Chapter 7: Entry Ceremony

It was a great sleep, I woke up a few minutes before my phone's alarm rang, despite having set it to pretty early.

I took a shower and dressed up. After that, I sat down on my bed and stared at the window. The sun was just starting to rise, and I realized I was ready way too early.

Oh well, I'd rather have woken up early than late, so I made myself some coffee and toast and started eating breakfast at a really slow pace.

After I had finished, I brushed my teeth and washed the little utensils I had just used.

It was still 15 minutes too early from the time we scheduled to meet at downstairs, but I decided to head there already.

Again, there was nobody in the hallway, but I could hear faint sounds of laughter.

I entered the elevator and pressed the 0 button. The elevator stopped on floor 5 and two boys joined me.

They were both wearing tracksuits, so I assumed they were probably the sporty type.

"Yo, Lucas, ready for today's match?"

"Yeah man, can't wait to finish the entry ceremony. It's probably going to be boring as hell."

We then stopped at the 3rd floor and Sophie joined us too. 

"Good morning Zenon! Seems like you're slightly early too!" Sophie seemed pretty cheerful this morning.

"Good morning, I got ready to go out so I figured I'd just wait downstairs."

As the elevator got closer and closer to the base floor, chatting in the background started becoming louder and more clear.

The doors opened and I was pretty impressed at the amount of people. The hall was filled with small groups of 2-5 people.

"Zenon, let's wait over there!" Sophie pointed at a black couch where nobody was sitting, so we headed there to wait for Will and Hannah to arrive.

Sophie and I talked about Will until they arrived slightly late.

"Let's get going or we're going to be late!" Said Hannah.

We all headed to the venue. There seemed to be a lot of students who were also going there.

We arrived at our destination; it was a breathtaking theater-looking hall. 

There were thousands of seats, so despite the room being continuously filled with first-year students, it still looked rather empty. It could probably hold the whole school inside.

Small groups of students were sitting down together, so we did the same thing and sat down close to the front.

In the first row, there were a few older people. It looked like they were teachers.

"Those are probably going to be our teachers." Said Hannah.

"That's true, I hadn't realized they were sitting there!" Remarked Will.

"I hope they're nice to us then!" Said Sophie.

On the stage there was a really long table with multiple seats and microphones, but there was only one man seated in the center.

He looked to be really calm, as if he was waiting for all of the students to arrive. The background was filled with chatting, but it didn't seem to bother him.

"Good morning, everyone!" Started saying the man on stage through the microphone. The sound could be heard through the speakers in the whole room.

"I'm guessing most of you have already arrived, and anyone left to arrive is on their way."

"My name is Ace Jackson, I'm the current headmaster at Halsey Academy. I'm going to be explaining a lot of information now, so please listen carefully."

Sophie and Will took out their notebooks and looked prepared to write down everything.

"Not going to write anything down?" Asked Sophie.

"Oh, his memory is pretty good, he'll probably remember anything the headmaster says." Explained to her Will.

The headmaster continued talking. "A lot of you will probably have noticed you don't know what's the criteria to make it into Halsey."

"We ask students who have already finished not to reveal this to others, so I'd like to ask that of you before revealing the process."

There was a short, silent pause in the room, and the headmaster continued talking after that.

"Thank you. As I was saying, the criteria changes slightly sometimes."

"In Halsey Academy, there are seven different staff members who serve as your tutors."

"These tutors and a scouting team monitor the school country-wide, looking at possible candidates to get invited here."

"Each of the tutors have their own criteria they follow in order to which students to accept. In other words, each of you was chosen by a tutor."

"I won't be talking about the criteria each of the staff members follow, but you should be able to see who's your tutor in the app once it updates in a few minutes."

"By the way, all of the members in a tutor group live on the same floor."

Sophie looked really serious after he said that.

"That means we're all in the same group!" Shouted Hannah excitedly.

"No, Sophie lives on the third floor." I corrected.

"You'll later learn more about the groups when you speak with your tutors, but you'll also be sorted in classes."

"For this first year, you'll all have the same subjects, and your placement will be determined by some tests you'll have today."

Sophie removed any trace of sourness on her face and smiled. "We may still be in the same classes!"

"Changing the topic, you'll probably have already spent some money using your phones."

"You'll have a monthly allowance depending on your performance at the academy. You can use this money for anything in the city."

"This allowance system will help you gain money management skills, which are important in adults' lives."

"Now, I'd advise you not to spend all of your money, as you'll sometimes be able to use money to your advantage."

"I'd also like to say; working alone may be fruitful, but teamwork can take us to the very highest peaks."

"And with that, I'd like you all to check your phones. You'll have received a message telling you to go to a specific room."

I took out my phone and had an announcement telling me to go to room E7, just like Will and Hannah. 

Sophie was assigned to class E3 instead, so I assumed we were being split up by the groups the headmaster had just told us about.

Us three entered the room and it was brightly lit, with white floors and walls.

This time the room was much smaller and filled with desks and couches. There was a u-shaped desk at the front, probably for the teacher to sit at.

It wasn't a typical classroom array ordered in rows; the couches were curved and you could see the teacher room at the very front. It reminded me of some kind of fractals.

There were tens of other students standing up near the entrance, just like us. I noticed there were paper sheets on the desks, but they were unusually close to each other.

"Hello again! I'm going to be this group's tutor from now on, so feel free to call me Mr. Jackson." Said the headmaster.

"You may all sit down wherever you want, there should be just enough places to sit for everyone." He instructed.

Will sat down next to me, and Hannah next to him.

He then looked around the room. "We've got an interesting batch of students this year, don't we? Now, I'd like to explain a bit more about this group."

"I look for excellent students in general, but what impresses me the most are young adults who have excellent skills in communication."

A boy on my left raised his hand and Mr. Jackson asked him to speak. "There must be some kind of mistake then, I'd say I'm pretty bad when it comes to talking to people."

When I heard that, I felt a shiver down my spine; I could relate to what he was talking about as I was pretty shy as well.

"Oh, don't worry, there are no mistakes. I understand that some people are shy and others are outgoing."

"You may be more introverted, but you can still choose your words carefully, which is everything in communication."

"Anyway, I'd like to ask that if you need anything you can count on me. Now, the academy has prepared a series of short quizzes in different subjects, please complete the worksheets in front of you."

Before I realized, there was no more time left to do the quizzes. I hadn't been able to finish answering the questions, which left an empty feeling inside me.

"Ahh, what a hard exam that was!" Said Hannah, stretching after having sat for a while.

"I didn't get to finish, and yet a lot of the questions were things I've never heard about!" Said Will.

"I'm in the same spot, there were some questions I've never heard about." I commented.

It seemed like we weren't the only ones who had a lot of trouble with the tests, several other students were discussing how hard the tests had been.

Mr. Jackson clapped his hands twice. "Now, now, don't worry if you didn't get many of the questions right. These quizzes will determine what classes you'll be sorted in."

"That should be it for today, you'll be notified this afternoon of what classes you'll have to go to tomorrow."

"Feel free to go with your day or stay here meeting your group's members, I'll be closing the room after an hour though."

After that, Mr. Jackson sat down on the large desk and started writing on a small book.

"Hey Zenon, let's stay, we'll be working with these classmates for the entire year, so it could be good to get to know them." Told me Will.

"I agree, I'll try to meet them."

While I said that, a student stood up and left. They were wearing a black hoodie; as if it were a cloak.

"Everyone, I think it's in our best interest to work together. In order to start doing that, let's start with introductions!" Said a girl with short, brown hair and glasses.