LIFE is STRUGGLE

"Had I been a bit better in studies it wouldn't have been so hard to get into a good college," saying this the teen sighed. It was the seventh month of the year and he was struggling to get into a college because he was bad at academic pursuits. He reached so far at the mercy of his school teachers, but how much farther can he manage to go? Will the Vice-Chancellor consider giving him admission after seeing his past performances?

The boy was in queue lined up for admission into Hampshire College. This was the second college that he was applying for after Easthaven College, which he applied to despite knowing that it was out of his league. His parents' expectations were not unnecessarily high regarding his 12th grade result also. They for sure knew their children. On the other hand, his younger sister is not only exceptionally good at academics but also not bad at athletics. Their relatives never miss a chance to compare the two siblings.

Finally, after a long wait his turn came. The clerk asked, "Your name?" To which the teen answered, "Martin Fernandez from Happy Heart High School," the boy replied confidently adding extra information. His face wore a fake smile handing over his marksheet as if he knew the unforeseen. He submitted the other required documents as per the clerk's instructions and left the counter.

"I am an exceptional human being. I don't need to study any further," he spoke to himself on his way home despite feeling bad at heart. He doesn't care about studies as such but he doesn't want his parents to be gravely upset due to him either.

Martin sneaked inside the house, at the fear of his mother knowing that he had just come back from college. He hated his mother's interrogating sessions. Hopefully, nobody was in the hall until he reached his room's door. As soon as he opened the door, his younger sister popped out and yelled at him, "You, where have you been the whole afternoon?" Martin tried to shush his sister but failed. His mother came out of her room and in response to the chaos happening she asked, "why are you shouting Demelza?" The sister replied, "he is coming back now. Ask him where he had been the whole afternoon."

Mrs. Fernandez gazed at her son. Martin started acting tired in order to escape the questioning sequence. "I am so tired after running errands under the hot sun. I'll talk later," and he slipped into his room, closed the door tightly and gave out a sigh. "Why does she have to come out of the room at the wrong time? Only if she hadn't, nobody in the house would have come to know that I was absent for that while. Now I can't even dodge her questions," he said, blaming his sister for the outcome.

"Where were you? You went to the internet café despite my warning."

"No, I went to college for admission."

"When will they announce the final candidates' list?"

"Two days after."

The mother was worried for her son to not end up as a degreeless person, without attending any college. She believed that gaming cannot do any good for him. She doesn't want her son to solely depend upon his powers in the future.

Martin had to go to the bakery to buy croissants, his mother's favorite. He has become a regular customer to a newly-opened small bakery, secluded from the busy city. His obvious reason to go there is because their breads are fluffy and soft. It's like they have magic in everything they produce. Having a bite lightens your mood. But there is another reason too.

A few days ago, when he visited that croissant bakery he saw a penny on the floor. He bent down to get the penny, not willing to miss a chance to just let it go. The metallic sound of a coin being rubbed on the tiles as he tried to lift it up was heard by an unknown. Just when he was about to leave the shop, a female worker confronted him and asked him for the coin he had just picked up. There were no surveillance cameras and he vividly remembers that he scanned the surrounding before getting down but there was no one. How did she come to know? Has she got eyes that can look through walls? It felt a bit suspicious to him. This suspicion became a reason for him to visit the bakery, in hope that the suspicious girl might do something odd again.

After buying croissants and some additional loaves of bread, Martin left the store. He went home, kept the stuff in the kitchen and then again set out to go to his college. The final list was out that day in the morning. The counter wasn't crowded because others came as early as possible to check the list, unlike him. He glided his index finder through the name list from top to bottom. Unexpectedly but fortunately, his name was on that list. It was hard to believe but it spelled precisely MARTIN FERNANDEZ. He took a picture of the document in case his mother and sister won't believe.

He barged into his mother's room and said in a mixture of excitement and tiring voice, "I got selected." His mother threw a glance at him and then continued with whatever she was doing, "don't joke around?" Martin showed her that picture of list.