Chapter 103:

Ace relaxed, standing next to a column with a coke in his hand. He noticed more than a few people wandering around here, they were most likely wondering how to begin to engage him in conversation. He laughed internally, curious as to who it was that would first try. He had been speaking with his teammates for a short while, but as they had moved on, he had just stayed in his own corner.

One of the boys wandering around was about to try his luck, when Ace spotted Ray, and walked straight to her, laughing as he saw that the boy looked stumped.

"Hey! Congratulations on your ranking, I guess you beat Stella, huh?", Ace smiled towards her, noticing her happy look.

She smiled back, but then frowned, "And you? Rank 1? Without having gone to a single class? Why did you not tell me you were going to do so well? I was worried?", she looked at him indignantly, and he just smiled, hugging her from the side.

"I thought you would have realised, but nevertheless, what is important is the fact that you did extremely well."

She smiled even wider, "True, and Stella is not too happy about it either. Although to be fair, it must have been extremely close, considering that when we did the recount once we finished the exams, the number of questions we got right was just about the same, but I guess I must have sneaked in a cheeky point somewhere. So, what are your plans now, are you just going to hang out here?"

"No idea, I got a bunch of people meandering around here to speak to me, but I don't think I will stay here the whole time, honestly, if it was up to me, I would have just stayed in school and not come here in the first place.", Ace said with a forlorn smile.

She laughed, "I think we both know that Leilah would never allow it. She wants to show you off, and flaunt you in front of everyone.", Ace sighed, "I know, but it does not make it any better."

"Hey, if it helps, it will be very good for your school, and I am sure that you will also be rewarded. And it's not all bad, you don't have to go to class.", she looked happy at that.

'Ok, so not a studying fan.', Ace thought. "Sure, but still, what they can give me is most likely not worth my time."

"That is true, but hey, you get free food, which beats everything.", she laughed, and so did he.

"That is fair enough, honestly, the endless drinks are pretty neat too.", Ace said.

***********************

Ace stayed there for the day, but ignored any invites to parties and get-togethers. He left as soon as he could, just wanting to go home and play some games. However, before he could leave, a pair of a boy and girl, both looking older than he. Ace would place them at about 16 or 17 years old.

"Ace, please wait, we wish to speak to you.", the girl asked in a calm tone, "We wanted to wait for you to be alone, but as expected, you were busy the whole day."

"Of course, I understand.", he had spotted them creeping around him for a while, and wondered what they wanted, but never confronted - that was up to them.

"Do you want to come with us, we know a place close to here where we could speak.", the boy said, and Ace shrugged, "Sure, let's go."

**********************

They sat down in a lounge, and a waitress came to offer drinks, Ace just asked for an ice water, while the others ordered alcoholic beverages.

"So, what was it you wished to discuss?", Ace asked.

"Well, we have seen your scores, and were quite impressed. We wished to ask you as to whether you would want to consider to join a new school.", the boy started, but before he could continue, the girl stopped him.

"We believe that we have an understanding of your intelligence, and so we think that our institution would be much more beneficial to your learning and development."

"Hmmm, I understand, however, what is it that you can offer that the Goldsign Institute is not able to offer?", Ace asked, he was genuinely curious, also wondering about the fact that they did not have a uniform on, and had not even told him the name of the school. He was also sure they had not participated in the exam, but they had still been able to get inside the compound, which was not an easy thing to do. He observed them closely, the boy was slightly nervous, tapping lightly on the table, and knocking his legs and feet together. The girl, however, looked curious, and while also nervous, hid it well, it was barely perceptible by her nose movements, and the way her neck tightened when she spoke.

"I believe that there are many different things you could potentially benefit from, however, it would be better for you to come and see.", then, she opened her bag, and handed him what looked like a magazine. Ace noticed it had images and colour, along with some writing."This is all the information you will need, if you believe that you would be a good fit, give us a call, and we will sort out a date for you to come and look around."

Ace took the flyer, and placed it in front of him, he gave it a quick look, but turned his face back towards them. "Ok, I shall. Is the number on the flyer?", he asked.

The girl brightened, "Yes, but just in case, let me give you mine, I'll write it down quick.", she took out a pen and wrote it, handing it to him with a smile. Ace noticed that the boy frowned, and noted it down mentally, 'So...A possible attraction? I can work with that.'

They kept it the small talk for a while, and then Ace decided to go back home, "Well, thank you for the offer, see you guys later I guess.", he said with a small smile, that promised he would.

"I hope so.", the girl said with a smile.

"Yeah.", the boy's fake smile was clear, but Ace decided to make no comment on it, knowing that the girl would chastise him, considering that she had also seen his poor attempt at hiding his distaste with Ace.

The car came to pick him up, and he went straight home, reading the flyer as he did so. It was interesting, but a few things seemed to be iffy, while others were outright suspicious. It was supposedly a place for 'overachieving kids'. This made Ace curious, since he was not the average 'overachiever', one of those would not be able to get a perfect score in the Global exam, especially at his age. The pair seemed to also know that, which meant that they still assumed he would be interested enough to at least visit - and they were right.

As soon as he got home, he asked Alfred to check it out as soon as he could, and logged into Rainbow Six, looking to at least have some fun before going to bed.