Final High School Exams

"What the... "

Aiden's mom, Mrs Acker said shocked by what she was seeing, "How did this happen?"

"Em.. em... I," Aiden panicked not knowing what to say. After all, he couldn't tell his mother that he died while being attacked by a star. He trusted his mother and all but this situation was different. No one would believe something like that, not even his mother.

After all, he still couldn't figure out the real relationship between what happened in his room and the dream he had. It would just be a stupid act if he told his mother.

"Um? Em? Seriously? what happened? Moreover, this doesn't seem like the usual you. You don't panic when I usually ask you a question. You've changed..." said Mrs Acker.

"Changed? How?" Aiden asked feigning confusion as he looked at his mother with innocent eyes. Just as he had guessed, his mother was easily able to see through his disguise easily.

"Whatever, it's probably because of the so-called app you were stressing yourself to create," Mrs Acker said as she turned to look at the computer in the room. At the far end of his room laid his computer; far from its original position: on his desk.

It didn't have its usual archaic but decent look. Instead, it was now mangled and broken in many parts.

"App?" Aiden asked, still trying to grasp the situation.

"Yes, the app you were working on for weeks now. You barely ate or slept, and now you're acting all weird. What's going on, Aiden?" Mrs Acker's voice was filled with concern.

Aiden's mind raced as he tried to make sense of what his mother was saying. He did spend a lot of time working on the app, but he didn't think it could have such an effect on him. Yes, the creation of the app did have effects because of his dedication to it but he thought he would regain all he lost when the app was completed.

At that time, he would be one of the few who were at the top of the world. He would be at the same level as the people he looked up to. Yet, before the app was even completed, his computer was destroyed. He couldn't help but feel frustrated by this fact.

"I am alright. My computer blew up and caused this problem. I told you to get me a new computer. Sigh, the old ones are always the worst," lied Aiden faking a sigh and a sad face.

"Sigh, make sure to clean your room. Put your computer in the bin. We will talk about it when you come downstairs," Mrs Acker said as she stared at her son. She had a feeling in her guts that he was lying but without any type of evidence, she could only give up.

Following that, Mrs Acker walked out of the room leaving Aiden frustrated.

'Hah, at last, I still failed. Why did this have to happen?' Aiden asked as he looked around. If someone was to ask him what was most important to him among the items that got destroyed, then it would be his computer.

Even though his computer was quite old, it was still stronger and more stable than some of the latest ones made. No matter how big the app he was creating was, the computer would never blow up. There was definitely an external force involved in this.

"Hmm, what time is it?" Aiden said as he picked up his alarm clock still ticking from the floor, "Six? It's six? then why the hell did she call for breakfast at this time?".

Aiden couldn't believe his eyes. School started at ten and they were supposed to get to school by nine. There was no reason for his mother to call for breakfast by this time. Was she trying to check if he had cleaned his room? If not, then why did she call for breakfast by this time? She only did it when...

"Oh, I get it," mumbled Aiden, "Guess, I would have to find a way to solve this problem later. Right now, I have to clean this room"

********

An hour later...

Aiden descended to the dining room fully dressed in his school attire. Right when his father saw him, he signalled him to come to sit. Knowing that he couldn't ignore his father's signal, Aiden proceeded to sit near his father.

"You seem to be in a rather good mood today," said Aiden as he sat down.

"True. True. As expected of you," said his father, Mr Acker as he looked at Aiden with a smile on his face.

"Good morning Aiden," a small but cute voice echoed from behind Aiden. Turning his head, Aiden realized that it was his little sister who had called out to him.

"Oh, so it's you, Brianna. You nearly scared me to death!" Aiden said feigning shock.

"I knew I would get you!" Brianna smiled happily as she playfully punched Aiden's arm before taking a seat near her brother. Following that, Aiden chatted with his father for some time whilst waiting for his mother to finish serving the food.

"I thought you said breakfast was ready," mumbled Aiden as he stared at his mother setting the table up.

"Yep. It was ready by then. I just re-heated them because they turned cold," Mrs Acker said. As for Aiden though, he was surprised by the fact that his mother hadn't said anything about his room. He was very familiar with his mother's behaviour. She would never allow something like this to pass by just because of an excuse.

"Hey Aiden," Mr Acker suddenly said.

"Hm?" Aiden replied as he stopped shoving the food into his mouth.

"About your exams, how are the preparations going?" Aiden father asked startling him. He was slightly surprised by the question his father posed. he wasn't expecting him to ask such a question.

'Oh, so that is what he is worried about huh? Is that why they called me here?' Aiden thought as he replied, "Well, it's going pretty well. I don't mean to brag or anything but I believe that I would get straight A's."

"A's?" asked Mr Acker confused by what Aiden said, "Do you know the exam we are talking about?"

"Em, yes? Is it the high school final exams?"

The moment Aiden said that the room descended into silence as everyone stared at him in shock. It was as if he had said something bad. Felling their gazes, Aiden started to feel uncomfortable.

"Em, did I say anything wrong?" asked Aiden clearly sensing the awkward atmosphere.

"Hahaha!"

Yet, much to his disappointment, instead of replying to him, his family burst into laughter. They continued to laugh for a while and for a moment, even Aiden thought that they might have gone crazy!

"Oh my God, Is that what the teachers called it at school?" his father asked after some time with a smile on his face.

"Uh, yes?" Aiden replied not knowing what to really say.

"Listen Aiden, the real name of the exams isn't the high school final exams but the magic selection exams," said Mr Acker seriously.

"Magic selection exams?" Aiden muttered confused by what he was hearing.