Temptation

Chapter 24

«Douleur.»

« Pain. »
~~~~~

Time vanished away from my hands. I spent days surviving on coffee and studying the hardest I never did. My social life fell apart. I avoided talking to Xavier. I felt his confusion and how upsetting it was for him, but I didn't have a moment to tell him we couldn't hang out because my life was crushing around me. I found it hard to believe that Mark was ready to take away something so dear to me. He demanded that I retook all the tests I scored less than ninety percent. That was a total of thirteen tests in only one week. My eyes were eternally glued in books.

Thea hasn't stopped bothering me. Kelly and her would come into the library to purposely taunt me. They would laugh loudly, whisper, walk beside me, and throw things at me. It took all my strength not to pay attention to them and focus on my work.

Tonight was Thanksgiving, and a grand dinner will be served at the dining hall; all students were required to be at a table. Except me. I failed my Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly test twice. Tomorrow was my deadline, and I needed to score a ninety.

Hand against my forehead, alone in the library with my seventh cup of coffee of the day. I was forcing myself to understand the writings in front of me. The more I stared, the more it drifted away from me.

A cramp began to submerged my brain. Sadness and void seized my heart when I realized I would never pass that test and would fail one class. I was mentally preparing myself to hear Mark yelling at me and accepting my faith. I walked to my dorm with my heart in my mouth, cold sweat breaking out of my vertebrae.

A tall, dark silhouette leaned against a wall, thinking it a random teenager outside, and I passed by it. But the figure moved, and a fearful scream escaped my lips.

The person cracked up heartily at my fear. I recognized Julian's vocal. That was the first time I ever heard him laugh sincerely, and it was stunning to hear if I didn't hate him.

"Aren't you supposed to be inside?" I fumed.

"Aren't you also supposed to be inside?" He replicated.

"As you can see, I am busy studying, and what about you?"

"Looking at the moon."

"Oh...how breathtaking, looking at the moon." I mocked him and rolled my eyes.

"Not my fault you don't have the heart to appreciate beautiful things in life." He lit up a joint, and the smell and the smoke made me cough.

"Oh fuck off, I do appreciate things in life, but you? You're cheesy and annoying as hell."

"No wonder why you're failing. You're studying the wrong book," he chuckled, ignoring my insults and pointing out the book I'm holding.

"Excuse me? How do you know about my failure?"

"I heard Mr. Squire talk about how you failed his tests twice to Vermont." He shrugged.

"You're so obsessed with me."

"Don't flatter yourself. It's just sad."

Needless to say more, I turned back to the library and searched every shelf for a book on that matter, and there was none. I began to doubt there's no other book, and Julian was fucking me over. However, he appeared out of nowhere, startling me for the second time.

"That was the last one left. I had it." He handed the blue, leather-bound book to me.

"Thank you?" I took it suspiciously.

And he disappeared again.

I spent the night and the rest of the day studying this book. I understood the chapters better and recognized a lot of quotes from the examination.
When noon arrived, I walked to the empty classroom with Mr. Squire. The packet was waiting for me on the first desk, right in front of his desk. I sat down and opened it with a shaking hand—fifty open-responses questions. I didn't know if I knew half of those answers. Despite my doubts, I answered the questions accurately as I can. I have written my answers twice, making sure I used the correct words. In two hours, I gave Mr. Squire the packet. He ordered me to sit outside and waited for my score.

Absurds thought formed in my head. Suddenly my condolence fades away. That was my fate being decided inside that room. I tried my absolute best but didn't feel like doing enough. Mark's words replayed in my head like a CD. I rubbed my forehead, cracked my knuckles, and tapped my foot to ease the tension, raising my fear. I shouldn't have trust, Julian. What if he gave me the wrong book, and I worsened my score? He never wanted my success; why he would now? God, I was so stupid.

The door opened, I got up by reflection. He walked up to me, eyes on the paper. He raised them to meet mine, adjusted his glasses. I was ready to hear the verdict.

"Congratulation, Ms. Royale, you passed with a 96 percent." He grandly smiled.

I exhaled with joy. After countless sleepless nights and dozens of coffees, I had perfect scores in all my classes. It wasn't my cue for a break, but at least I could slow down.

"Thank you, Mr. Squire!" I screamed, jumping everywhere.

"Glad you are! You worked hard for it. Now, would you please follow me to the Office so we can report your score?"

I followed him to the headquarters office. Mrs. Vermont met us; she took the packet then later came back with a smile. One also was forged on my face. I was impatient for Mark to learn about my achievements, and he would understand how much I am determined to be my dad's successor.

"Good Job, Ms. Royale. If you keep the good work, there's a chance you will be the next salutatorian of Trinity Fox."

"Wait, what- I am sorry-I meant is that possible?" My eyes lighted up. I couldn't believe my ear. Me? salutatorian? How magnificent would that be?

"Absolutely. You now have a perfect score for each of your classes which raised your GPA to 4.5 for this semester, and if you keep working hard for next semester, you will have a perfect GPA of 5.0."

That was my motivation to show everyone what I was capable of. I felt under-appreciated, and they treated me like a child. That was my cue to show them they were wrong, and I was more competent and responsible.

"May I ask who will be the future Valedictorian?" I questioned out of curiosity.

Her facial expression changed to empathic and compassionate.

"Unfortunately, that will be Julian De Elvero with a 5.7 GPA."

My mouth dropped to the floor.

There was no fucking way this brain dead was the most intelligent person in this school. I will not accept that. I didn't have any classes with him because the district thought it was best if we were in two different establishments to avoid confrontation. However, I knew this boy couldn't count to ten. Sure I've seen him, all the time, in the library, but he was still an idiot.

He was, one hundred percent, paying them, and I was fucked.

~~~~~~

Do you feel Julian's behavior towards Xemina is changing?

Did your opinion change on him?

Q/ If you could eliminate one problem in the world, what would it be?

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