Not coming to terms with this sudden change, Frey was lost in his thoughts struggling to comprehend the implication of how his life might be affected. He had never attended a co-ed school before, and unlike other teenage kids his age hungry for a chance to a flowery romantic life, he considered such matters trifling. Occasionally, he would catch sight of happy lovebirds roaming around without a care in the world as if they had gained everything life had to offer them. It intrigued him but this sense of joy was quickly overshadowed by the fear of losing the most crucial element of his character 'Freedom'-- the freedom to do as he pleased without being burdened by other people's obligations, this heartwarming curiosity felt more like a shackle than a delight, threatening to bind him to a life he wasn't ready to embrace.
--break–
My name is Frey Huxley, I am 15 years old, and I am currently in my 4th year of school, which spans over a total of six years before I graduate. I transferred here midway through my first year from my previous school. Though it's a public school I have come to like it here. The curriculum, contrary to rumours, isn't bad at all. It was re-designed again two years ago to meet the demands of modern education, and it's surprisingly good.
The school wasn't that different from my previous one but today an intriguing change happened, as a boy who had never attended a school with girls before I was bracing myself for it after I graduated.
I don't think my usual behavior would change much less but considering how every guy in my class agonized over not having female interactions in school might end up swept into awkward situations considering my only 3 best friends one being separated from us and the other two sucking up to girls.
I didn't think Riner would be this lenient toward girls if a guy was as rude to him as the girl just moments before I could very well see how he would make him question his very existence...
"Hello, class" Frey heard the voice of a familiar person, Frey who was dozing off on his desk got up groaning, and sheepishly fixed his hair with an appropriate posture fitting the good student he was sitting on his desk. The girl who had been causing a racket on his desk was approaching again upon seeing Frey fidgeting nervously, but as soon as she heard the teacher's voice she froze in her tracks and quickly turned back to her seat.
"Hey Riner" whispered Frey to his friend who was sitting in the next row to Frey "Why was that crazy girl coming over here," asked him cautiously while his eyes still fixed on the teacher who had begun to introduce herself to new students "I don't know she was chatting with her friend and she soon as she told her something" with a scuffle like Riner was forcing his words " she stood up suddenly and began glaring at you" without giving Frey a chance to speak " she was coming over here with a frightening look, thank god teacher came in on time" as soon as Riner uttered the last words] I was shocked and burst into laughter with controlling himself as much as he could but the deed was done and whole class including the teacher with not an approving face but rather you could see her tearing me apart with her gaze alone, everybody staring at the criminals who are so doomed from the very first day.
"Frey Huxley, Riener Ashford get up from leave the class and stand outside until i call you back again" the teacher looked at us like she was doing us a favor, and indeed we accepted it as if it weren't for me we would have been banned from class for the whole period. It wasn't unusual for me to get scolded by the teacher but Riener had never gotten into trouble during class. "What the hell is wrong with you" Reiner commented when we were getting up to leave his ears red, eyes down as though he can't lift them though Riener was of tall stature he sunk himself so low with embarrassment like he had done some terrible sin for which repentance is death. "Calm down" I said without looking at him while I was apologizing to the teacher in gestures, "ma'am! " i reached to the teacher, everybody's expression slack-jawed or of those who weren't familiar with me "Riener has done nothing wrong he was just informing me to get up when you arrived" i said with a vacant look i tried to persuade her into spare Riener who although tough on outside wasn't as thick nerved as me.
Teacher looked toward Riener who was dumbfounded at my claim "what do you think" she remarked toward Riener with a hostile voice "i-i d-don't know ma'am, whatever you see fit" he trying not to show any desire in defending himself frightened by the situation stutter while answering. "Ok, You go sit down" sighed the teacher as she was familiar with this diligent student who never got into trouble and his delinquent friends. As she said this Riener was relieved immensely like he was excused from a death sentence, meanwhile in the corner Sam was giggling with the our situation as Riener turned to his seats and Sam was getting ready to make fun of him "ma'am, please punish Sam" i said mockingly, upon hearing this whole class started whispering to my absurdity, the girl who was fighting with us was holding back herself due to teacher i could see her fuming but her friend a little bit more unnaturally was ecstatic as though cheering me on, Sam got up on his own with a sigh "Not me again" said with a quiet tone the other students heard it but i could tell our teacher was too far away to hear it. "Sam assuming you got up you know what to do" the teacher said to him without any expression, Sam shrugged his shoulders and we both started to walk out of the class.
