A Sudden Recommendation

Upon arriving in the class Andrey was welcomed with a much larger number of gazes. They carried a hint of surprise and admiration but of course, since Andrey hadn't mastered the ability to read their eyes yet he had no clue about what their gazes meant.

Thankfully, Andrey's doubts were soon answered by Jacob.

Upon seeing Andrey entering the classroom Jacob who had been sharing Andrey's exploits with Jenny immediately rushed towards Andrey and grabbed his neck with his arms as he said.

"Look at this bastard being all heroic without me, Don't you have no shame?" The following words entered Andrey's ears but he was too distracted with Jacob's fist that was rubbing on his head to make sense of what he said.

"What do you mean?" Andrey asked after struggling himself out of Jacob's death grip.

"You don't know? Hah! Just look at you acting all cool..." Jacob muttered as he took out his phone and showed the message that he had sent Andrey yesterday night.

It was a screenshot of a post which was posted on the newly made student forum for final-grade students. It was a picture of him holding onto Lisa while being surrounded by a crowd. The person who had posted the post did well in explaining the events that transpired that day along with the picture.

As a result, almost every final-grade student knew about the incident by now. Though people were not aware of the reason behind Lisa's attempted suicide there were already a wide variety of speculations going around amongst different student groups.

Upon seeing the post Andrey couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. His first reaction was that of guilt as he didn't want to make other people aware of Lisa's attempted suicide as this would only add to the burden she was already carrying in her heart.

"You did a great job," Jenny said as Andrey came to his seat to which Andrey just nodded as he was lost in his thoughts.

"Why do you look so down?" Jacob questioned when he saw Andrey's mood.

"I just feel bad for Lisa now that everyone knows about what happened yesterday," Andrey said.

"You don't need to worry about that, from what I've heard the vice-principal is currently talking with her on this matter and since you know how kind our vice-principal is regarding mental health, I doubt that Lisa would come out of her office with a depressed heart," Jenny said.

"Vice-principal?" Andrey asked in surprise and his heart was finally relieved when he saw Jenny's nod of confirmation.

The vice-principal was quite strict on matters of discipline but when it came to to student's mental health she was very thorough with it and handled it with utmost care.

She wasn't always like this though but instead was known as a workaholic who wanted everything to be perfect but all that changed a few years ago.

The reason for this change was quite lamentable if one was being honest...her only child had committed suicide when he was in the eighth grade.

At the time of this regretful incident, she had sworn to herself to do her utmost to make sure that any other mother didn't have to go through what she did and actively took part in helping students who have been facing problems.

Miss Jane soon arrived in the classroom and the first thing that she did after entering the classroom was to call out Andrey and tell him to go to the vice principal's office.

Thanks to what Jenny had told him he had somewhat of an idea as to why he was called upon by the vice principal and obediently followed Miss Jane's instruction and went towards the vice principal's office.

Outside the vice principal's office,

"Wait for your call please," A humanoid clerk sitting on a chair by the door told Andrey when he reached the place. Andrey nodded and took a seat nearby as the robot sent the visual of Andrey's arrival to the vice-principal's computer screen.

After waiting for another 10 minutes the door of the vice-principal's office finally opened and two figures came out of the door. Andrey was familiar with both of them. 

One was Lisa whose centre-parted bob hairstyle which was complemented by her short black hair made it very easy for Andrey to recognise her and the other was Rebecca with her familiar low bun hairstyle which suited well with her deep brown hair.

As she was coming out of the room Lisa's expression was quite relieved and it was the same for Rebecca as well but one could see a trace of worry in her eyes from time to time as she looked towards Lisa.

Seeing Lisa's expression Andrey was glad that she didn't look much affected because of the online post and asked her about her meeting when their gazes met, "Was the meeting with the vice-principal helpful?"

"Mhmm, it was," Lisa replied with a smile which her blue eyes also reflected. 

