Daïn had been a faithful follower of the school rules her entire life, but this teacher was really pushing it.

"The test will be this Friday. And no, you can't retake. And yes, it will be 60% of your grade. Easy, right? Now you will only need to learn the first 400 pages of the book, we want you to get a passing grade after all."

The mocking voice of Lilo drowned out the chatter of lunch break. It was nothing new that their most infamous classmate was mocking a teacher, though this was the first time Daïn had to agree.

The test was ridiculous and was going to get people hurt.

This was their last year of highschool, a bad grade could have some serious consequences on their future. You just couldn't fail one of your primary subjects and expect everything to be fine. And then she didn't even take into consideration her parents' reaction to a failing grade.

They would get over it, be disappointed, but not angry. That wouldn't be the case with everyone's parents though.

So Daïn had to agree with Lilo, if she liked it or not.

"Hey, can I come with you after school on Friday? Best to let my parents cool off before I show my face with a failing mark." Mare, Daïn's best friend, continued whispering in her ear. "Last time it wasn't even my fault I didn't pass, bless the Lord that they can only give you a higher grade if the teacher made a mistake."

Mare wouldn't be safe going home with a failed subject.

"Of course no worries, my parents won't mind."

Her further reassurances were drowned out by Lilo's continuing mocking voice.

"I'll even let you take the test on the computer, so you can't hide behind bad handwriting. See, I've thought about everything to ensure you fail. No time, too much information to study and a faulty system for you to take the test on. What can possibly go wrong?"

-

The test had started a few minutes ago and Daïn's lunch was threatening to make a reappearance with the world. The test was difficult, far too advanced for where they were in their studies, or the amount of time they were given.

Lilo had been the only student not with their nose in a studybook during the few precious minutes between classes. Instead she had loudly proclaimed that she was going to ace the test anyway, so no need for some last minute studying.

The worst part was that Daïn actually believed her.

Lilo was smart, and her parents were rich enough to get her into whatever school she wanted to go to, regardless of her marks. She had nothing to worry about.

Second part of the test: Knowledge about read literature

Question 71: What was the name of the female rabbit that helped Bigwig in Efrafa?

Thetuthinnang

Hizenthlay

Thethuthinnang

Hyzentlay

Could she just give up already? It was obviously a trick question and only one spelling variant was correct, but she could absolutely not remember which one it could be.

She was never going to be able to pass this test and at this point it was better to just accept that as a reality. At least one student was softly crying behind their computer, they were further on the road to acceptance.

Once all the questions had been answered, did Daïn press the submit button. It was out of her hands now.

"The computer program will give you your marks and I'll put them into the school system. After that I will give them to you, so you'll only need to wait a moment. I have complete confidence in your abilities to pass it without problem."

Daïn wanted to cry, did this teacher truly not understand she had condemned the entire class to a complete failure.

Apparently not, as he happily continued checking the tests and putting grades into the system. It was a horror show unraveling, with her having a front seat ticket.

The moment every test had been submitted, was the fragile silence rudely broken by, unsurprisingly, Lilo.

"This was so easy, unbelievable, like can't this school even make appropriate tests anymore. They should at least be slightly challenging, won't you say?"

When no one reacted, did she happily continue forward, destroying every last piece of calmness Daïn had collected over the years.

"This was the easiest thing I have done in months, literally months. The school system holds no secrets for me, nor does any of the teaching methods. It's predictable, beyond anything I have ever seen before."

The teacher, who had had a pleasant enough expression on their face, suddenly looked up with a scowl.

"No reason to be that confident, Lilo. I have the results."

Daïn was preparing herself to run to Mare, to console her when their marks would appear.

"I'm very pleasantly surprised by you all, the results are very good."

Impossible. Daïn shared a look with Mare and fear kept her heart captured. This must be a joke.

"Everyone passed. Well apart from one student."

He had to be joking, the test was impossible to pass. There was no way everyone had achieved that, apart from one student.

"Lilo, next time use that confidence to actually study. Every single answer was incorrect, notify your parents I want to talk with them. The rest of you have a B or higher, congratulations."

-

Daïn was walking to the school exit when she heard a soft murmuring coming from somewhere on her right. She carefully walked closer to not spook the other student to make sure they were okay, today had been a difficult day afterall.

"Expect a phone call from one of the teachers tonight. Yeah, no, they want to talk about my results in the last test. Failed it completely."

It didn't take very long for Daïn to come to the startling realization that it was Lilo who was talking so subdued to their parents on the phone.

"Well what else was I supposed to do? The bad answers had to be given to someone, it would have taken too much time to give myself a good grade too. I'm a fast hacker, but not that fast."