A Day of Struggles and Surprises

Andrey followed Jacob and Jenny back to the sitting area where all the rest of the students were. 

Upon seeing Andrey many students hoarded around him wanting to know what had happened to him. Andrey clearly had no intention of repeating what he had said once again to all these people so he pleadingly looked towards Miss Jane who was nearby.

Seeing the puppy look on Andrey's face she could only shake her head and ordered the students to go back to their seats. It took her a while and finally, it was all over.

"I don't know what happened to you but I'm glad that you're fine," Miss Jane told Andrey after making sure that he was not going to be troubled anymore.

"Thank you, I'm built quite sturdy you know?" Andrey joked as he flexed his almost non-existent biceps inviting a laugh from Miss Jane and Jacob making Andrey rethink his actions.

"Alright then, don't cause any trouble alright?" Miss Jane told them before she left to monitor other students.

When Miss Jane was gone Andrey glared at Jacob and said "I thought you were my friend why were you laughing at me in front of Miss Jane?"

Andrey felt that he had lost some face in front of Miss Jane and blamed it all on Jacob. 

Hearing this both Jacob and Jenny started laughing at him further embarrassing Andrey.

"Tch, I thought you guys were my friends..." Andrey muttered under his breath.

"We are and we are doing just what friends should do," Jacob said in a well-intentioned manner.

"And that is?" Andrey asked becoming curious as to what Jacob's reply was going to be.

"To point each other's bullshit out," Jacob said and started jeering at Andrey's earlier action of flexing his biceps by imitating him.

Quite a few chuckles could be heard from Andrey's other classmates in the back aswell much to Andrey's frustrations. In the end, he forced himself to sigh and forget about it.

Andrey knew that if he said anything further then it would only prolong his suffering so he kept quiet and focused on the ongoing tests.

Their class was finally finished with the testing and the ones who cleared the aptitude test from their class were Barney, Jenny, Jacob, Alex and Andrey.

One might argue that out of a batch of forty students five students getting selected was quite low but compared to earlier methods of testing the clearing rate was way too high.

Another section soon came in and their testing began. Andrey and the rest watched from the sides as they all clearly had nothing more interesting to do.

Andrey was getting bored of seeing only one or two students getting selected from the rest of the sections. Seeing this passing rate he felt that his section was an enigma for having five students who got selected.

Seeing who the next section was Andrey's bored expression soon faded away and it was the same for the rest of the students.

For Andrey the reason behind this was Lisa and as for the rest of the students, it was Rebecca who attracted all their attention just from her presence.

The students started getting tested one after another like usual and it was finally Rebecca's turn after a continuous series of failures. Quite a few gazes were on her wondering what would happen to her.

While the majority of boys wanted her to succeed there were a few jealous girls who wanted her downfall aswell.

'It would be fun to see her down,' 

'How I wish to see her cry...'

"Compatible, passed." Zack's voice sounded out breaking the silence.

Unfortunately for the jealous girls, their wish didn't come true and Rebbeca cleared the test as a series of applause made its way towards her.

She had finally broken the curse of the previous series of failures and ignited the hope for the rest of the students. 

Hope wasn't always dependable in the end and it was soon extinguished after they all witnessed the next series of failures.

It was finally Lisa's turn. Andrey had been waiting for this all this while so he kept his eyes stuck to her as she saw her moving towards the testing table.

He realized that Zack was trying to suggest the highly concentrated liquid to her aswell which made him furrow his eyebrows in worry.

The pain from his earlier decision was clearly embedded in his mind and not in any circumstance he wanted to feel something like that ever again.

Lisa was carefully hearing Zack's words and couldn't help but interrupt him in between when Zack talked about Andrey in order to tell her about the past results.

"Andrey tried it?" She asked.

"Yes, he did and succeeded..." Zack said and resisted the urge to add 'barely' at the end.

Hearing Zack's words Lisa immediately looked back towards the audience in an attempt to find Andrey who seemed lost in his thoughts.

The familiar face of Andrey soon entered her eyes and seeing that he didn't look hurt or anything apart from a weary look on his face her worried heart finally calmed down.

Andrey had been debating inside his mind as to whether he should go and advise Lisa to not agree to it. He knew that it would be selfish of him to stop her from becoming stronger but he knew that the process was very risky from his experience.

