The test officially began when the clock on the wall struck nine. On Astra's screen, the test questions automatically unlocked She skimmed through the questions and soon lost her interest.
[Was this supposed to be hard?] She thought to herself and then looked around, only to see the nervous and anxious faces of the rest of the students. Some were already tugging at their collars, others chewing their lips. She could even feel the waves of panic and desperation rolling off of them.
Turning back to her own screen, she allowed herself a small frown. Nonetheless, she started to select the correct answers on her screen one after another. For many questions, she didn't even bother reading past the first line. Even for mathematical questions for which most students were utilizing the spare paper they were provided, Astra answered them in a couple of seconds. Halfway through the test, she couldn't suppress a yawn.
To any observer, it would have appeared as though she was randomly tapping answers without thinking. Well, this was what Professor Malcolm Fitz thought as he observed her through one of the many monitors in the surveillance room. The wall before him displayed dozens of screens, each showing a different student. The screen would change once in a while, moving to another student.
Professor Malcolm Fitz, a man with salt-and-pepper hair and wire-rimmed glasses, was the head of the Science department and was tasked to oversee the examination, much to his disappointment. He had three research papers waiting for review on his desk, and here he was, babysitting.
Behind him, rows of teachers sat at computer stations, monitoring the incoming answers in real time. The multiple choice questions were automatically scored by the software while the teachers had to later score the essays themselves.
"This can't be true!" The sudden exclamation shattered the silence. One of the younger teachers had leaped to his feet so quickly that his swivel chair almost fell down.
Malcolm turned, his expression darkening. "What are you causing such a ruckus for? You're disturbing everyone else."
"Pro-professor, I..." the teacher stammered, his face flushed with a mixture of shock and excitement. "It's better if you see this yourself."
Malcolm huffed and pushed himself up from his chair before he strode over.
"This better be wo-" The words died in his throat as he watched the screen. Answers were appearing at an impossible pace, each one lighting up green to indicate correctness.
"Whose screen is this?" He asked, dropping into the teacher's vacant chair and leaning closer to the monitor, his earlier irritation forgotten.
"It's Astra Kyzer's,"
"The white-haired girl?" Malcolm's eyebrow arched as his gaze shifted to the front wall, finding the screen showing Astra. She sat there, casual as could be, tapping answers with all the enthusiasm of someone scrolling through social media out of boredom.
He found himself looking between her live feed and the computer screen displaying her responses. With each correct answer, his smile grew wider until he was practically beaming.
"This girl is a genius," he exclaimed.
He knew better than anyone the difficulty of the test, especially since the one she was solving was created for the senior year and contained college-level questions. Currently, stra was the only student attempting this particular version.
Cheating was virtually impossible. The exam had been created under conditions that would make most security agencies envious and the files were kept encrypted. Any attempt to hack or interfere with the system would have triggered enough alarms. Between the surveillance system and the room full of eagle-eyed teachers, even traditional cheating methods were out of the question.
"Get me her file," he grinned, practically bouncing in his seat.
It was not long before Astra had finished answering the multiple-choice questions while most students were still struggling through the first half. Astra finally turned to the essay section and froze when she saw the topic.
How fear shapes our decisions?
For several long moments, she simply stared at those words, her expression unreadable. Then, she simply put the screen down and rested her head on the desk.
The truth was, Astra was exhausted. Like most of her nights, she did not have proper sleep last night either due to her nightmare. Her mother had initially suggested having a girl's night but Astra had personally pushed her back into her bedroom before retiring to her own.
Now, with two hours left on the clock, she decided to use this as an opportunity to get some rest.
In the surveillance room, Malcolm nearly toppled out of his chair when he saw her head drop to the desk. He took several deep breaths, patting his chest as if to calm his racing heart.
"She's just taking a break," he assured himself and the gathering crowd of equally stunned teachers. "There's plenty of time left. She's just... resting her eyes."
But minutes ticked by, and Astra didn't move. Other students began noticing, shooting concerned or confused glances in her direction. Some clearly thought she'd given up, overwhelmed by the test's difficulty.
Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of the examination period. Astra lifted her head, picked up her bag, and walked out of the hall.
Malcolm fell back in the chair as if his soul had left his body.
"She... she just..." he gestured helplessly at the screen.
The room full of teachers stared at the monitors in stunned silence.
"Get me everything you can find about Astra Kayzer," he said finally. "I need to know who this girl is."