We left the room.
Marcel and Frank began walking quickly, heading their way.
"Marcel," I called.
He stopped.
"What is it?" he didn't even turn to look at me.
"Let's be clear from the start. Do you intend to participate in meetings to better define what to do, or do you want to do everything on your own as usual?"
"Tell me, Frey," he called me by my last name, which was strange, "what exactly do you want to discuss in terms of strategy?"
"Excuse me?"
"Did you listen like a dog to the Principal's words without examining them for a second? We have no idea what this exam will consist of, so how can we define a strategy?"
"Well, we could start by figuring out each other's strengths and weaknesses."
"I have no weaknesses, you should know that."
At that moment, a strong anger welled up inside me. I felt like punching him in the nose, but I immediately felt Sharon stop me.
She gave me a look that made it clear it would be entirely pointless and that I would only get myself into trouble. I calmed down for a second.
"Fine," I said. "Do as you please."
"If you're interested, after the exams, I plan to spend much more time training not just in archery but in various sports in general. I think that could be useful for this exam."
"Yes, that's fine. I had the same idea."
"Good. I'll see you on June 7th. Oh, one thing, Frey," he turned his head slightly. "That punch would never have landed."
I hated him so much.
I said goodbye to Sharon and quickly returned to my dorm room. I took a quick shower and then lay down on the bed for a moment to think. I was still excited about everything that was happening.
Damn, this is great. I finally have the chance to represent my university in something big, very big. I have a huge responsibility in my hands, but damn, I'm sure I can win. And we're a great team; Marcel acts like a bit of an asshole, but he will probably actually be helpful. He's the smartest student in our course. I don't think Frank will cause any problems, at least as long as he follows Marcel's orders. Shit, I'm a bit worried about some things, mostly if we'll have to collaborate as a group. The exam will last a month, maybe even a bit longer, and there will definitely be various occasions where we'll need to be together, all four of us. Also, what should I do? Marcel said he would be training and Frank will surely follow him; exactly what should we train for? Stamina? Muscles? The mind? Damn, why did Sharon stop me from punching him?
Realizing how far my thoughts were going, I sat down.
First of all, I need to fill out these forms. I see they ask for all my personal information, as I expected. Fine. And then, I'd say I have time to think about this tournament. I have three more exams to focus on right now.
First, I decided to fill out the papers given to me by the Principal; I carefully entered all my information, various codes, trying to keep everything as organized as possible.
Immediately after, I started studying again. It was four in the afternoon, I gave myself three and a half hours of studying and then I'd be done for today; I decided that tomorrow I would go straight to the Principal's office at 9 so that I'd have the rest of the day free to study.
I placed the books on the table, took the tablet, and started doing exercises; since we had finished the syllabus today, I decided to get familiar with the last topic covered and then start redoing batches of exercises and proofs from tomorrow.
The three hours passed as usual, with joys for exercises that worked out and many frustrations for those where I had no idea where to start; in the end, though, I was satisfied with the result I had achieved.
I looked at the clock; it was 7:30 in the evening.
Alright, I'm pretty tired. I think I'll lie down for a bit.
I lay on the bed with my phone, watching videos to relax my brain. Ten minutes passed and I saw a call from Sharon on my phone, which I answered immediately.
"Hello. Hi Sharon."
"Hi Saver; how's it going? How did your study session go today?"
"I see you know my schedule well. No, the study session went well. I reviewed everything we did today in the last lesson. How about you?"
"Well, I didn't study much today. I did maybe an hour. I was mostly thinking about what the Principal told us."
"Yeah, I figured."
I set the phone on the bed and sat up.
"Did you fill out the forms we were given?" I asked.
"Yes, I did that earlier. What time were you thinking of going tomorrow?"
"I was thinking of going right at 9 so I'd have the whole day to study."
"Yeah, I thought the same. Is it a problem if you can wait for me at the dorm entrance tomorrow?"
"No, no problem," I replied. "Are you worried?"
She paused for a moment in silence.
"Not really, I'll crush this session. Or rather, the opposite. It's the usual; either I explode or I break everything."
