Squeezed Dry (2)

Vinny's two friends, Carra and Felly, felt proud upon hearing their classmates being amazed at Vinny for the nth time.

"Speaking of, where the hell is Vinny?"

"That bitch, is she skipping class?"

The two were worried.

"Ahem, ahem, quiet down class. Next, Mr. Dienia." "74, teacher!"

.....

"Ms. Kyalla. Kyalla? Felly Kyalla."

"Ah, 31, teach!"

"Felly, you really gotta up your grades. They're looking kinda grim."

"For sure, teach, for sure."

"Maybe you can ask Vinny for help?"

"Ah, I already tried that, teach. She was all like, 'Omigod, this is so simple like, you're so stupid!' so I literally just gave up."

"..." The teacher was feeling exhausted conversing with Felly. "Moving on, Mr... Menst."

As soon as they heard his surname, the whole class fell silent.

"Menst?"

"Zzzzz..." Noele's snores echoed throughout the classroom.

The teacher's eyes turned cold for a moment. "Someone, please wake Mr. Menst up."

Noele's seat mate, Walton, put down his phone and was about to poke Noele when Felum arrived.

"Ah, no need to wake him up. I'll read it for him."

Walton shrugged as he went back to using his phone.

Felum looked at Noele's sleeping figure, and pursed his lips. 'He must've stayed up all night searching for methods to raise compatibility.'

He grabbed Noele's papers and read the score. "100, teach."

"Okay, next, Nan- wait, what? 100?"

Truth be told, the teacher wasn't the one who had checked the papers. Rather, it was the students from his other class.

'Those guys didn't tell me that Noele got a perfect score...!'

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the classroom froze.

"A, a hundred?" "Isn't that the total score?" "How in the..."

Carra was the one to break the ice. "Well, it's only natural he gets a perfect score. Without being preoccupied with practicing his mana and all that, he should have spent his entire time studying."

"Hm, yeah, it makes sense." "We're all too busy with training our most compatible element." "Look at him, he probably spent countless nights studying!"

Felum rolled his eyes. 'Fools. It's the opposite. This smart-ass didn't give so much as a wink to any reviewing material. He spends too much time browsing forums for ways to increase his compatibility rating with any element.'

He placed the perfect paper back on Noele's back and returned to his seat, putting his crossed legs on top of his desk.

"Oh, erm, where were we... That's right. Nando. Mr. Nando."

.....

"Mr. Peore."

"92." Felum spoke as concisely as possible, scratching his head.

"Lastly, Ms. Raycosa." "61..."

The teacher sighed as he looked at the exam results of his students.

"Guys, guys, settle down. Honestly, what kind of test scores are these?"

The students fell silent but were already exhausted in their head. 'Another one of these lectures.'

The teacher stood up, walking around the class. "This is Class A, right? Room 301, Class A?"

"..."

"Why is nobody responding?"

"Yes, teacher, this is Class A." The students answered perfunctorily.

"So this is Class A. Then why do I feel like I walked into Class D today?"

'Oh, trust us teacher, if our grades are this bad, theirs are gonna be worse. A lot, lot worse.'

"Aside from a handful of students, a lot didn't even get the passing mark. Do you know what the passing mark is?"

"It's 74, teacher."

"Everybody that got 74 or higher, raise your hand."

After that, the teacher started counting the raised hands.

"1, 2, 3, 4... 5? That's it? Only 5?"

"Sir, Noele and Vinny." Felum scratched the back of his ear.

"Ah, so 7 people passed. Out of 32 students, 7 passed. Good lord."

The teacher's head started to hurt. He leaned against his desk.

"Zzzzz..."

"Tsk, someone wake Noele up, please."

Walton successfully poked Noele's side, instantly waking him up.

"Wha-huh? Ah! G, good morning teacher!" Noele stood up and bowed.

A few students chuckled.

"Sit down!" The teacher looked at Felum, Vinny, and Noele's seats. "Aiya, this class is really problematic, huh? The top students are all complacent and arrogant!"

He pointed towards an empty seat. "This girl, Vinny, always late because she doesn't think much of my lessons!"

Then towards Felum. "You, put your feet down and sit properly!"

Aside from Felum, multiple students also started sitting properly.

Finally, the teacher glared at Noele. "And you, just because you have a perfect score, you think you can sleep through my lessons?"

Noele stared straight at the teacher. "No, sir, no!"

"Then what were you doing just now? Can you explain that to me? If not complacency, what allowed you to sleep in my class!"

'I think teacher forgot that we didn't even have a lesson yet, he only recorded scores so far. Now he's wasting time shouting at kids...'

Of course, Noele flashed a smile. "I'm sorry, sir, I apologize."

"Hmph, as long as you learn your lesson." The teacher haughtily walked back to his desk, feeling like he had just released his stress after his wife found out he gambled all of his salary.

After a few more minutes of pointless ranting, the teacher exited the room, feeling stress-free.

On the other hand, the students' enthusiasm were all squeezed dry first thing in the morning.

'If every teacher goes off like this, I don't think I'll survive today...'

-----

End of the day.

The students of Class A were all drained. Meanwhile, every other class got a pass for their low grades.

Kurass and Landy walked out of the classroom with dark faces.

"Hey... I'm thinking of transferring."

"Huh? Where?"

"To Class D..."

"Haah, me too. The teachers just expect too much from us."

"Especially with Noele, who got almost perfect scores on all subjects. Somehow he ended up being scolded the most."

"Well, you know what they say, 'heavy is the head that wears the big brain'."

"For real, how did Noele do it? If I was him, even with all the extra time allowed by not practicing any elements, my scores would still be a far cry from what Noele got."

"Maybe Felum tutored him."

"Tutor? You mean, 'tutor'?"

"Definitely, definitely."

"Felum: You've mastered this already. Let me teach you something else... Kyaaa!" Kurass turned red as she shook her head, her twin tails swinging about.

"No, no, it's more like Noele: I'm on top again... Kyaaa!"

Just like that, the exhausting day had ended.