To Take a Final

 School wasn’t always a walk in the park. Sure, the lectures were boring and only made you memorize stuff. The homework answers could always be found and copied from somewhere on the internet. The class contents were usually explained better in some five minute online video. However, there was always one thing that truly challenged me on a certain day near the end of the term:

Click! Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!   Click! Clack!

The final exams.

It had been about three months since the Valentine’s Day incident. Mona and Aito were talking to Lego normally again. Lego, consequently, went back to his usual cheery, playful attitude. It was a relief to see them acting causally with each other, and it made me smile. We had all even hung out a few times at Lego’s place: sometimes to play games, sometimes to study. Whenever we did study, Lego and Aito were the only ones to take it seriously. They were both terrible at taking exams. Lego, I get, but Aito too? I usually did some last night cramming and somehow managed to get away with a passing grade. Mona? Could you really imagine her getting less than perfect?

Click! Click! Clack! Clack! Clack!   Clack! Click! Clack! Click!

Whoops, can’t get distracted. I returned my focus to the exam in front of me. I was currently taking the math final. The next final after that was the history final. Then, we would have an hour for lunch. Finally, the school day rounded out with the literature and science finals.

The math final was ridiculously easy compared to the battleground of the Math Club. I finished answering all fifty questions in half an hour. After I put my pencil down, I turned to look at Mona. She was lying her head on her desk, seemingly bored by the exam. I wasn’t worried about how she was doing at all. However, for Lego and Aito…

Click! Click! Click! Clack! Clack!   Clack! Click! Click! Click!

I can’t believe they’re really doing this. I glanced over towards Aito and Lego, trying to not rouse the teacher’s suspicions. They were each answering the questions on their exam. Occasionally, one of them would push down the eraser on their mechanical pencil to spew and use the pencil lead. Seemed like a normal thing to do right? Well, their mechanical pencils were just loud enough that it could be heard anywhere in the classroom. If someone wanted to, say, use morse code to ask and send someone else the answer for a question they didn’t know…

Click! Click! Click! Click! Clack!   Clack! Click! Click! (4 D)

They could definitely do so. I rolled my eyes while internally sighing. Lego and Aito came up with this idea when we were all studying at Mona’s house over the weekend. They started off complaining about how hard the exam material was only five minutes into the study session. Five minutes after that, they stopped studying altogether and instead focused on how to cheat without getting caught. Eventually, Aito came up with the idea to use morse code, and Lego readily agreed. They then spent the next hour learning and memorizing morse code. So, to get out of studying, they study something else, I thought. It was very ironic. Mona had stepped out to make us lunch, so she didn’t hear their plan initially. When she returned, Lego told her, causing her to become very annoyed at them for trying to cheat.

“But didn’t you always praise Lucas for his shortcuts?” Lego questioned. Aito nodded along. Mona was extremely peeved about that insinuation.

“Lucas never cheated. He took shortcuts in logic to solve the problem faster.” Mona then chastised and tried to forbid them from cheating, but it seemed like that didn’t work out.

Soon enough, the math final was over. I stood up and used the five minute break to go to the bathroom. When I came back into the classroom, I saw Lego huddled over by Aito’s desk. I assumed they were strategizing about cheating on the history final. It wasn’t multiple choice, so their messages were naturally going to be longer. Mona shot a glare in their direction, but they just ignored her. Lunch is going to be hectic…

The history final covered everything from the beginning of human civilization to the modern era. We weren’t expected to know every single detail that happened during that time period. We only needed to be aware of the advancements and politics of each major civilization. It was still a large amount of content, but it wasn’t anything a high schooler couldn’t memorize.

The final began, and I once again focused my attention to answer the questions. There were a few hiccups where I didn’t remember the exact detail, but there was nothing I didn’t know outright. It only took me about an hour to finish. Meanwhile for Lego and Aito…

15 Mayans worshiped turkeys

There was a lot of clicking going on. It even caught the teacher’s attention a few times. The teacher became a bit suspicious and started to occasionally look over at Aito and Lego. That caused Lego to start sweating a little. I couldn’t see Aito since she sat behind me, but she was most likely worried as well. After that, they ended up limiting their cheating to only a handful of times to avoid getting busted. After the exam ended, I looked at Lego and then Aito behind me. They were both pale in the face. Judging by their reactions, they probably barely passed even in the best case.

