VARSITY 9 | BL

THIRTY | TO PASS OR TO FAIL

"Oh! They're out!" Toma's announcement alerted the other six that their grades had been released, and they immediately lifted their wrists to gaze at the message that had been sent to each of their holowatches.

It was Thursday morning and was the start of the first day of winter break. The campus was mostly empty by this time. The students who remained behind did so to prepare for the JV team tryouts that were to take place the following Monday. The space surrounding the seven fell quiet as they each checked their results.

Liyam's expression remained unchanging as he saw his grades. 100 in Intro to Xaiyon History, 100 in Languages, 98 in Trigonometry, 99 in Chemistry, 100 in Training... Three out of five were 100s; I guess I slacked off a bit.

While Liyam decided to study more during the next semester to try and achieve a perfect streak, Toma held his breath as he read his grades. Please don't all be fails. Please, please, please. Okay, here we go. 89 in Intro to Xaiyon...93 in Languages, 78 in Trigonometry...71 in Chemistry, 94 in Training. His eyes widened as he read his grades. "I passed!! I passed, I passed...thank god."

"Shut up, shorty! Gosh, you're so loud," Stryke scolded playfully as he checked his results. Mm. Not bad, I guess. Could've been worse. After making sure he at least passed all his subjects, Stryke lowered his wrist and leaned against the sofa he was lounging on.

"Oh my god, that was a close one!" Brix barely passed all his subjects except for Training — in which he earned a 98 — a stark contrast to his other grades.

Lay was not surprised that his lowest grade was an 87 in Training, but seeing as all his other grades were at least ten points higher than that, he was satisfied with his results. Kean took a quick look at his grades, and seeing all his grades started with '9', set his wrist down after a swift glance. Wen was most interested in his grade for the training sessions, and when he saw that he scored a 100, he was pleasantly surprised. His extra hours of practice certainly paid off, and he felt a bit more confident for the JV tryouts.

"So! How did everyone do?" Toma inquired after giving the group a few moments to digest their results.

"Not bad," Stryke responded.

"I passed!" Brix exclaimed with relief as he fell back against his chair.

"Congratulations," Liyam mumbled under his breath. Being a student with whom intelligence came easily, Liyam never quite understood the anxiety of seeing your grades for the first time and the elation that followed should you succeed and pass. Thus, he could not empathize with Brix's sigh of relief.

Wen, Kean, and Lay remained quiet and did not join in the conversation discussing grades until Toma suggested they go out into the city to celebrate. "Since we all passed and worked really hard this semester, I think we deserve some fun!" Toma piped before proposing, "Why don't we all go out since we're together and do something before the tryouts? 'Cause after the tryouts are done, we'll all go home and won't see each other until next semester."

"Toma...there's only two weeks between the tryouts and the beginning of the second semester..." Liyam pointed out.

"Honestly two weeks of peace sounds great," Stryke commented with a dry chuckle which then earned him a punch in the shoulder from Toma.

"I'm down," Liyam stated as he sat up straight. "Getting out of here for a bit sounds good. We've been on campus for a while. Lay, how about you?"

Hearing his name, Lay turned to face his roommate and thought for a moment before quietly nodding his head, indicating he would join the group on their outing. Wen was happy that Lay wanted to go out with the group, and he would have loved to join on the day of fun, but Wen decided to remain behind. He wanted to train some more before the tryouts.