On their way out many of student whisper behind their back, feeling humiliated, Henry lowered his head and quicken their pace, seeing this, Damien didn't say anything and jusf follow silently, Henry looked back at Damien, don't worry i find a way for you take exam just study, Henry encourage him even though he wasn't not that confident, Damien just smile and nodded.
He might not have been able to change what happened to him before, but now, everything was different. Now, he had the skills and knowledge to rise above his circumstances and restore his dignity. He spent the rest of the afternoon studying. Damien went over all his notes and committed them to memory, then did a practice test.
His brain returned every word he read. He even managed to commit poems to memory. and breezed through subjects like geometry, algebra, physics, and chemistry. By the time he finally leaned back and stretched his arms above his head, night had already fallen. Early the next morning, Henry set off with his son again, carrying two packs of cigarettes and two bottles of wine.
They were headed to a private institution called AzureHill High School. It was located diagonally across from Amberfield High School, and the two couldn't be more different. Unlike at Damon's previous school, There were several students at AzureHill who didn't even bother to take the SAT. It was often said that students from Amberfield High School were the cream of the crop, while those from AzureHill High School were nothing more than trash.
The schools just weren't on the same level at all. They weren't comparable in any way, It's much better to say they are completely opposite. Amberfield Student was a group of Top Student, While AzureHill is just bunch of Fail Student. The pair entered AzureHill High School, and Henry led Damien down the hall to an office. His father seemed to be familiar with the place. A young man welcomed them, and Henry stepped into the office and motioned for Damien to wait outside.
Damien could see what was happening through the open door. Just like the day before, Henry placed the cigarettes and wine on the table in front of the young man before sitting down to have a conversation. After a while, he waved his son over. Damien, come here and meet Mr. Tom Larson. Damien stepped forward and smiled as instructed.
Hello, Mr. Larson. Henry peered at the boy beforehand. Taking his time as he plucked a cigarette from one of the cartons Andrew had brought. He held it between his fingers thoughtfully. Damien, right? Because your father has made a strong case for you, you'll be allowed to enroll here. That way you can take the SAT.
However, you are expected to follow the rules of our school, to a T, for the duration of the time here. You are not to cause any trouble, do you understand? Otherwise you might get expelled from this school as well. And if that happens, you will have no one to blame but yourself. Mr. Larson had already read through Damien's file.
The boy was barely scraping by with a D average at the previous high school, which was bad even by AzureHill High School standards. There was no way that Damien could completely turn things around at this point. All he needed to do now was keep his head down and finish the semester without any incidents so he could stay enrolled and have a shot at graduating.
Damien nodded his head in earnest. Mr. Larson smiled, satisfied with his reaction. The adults exchanged another round of pleasantries, and Henry filled out some paperwork so that Damien could be officially enrolled as a student at Jefferson High School. Then Henry left, and Mr Larson took Damien to a classroom. The class was in utter chaos when they arrived.
Students were either reading novels, playing games, or sleeping at their desks. A good number of the seats were empty. A lot of the kids had obviously decided to skip class. Despite this, the teachers didn't seem to care at all. It seemed they had given up on trying to fight students senioritis. Damien's sudden appearance as a new transfer student did cause a minor commotion among his classmates, but he paid no mind to it.
In the grand scheme of things, he was just a temporary visitor in this school. Even if he made friends here, he was sure they would all lose contact shortly anyway, he would rather study then making friends. AzureHill High only served as his stepping stone, a springboard that would ultimately catapult him to the beginning stages of his inevitable success.
Damien sat down at an empty desk, took out his notes, and proceeded to study. All around him, people continued to be noisy and disruptive, but he was calm and placid as a lake. He worked silently, memorizing his notes and going over vocabulary. He had no time to waste. He couldn't disappoint his parents again by throwing away his chance at a bright future. And just like that, his first day at his new school came and went.
The minute the school bell rang, Damon collected his things and walked out of the building. Outside, the sky was a harmonious canvas of white and blue. The breeze, however, was not as pleasant. The air was thick and humid, but still, Damon's mood was as light and easy as the clouds.
As long as he worked hard, even if his future might not turn out to be the best, at the very least, it wouldn't be the worst. Damien Thought. He left the campus with a spring in his step. As luck would have it, the Amberfield High School students were also filtering out of their campus at the exact same time.
It was quite the sight to see. A huge group of bubbly teenagers and high spirits on one side of the street, and another group trudging along dejectedly on the other. This wasn't surprising. After all, the gap between the two groups went deeper than the students school lives. Those who attended Amberfield High influential and wealthy families, so they naturally had things to look forward to after school.