"That's good, It's my turn then," Andrey said as he bid her goodbye while nodding towards Rebecca before entering the vice-principal's office.

There was nothing particularly eye-catching about the vice-principal's office except for the few potted plants that she had placed near the window. Her table was piled with some files which were placed right beside her computer screen.

When Andrey knocked at the door she told him to come inside.

"Good morning Ma'am," Andrey said to the bespectacled lady who seemed to be in her 60s because of how white her hair was and how weakened she looked but the truth was that she had just entered her 50s.

"Good morning Andrey, have a seat," An amiable smile soon appeared on her face which was enough to make any person suffering from an anxiety attack calm down.

Andrey took his seat as his gaze fell upon a small photo frame that was placed on the shelf behind the vice-principal. It was the only odd thing on that shelf as the rest of the things that were placed on the shelf were various awards. The picture was of the vice-principal along with her now-deceased child. 

It had only been a few years since then but the toll which that incident took on the vice-principal was clearly visible from the relative change in her appearance.

"First things first, I'm very thankful that you saved Lisa yesterday Andrey. If something had happened to her then I, as her Vice-principal would never be able to forgive myself," She said.

"There's no need to ma'am," Andrey felt a bit out of place seeing an elderly woman thanking her so he immediately continued, " It was something I, as her schoolmate was supposed to do, besides...it's the same for me...I too wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hadn't saved her,"

Hearing Andrey's words the warm smile on the vice-principal's face deepened.

"Secondly, I wanted to ask you this. Are you serious about applying for the Warrior Academy?" The vice-principal asked.

Andrey was not expecting the vice-principal to bring this up but he still honestly replied, "Initially, I was not very certain but after hearing from my father that he too was formerly a warrior my mind has become firm and I want to become a warrior no matter what," 

"That's good. I was thinking of recommending you, especially to the selectors who would be coming from the Academy," The vice-principal said and waited for Andrey to digest what she had said before continuing, "While it won't be of much help for you during the aptitude test but for clearing the interview and psychological stage it would prove to be of great help to you, How about it? Should I go forward with this?"

Hearing her words Andrey was silent for a few seconds as he was still taking in what she had said. He had never expected that his act of saving Lisa yesterday which was something he did without any motive would bring in such fortune to him.

Andrey stood up and bowed his head towards the vice-principal as he said, "Thank you, ma'am, it truly means a lot to me," 

"Seeing a gentleman like you go forward in life means more to me so you can sit down," She replied gently.

Hearing her words Andrey felt immensely grateful towards her in his heart and the vice-principal was clearly able to see it from her eyes and said, "If you're really that grateful towards my actions then do your best for humanity in the future," 

"I will ma'am!" Andrey said with conviction. 

Seeing Andrey's deep blue eyes that reflected his deep-seated conviction she nodded to herself. 

"You may go now. Oh yes, Lisa's a good kid, take care of her." Vice-Principal gave Andrey an ambiguous smile which he was unable to understand. Andrey just nodded to her and left her office with a perplexed expression.

"Why did she smile like that?" Andrey said to himself as he walked back towards the class.

"It's good to be young," The vice-principal said with a smile on her face as she saw Andrey leaving her office.

---

By the time Andrey arrived in the classroom, the physics teacher was already teaching in the class. After explaining to him why he was late Andrey soon entered the class.

"So what happened?" Jacob whispered.

"Nothing much, she just thanked me and told me to take care of Lisa," Andrey explained.

"Just that?" Jacob probed further.

"Just that," Andrey replied. He didn't find it a wise decision to tell everyone in the class that he was being specially recommended by the Vice-principal so Andrey decided to keep things to himself.

Andrey then busied himself with honing his 'time rewind' skill as he answered the questions that were asked by the teacher. Alex mistook this as a declaration of war from Andrey and started answering with even greater fervour. 

Andrey welcomed it with open hands as the faster Alex answered the better it was for Andrey to frame his answer using Alex's words.