I genuinely laughed at her response.
"But seriously," she continued, "you know… I don't even know whether to be worried or not. If it had been any other university, I wouldn't have said anything; actually, I would have been quite motivated to fight. But as soon as I saw Bless in second place… I got a bit of a chill. The thought of having to compete against people like them… I actually thought for a second about not participating."
I wasn't surprised by her reaction. This was because Sharon hadn't started at Huss immediately, like me, Marcel, Frank, or almost everyone else. Sharon had initially enrolled at Bless, where she stayed for six months. Six long months, according to her.
"I, Saver, had erased everything. When I saw the name Bless, I remembered why I left."
In addition to the lower quality preparations compared to ours, unmotivated people who boasted about doing nothing and having no dreams, some departments at Bless frequently had acts of vandalism and fights. Sharon had told me that in the first months, she had only seen these things from a distance; the Math people were strange, very peculiar, closed, and silent, but not violent. One day, however, someone from her university slashed a colleague's face with a shard of glass. And Sharon was there among the witnesses who saw the whole thing.
The aggressor was expelled from the university; the one who was attacked… Sharon didn't want to know anything more.
The day after the incident, she applied to leave Bless; she took the delayed entrance exam immediately and was admitted to Huss with full marks. Since then, her life had changed.
I had seen Sharon's change over time; initially a shy, cautious girl who struggled to trust others. I didn't blame her; from the moment I learned she came from Bless, I understood the reason for her behavior. Over time, however, she started to be more open, more spontaneous, and more cheerful. She found herself, began swimming, and excelled in exams; I'm not lying when I say that many of the obstacles encountered over the years, I overcame only thanks to her.
"Sharon, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. In fact, this is your chance. You can show those Bless idiots what you've become; the fact that this isn't a test of academic skills might actually be better, as it means we might have an easy win. Instead, you can show how much you've grown, matured, and that you can beat them in every field. If there's a need to virtually kill someone, well then this is your chance. Those from Bless are famous for fighting and brawling? We'll destroy them in their own game. I know that both of us can do it. We'll smash everything, just like in this session."
I felt like Sharon was smiling.
"Thanks, yes, you're right. I appreciate you being there for me; I'm glad at least you were chosen for this exam."
"I'm glad too, Sharon. Doing the exam only with Marcel and Frank, I would have honestly shot myself in the balls."
Sharon laughed.
"Well, if it wouldn't bother you, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"Tell me everything. Does it still have to do with Bless or our group?"
"Both. Let's start with the Bless issue. Aside from my past traumas that we've more or less resolved over the years… we need to understand what to expect from them."
"Well, I'd say that's the case with a lot of universities."
"Yes, but the gap between Bless and Arrenal, who came in third, is wide. Much wider than the gap between us and Bless. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"
"Yes."
That Bless represents a bigger threat than any other university.
"What worries you?" I asked.
"Their unpredictability. And I'm not the only one worried. Did you hear what the Principal said?"
"It surprised me that he knew the Principal of Bless," I pointed out my surprise.
"Alarec graduated here at Huss."
"What?" I couldn't honestly believe my ears.
"Yes, Alarec graduated from Huss with our Principal. I don't know what happened in his life for him to end up at Bless, but I can certainly tell you a couple of things I learned during those six months. Alarec is a man who wants to act mysterious, and he succeeds; he's not like any other Principal who has a board of people to help and support him. Alarec works alone, makes every decision by himself, and doesn't think twice. For him, the first decision is the final one, and no one has the right to oppose him."
"He hasn't made great decisions, given where his university is," I pointed out.
"He hasn't made bad decisions, Saver. He made those decisions because he wanted Bless to remain at that miserable level. He did everything he did to make Bless a place that, in some cases, is even dangerous."
"And why? What's the point?"
"I don't know. However, what worries me is that Alarec surely has a plan. And has he crafted it down to the smallest details?"
"And what can we do about it? And why should it worry us that he has a plan?"
