(Author's Note: The announcement was for only Grade 10 Students and only Grade 10 students were allowed to take part in the event.)
James studied the whole night like a mad man and only managed to sleep for an hour or two. The next day, he woke up with bloodshot eyes.
Regardless, he was earlier than expected. He rushed out with a heavy bag on his back, set to go.
"Oh! What have you done to yourself? You don't even know if the event is today or not yet you did this to yourself?!" Serena exclaimed.
It was a no-brainer for Serena to know James didn't get to sleep well and he definitely studied all night long.
"Let's say the event takes place today, are you even stable to participate?" Serena continued. "Why do you have to be foolish?"
"I'm fine mom. I'm totally fine! My eyes will soon return back to the state they were." James said whilst grabbing his mom cheeks.
Serena didn't say much after and just had a sad look on her face. She knew saying more would be useless. All she could do now was wish her son good luck.
"Don't bother going to Cradenville. The bus will drop her. Good luck son." Serena said as she stood on a walkway and watch her son enter the taxi.
Serena rushed back to the house to dress up and leave for her own workplace.
*****
James soon arrived at Braxton and alighted as soon as he saw the gate. He rushed to the gate and put his tag on so as not to be held down by the gatekeeper.
James entered and saw everyone was heading to a certain place. He followed them and even saw Kelvin was among the crowd of students.
He maneuvered his way around the crowd and caught up with Kelvin.
"Hey! Do you have any idea where we are going?" James asked.
"Isn't it obvious? We're going to the assembly hall to learn more about the event." Kelvin replied.
Just then, a blonde beauty called the boys.
"Kelvin! James! Wait up." It was Priscilla.
"I made it in time." Priscilla said with a beautiful smile that would have some boys drip in their unders.
The students were now gathered in the hall staring at the stage in anticipation of the news.
When it looked like no more students would enter, the principal standing on the stage with the teachers cleared his throat and began his speech.
"Good day students! I know some of us were not here yesterday when I announced an important news. I'll just repeat what I said yesterday and you'll all get evaluated in your classes to meet the requirements of the event."
Williams told the students about the event and told them to return to their classes for the evaluation.
For each grade in Braxton, there is a total of ten classes. Grade 10 had the classes running from Grade 10A to Grade 10J.
James was part of Grade 10B with Kelvin and Priscilla.
The evaluation/test was based on Geography and History just as Williams said. Each class was assigned a teacher to take charge of the evaluation and select the five best performing students.
After the evaluations took place in the classes, all Grade 10 students were gathered in the assembly again.
"In my hand here is the list of the top five performing students in their classes that are qualified for the competition." Eric said as he walked to the front of the stage with a paper in his hand.
As soon as some students heard this, their heart sank. Some of them knew their names is not on the list while some clinged unto hope to be on the list.
While some were praying to be on the list, the students from wealthy families wished to leave the hall. They didn't care about the event from the beginning and the reward was not a big deal for them. They were even too lazy to try participating in an event.
"Hey do you think the new boy will be part?" A student asked his friend.
James heard what the student said and thought they were referring to him until...
"The one Eric blabbers about or the other?"
The other student replied.
"There's another new student?" A student asked in shock.
"Yeah, he resumed this morning and took the test in our class 10F."
"Please, as you hear your name, come to the stage." Eric spoke into the microphone again and stopped the murmurings.
"From Grade 10A, we have Dylan Wilson, Robert Cook, Sunny Gomez..." Eric called in that fashion, moving dowwand from 10A to 10B and on.
No doubt, James, Kelvin and Priscilla were part of the top five in their class.
Since James had been called to the stage, he stood there with his head bowed, staring blankly at the floor.
His eyes were fixed on the floor as he listened to the names being called until he heard a particular name. As he heard the name, he raised his head up to check if his suspicion was right.
As James saw the said person, he scrunched his face and clenched his fists hard. He clenched them so hard that his fists were shaking and the veins in hands looked like they were going to burst.
This reaction didn't go unnoticed by Kelvin and Priscilla.
"What's wrong James?" Kelvin was quick to ask.
As Kelvin asked the question, a vein bulged out of James's head. A memory had flashed in his head and made him angrier.
This said person was tall and muscular. His black buzz haircut was a perfect complement to his muscular physique. He also had a pretty wide jaw with strands of black hair here and there, making him look like your typical model.
He approached James with a creepy smile plastered on his face.
The closer he got, the tenser James fist were. James wanted to pounce on him there and then, but he managed to compose himself.
"I will never forget... I will never forget what you did to me and my family Jeremy." James said under his breath as he remembered what happened in Middleton.