"...."
[Erm, when are you... going to like, order?]
At the cafeteria, they were only a few minutes left till Cale come back.
'I'm actually curious about what food this cafeteria has...'
In the trial there was no cafeteria in Gardenia or at least from what Cale saw. The structure was after all different from the one here.
'It really is more modern' The Gardenia in the trial was more disgusting, less maintained and It also smelled terrible and that thought hadn't changed since then
'At least it seems that I will never get teleported there ever again still it's a bit weird'
Cale pondered for a while, thinking about why The Gardenia in the trial didn't have a cafeteria before a shout ringed loudly in his head
[Hey! you gonna order already! stop daydreaming kid and come back to the real world!]
Instinctively, he covered his ears and flinched but soon grumbled his annoyance away
'....Bold words coming from a monster that would only appear in my nightmares'
Raising an index finger, it locked on a somewhat wide pizza slice.
'They have good taste in food'
There were a lot of options, ranging from a Pizza slice to even Lasagna. Cale quickly realized however that he didn't have any money to give.
'Please tell me its free or that he'll let it slide this one time'
He desperately prayed In his mind, arms clasped behind his back, gripping each other with so much force that he felt nails pierce through his skin slightly.
'Of course I could just go without food and it wouldn't matter but....Satisfying my hunger comes first'
A fist raised sky-high with naivety but it was in fact not naivety, this action would allow Cale to gauge just how much influence he has within the school as a student
'If the teachers answer to the questions of the students, then obviously the topic can range from anything'
Cale confirmed this by asking the patrolling Carlos a few days back and he answered almost everything
'I couldn't bring myself to ask more questions since it seemed that he was getting real pissed with each question I asked'
But the main questions got answered, the others could take their time to be voiced
'It should be safe to eat in the cafeteria according to Carlos'
He still didn't trust Carlos much, but he couldn't be distrusting of him forever when time would not allow it, if the situation called for it, the information asked from Carlos to provide Cale with could be his saving grace
[Here ya go!]
'Very clean'
The goo gave a normal and ordinary plate, It was clean. Even when his sludge like hands grasped the plate, It maintained its clear and clean exterior.
[Make sure to bring the plate back to me, got it!]
He nodded, sweat trickled down his cheek, his poker face threatening to shatter like glass at what he was going to do to pay him, however a miracle from the gods was witnessed.
Poof
Out of thin air, money fell down on the counter, The monster quickly grabbed them with his sticky hands.
'So Carlos was really right, it really would just poof out in the air'
Carlos had said that the money would be paid by actually taking money Cale possessed, essentially his allowance
[1...2 and 50 cents...]
He brought the money close to his melting face, counting carefully.
[Good...it's all here]
'Where did that money come from, or well how did it get here?'
It really was incredible to see the supernatural come alive in front of your very eyes
[You gonna take it?]
"!"
Cale snapped out of his thoughts and took the plate and started fleeing to a table.
'It looks, soooo good!!!'
The pizza gleamed and shined, almost as if inviting to eat it all up. Cale hastily sat down and laid the pizza down on the table.
Carefully picking up the oily pizza that was ready to drip cheese at any moment, as his mouth was about to take a bite however
The hand supporting the pizza like a column trembled.
"..."
The trembling didn't stop but he still picked the Pizza up and took a bite out of it... the mouth was then met with an unsatisfactory taste, a bland taste that made the stomach churn, vision also turning slightly dizzy .
Crunch
Lightly biting Into the pizza slice, doing his best to forget the churning and dizziness that was felt. Cale tried to force the pizza bought with his own money down
[Cale?...]
A familiar voice was heard from the side
It was Fiend. He stood opposite to Cale.
[How did you get tha- no that's not the important thing]
"...?" an innocent tilting head, grew confused.
But Fiend started to talk about the more important things
***
'Geniuses?'
Fiend had come to Cale with some newfound Information, it wasn't within expectations for him to Improvise and ask the Teachers about the humanoid monsters. It had completely slipped Cale's mind that they could just simply ask them.
'But geniuses? those things?'
If they were talking about pure speed and strength, then they would fit that criteria perfectly but it still seemed niche.
Before he knew it Cale had already finished eating
Trrr~
Trrr~
A soft ringing was heard, signaling the end of Recess.
[Ah, It's already over...]
An eerie gentle darkness consumed everything, and Cale closed his eyes and awaited.
"...."
"Everyone pay attention! this will be important in the test!" A teacher spoke, her voice rough from having to tell the students to stop talking every few minutes.
Finally the class turned tranquil, no one talked and simply payed attention.
A young boy opened his eyes to see that he was In class, the boy had light brown hair and light green eyes with a pink hue swirling fiercely in his retinas.
He sighed, no one heard him however... and they wouldn't spare a glance longer even if they did hear.
***
Eyelids felt heavy, it felt too difficult to try and open them up, so Cale only opened them partially.
It was a hazy scene at first, but as his eyes adapted to the sudden light, he could see the figures In front of me clearly.
A petite girl looked Intently at him, with a massive black bow decorating on the back of her head.
Her pearl like pitch black eyes met mine and quivered slightly, almost as If expecting an answer.
