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"Y-You gotta be kidding me, Gracelyn," I immediately followed after my sister. As our groups were decided, I watched as everyone paired off and stood not to far away, but Gracelyn and our Powers teacher were standing off to the side, simply supervising. "You can't possibly let me work with her! That girl would kill me if she had the chance!"
"S-Student Sara, really. As unfortunate as it might feel, I do not think now is the time to talk to your sister about—"
"—then I won't talk to her like my sister, Miss Smith." I stood back and corrected my approach. "Superhero Gracelyn—how could you possibly put that girl as my partner?!"
As a thick silence enveloped because Gracelyn had still not responded, I watched as she glanced over at my powers teacher, Ms.Smith. "I think it would be great if you could supervise the rest of the students, please."
"Y-Yes! Sure!" Our teacher easily left. I stood there, unrelenting as I stared at Gracelyn, waiting for an explanation.
"You might think I am being unfair, Sara." She started speaking. "But I hope you realize that everything she said aloud were the same things your peers were thinking in the back of their minds."
I scoffed, crossing my arms. "You think I care about that? It doesn't matter because it isn't true! You didn't rig this whole thing up just to help me get a better grade."
"And while I'm happy you know that, it is important to me that your peers know that as well. Just how hardworking and strong you are. On your own."
"I," I paused, staring at Gracelyn and hearing her words, my anger couldn't help but deflate. It was hard to be mad when everything she said made sense. I sighed strongly still. "But…did you have to pair me with Emily specifically? That girl, literally, has a plot to, you know, k word me! Like, legit!"
Gracelyn closed her eyes. "I'll admit, I didn't factor that part when assigning you two together, no."
I jumped in my skin, terrified. "G-Gracelyn!!"
"However," she opened her eyes, showing an expressionless face. "That girl would be wise to not try anything whilst I'm present. She knows that it wouldn't end well for her."
"Y-You want to bet on that?" I said, still scared. "She is, like—genuinely crazy."
"You're bracelets have trackers and will detect if you are in any grave danger that is imminently life threatening. And with me here, you will certainly not die, even if she does try something."
"B-But!"
"According to her logic, you have been given a cheat sheet on how to do well? Right? And so, in order to not ruin her chances of passing the assessment or a bad score—you will be kept alive."
"A-Alive and well are two separate things, Gr-Gracelyn!"
"Sara." Gracelyn looked at me, unimpressed. "I am your sister, always. But right now, I am simply an S-class hero here to facilitate your assessment assignment. If this wasn't hard for you to truly complete, why do you believe I would ever ask you to do it?"
"I…"I started to say, but really, there was no way I could refute her words! "T-They all think you're going to show me favoritism, but really…you're just going to make things harder for me!!"
I turned away and left her side afterwards, walking passed my group of friends and towards Emily. She had that ugly smile on her face that I just wanted to smack off.
"Did crying to your sister not work? Aw, you can always try again later, maybe she'll find away to keep you at the school once you fail midterms!"
A vein nearly busted in my head. I felt my hand urge to with fire. "Listen here. You think about messing with me even once, and I'll pull those fangs of yours right out of your damn mouth, got it?"
Emily, perhaps not expecting my direct threat, did seem unnerved by it. She whipped her head away. "Tch. What's getting all worked up going to do anyways? I'm stuck working with you."
I deflated a little as she chose to not argue back. But still, it didn't mean I was pleased having to work with her. Our powers teacher rounded us all up, clapping her hands to get our attention.
"Alright, class! You will now all follow the directions on your electric watches to your starting points! You have 30 minutes to get there, after which, you will automatically be deducted 10 points for each minute you have yet to reach it."
I sighed, rolling my ankles out a little and glancing at Emily. "You better not slow me down."
"Slow you down?" She smiled. "It's the other way around, ashtray."
"A-Ash what? You!!!"
"And your 30 minutes have started! Follow the locations on your watches!"
"Bye~ see you there!" Emily shot her arm down at the ground and I watched a small round portal appear. She fell into it before I could think.
"W-What?" I gritted my teeth. That absolute snake! I had completely forgotten that Emily had teleportion powers. I suddenly realized then and there how she was able to get around the mall so quickly back then, and how easily she kept finding me. Through gritted teeth, I had no choice but to look and my watch and start running. I had to make it to the starting point before the thirty minutes were up. "Ugh!"
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Off inbetween the forest trees I could see her blond ponytail and white uniform shirt. My running came to a slow halt as I arrived at our starting point, panting. Emily smiled at my state, satisfied by it.
"Aw, you're sister didn't feel like helping you out?"
"Shut up! God, what's your damage, huh?"
She shrugged at me. "You wasting 25 minutes to get here, maybe."
I was too tired to bicker. I could only start glancing around the forest, taking in our surroundings. Unfortunately, our starting point was pretty far from the bottom of the dam construction site we had started at. In fact, I'm sure we were pretty far off from the starting location of the tour all together. Was this to make sure that Gracelyn had nothing to do with where the flags were?
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Emily suddenly shouted, I looked back at her with a sour face.
"What, what is it, damnit!? Quit yelling!"
She suddenly walked up to me. "You heard me. You think you're too good to be my partner Sara Bearens? Huh?!?"
"I didn't hear you, birdbrain. Nor did I think that." I thought for a moment, then smiled. "No, no actually, I did think that last part there, yes."
Her face got red in anger. Suddenly, she charged at me! "You-"
I quickly dodged, shocked by her sudden attack. "Quit it! You think now's the time for you to try and—"
"I don't care anymore, I just hate you so much! Just…one…hit!"
Suddenly she landed a hit to my gut, causing me to groan. I shoved her away with all my might, causing her to fall to the ground. "I didn't want to beat you up like this…but since you want a beating so bad—fine!!"
I immediately pinned her to the floor, raising my fist to sock her straight in the jaw when—
Bzzz! Bzzz!
My watch suddenly vibrated on my wrist. Catching me off guard, I glanced at it, but, as soon as I did—
Wham!
Emily pushed me off of her so that I was now on the ground, before I could get up and focus myself, a voice came through, and it's source sounded like Emily's watch.
"12 points deducted due to unwarranted violence. Please stop immediately."
"!!"
"!!"
She quickly backed away from me, her face pale. "W-What?"
I glanced at my own watch, curious to the noice it had made. However, it was only a message on my watchface, reading: warning one of one. Unwarranted violence will be penalized with a 12 point deduction to your individual score. Please stop immediately.
Glancing back over at Emily, she had already pointed a finger at me, trembling with anger.
"You—did you do this? What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"You actual idiot…you swung first, remember? I didn't even hit you, so of course their going to let me off with a warning." I brushed my hair back. By how, I was certain it had all kinds of dirt in it. Everything about this assignment, my partner and the heat expecially , was pissing me off even more. "Just…keep your distance, got it? You got your hit."
Emily dropped her hand, and I didn't miss the glowering look of simmering anger in her eyes, but for now, there was nothing I could do about it.
Though, it was extremely unnerving. Giving the voice recording that I had gotten as well.
Great. This was going to be an amazing assesment exam.
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(Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!)