"New students, he is the topper of our school for 3 consecutive years, i hope a student among you will beat him this year and put him in his place" as we were a couple steps away from the door the teacher said to the class as though trying embarrass me, Sam grabbed my arm trying to get me out of the class immediately but i still managed to say what i wanted "you'll are free to try but don't cry in the end" as i said those words whole class was in disbelief. It was the same scenario when I first joined. I declared my position as the class topper on my very first day in my introduction. Though some people at first thought i was a clown after two years of topping the school everybody learned that it's hopeless to try.
"What is wrong with that weirdo, are you sure it was him that day" said Ayaka ro tina by whispering with a frown "ah, i think this confirms it is him" in a cheerful voice tina replied, Ayaka who was at a loss for words by hearing her hopeless friend with a defeated look "love truly makes people blind" with a sigh projected towards Tina, hearing this Tina face grow red with a shaky voice trying to reject this claim "what - what are you talking about Ayaka chan it's not like that ha ha ha" with a fake forced laugh Tina averted her gaze like she didn't hear what Ayaka said just now.
"Students, since this whole merging happened all of a sudden we have to discuss a few things about how we will proceed with the classes from now on" teacher began to explain the whole thing why this merging happened it's benefits in the future and some new rules to be followed like the uniform of girls and boys was different so it was changed with a new uniform, how playgrounds were separated for male and female students during break the brand new concept of 'clubs' and there benefit.
"Now since i am done with explaining, we will move forward toward how much syllabus you have covered" teacher began to write the numbers of chapters covered by teachers from her school along with the name of chapters on the board. "Who is was the CR of your class in previous school and if that person isn't in this section, i would like some volunteers" Ayaka got up and a boy from other boys school where the role was scarce got up, he wasn't the CR but judging by his demeanor he appeared as a diligent student he wore glass but looked athletic his hair was medium brown with a bowl cut.
"Come forward and write on the board how many chapters you have covered and if the chapter covered is not listed by me list it" the other two schools had covered two extra chapters in each subject, they were also following the book sequence so everybody had covered the same chapters "all right seems like our school is behind yours, now you will be given a quiz from each chapter you can take break after you have completed the current sheet and maximum time for each quiz is 1.5 hours after that everybody can rest for 10 min" teacher said with a monotone and also gestured Frey and Sam to come inside.
"What we weren't informed about any test" some students started complaining as we entered, "Frey what test are they talking about" Sam asked me coming close to my shoulder, i motioned my hand toward the papers on the teachers desk "shit, i haven't studied anything i am doomed" Sam who was an average student never really cared about test case his only interest was sports, he played any sport available and conquered the field in nearly every one of them."don't worry this will not reflect your report card, but you have to take it seriously the scores will be sent to every teacher of the respective subject" the teacher said with a loud voice and students after hearing this took a deep breath, Sam was relieved, the teacher began to hand out the quiz sheet which contained 60 mcq's first quiz was math and after everybody received the sheet which was lying upside down on the desk, waiting for clock to hit 11 o'clock for about 5 min in this time every student filled their back info into the answer sheet when the clock hit 11, teacher gestured to get started.
After i analyzed the paper by quickly reading through all questions i concluded only last 5 questions were of some difficulty rest of the questions were manageable by all students i thought to myself average score will hit around 90 since each question was worth of 2 points. I began solving the paper and after 30 min i was mostly done leaving only the 5 questions which were scattered through the paper and i saved them for the last. After 25 min i solved them too and handed out the paper, though i was the 4th person to complete. Did they solve every question before me? The other 3 students were the crazy girl, Reiner, another boy who got up as a volunteer before. I knew that Reiner hands out paper when he thinks he did his best. Well whatever i doubt anybody would have solved that question it was way above our level.
