the woman asks in her thick English accent, "are you okay?"
I look up to her and take a quick look to my back as if someone was following me. "I need your help," I said exasperatedly, " my ex-boyfriend found me on my run today and stalked me all the way here. I don't want the cops involved," I look into her round brown eyes pleading her to have mercy on my soul.
She looks like she is pondering her options leaning toward her better nature, like I deducted she would, and placed her hand on my shoulder. With pity in her eyes and voice she says, "of course Hun, here borrow some clothes from the store and I'll pay for it don't worry," Without a response from me she shoves me into the nearby dressing room keeping lookout for my ex who never existed.
The woman no older than twenty quickly returns with gray distressed cargo pants, and a burnt orange long sleeve shirt. I quickly changed out of my sweat suit and put the items on, body sticky from all of the exercise I have already done today. My body is starting to ache with fatigue, but I can't waste any time. She also hands me a shopping bag to put my clothes in to help me blend in.
I thanked her endlessly and walked quickly out of her store. Passing the shoe and hat store, I swipe one of each into my shopping bag. Never stopping to draw any unwanted attention I quickly descend to the second story of the mall and beeline into a nearby employee hallway. Once I open the camouflage metal door and am safely in the hallway, I change shoes and place the hat on my head;hair pulled into a messy ponytail making it seem half as short as it really is. I place my old shoes in the shopping bag and pull the cap far over my eyebrows head down and enter back into the crowd of shoppers.
I feel adrenaline pumping in my veins as I try not to sprint down the second two flights of escalators. Back on the first floor I see a few all-black jogging suits of students looking absolutely perplexed. Thanking my quick thinking I examine my look in a window display. Happy with my disguise I maintain the crowd's pace and add just a bit of stiffness in my hips in my walk to hide myself. I have no idea how skilled these instructors are but there is not time for error or assumptions.
The moment of truth, I walk through the twin glass windows double doors on the exiting side of the mall with a group of ten people. The sun light shining into the LED filled megaplex showed five instructors spaced out in a semi-circle around the exit. I have to throw myself into blind courage or I may not go through with this. Alright, I am going all in. With that final self-talk, I make my way outside.