I stood in front of my mirror, fixing my uniform and combing my hair. My uniform featured a dark blue jacket with a white buttoned shirt tucked in underneath. Around my neck was a gray tie, and the pants were black and loosely fitted. When I finished straightening myself up, I grabbed my bag and exited my room.
As I opened the door, Alliah was standing right outside. This would be the last ti I would see her for a while, and I could tell she was feeling sentintal about the whole thing. She gave a forced smile and then fist-bumped on the shoulder.
"You ready for your entrance ceremony?"
I returned her smile with a nod, and we both proceeded to her car. It wasn’t long before we arrived outside the gate of the academy—the place where I would spend the next four years.
"You rember why you’re doing this?" she asked, but before I could answer, she answered the question herself. "To gain a life for yourself. Just rember, no matter how things turn out, I will always be proud of you. And if it cos down to it again, you’re always welco to stay with for as long as you want." She said this while ruffling my hair—the hair I had spent all morning fixing.
I’d rather it not co down to living with her again, but she was right. I ca here to start a different life—a life far removed from the one I’d led so far.
"Try not to get into too much trouble," she added.
She was calr than I expected, putting on a calm and collected act. For so reason, I thought she would ask to stay but she didn’t. A couple of tis it looked like she wanted to say sothing but held back.
She had done a lot for over the last couple of months, and since we weren’t going to see each other for a while, it wouldn’t hurt to show a little appreciation.
Without warning, I grabbed her and pulled her into —an act I was sure she didn’t expect. She had always been the one to hug , but this ti it was my arms wrapped around her. Her skin was soft and delicate; I could hardly believe she was a human being like , her fra smaller than I thought. Maybe I had caught her completely by surprise because I could feel her body relax against mine, as if she had completely given in.
"Take care of yourself, Alliah," I whispered close to her ear, causing her to let out a funny noise I hadn’t heard before. She kept her head buried in my chest, as if she had no intention of moving.
"Liam," she whispered my na, but it was so low that if there had been even the faintest noise, I would’ve missed it.
She kept her face hidden in my chest, perhaps too embarrassed to show it.
When it was ti, I released my grip on her and moved to exit the car. I flashed her a smile before closing the car door and heading toward the school gate. The look on her face before I closed the door was sothing I hadn’t seen before—sothing I couldn’t quite make out.
I followed a queue of students into the auditorium, where the rest of the first years were gathered. I quickly took a seat and waited for the ceremony to begin. Shortly after, a student stepped onto the stage.
He had white hair and handso facial features. His uniform was well-grood, and he carried himself like a professional. As soon as he stepped onto the stage, a chorus of cheers and applause erupted from the students seated. He was then given a microphone, where he began speaking calmly.
"Good morning, everyone. As I’m sure you’re all aware, my na is Cassian Montclair, and I am the rank 1 student among the entire first year." This introduction elicited another round of applause from the students. One look at how they were acting, and I could tell that everyone loved him. Their eyes glinted with admiration.
"I would like to start by congratulating all of you for a job well done on passing the entrance exam. That alone proves that you are all worthy of being here. Out of the 500 students who entered the exam, only 160 of you remain, all possessing exceptional talents. It is an honor to stand here in front of you all."
I was still no clearer on what happened on the last day of the entrance exam. The only information I had was that four leaders from four different factions faced off. From the way Cassian was standing here right now, it was safe to assu that he was the winner of that altercation but i would have to find out more before I co to a conclusion.
After Cassian concluded his speech, the principal—Charles Vanderbilt—entered the platform confidently and took the microphone from Cassian who steeped back to give the principal more space.
"I think the rank 1 student of the entire first year has given a subli introduction, so I’ll quickly get to what I want to say quickly. You will be spending the next four years inside this school. The campus has all the anities you’ll ever need: dormitories, a mall, libraries, training rooms—everything you could possibly need is right here. We have worked hard to build a modern environnt for you students. For that reason, you will not be allowed to leave the school unless under special circumstances."
What he said wasn’t much of a surprise to us, as we had already been inford of this by the school pamphlet before our entrance exam. But I imagined hearing the words from the principal himself made it harder to digest. They were finally getting an idea of what they had signed up for.
"The next issue is your class assignnt," the principal continued. As he spoke, three other students entered the stage and stood beside Cassian. "The class you will be placed in is the class you’ll spend the next four years in. We have done our best to ensure that each class has an even distribution of capable students so that the competition between them can be as level as possible."
The principal then turned to the four students standing on the stage.
"I would like to introduce the leaders who will be representing each class. Each class is nad after the four principles of balance our school governed by: Yin, Yang, Qi, and Wu Wei. The leader of Class Yang is Cassian Montclair, the leader of the Wu Wei class is Rafael Baldwin. For the Qi class, the leader is Alia Cassidy, and finally, the leader of the Yin class is Yuan Ming."
It was honestly surprising. When they were talking about the four faction leaders that fought against one another, I couldn’t help but wonder who the fourth leader was. It turned out to be Yuan of all people.
"The list of which class you are placed in has been made available on a list posted on the wall. Kindly check which class you belong to and proceed to your class, where your horoom teacher is waiting."
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