A Blessing In Disguise

It was the day after Kate met with the School Dean and his family. Noah told her that that make-up exam would happen three days from now so she decided to study to refresh her mind. When Noah told her that she failed the exam, she felt disappointed. Aside from disappointment, she also felt frustration.

Although she only had limited time, she did her best to answer all the questions. If Kate knew that she failed in all three exams because of a single point, she might have knocked her head on the wall out of frustration.

Luckily, Noah was a smart person. He just said that Kate failed the exam and didn't tell her the test results. Because of this, Kate decided to use the remaining days to study. Even Stella was shocked at her sudden change in attitude.

[It's good that you are serious, but don't burn yourself out alright?] Stella said from within their shared mindscape. [All these studying will be wasted if you get sick on the day of the exam.]

'Don't worry, I will not push myself too hard,' Kate replied as she answered a math problem.

Ciel was also inside the room and supervising her progress while reading a book. He would sneak glances at her from time to time just to make sure that she was seriously studying and not dozing off.

Minutes passed by ever so swiftly. This lasted until Kate put down the pencil in her hand and stretched her hands in the air.

"I'm done," Kate announced with a smile. "Ciel, please check my results." Kate picked up her answer sheet and walked towards Ciel.

Ciel closed the book in his hand. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall to check how long it took Kate to finish the mock exam he prepared.

'Forty minutes for the Math test,' Ciel thought. 'Not bad.'

The boy nodded his head and smiled at Kate. "Good job. Go to the kitchen and have some snacks while I grade your answer sheet."

"Hehe, Ciel, you're the best." Kate happily left the room. She decided to look for Olivia and ask if she could have some of the apple pie she baked this morning. Olivia's baking skills were top-notch and she wouldn't lose to the professionals who sold pastries for a living. This was the reason why Kate got along with her. She was obsessed with her baked pastries.

Since the glutton was away, Ciel worked on grading Kate's answer sheet in peace. It took him ten minutes to check her answers.

"Eighty-two correct answers out of a hundred," Ciel muttered. "Acceptable, but not good enough."

Ciel lowered the answer sheet in his hand. He wanted Kate to pass the exam with high scores. He tapped his fingers on top of the table while deep in thought. He backtracked to the questions where Kate failed to get the right answers. He jotted it down on a piece of paper and wrote down the formulas on how to answer them.

Ciel understood that Kate was a fast learner. It was only her laziness that kept her from doing her best. After thinking for a while an idea popped in his head.

'That might work,' Ciel pondered as she looked at the ceiling. 'Perhaps an incentive will help her strive to get better results.'

The boy thought that this was a good idea because Kate has a competitive attitude. As long as there was something at stake, she would redouble her efforts in order to win. Ciel thought of several things that could be used as an incentive.

'What would she like to have as a reward then? Food? Dress? ...Toys?' Ciel closed his eyes as he thought of various things. He knew that Kate was a glutton so taking her out to eat in a high-class restaurant was a good option. As for clothes, her closet was already full to the point that his Mama Andrea bought a second one.

'Not clothes.' Ciel rested the side of his head using his palm as support. 'Toys? Would she like to have some toys?'

Ciel and Andrea never bought Kate some toys. It was not because they didn't want to, they just didn't know what kind of toys she would like to have. When they went shopping in the countryside, they passed through a toy store. Kate didn't even gave the toys a second glance, so both mother and son assumed that she didn't like toys.

'Should I buy her a teddy bear?' Ciel mused. On Chloe's ninth birthday, he bought her a teddy bear and his "little sister" loved it. She even named the teddy bear "Leic".

Ciel could still remember the smile on Chloe's face when she opened his present. If possible, he also liked to see Kate smile like that.

'I guess I'll just ask her what she wants when she returns.'

In order to give Kate the greatest incentive, he decided to play it safe. He will allow Kate to make one request from him. As long as he was capable of doing the request, he would do it. That was the incentive Ciel had decided upon after weighing his options.

'I just hope that she won't ask for something unreasonable.' Ciel sighed as he waited for Kate's return.

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Somewhere in the Eastern part of K-City…

Ethan was also studying to take the make-up exam of Saint Claire. He wasn't able to take the test because he had a fever the night before the exam. The physician said that it was due to fatigue from over studying. Ethan's mother, Lily Kerr, decided to let him rest. Although Ethan protested, he wasn't able to convince her mother to allow him to take the exam.

It was a good thing that Lily was firm in her decision because on the day of the exam, Ethan's condition worsened. The poor boy had no choice but to take some rest. Today, he was feeling better and the first thing he did was give Kate a call.

When he heard that Kate was also going to take the make-up exam, the disappointment in his heart disappeared. Since they were both of the same age, that meant that the two of them would be taking the exam together. Wasn't this a blessing in disguise?

Ethan's mood suddenly became better. He even told Kate that they should go to the academy together. Kate thought that it wasn't a bad idea and agreed to his request. Ethan had become her friend so having him around was better than being surrounded by strangers.

The lovestruck boy didn't know that on the day of the make-up exam, he would be meeting a new love rival that would bring him countless headaches in the not so distant future.

Of course, this story would be told at a later time.