Cranking his head to the side, a tall young boy almost as tall as him filled an artistic image, resolution high, his blonde hair was a mess but had a strange charm stuck to it, making him look better despite it being a mess.
His Ocean-Like eyes stared Intently at the bewildered Cale, awaiting for some kind of answer.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
Vocals rang out crisp, yet bland and more monotone than before.
"Your textbook?"
"..?"
Catrina pointed at the textbook nestled In his arms, she then brushed her hair aside with her other hand.
"I need to copy the material for the test Cale"
"Ah..."
He hesitated a bit before he gave her the textbook, she grabbed it swiftly with her hand snapping through the wind with ferocious force.
"Thanks, I'll give it back~"
She started scribbling In her textbook, The pen in her hand scribbled on the dry paper so fast It had slightly impressed Cale. Though the fact that she didn't even glance at her textbook and only at Cale's was even more impressive, and the words she scribbled were not chaotic at all, in fact it was the opposite, the lines were so neat and crisp that it felt satisfying just to read them
"Where is the teacher?" Cale turned to Gabriel, tearing a gaze away from the scribbling Catrina.
"I don't know...It's been 10 minutes already, I think he said he needed to get some papers to give to us since they are really Important to the upcoming test"
"..."
Test... the word lingered In the mind
'These past few days- No, ever since classes first started I've been doing everything In my power to try and listen to the teachers words, but no matter how hard I tried to. I couldn't make sense of anything they said'
It went in one ear and out the other, obviously Cale knew It was Important, there was no way it wasn't Important If the contents of the letter empathized that It would directly effect his chances of survival.
But he just couldn't, It was frustrating, whatever studying method he had found never worked, he tried to learn history by rote.[1] It had worked but it still wasn't enough, It was just...average. Cale tried to understand algebra on a deep level and geometry as well, but no matter how much he pounded his brain to try and remember or understand the countless equations on his textbook, he just wasn't able to
Cale wasn't capable of doing it.
Ba-Thump!
Ba-Thump!
His heart rang so loudly it could vividly be heard in his head.
This could potentially be the cause of his death after all
"H-hooo"
Cale exhaled and took deep breaths.
Creakkkk~
A door creaked slowly revealing the figure of Carlos Ashen holding a stack of papers on one arm while the other opened the door.
He walked to his desk carefully, making sure the stack of papers didn't fall on the way there.
"You're probably wondering what these papers are about right?"
Everyone nodded their heads, Catrina, Gabriel and Cale Included.
"Today we're not going to need the textbook"
"...?"
Carlos raised his glasses slightly and spoke with a beaming smile on his face to show to the slightly confused students.
"I'm going to give everyone here a small test"
"What?!"
"Oh I'm really screwed"
"You think you're the only one!?!?"
"Son of a bi-!"
One by one, students started complaining left and right.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Carlos started clapping his hands, telling the students to stop. They didn't and just became louder
Some even meowing angrily at some point
Only when Carlos slammed something solid on the desk did they quiet down
"Hey! everyone stop talking, you haven't even let me finish yet!"
After a few more minutes the class had calmed down at the unexpected test.
"This test only serves to see what you've learned these past few weeks, and I will obviously hold similar test like these In the future as well"
His voice reached every ear in the classroom.
"Which also means this won't directly Influence your Grades"
A student raised their hand
"Yes?"
The student started speaking, It was Raven Stone
"What do you mean by 'Directly' sir?"
Carlos cleared his throat, coughing a few times before speaking an answer to Raven.
"It means that If any of you don't put in the effort to try and solve the test, I will obviously lower your grades"
Carlos then turned and faced every student In the classroom.
"Think it's unfair? these small tests were meant to make you aware of how difficult the test will be if you don't pay attention to my classes, I didn't need to put In any effort in making these papers you know?"
He waved a few of the papers that he set on the desk before.
"The content In this test isn't any different from what I have shown In class"
He took all the papers on the desk and started giving them out to the students In a swift and efficient motion.
"If you have listened and paid attention to my classes, you will know how to easily solve them"
He reached Cale's desk before long and gave a piece of paper like the others.
"..."
Multiple complex equations littered the paper in a dizzying formation.
Cale payed special attention to Carlos's classes knowing it would be difficult to get even an above average grade If he didn't do so. In other words this would be easy.
'I focused so much In class....yet I can't even...'
It was at this moment that he truly realized how much of a worthless piece of trash he was, so much attention to the teachers lessons were paid in full, and trying his absolute best to make some sense of it, but he was only met with something that he couldn't hope to solve, even though he should have been able to...
'If I paid so much attention In class, shouldn't I be able to solve at least one part of this? that way my efforts In trying to genuinely learn wouldn't be so wasted...'
He wasn't angry or frustrated. Cale was just enlightened on how he couldn't even do something ordinary people could do by just paying attention.
'I knew I am not capable of maintaining high grades, so I at least tried to at least get the average'
But he couldn't do even something as simple like that.
The ballpoint pen was clutched for a while, eyes locked on the sheet.
'Don't they say that repetition is the best way to learn anyway?'
Cale started writing, anything he could remember, anything that came to mind that sounded right to him
'...Anything is fine, just try...'
That is all he wanted to do at the very least.
[1] Learning by sheer repetition for those that may not know