The alarm clock kept ringing throughout the room, trembling violently as it grew louder. The room was slightly dark and the lamp next to bed illuminated its surrounding dimly. The fan at the ceiling spinned slowly as metallic sound clanked amidst the silence. On the messy bed surrounded by pillows and books scattered on the floor, below the blankets, I slept with my lips apart, snoring loudly.

  I turned to my left then, right, my arms spread out when a someone came knocking on my door. 'Dale! Wake up! It's morning already!' I rose immediately and sat upright in my bed, cross-legged while rubbing my eyes. My arm stretched towards the blinds to my right, I raised them, hence letting in streams of light. It's morning, I thought, my eyes squinting. 'Osu!'

  Donning a white short-sleeved shirt and a black trousers, a tie went hanging over my neck as I tied both sides together in a neat fashion. 'Your breakfast's ready!', the voice shouted again. I picked up my black schoolbag, large and bulky due to the loads of textboooks in it. Sliding my right underneath one strap, I pulled it over my shoulder then taking in some air, I replied, ' Coming!'.

  And with that, I entered my fourth year in high school.

  A fist landed on the face of a male student which he then responded with a punch to the other's. 'Show him, Jason!', someone cheered from the crowd of students surrounding the two brawlers while some others cheered, 'Beat him up, Derek!'.

  Jason was a tall and slightly fit teen, an ideal male for most girls while Derek was shorter than him by half a head, standing with bulky muscles covering his arms and legs except for his belly which curved outwards awkwardly. Jason who was younger by two years earned Derek's anger for casually addressing him without respect. Being a prefect and all, pride seemed to boost Jason's ego from what most thought. 'I can take you down with ease, Derek.', Jason said, grinning.

  'You bastard!' Derek shouted as he threw forward another fist when I grabbed hold of his arms and pulled him away, making him staggering slightly backwards. 'Dale.' I nodded at his words before replying, ' Let's call it a day, shall we?' With that, I and Derek walked off into our classroom.

  Before disappearing into a corner of the hallway, I turned my head around and set my narrowed eyes on Jason's. My glare turned his attention away from us.

  Derek sat in his chair, leaning against the rest. 'That kid...'. I intercepted him before he managed to finish his line, 'Like you said, he's just a kid. Just forget about it.' I rested a hand on his shoulder. 'Kids like him learn things step by step, you know.' , I smiled.

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  'Alright, class!' Our physics teacher came in and slammed a stack of papers onto the long desk at the front of the classroom.

  After the greetings, we took our seats as most of us began to frown, our sights set upon the papers she was now holding. 'I shall now return your mid-year test papers to you.' She handed them to our class monitor who sat exactly opposite the teacher's desk. 'If there's any correction fro the marks, you can bring it forward.' She pushed her glasses slightly upwards, adjusting it before lowering herself into her chair.

  'Damn it!' Rachel complained as she stared at the circled number on her paper. '79%', I could make it out from a few tables away. Her friend walked towards her and leaned forward, her arm wrapped around Rachel's shoulders as she laid her paper on the table and worsened her already frustrated friend's mood. '78%'.

  Derek approached me from behind and patted me on my shoulder. ' What's yours?'. Ashamed, I revealed my paper, showing a '70%' on it. I heaved a sigh. Hey dude, he said, we have about the same percentage. He handed me his paper. A '72%' was scribbled with red pen on it. This is no joke, I thought. How could he calmly say that both marks were about the same when there's a difference of two percent which meant a gap of four marks between us?

  He then strayed off to my other friend's table. Raphael, one of the students who always got high scores in every examination. He was also a school athlete but has refrained himself from participating in any football match for two years already to prepare for the final and most important examination for every high school student in our fifth year. Not to forget, he has got the handsome looks that got him all the girls... Damn!

  His laugh could be heard from a distance then he said to Derek and a couple of other classmates,' Mine's only 81%. Not that high, really!'. They slapped him on his back, then complimented him at how smart he was and stuffs like that. I just sat in my chair and stole glimpses of them, envied of his popularity with the others. Bored, I laid my head on my forearm and dozed off.

  Everything was dark: I was aslept when the dream consumed me. I found myself standing alone in a large room. Before me, massive golden shelves towered over me on my sides. Every shelve had hundreds- no thousands of book shining brightly in gold, neatly arranged in it.

  'Where am I?' I muttered to myself. Being a spacious room, my words bounced off the unseen walls and echoed throughout the room. I gathered my courage and began to walk down the way between the shelves. Strangely enough, the sound of my footsteps could not be heard. And also strangely enough, on the side of every book, there was no title or words printed or written onto it. I was still walking slowly between the shelves when suddenly I felt someone tapped me on my head. 'Ouch!', I bent my head and my eyes winced. A fraction of a second before my consciouness returned to reality, something in motion caught my eyes. A blurry sight of a girl.

  A girl running towards me while screaming out my name.