The clanking of glass echoed in the room along with the occasional flicking of the papers that scarped beneath my fingertips. It was the second retest I had done in the term so far and Mr. Tucken was silently protesting with purposeful thuds on the table with his mug. The hourglass was slithering down in the fierce influence of gravity as there was a constricting pull among my chest when I breathed in nervously.

Furniture was being moved next door and the walls seem to  vibrate even with the littlest force applied. The pungent aroma of bitter coffee wafted in the air, and I winced in discomfort.

"Don't pull a face at me, Benton. A good mind needs a sharp sting of stimulation and here you seem to lack it."

My lips were dry and swollen after I bit them unconciously every time a feeling of someone watching me crept into my senses. Staring at the question blankly, I could picture my friends outside either figuring out how to break into the janitor's closet or accidentally getting into trouble with the students at the higher hierachy.

"Why is this so difficult?" I groaned.

"Did you say something without me telling you to?" He narrowed his serpent eyes at me and then down at the doodle I had done on the top right corner of the answer sheet. "You have the brains, boy, however you don't use them. Let me tell you that playing average may seem a right choice here, but there is a fine line between intelligence and igorance."

It was not my choice either, because after a taste of the wickedness that the involvement of any drama could bring. Out of nowhere,  a grey memo peeped below the notice board scribbled was a list of names, including mine, and below was Ethan Mowbrey. Not in the universe would that boy who could have jumped a year into ours have the same academic level as me. "How?"

"His results fluctuate significantly, it's normal to make mistakes. " So do I, but he gets way more credit.

The last drop of sand plummeted into the heap of golden yellow and a sigh left my throat. I've never been more defeated in my 16 years of life.