While it's quite opposite of the AzureHill High School, once a student of AzureHill and Amberfield pursue a same thing, student of AzureHill will immediately back out.
AzureHill students knew they didn't stand a chance against kids from Amberfield. Well, none of that hierarchy nonsense mattered to Damien. Amberfield was now no longer his school. The moment they had expelled him, he had resolved to have nothing to do with that institution anymore, or with any of its pompous, pretentious constituents.
Damon! He heard someone shout as he passed by the nearby coffee shop on the way home. He turned to see two boys standing at the entrance of the store. One is tall, lean guy, while the other is burly, both of them were his childhood friend, the burly guy was waving eagerly at Damien. His face immediately broke out into a genuine smile. The burly guy is Brian while the other guy is Terence. The three of them had known each other since elementary school. They had been inseparable from the first day Damon had set foot in New York.
Brian ran over to him and gave him a light punch on the chest. I heard Mr. Jones got you expelled, the boy asked with concern. Damien only nodded, which seemed to agitate Jones even more. That guy is really a fking bastard, How are you supposed to take the SAT's now? Terence commented, his face is mix with anger and worry.
If their friend didn't take the entrance exams, then he wouldn't even be able to get into any colleges. And if that happened, Damien's future would definitely be bleak. But Damien was unbothered. Since he know, he was now capable of getting an almost perfect score.
You guys have nothing to worry about. Now I'm a student at AzureHill High School. The two boys were taken aback, but their surprise soon gave way to relief. Even though AzureHill is not that good, The important thing was that he could take the test and apply to college. That was all that mattered for now.
Brian reached out and pretended to dab at imaginary beads of sweat on his forehead. You're at Amberfield now? That's good. I'm sure you're gonna be fine. Just try your best there. You'll show Mr. Jones he's gonna regret kicking you out in the end. But the boys knew how bad Damon's grades were, and they knew how he'd done on practice tests before.
Sure, he might be able to get into a big state school, but he couldn't hope to get into any of the top tier schools. Brian and Terence weren't trying to be insincere. They just wanted to encourage Damien to give it his all. They didn't want him to give up hope completely. Damien nodded. He knew his friends had good intentions, and he plan to suprise them with his score, so he had no plan telling them he could pass easily, though they might not even believe it.
Heck, he was going to shock everyone. As they chatted along happily, catching up with each other, they suddenly heard light, even footsteps, coming from the coffee shop. Before they could even turn around, a faint, sweet smell wafted over the boys, followed by an equally pleasant voice. Brian, Terrence. Can you help me with these study guides?
Damien turned to find Yvette standing behind them. Her long luscious hair draped over her shoulders. She looked as beautiful as he remembered. She was smiling at the other two, but when she caught sight of Damien, her eyes widened in surprise. She quickly recovered though and gave him one of her sweet smiles as well.
Oh, hello Damien. It moved him a little. Yvette wasn't treating him any differently in spite of his humiliating expulsion from their school. Hello.. President.. He said weakly, his heart skipping a beat. Then he glanced at the stack of papers in her arms. Do you think you could give me a copy of those? Yvette looked taken aback by his request, and it show on her pretty face.
She didn't see why Damien would be interested in her study guides. Didn't he hate studying? Could it be that he finally realized the importance of preparing for the SAT? I just want to take a look at them, if that's okay. Damien added honestly. The SAT are coming up soon. I need to work harder. Given the disparity of standards between the two schools, AzureHill's study guides were much simpler and less extensive than the ones from Amberfield High School.
Since an opportunity had presented itself, Damien wanted to see just how much he had improved after two days of constant studying. Oh, okay, that makes sense. I'll give you one. Even as Yvette handed him a set of papers, she thought about how his last minute effort wouldn't be much help. She stifled a sigh, if only Damien had opened his eyes to this reality earlier.
years worth of material was no small thing. Even if he toiled ten times harder than the average student in the one month that was left until the exams, he still wouldn't make much progress. Still, she had to commend Damien for trying.
Atleast, He still given his all even. And still much better than no effort at all. And she admire him for that, He had found a renewed purpose, and he wasn't holding back. She could see the familliar glint in his eyes too, which told her that he wasn't about to back down. How could she not support him?
Yvette hoped that Damien would score good enough to go to a universities even if it was not a good universities. As for the top universities, well, She was far too rational to have any expectations.