Level 5

• { 5 } •

The brakes of my dad's car screeched as he stopped and parked on the side of the street. This morning he had offered to drive me to the site of the Level 5 Program. He said he wanted to save me the trouble of walking there. But it wasn't too far from our house, so I was pretty sure that wasn't his real reason.

I got out of the car and so did my dad. He came around the side, opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. Instead he hugged me.

He surprised me, so at first I didn't hug him back. But then I wrapped my arms around him. Why was this hug making me feel so sad? I couldn't put my finger on it.

I ended the hug and said good-bye to my father. He didn't say anything, just nodded. He looked so heartbroken in that moment I wanted to hug him again, but he just said, "Good bye Cassie," and left.

I watched as his car turned around the corner at the end of the street, and then I turned away. I would see him later tonight, I wasn't sure why I was getting all weepy about this good-bye.

I shook my head, took a deep breath and crossed the street.

I stood in front of the large grey building. The only new edition was the guards. They were planted at the doors, guns at the ready. This time, I had no trouble seeing them.

High school students surrounded me, I estimated that there were about thirty. Some were itching to get a better look at the building while others were just talking to their friends. Many of them I didn't recognize. Maybe they came from another school? I hadn't been too popular to begin with so I couldn't be sure...

Did I regret signing up? I wasn't sure yet. I was beginning to have second thoughts as I saw the amount of guards. Had they just increased since the last time I had been here? Or had I somehow not noticed them? For some reason those guards were making me nervous. What were they guarding that was so important?

One of the guards started walking down the worn path to the small crowd of students. He told us to follow him. We did.

As I walked into that large building, I thought about how hard I had fought to get into this program. I had sacrificed my entire summer for this. I would not let this chance be wasted.

The guards led us into a large, open ceiling room. Large florescent lights blinded me for a second as I entered. I blinked. I realized the room was filled with desks that had papers on them face down. This was where we were to do our test.

A long chain of supervisors lined the walls, probably to collect tests and make sure students didn't cheat.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself. A supervisor told us to find a desk and sit down. Then they told us we could start the test. We had two hours to complete it.

Alright Cassie, I thought to myself. Lets do this.

I didn't stop writing for a long time.

* * *

I put down her pencil and slumped into my chair. I had just finished my test, and felt completely relieved. And a little annoyed.

All of that studying throughout my summer, and the test wasn't even that hard! I thought. In truth, the difficulty of that test had been overrated. It hadn't been that tough at all.

I sighed, and then raised my hand. A supervisor snapped to attention and came towards my desk in order to collect my test. As they did so I looked around.

Most of the kids were still writing at this point, as there was about forty minutes left on the timer. I had managed to finish and double check my test early. I saw a few of the kids shooting me dirty looks, they probably thought I must have cheated somehow. One boy in particular stared at me for longer than most of the other kids. I recognized him from my old school; his name was Ben. He was the biggest bully at my school, in fact, he had once bullied me.

Ben was a known tyrant, but in between beating up other kids he was somehow able to get amazing grades. These grades and his good looks often were able to get him out of trouble. Ben had inky-black hair, electric blue eyes and a handsome face. These features made him very popular among the girls.

When I had just entered high school, Ben had chosen me as one of his targets. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't realized that I was stronger than a lot of the other kids he bullied. Once he had started to make fun of me, I had immediately went to the teachers for help. It was one of the few times Ben had ever been caught.

He hadn't talked to me since then, but most of my unpopularity in school was because of him.

Finally Ben turned away from me. I looked down at my desk and started desperately hoping that he would not pass the test. I didn't want to have to deal with him in a new school.

I spent the next forty minutes just sitting at my desk, waiting for everyone else to finish.

Oh how was that, Cassie? Thank you so much for asking! It was boring. Really boring.

When a supervisor finally called time, I stood up to leave, along with the other students. However, just as I started walking to the door, guards stormed into the room and blocked the exit. I looked around, confused. What was going on?

One of them spoke up. "You kids have not been permitted to leave. You're gonna stay here until the tests have been fully marked."

One kid spoke up. "Yeah, but I have soccer practice in ten minutes. Can I go and then come back later-"

"No," thundered another guard. "You are going to stay here. Whether you want to or not." I realized that these guards were threatening us, and I was shocked.

One of the supervisors spoke up. "If you will follow me, I will lead you to a lounge area where you can wait for a bit while the tests are being marked. We have many experts here with us so it should not take to long."

I looked around me. Many of the students also seemed to be a little iffy about this situation. But there was nothing else we could do. I started to follow the supervisor out of the room.

As I walked through the hallway, I wondered why we weren't allowed to leave. Was it because they feared for our safety? Did they not want any students to get out? Or did they not want to risk someone else getting in?