When Rudy reached school and made his way to his classroom, he found Alice sitting on a different seat than usual.
She had exchanged her seat with her friend for a day.
"..." Rudy let out a weary sigh and muttered, "Yeah, I messed up."
Rudy wanted to apologize to Alice for kissing her out of a sudden without her permission, so he walked to the desk Alice was sitting at and stood there without saying anything.
Alice had her head resting on her hands on the desk, so she didn't realize Rudy was standing in front of her.
Rudy tabbed on her shoulder without speaking a word.
Alice thought it was someone else, so she looked up and saw Rudy standing in front of her eyes.
"Hey…" Rudy greeted her with an awkward smile on his face.
Alice immediately lowered her head and refused to look at Rudy.
"Umm… I am sorry…" Rudy uttered in a gentle voice but with a sad look on his face.
He was genuinely sad and angry at himself for doing that to Alice. He understood why Alice was angry.
However, Alice wasn't angry. She was simply baffled and embarrassed by a sudden development between her and Rudy.
Soon, the classes started and ended.
Rudy tried to approach Alice again during break time, but she ran away with her friend.
"..."
Eric glanced at Rudy from the corners of his eyes and asked, "Did you do something to her?"
"..."
"You didn't come to school together either," Eric uttered.
"..."
Rudy stayed silent and didn't reply to Eric. However, Rudy wasn't ignoring Eric. Rudy was so lost and focused on his thoughts that he didn't hear Eric.
'This looks serious…' Eric uttered inwardly. 'Should I talk to Alice about it? She loves Rudy, but Rudy is super dense. Maybe he did something stupid again and made her angry.'
'I can't see my two best buds fighting like that.'
Eric pondered for a while and decided not to interfere between them.
'It's her matter. I probably shouldn't butt in like that. It's for the best if they eventually make up because they suit each other, and I want to go to their wedding one day.'
Eric smiled after imagining that and thought, 'Maybe I should find myself a girlfriend too?'
Eric left the classroom after tapping Rudy's shoulders and said, "You can think while eating too."
Rudy followed Eric to the canteen and ate food while thinking about various plans to make up with Alice.
'What if I just confess my feelings to her?' Rudy thought.
Rudy glanced around the canteen to look at the wall that had a clock on it to see the time.
'There are still five minutes left before the break ends. I will quickly finish eating and find Alice.'
DING~ DONG!
'Hah?!' Zach looked at the time, and there were still 3 minutes left for the break to end.
"What's wrong?" Eric asked. "Let's go. We have a test in the next period."
Rudy sighed in disbelief and made his way back to the classroom with Eric. There he saw Alice sitting on her own seat, that was beside Rudy's desk.
'She is back?!'
Rudy was more than happy to see Alice back in her seat. His mood had cheered up, and he had forgotten everything.
Rudy sat on his seat and turned to Alice.
"Listen, I am really really—" Before Rudy could properly apologize to Alice, she stopped him.
"Not now. We will talk about it after school," she said with a smile on her face.
'She is smiling. And her face is a little flushed too. Does that mean she is not angry anymore?' Rudy wondered.
The lecture started, and the teacher distributed the papers.
'I had no idea there was a test today, but it did happen in my previous world. I just forgot about it. I mean, no one remembers the dates of the test of ten years ago,' Rudy scoffed softly and started writing the answers.
"The test is very hard, so I have taken permission from the principal to combine the next lecture too," the teacher asserted. "I am giving you one hour and twenty minutes to complete the test."
A male student raised his hand and said, "Sir, since the test is tough, does that mean the passing marks are also reduced?"
"Hmm…" The teacher hummed in wonder and nodded, "Good point, I didn't think of that."
After pondering for a while, the teacher said, "Alright. I reviewed the paper again and calculated the average score one could get. Out of 80 points, the average score would be around 35. So I am setting the passing marks as 30."
"That's too much, Sir!" a female student uttered.
"Is it? 30 is rather low, to be honest," the teacher remarked.
"Reduce it to 25, Sir. Otherwise, most students would fail, and you would be the one to blame," another male student commented.
The teacher raised his brows in curiosity and asked, "How would that be my fault?"
"You just got this job, Sir. So you might not know that if more than 40% of students in the class fail a subject, the teachers get blamed for poor teaching," a female student explained.
"Is that how it works?" the teacher muttered with a baffled look on his face. "If I knew, I should have made an easy test."
"Alright! I am setting the passing marks to be 25!" the teacher declared in panic.
Everyone tried their hand to solve the answers. Even the toppers were having a hard time since the questions were asked indirectly.
Most of the questions were from the textbook, but the teacher had asked them in a different way that left most students confused.
However, it wasn't tough for Rudy.
The teacher gave them one hour and twenty minutes to finish the test. But Rudy finished it in less than 15 minutes.
After finishing his test, he stood up from his desk.
Everyone's gaze turned to Rudy. But they were bewildered when they saw his answer sheet was filled.
"Rudy? What's wrong?" the teacher asked in a calm voice. "Do you need something?"
Rudy walked out of his desk and placed the answer sheet on the teacher's table.
"I am done, Sir."