Time has flown past at such a speed, and Hailey found herself surprisingly calm in the morning. Sir took it as a good sign and reminded her of the various centering exercises they had done the previous day. Kate was also nervous, and followed along these exercises. Jenna and Macey were doing their last minute revisions, yet using most of the time to complain about how much they did not know or pay attention to in class. Hailey often rolled her eyes at them and said, "serves y'all right for not listening in class!" They would mostly mutter something in response before going back to the textbooks.
"Students, please assemble outside your examinations venues NOW." Headmistress' voice rang through the system. Sir whispered, "good luck, do not panic. Calm down, and focus. You will do great." Hailey gratefully thanked him and slowly walked towards the classroom she was going to take her test in. Jenna and Macey were still reading the textbook while Kate was nervously replaying the mistakes she had made in her head. Hailey took Kate's hand and they reached the classroom together. "Place all your things in your bags, take out a pencil case and your water bottle before coming into class. Hurry up!" The teacher instructed fiercely. Hailey was all prepared and walked straight into the room, Kate by her side.
The minute she stepped into the classroom, she felt a cold wind hit her face. It was tradition for the students to take their finals in an air-conditioned room. Hailey clutched the jacket that Sir urged her to bring and found her seat easily, labelled clearly with her name. She was delighted to find that this desk was the same one she had been doing her practice papers on, which meant that she was familiar with this. Although her surroundings were different, she was glad to have a familiar workspace. With no time to lose, she placed her pencil case exactly at the right hand corner of her desk, then placed her water bottle down on the floor to her right. She hurriedly put on her jacket and proceeded to sit down, reminding herself to take deep breaths so that she could calm down. However, the cold atmosphere and nerves were slowly getting to her. Clutching her jacket tighter, she rested her head on the table, ignoring the noise around her of students chattering nervously, chairs being pulled out and adjusted, pencil cases being zipped and unzipped.
As Hailey was calming down, she felt a familiar hand on her arm. She lifted her head up to see Jenna and Macey looking at her encouragingly, and she smiled softly. "Good luck!" They whispered to each other. Students started to fill up the room and students slowly settled down. Hailey stared at the clock in front of her. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. "Students, I am going to start the exam now, there should be no more talking." The teacher announced. Silence filled the hall, and everyone's breathing was heavy. Hailey adjusted uncomfortably in her seat, knees pressed together and hands clasped tightly against each other. "You are not allowed to bring into the examination hall any unotherised notes, mobile devices, or any electronic devices such as video cameras or MP3 players. If you have any of these items with you now, please place them in your bag. All bags should be placed outside this hall before the examination." The teacher paused to allow the students to move outside to place any notes they had found, before clearing her throat and continuing. "You are not allowed to talk, or use any hand gestures to communicate with anyone else during this examination, as it will be considered as cheating. Cheating is a serious offence, and you may be disqualified if you have been found cheating or attempting to cheat. I will now give out the examination scripts."
The moment she finished reading out the announcements, she turned to pick up the heavy stacks of papers that were going to be Hailey's nightmare. Hailey quickly took out the pens and highlighters that she was going to use and placed them neatly on the table, thinking about how she was going to grab it most efficiently and not waste any time. Before long, it was time to start the English paper and Hailey flipped the page open so vigorously that she almost tore it. English was fairly easy to conquer, and she aced through the first part of it. However,coming to the second part of the exam, she tensed up. She often made mistakes here, but she could not afford to mess up this time. She had to do the best she could. Breathing in and out slowly to calm herself down just as Sir told her to do, she flipped the page and read through the question...she had to write an essay about a time she was happy. When was she happy...should she write about the time she got a new pet? Was that too cliche? The time she was finally allowed to be alone in a room with no maids? The first time her friends were not chosen for her? What was she to write? All these seemed too unsuitable for an essay, and she struggled to find a good plot. After a long time of consideration, she was visibly stressed out and was on the brink of tears. "Breathe...focus on the emotion, and trust the first thing that comes into your mind." Sir's voice filled her head. Hailey's head jerked up. That's it, follow her instincts! She immediately thought of the times that she was devastated, but the happiness that followed whenever she overcame her challenges were strong and passionate. Hailey confidently picked up her pen, plotted out the outline of the essay in her head and immediately set to work.
The scratching of the pen against the paper was the only sound that filled the classroom and Hailey was absorbed in the essay she was writing. Occasionally, the thoughts of: is this a good essay? Did I make any spelling or grammatical error? Is this good enough? came into her head. However, she had no time to dwell into these. She had to finish on time! "5 minutes left." The teacher reminded. Hailey quickened her pace, sweat forming on her brows. Students around her had placed their pens down on their table already, flipping their pages to check their work and were ready to hand in, while Hailey was nowhere near done. Determined, Hailey wrapped up her essay, skipping some unimportant parts. "Times...up!" The teacher called out. Hailey dropped her pen onto the desk and massaged her hand, sore from the intensive writing she just did. As Hailey handed up her paper, she hesitated. Was she good enough? Had she made too many mistakes? The teacher yanked the paper away and she stared in a daze at the wall...
"Shh...let it out..." Kate mumbled as Hailey cried into her shoulders. They had just finished a whole day of examinations, and had one more day left. The immense stress that had Hailey in tears were finally taking a toll on her, and she could not help but break down in their dorm. Jenna and Macey gave her a hug as Hailey bawled. Macey prepared her bed as Jenna guided her to the bed and tucked her in, the trio calming her down as best as they can. Soon, wailing turned into sobbing, and to sniffling. Wreary, hailey fell into deep sleep shortly after, dreaming of letter Fs towering over her, but somehow in the middle of it all, she had 3 girls holding her hands, encouraging her to fight back. That was the best nightmare she ever had.
"Students, this is your final paper! Remember to write your answers on the answer sheet. That's all, and your time starts...NOW!" The teacher yelled. Hailey opened the booklet hurriedly, scanning through the questions. Keywords...what were the keywords she needed? Unlike her previous papers, Hailey was starting to stress out early on before she actually started. Unfortunately for her fears and doubts, she was all prepared. She was going to defeat her fears this time, and she was going to do so well now that everyone was going to be surprised. Now filled with motivation and courage, Hailey attempted the first paper. She was not going to allow the stress and emotions to mess her up! Soon, she was doing the questions smoothly, her pen barely pausing to read the questions before she started scribbling out her answers again. Macey was taking things slow, carefully reading the questions before crafting out a thoroughly thought out answer and writing it down. Jenna on the other hand spent half the time rolling her pencil to guess the answer. Next to Hailey, Kate clutched her head in her hands, her pen scribbling out the first thing that came to mind. Determined looks were washed over every student's face and time flew by. Time was running fast away...they had to finish as much as they could....were they going to mess this up....will they meet their expectations...
"Times up!"
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1535 words if you wanna know
Hey guys! I did as promised and updated as soon as I could 😀 thanks so much for all the support y'all! Hope everyone liked this chapter! Hailey seems much better this time...right? I am so grateful for all the encouragement and everything throughout this whole book. Stay happy and healthy everyone! Remember to vote and comment 😌 Peace out ✌️💓