Chapter 8: Sophie’s Group

As I walked to room E3, I felt a slight loneliness deep inside me. 

I felt I had accomplished to make new friends, but they were now being stripped away from me.

I hoped that I could find good people in my group, ones that wouldn't be nasty towards me or other students in general.

It felt like a classroom; but also had an unexpectedly cozy feeling to it. There were couches and tables everywhere.

There were a few trees in the corners, making it seem like we were in the middle of the forest.

The room was arranged as if it were a large circle, with a desk in the center. 

There seemed to be sheets of paper on the tables in front of the couches. It looked like all of the group had already entered the room.

Everyone was nervously looking around, not knowing what they were supposed to do.

"Good morning, dear students!" Said a young and energetic voice, coming from the door.

"I'm Miss Xerea, but you may call me Rosalie. I'm an arts teacher here at the academy."

"I'll also be your tutor this year. If I can help you with anything, please let me know about it."

"Now, I'm confident you're all great at thinking out of the box; much better at it than any other students."

"Well, I'll need you all to sit down and complete the quizzes that have been prepared for you."

I had scanned the quiz before completing it, but I hadn't imagined I wouldn't have been able to complete most of it.

"Woah, that was a really hard quiz!" Said a boy with short, black hair and glasses, looking at the desk.

"Don't worry about it, I haven't been able to complete most of it either." I tried to comfort him.

"Oh, it's a pleasure meeting you, my name is Charlie!" He introduced himself.

"Likewise, I'm Sophie!" I answered. He seemed like a good person, so I thought he could be a good friend.

I could hear people discussing that they had also had trouble answering the questions.

"I must admit the test is way too hard for new students! I mean, there's stuff you haven't studied." Said Miss Xerea.

"Well, I hope that you can make friends in your group!" She said.

We were given board games, so we spent the next hour playing board games in groups and getting to know each other.

It was extremely fun; I knew I was in the right place. I couldn't wait to hang out with these people, but also to introduce them to Zenon.

We decided to go have lunch at the school canteen and share our thoughts about the academy. 

In general, everyone thought it would be challenging, but also really exciting because of the amount of new things that they would be trying.

I met wonderful people who would be in my group; so I was looking forward to teaming up with them.

There was Charlie, who I had spoken with back in the testing room. He was quite fit and smart, but he mostly felt really mature for a 16 year old.

I also met Lucia, who seemed really hard-working. She wasn't hesitant to share any information she was able to gather about the school.

Apparently, Lucia had met some third-year students yesterday. They didn't want to spoil anything, but they advised her to be prepared for intense competition between the groups.

That made me feel slightly uneasy, as I really wanted to become Zenon's friend, but he was in a different group, which meant we were competing.