At last, we finished the tasks but what now?

"Beep-beep"

"Alright.... they all must have been able to reach the rooftop," Liz said.

"Yeah," I said.

No one noticed that something is inscribed on the corner of their envelope until Alex caught sight of it.

Fortunately, Alex noticed it early, if he would have been a minute or two late some of them would not have been able to reach the rooftop before the time limit.

Since few had their destination inscribed on their envelope so naturally, I took out my envelope and looked at the nooks but nothing was inscribed on it. Why?

"Hey, Liz, is something written on your paper?"

"Yes, it is displayed 'in the cafeteria.' Does that imply that I have to change positions to the cafeteria?"

"Maybe, I don't know... At least someplace is written on your envelope and it's empty. Blank." I know I emphasized the last part.

"Hey, Peter, is something written on yours?" Liz asked Peter.

"No, nothing."

"Look, you have a partner."

"Liz, don't joke like that."

"Okay fine. Hmph!" she frowned a little but turned normal in an instant.

"Hey, did everyone find out their answers?" Oliver raised a question.

"No."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No."

"Hey, hey, hey. don't say it like that, how will I know what you are all saying?" he is right, how can someone infer, if they all speak at once.

"Let's do this. Those who have found their answers come on my right side and rest stay in their place."

Those who have found their answers gathered on the right side of the classroom, of course, I am also one of them.

"So only eight have not got their answers." Peter was one of them. Nice.

"Okay everyone let's help them, also those who have found their answers and some destination is written on their envelope get moving in a minute!" Liz told everyone.

Now eight people need help and we are more than sufficient but I noticed that only one person, Noah, is the only one who no one is assisting so I chose to aid him.

"Let's see what you got there Noah." Noah is quite a kid in our class so no one ever converses with him. Moreover, no one is willing to help him even in this predicament.

"Umm...."

"Here give it to me I'll help." I grabbed his paper and envelope.

"Okay, so your riddle is- 'What gets wetter the more it dries?' hmm...."

"Did you get it?" he asked.

"I just read it, give me a minute."

"...."

"Think for yourself too, don't just leave it all to me."

"Yes."

"Hmm... something which gets wetter when we try to dry something.... isn't it just a piece of cloth?

" Yes!"

"But... not every time it works, after a few wipes, it is unable to soak up any more water. Hmm.... right, towel."

"..."

"Yes, it should be a towel since it is used to dry us off and can carry more water than a normal piece of cloth."

"Right...."

"Okay, this is the final answer. Now, which place was mentioned on your envelope?" I asked.

"...."

He didn't read it so I took it from him instead.

"Bathroom...."

"..."

"Huh! A bathroom?"

"Read what is written in brackets."

"What is written? " I noticed that in very small letters it is written women's on the third floor.

"Wow! Noah, you got fortuitous eh..."

"Don't make fun of me. It is saying to go to the senior's bathroom. If there is someone who interprets it wrongly they will beat me to a pulp."

"Yeah, most probably. But don't worry before they say anything, uncover your envelope to them. Also don't act skeptical before entering."

"I'll try."

"Yeah, best of luck. Also, try getting back alive."

'Don't make fun of me!" I tried to lessen up the tension but it seems like it was for nothing. Also, I noticed that I was able to talk to him normally so why does everyone ignore him, isn't he normal, whatever.

By the time I finished assisting Noah, it looked like others had also finished.

"Hey all of them got the answers right?" I asked Liz.

"Yep."

"Alright everyone, get to the place hinted at in your envelope."

Only five minutes are left for those whose time limit was 45 minutes, so whose destination was written off also Liz and Alex were one of them so they also went ahead.

Nearly the entire class was empty. Only 8 are left including me.

"What should we do?" Oliver said.

He was also with no destination to go.

At exactly 11:30 a siren was heard in the whole school.

"CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU HAVE CLEARED THE FIRST TASK. I WOULD LIKE ALL OF YOU TO ASSEMBLE IN THE SCHOOL AUDITORIUM AND THERE THE NAMES OF ALL THOSE WHO PASSED HAVE BEEN POSTED."

"....." no one let out a single voice and waited for him to continue.

"BUT BEFORE THAT I WILL RELEASE THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS BEING EXPELLED. FIRST IN BOYS, 39 BOYS WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE FIRST YEAR. IN THE SECOND YEAR 78 WILL BE EXPELLED, QUITE A FEW I SAY. IN THE THIRD YEAR ONLY 28."

What the hell!? 78 only in the second year? it's roughly two classes combined.

I don't care who gets expelled.

"NOW TIME FOR GIRLS, HMM... 67 IN THE FIRST YEAR. 86 IN THE SECOND YEAR. 36 IN THE THIRD YEAR."

Whoa! a total of 146 boys will be expelled. That's almost three classes combined in the second year.

And if we add only girls it will be... 189. Fuck. If we total boys and girls it would be... 335!

We can say that a whole any one year of students were expelled. On what basis did they evaluate it?

"Ohh... shit! So many students will be expelled." Peter exclaimed.

" Not 'will be expelled' they are expelled."

"Yeah, yeah same thing."

The atmosphere has changed dramatically, maybe because they announced the number of people who will be expelled and not the names, so everyone must be frightened just by imagining that their name is on the 'expelled student' list.

"What should we do?" one of our classmates said, his name is Leo. Not just Leo but the remaining students left in the class are all stunned, I could just tell by seeing their expression that they all are terrified.

"Hey, Allen, why do you look so calm?" Peter said, staring at me with a perplexed face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean look around. We all are like what should we do if we are one of the people who are being expelled and you here look the same as ever furthermore, while we were figuring out the problems earlier you seemed to be having fun."

Was I having fun?

I don't know why but I don't feel any anxiety or dismay like others from the beginning. They all are terrified just by visualizing that they will be expelled but I am not feeling anything in particular. To be honest, instead of being terrified I find this situation a little bit amusing.

"So, what?" I don't understand the point.

"Don't ask me, I just told what I noticed. If you don't think you are too relaxed in this situation, then something is definitely wrong with you."

"Anyway, let's go to the auditorium." Oliver interrupted our conversation.

"Yeah." Leo and the others agreed in unison.

....

....

When we arrived at the auditorium we found no one. I mean we eight are the only ones present here.

TO BE CONTINUED...