"We should be concerned because our Principal is worried. I think Alarec knew from the beginning which students to select for this tournament; he didn't need to conduct a mini-interview like we did. He probably already notified one of his students even before the meeting with the Principals."
"Really? Are you a witch who knows these things?"
"No, it's just… these are assumptions. Assumptions I can make after having seen Alarec for six more months than you."
I thought she was right. Maybe I had overstepped with that last comment.
"Sorry, you're right. They're just assumptions; but how would Alarec know exactly how many students and from which academic year to find?"
"That's why I said one student. Maybe this student alerted by Alarec won't even show up at the tournament; however, it would have already allowed him to get a head start."
"Hmm, okay, I get it."
"We've been quite lucky and decided our group in less than an hour, but if what I said is true, we would have a two or three-day disadvantage compared to Bless."
"'Two or three days of disadvantage might not seem like much… but adding to that the two weeks of session which at Bless won't be as intense, the gap starts to be significant."
"And also, we don't know how the other universities are doing; they might be having strong difficulties finding the right students and might end up with their group ready only at the last minute," Sharon concluded her point.
"Do you have any idea who this student might be?" I asked, even though I knew it was a silly question.
"No, it's been too long, I have no idea. I made this assumption based on Alarec, but I wouldn't know where to start with the student."
"Of course, I imagine. I was also reflecting on your point about groups being ready at the last minute. Don't you think that given the situation with Marcel and Frank, we might find ourselves in the same situation?"
"Definitely. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about; how incredibly annoying was Marcel this afternoon?"
"Well, I'd say you can imagine," I laughed. "You're the one who stopped me from punching him."
Sharon laughed.
"Man, you would have gotten into way too much trouble. I mean, punching a guy in front of the Principal's office. At Huss, no less."
I laughed at the image.
"Yeah, it wasn't exactly one of my best ideas."
"No, I'd say not. Oh, by the way, have you seen the individual scores for the exam?"
"No, I haven't seen them. Where did you find them?"
"On the homepage of the site."
I immediately went to check; it was very easy to find the ranking, it was practically displayed.
"I imagine you'll be a bit surprised," Sharon said.
I went to look and when it loaded, I couldn't believe who was in first place: Kyle Frennero.
"Hold on, hold on. Kyle in first place? Seriously?"
Sharon started laughing.
"And have you seen who's in second place?"
Marcel. Obviously.
"Now he'll be even more annoyed," Sharon burst into laughter.
The thought of seeing Marcel annoyed for not being able to come in first under normal conditions would have made me laugh too. However, the idea that Kyle had come in first and then left seemed strange to me.
"Listen, Sharon. Have you ever talked to this Kyle?"
"No, not at all. I didn't even know who he was."
"Exactly. And yet he managed to come in first. And with a significant gap from Marcel," I calculated that there was a 26-point difference out of 100 between the two.
"I'm not surprised by how things went," Sharon said. "Kyle must have sensed from the beginning that something was wrong with this exam, and today's meeting must have opened his eyes to something. Because it's objectively strange that someone who achieves the maximum score decides not to proceed."
"Yeah, it's strange," I said, thinking.
"I believe there must be Kyle's motivations. Maybe he wasn't even expecting it and now he's really disappointed not being able to participate."
The idea made me laugh.
"So, are you planning to try to reason with Marcel or are we just training by ourselves?" I asked.
"Bringing that idiot in is absolutely pointless. I'd say the best thing for now is to stick to just the two of us; now let's focus on this damn session and then we'll see how to train. We'll set up a good training program in the next few days and see what we can get out of it. Are you with me?"
I smiled.
"Always."
"Good, thanks, Saver. I've taken up too much of your time, I'd say. You must be tired after all this studying. See you tomorrow morning at 8:40 in front of the entrance. Shall we study together afterwards?"
"Of course."
"Great. Goodnight, Saver."
"Goodnight, Sharon."
I hung up the phone. I knew that two weeks of intense studying would await me, followed by two weeks of grueling training and then a month of fiery temperatures for the tournament.
"I'm craving a hamburger tonight" was the only thing I could think of.