Seeing Lisa's gaze directed towards him Andrey saw this as a chance and vehemently shook his head to tell her not to agree with Zack's proposal.

Lisa furrowed her eyebrows a bit after seeing this as she was also planning to agree with the test just like Andrey did. 

However, after seeing how forcefully Andrey was telling her to not agree to it she gave him a slight nod and turned back towards Zack.

"I'll go with the old method," She replied to Zack.

"Alright," Zack showed no response but inwardly he was glad. After seeing the pain that Andrey was made to go through he didn't want this frail-looking girl to go through the same.

He had earlier theorized that the chances of one succeeding were about 20% but after seeing Andrey's example live in front of his eyes he thought that even 10% would be a very high estimation.

Zack injected the syringe and the result was just as he expected.

"Compatible, passed,"

Lisa was expecting the same but was still glad to have her expectations confirmed. She could hear the cheers from her friends and Rebecca which made her feel pretty happy from inside.

She glanced towards Andrey's direction once again and was met with a happy expression directed towards her.

His smile acted like an icing on the cake and further enhanced Lisa's mood as she walked back towards her classmates.

The test kept on going and went on for about two and a half hours in total. In the end, a total of 17 students passed the test and the Vice-principal along with the rest of the teachers were very glad about the results.

Earlier it would be sort of like a miracle for even a single student to get selected from their school but thanks to this new way of testing they had 17 students who cleared the test.

Ron, the bearded man who appeared to be a warrior, addressed the students who all got selected.

"Congratulations to everyone who all got selected but it's still too early for you all to relax. Keep on preparing for the interview which will be happening within this week. The exact time and place will be intimated to you within the next three days," 

Ron's words spoiled the mood of most of the students who wanted to celebrate the day to the fullest as a series of sighs could be heard by everyone.

It had been a long day for everyone so after filling their stomach at the canteen and enjoying their time there they were allowed to go home early today.

Jacob and Jenny walked back home like usual while Andrey and Lisa did the same.

"Why did you look so against me giving that method a try? Honestly, I really wanted to give it a try," Lisa finally asked the question that had been on her mind for a while.

"Honestly, I must be a fool for giving it a try. The painful sensation from that is still very clear to me and continues to remind me how foolish I was, if not for a stroke of luck I doubt that I would have succeeded and my fate would be a lot worse..." Andrey told his reasons to her.

"But we were already informed about the danger that it carried..." Lisa voiced out.

"They indeed did and I even said that I would readily face the consequences of my actions...but at that time those words stemmed from the confidence which I had because of our warrior background..." Andrey paused and continued.

"but after experiencing it myself...I realised that it was pure luck that I managed to come out of it unscathed...I didn't want you to make a stupid decision like I did therefore I was so against it back there." 

There might be some who would argue that Andrey was looking down on her for making her stop from attempting the test but what Lisa saw was his kindness and caring nature towards her, which meant a lot to her.

Though it was true that Andrey was now quite ahead of her it was also true that she would be able to catch up with time and effort.

"Thank you for your concern, Andrey...but next time you need to direct this concern over yourself aswell...don't take unnecessary risks like this time again alright? It's not just you who's concerned about others, others are aswell," Lisa added.

"I'll remember that," Andrey replied. He was glad that Lisa understood him.

The two of them separated soon afterwards. After reaching home the first thing that Andrey did was to freshen up before laying down on his bed to get his much-deserved rest after a gruelling day.

In the evening, Andrey was woken up from his slumber by the irritating sound of the doorbell. He made his way towards the door while rubbing the dirt off his eyes only to find an unexpected figure waiting for him in his doorway.

A/N: I wrote this one after facing a major setback some time ago.

The wait was over, the results were out, Days of unrest finally settled down,

What rose in its stead was the fear of the unknown,

If I go there would I spiral my way down? Or just like before turn it all around,

The feeling was the same as the ones experienced long before,

Just this time along with the fear was an anticipation for the known,

An anticipation which was unbeknownst to the person who I was once before,

It's true that suffering makes you crumble but it also makes you grow,

Your time to shine will come again as long as you don't let go,

What if it doesn't? Your mind mutters but What if it does? Your heart whispers,

The whisper gradually turned into a roar,

The doubts went silent and crumbled down the road,

And you prepared yourself to pave your way through.