Academy of Excellence in Academics (School)

Chapter 30: Exams

It has been a week now, and it was really torturous for macey. It is really tough on her to see her best friends rejecting her, and Kate backstabbing her. The backstabbing didn't stop there, Kate went around spreading rumours about her. She was on the verge of breaking down. Meanwhile, things have not been easy on Hailey either. She was unsure of whether she had been too harsh on Macey, but the things she did was unforgivable. Furthermore, she had more things on her mind—tests. The mid-year exams were round the corner. She had been doing okay for all the little small tests so far, but this mid-year exam was huge. Huge huge. It was her only chance to prove to her parents that they did not have to send her here. She wanted to show them that she wasn't so dumb that they had to send her here. This was basically two weeks before the mid-year-examinations:

It's 3.50 am right now, and Hailey was already up! She quickly washed up and went to the study cell. After doing some practice questions, she wrote any doubts she had on a piece of paper and kept it in her bag. Then, she made her way to the dance studio at 5am to have her extra dance class with Ms Ogh [the dance teacher]. Then she went through classes. Whenever she had a question about that class especially from the extra practice questions in the morning, she would ask the Teachers. During lunch break, she would eat within 10minutes before running to the study room or consulting a techer. After school, she would do her homework and go for dance. When she comes back, she continues her extra practices. If she does not feel confident about it, she would ask Sir to check it.

"Girl, chill. It's just a test." Jenna said to Hailey one breakfast, seeing how flustered Hailey was. Hailey sighed. "I wish it was. But it was the exact reason my parents sent me here, and if I wasn't so dumb, I could be at home with my pets and brothers right now...sigh. If only my father did not have those 'big plans' for me to help out in the company." Hailey was literally stressing out right now. She HAD to do well. She couldn't let anyone down. Very soon, the first test came around. English. It wasn't too bad, but there were some tough questions. Immediately after English, she was cooped up in the study cell studying for the next test, math.

After a few hours of studying, Hailey was too tired and retreated to her room to sleep. The next day, Hailey's hand could not stop shivering at breakfast. "Gal, are you okay?" Jenna was honestly worried right now. Hailey was pale, but she put on a brave face. "Yep, I'm cool." Shaking her head, Jenna walked with her to the Math exam. "Okay, everyone knows the rules, but I must read them again. This examination is for grade 1 students taking the mathematics paper. Cheating is a serious offence. You may be disqualified if you are caught cheating or attempting to cheat. All notes and electronic devices or bujo must be placed in your bags. All bags MUST be placed outside the classroom. If you have any of these items with you now, please put them outside. You are not allowed to go to the toilet for the first fifteen minutes and last fifteen minutes of the paper. This paper is 1h 45min Long. Calculators are not allowed." The invigilator announced. [wow, that was all the instructions exactly how my school had last time. I can still remember!!!] 

Hailey was zoning out until the moment the invigilator said, "and....you may open your papers." Hailey snapped back to reality, and found her palms sweaty. With no time to lose, she opened her question booklet. The first part was multiple choice questions. She used her highlighter to highlight the keywords and slowly but surely made her way through the questions. That was until the 15th question. It was a question that needed her to factorise an algebraic equation. Hailey knew she had studied this. There were three math theories to this...but....what were they? No, not multiplication, no this is not highest common factor, no...no....UGH. Hailey's mind was blank. Then, it wandered to how disappointed her parents will be. Nonononnononono, Hailey, get back on track. How to tackle this? Hailey's breathing became shallow, and she felt the blood draining from her face. Circling the question, she moved on like the Teachers told them to do when they encountered a tough question. However, hailey was distracted with trying to solve that question, and could not focus on the question she had moved on to. Her hands started to shiver, and she felt sweat trickling down her face. No, no. She had to do this. She had just cleared half of the open-ended questions, when the invigilator said, "fifteen more minutes. Please check your work."

Hailey felt like she had a headache, and she needed to drink water, but she was short on time. Her heart was beating so fast that it was going to jump out of her chest. She tried to solve the question, but she couldn't. It seemed so foreign. "Times up, pens down." As the teacher walked around collecting the paper, everyone was whispering to each other asking how the exam went for them. However, Hailey was in a completely different world. What would her parents think of her? How would she explain this? The moment they were released, she grabbed her bag and went back to the dorm. Huddling on the corner of the bed, she felt light-headed. Rocking herself, she started to cry uncontrollably. She couldn't help it. She wailed for what seemed like hours.

Just then, she suddenly stopped crying. No, this wasn't going to do anything. She had to prepare for tomorrow's test. Despite feeling like she had to throw up, she got out of bed. As she left the dorm, she wiped off her tears and saw Jenna walk towards her. "Hey..." Hailey weakly squeezed out. "Hailey, are you okay? You seem pale...are you-" Jenna was worriedly asking. Suddenly, Hailey felt the world was shaking from left to right, and her vision blurred, before she closed her eyes, allowing a dark world to envelope her.

"Oh hunny, you are awake." A high-pitched voice greeted her as she opened her eyes. She immediately winced due to the brigh lights. "Ugh...where am I?" Hailey asked, but she was so parched that it was almost impossible to hear her. "Here, drink this. You fainted, and this is the sickbay. You slept for about 2 hours." The nurse told her. Hailey was drinking the water and almost spat the water out. She couldn't have just wasted 2 hours on sleeping! Okay well she fainted, but she could have been studying instead! She sat up immediately, to feel a sharp pain in her head. "I...I have to go." She explained. Just then, sir came in. "Hailey, are you okay?" He asked with worry. "Yes, sir please I have to go. I need to study. Tomorrow is the science exam!" Hailey started to yell in a flustered manner. "But hailey...you are still sick...." "NO NO NO, please let me go..." hailey started to cry. "Sigh...fine....go...but take care." Hailey sprinted off with no time to spare.

The next few days were hell. Hailey felt so terrible, but she had to get through the exams. When all the papers were over, she fell so sick that she couldn't stop throwing up. Her hand couldn't stop shivering, and she had a fever. After one week being bed-ridden, she finally felt much better. Coincidentally, the results were going to be revealed the day she could return to school. Hailey put on a brave front, but as she sat at her desk, her legs were uncontrollably shaking. Her face was pale and she felt dizzy again. Even before she received the paper, she started to cry out of nervousness. Finally, the English teacher came in. Handing out the papers, she saw that she got 23/100. It definitely wasn't what she had expected. Hailey had worked so hard for this! Zoning out from the teacher explaining their corrections, she started to think about her parent's reactions.

Things were not going better for her throughout the day. Math, 34/100. Science, 28/100. Mother-tongue, 50/100. History, 35/100. Geography, 24/100. Only one pass! What was she to do? She worked so hard, but....Hailey wailed into her pillow that afternoon. She was in despair. 'Looks like I am that dumb. Really, I am a hopeless case. I should just die.' She thought sadly.

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1489 words if you wanna know
Finally seeing a weak Hailey 😂 does this apply to anyone? I meant the exam stress. Hope everyone is doing well now. Will update ASAP i promise!