Similarly other papers followed the same pattern: 5 difficult questions and a question way out of our league and 55 medium to easy level difficulty.we completed the 3 tests till 4 o'clock. There were two remaining but teachers said they will be held tomorrow. Our school ended at 4:30pm but today we were released early due to strain from 3 consecutive tests.
"Frey what did you think of the test, is it me or some questions that didn't make any sense?" Sam asked with confusion "what? Are you talking about these questions" i had marked those questions with a red pen to solve them later after completing the rest of the questions and after i showed all 3 papers to Sam "yes- yes these i couldn't figure out what to do with these" sam said quickly without wasting a breath "well, these questions were not form our grade to be honest" i reassured Sam that it was not his fault for not being able to solve these "what are you kidding me" the crazy girl who fought with us before after hearing me started yelling "what wrong with your teachers, i was so anxious and thought maybe our teachers left some topics and i was going to report them" she was obviously mad, cause most students except me couldn't figure out these questions weren't not from the curriculum we studied. "Ah, ha ha ha … i am sorry i lashed out, i was so frustrated you know" Sam quickly replied without letting me speak "Ayaka san did you struggle with these questions too" Sam asked anxiously as to not offend her "i couldn't even understand them" added Sam without taking a breath "well, i somewhat was tried to answer them but at the end couldn't, nobody in grade should be able to get them right i am sure" she said it with dropped shoulders, after some hearing us she must have been reassured it was not a big deal to get them wrong. "I would have tried to guess the answer if it were not for the penalty of 1 mark on the 10 questions which included these 5 too, our teachers are so damn cold" said Sam with annoyance
"Frey, can you tell me the topics to study to tackle these questions?" Reiner, who was 3 rows away from me because of rearrangement by the teacher to separate students from their friends, said from behind with surety like he knew I had solved them. "Why do you want to study these topic i am sure these type of questions won't be on upcoming tests" i said with an reassuring tone so that he won't try to overexert himself this time around too "well i want to check these out of curiosity, i like learning difficult things you know" Riener said without hesitation, so i started writing on his paper each topic corresponding to each question. "Hey you two" Ayaka who was talking to her friend Tina while Riener and i were conversing called us, Tina was beside her fidgeting with nervousness "i am sorry for earlier in the morning" Ayaka said while bowing her head slightly and was waiting for our answer, when both Riener and i didn't answer for a while "you see yesterday these jerks from upper class were messing with us and they warned us that there followers are in every grade of the school and it will not be easy for us in the school from now on" by her voice she seemed hesitant to say this to us obviously worried about how we will respond, though i wasn't interested in the affair that much so I looked at Riener who was about to say something getting the cue he remained silent "alright, since you apologized we don't mind it now " i said with a calm voice upon hearing me Tina's face lit up, Ayaka who was waiting for the answer let out a sigh of relief looking at Tina "by the way, since you're Sam's friend and by extension mine" both girls started paying attention intently "anyone who threatens you, tell them you are Riener's group and if you have something to say go to Frey" Reiner's and Sam's expression filled with excitement since i had told them to not mess with Sinomia's group unless they mess with us first. "YEAH, SOUNDS GOOD I WANTED TO TEACH SINOMIA A LESSON FOR A WHILE NOW" said sam with enthusiasm,
"What kind of delinquents, you don't strike me as such" Ayaka said after hearing us, like she was analyzing us skeptically… "he he, well don't sweat the details just do what Frey told you to " Reiner remarked while packing his things to get ready to leave.
" Let's introduce ourselves to each other once again as friends ok." Tina, who hadn't spoken to us till now said with a cheerful voice.
While introducing ourselves we started walking out of the school.