Tears of Blood (wlw)

999

DEVYN POV

Today's the day. I give it my all today and then I'm done. Then I carry on the Ackerman legacy.

"Did you eat breakfast? You need to eat you know."

"I know."Sloane looks more stressed than me as she runs around the place trying to make sure I had everything.

"Do you need water, or anything?"

"Sloane, relax, I got this." She stops pacing and walks over to me.

"Look at my little sister, all grown up."

"Good luck Devyn!" Riley screams from the balcony.

"Thanks Riles!!"

"Hey, you're going to do amazing. I believe in you."

"You sound like mom." I say to Sloane, and I realize that Sloane has been more of a mother to me than anyone in my life.

"Well, I gotta be prepared..." She moves her hand to her belly and I realize that it looks a bit bigger.

"Wait.. are you..?" She starts to nod and I give her a tight hug.

"I found out before, but I needed the right moment to tell you."

"I'm so happy for you, Sloane. You're going to be the best mother."

"Devyn!" Father walks into the hall, in his tailored uniform.

"Yes?"

"Wanted to wish you luck. You know what's on the line. Make me proud."

"I will."

"Hmm. Good." He turns around and walks towards his office and I wish he'd said more. This was probably the biggest moment in my life.

"I'll see you at night, I guess." I give her one last hug and walk towards my car.

Sage pulls up into the lot and she hurries out of the car.

"You're still here. Good. Wanted to see you before you left. Good luck Devyn." She shakes my hand and I notice that she was in her uniform too.

"Thanks Sage."

"Don't let us down." She says as she walks into the house. My jaw clenches at that.

The campus is empty except for fourth years walking around. I get in line to get my schedule for the day. Looking around, I don't see any of my friends in sight.

"Hey, Ackerman, you think you're gonna take first?" It's Brian, a soccer player that I didn't know that well.

"Yeah you bet I will."

"I have no doubt." His friends nod too in agreement. Sometimes I forget that I'm royalty. That my father rules this country, no wonder everyone knows me.

"Here's your schedule. You have to be ten minutes early to all of your testing sites. If late, You will be penalized. Good luck!" The administrator hands me the paper and I look at the list. Academically, the only subject bothering me was math, everything else I know I would ace, especially history. Physically, I haven't been well since the attack and I'm scared I'll freeze up while shooting or anything to do with a loud bang.

I walk to my first testing site, which was a room for the chemistry test. As I walk by, I see the big screen which was going to showcase everyone's scores throughout the day.

"You got this." Sierra whispers to me as she takes the seat behind me. The proctor gives directions and then the test starts. It was like this all day, you go into a room, receive directions and then showcase what you can do or what you know.

As the day slowly passed by, I began to gain confidence. The tests were not as hard as I thought. I wasn't stuck on any problem, and was the first one done each time. The physical tests went fairly well as well. I finished my mile , weights, cardio, all on time and the judges looked impressed. I did freeze up at the gun range but I quickly got myself together. My hands were sweaty while I held the gun, but I still managed to hit the bull's eye each time, except for the first shot which didn't even land on the target. It made me mad, but hopefully nobody gets close to me.

By the end of the day I was exhausted. I took a seat with all the other students to read the screen. The screen was constantly changing with numbers changing and the rankings moving up and down. I stared at my picture at the top. No one has beat mine yet. my eyes wander to the picture below me. Andrea. I was done with all my tests but it looked like she was still in session. My heart starts to beat faster. What if she beats me?

Whispers start to spread throughout the crowd and then a roar erupts as Andrea's ranking moves above mine. I check to see if all my points are in. Her gun range points were missing while my biology points were missing. Everyone could tell that she had started shooting at the gun range, because every time she hit the bull's eye her points went up. I watch them go up as I pray that my biology points were enough to beat her.

Devyn Ackerman- 990

Andrea Ramos- 989

It was getting close. Her score changed again to 990. We were tied. The screen changes again my scores were in and final. 999. There's no way she can beat that can she?

"Let's go Andrea! She can get a perfect score of 1000 if she makes all her shots." The students start to cheer her on, but I don't understand what the point was if she couldn't hear them. She had a good shot, I'd seen it personally. She won't miss. I've lost, but I don't think I'd want to lose against anyone else. My hands shake as I get up to walk to my car. I couldn't see anymore of it, when I knew I had let down everyone.

I sit in the car, staring at the steering wheel. Not knowing how I would go home to face my Father.

Someone abruptly pounds on my car window. I roll it down to see Brian again.

"What are you-"

"Congrats!"

"What?"

"You're number 1!"

"How-"

"There she is!" Sierra comes running over to me. I step out of the car to see that everyone was walking over to me with nods of approval.

"Andrea missed the last shot.She only made it to 995." Someone shouts.

My head feels dizzy and I can't feel my face.

Sierra notices and helps me walk away from the crowd.

"What's wrong, are you okay?"

"I just feel weird." Out of the corner, Ash and Gabe step out of a building. They walk past me without saying a word and it angers me.

"Really? That's it? After everything, we just don't mean anything to each other anymore?" Ash stops and turns around to face me.

"Congratulation Devyn. Is that what you want to hear? Don't you have enough people telling you that?"

"I've worked my ass off for this. You of all people know that. And you've always meant something to me. Why would you-"

"She should have won."

"Who-"

"Andrea. All this time that I've been with her, she's never missed. Never. Not once."

"What do you mean?"

"She let you win. You're so smart, but you can't even see that? She threw it, just for you. So sorry if I don't congratulate you." He walks away leaving the air feeling stingy.

"But she said she was having trouble..." It hit me then. It was all an act. I thought about the time where I saw her aim and hit the target. She could never miss. She knew she would have to throw it during the test and so she made me think there was a chance that she wasn't good at it.

My blood boiled with rage. I had to find her.