The lunch buying students filtered out of the classroom, leaving only Mona, Lego, Aito, and I. Since it was the day of the finals, our teacher instructed us not to move the desks. So instead, Mona, Lego, and I sat in the three desks adjacent to Aito’s. Mona smiled as she made her way over to us, but her eyes were glaring with rage. As soon as we sat down, Mona whispered to Aito and Lego.

“If you guys continue to cheat, I will tell the teacher.” She was oozing a tremendous amount of pressure. She looked extremely terrifying. Aito and Lego instantly tensed up, nodding their heads haphazardly. After a few minutes, Mona seemed to believe they understood and released the pressure. After that, we began to talk about random things. It was your standard high school talk: things we saw on television, gossip on other students, my non-mustard, mustard sandwiches. We were all smiling and enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately, the bell rang, and the students began piling into the classroom, indicating the beginning of the literature final. We gave each other a small nod and a fearless grin before returning to our desks.

The literature final covered diction, grammar, semantics, and their subtopics. Vocabulary wasn’t covered in the final. The teacher believed that it wasn’t necessary since most people never used those words in everyday conversation. I was never good at remembering word definitions, so it came as a relief. Once the final began, I started to read the passages on the paper. I was finishing the final slower than the previous two, but I still thought I could complete it before time was up. About halfway through the final, I took a glance around the room. Mona was already sleeping on her desk. Lego was holding his head. I guessed Aito was probably doing the same. It seemed like they took Mona’s threat pretty seriously.

I finished the final in ninety minutes, leaving only half an hour to spare. I stretched out my arms and fingers, sore from all the writing. I was about to lay my head down too when–

L 48, L 48

Lego and Aito both signaled me for the answer to question forty-eight. Why are you roping me into this?!? The two had apparently given Mona and I codes to ask us for the answer whenever they didn’t know. Any morse code transmission starting with L followed by the question number was directed at me. I let out an exasperated sigh and turned my eyes towards Lego, planning to refuse him. However when we locked eyes, he was genuinely pleading with me. I took a moment to think. I wasn’t thrilled about getting involved in their cheating scheme since Mona was against it. However, I, myself, didn’t really care about that. Everyone used the internet to search things, so it made no difference whether you memorized the material or not. I glanced back towards Mona; she still had her head down on her desk. Steading my resolve while a conflicted smile danced across my face, I pushed down the eraser on my mechanical pencil.

48 Might

Lego looked at me in surprise. His expression then warped into happiness. I couldn’t see Aito since she was behind me, but I assumed she was over the moon as well. Soon after, the final concluded without any additional questions from Lego or Aito.

After another five minute intermission, the last final of the day began: the science final. Most science classes taught one of three sections: physics, chemistry, and biology. The same was true for me in previous years: biology in freshmen, physics in sophomore, and chemistry in junior. However, the senior year covered all three topics at once. It was ridiculously information heavy; most students weren’t able to memorize even a quarter of the material. I barely managed to remember half of it, and even then I was still fuzzy on most of the specifics. This is going to be tough.

The timer started; we had to once again answer fifty questions. I started by going through the questions I knew, skipping the ones I didn’t. If I still had time after I finished answering the questions I knew, I would come back and try to answer the ones I didn’t. On the first passthrough, I was able to answer thirty-five of the questions without issue. On the second pass, I managed to answer seven more, though I wasn’t as confident in their correctness. Of the remaining eight, I was stuck between two or three answers. A few of them I took an educated guess based on answers to the other problems. The rest was pretty much random chance. So, I opted for the pencil method of selection. While I rolled my pencil to figure out which answer to put down…

U 14, U 14

Lego and Aito both asked me for the answer to another question. I looked over at Mona; she was grabbing her head. I knew she wasn’t struggling, so she probably was just annoyed that Lego and Aito were still cheating. She didn’t make a comment about it though, so I guessed they were in the clear. I already gave them an answer, so it should be fine to do it again. I moved my finger down the exam sheet, looking for question fourteen. It was one of the questions I was rolling my pencil for. Welp, guess there’s nothing I can do. I started clicking over my response:

Idk

Glancing over, I saw his shoulders slumped down in defeat. I felt bad that I couldn’t help him, but I wasn’t some omnipotent being. I was about to return to my pencil rolling when–

Mitochondria

?! I looked over towards Mona; she had used her mechanical pencil to give Lego and Aito (and me) the answer. Lego looked up towards Mona with a look of shock. After a moment though, it morphed into a soft smile. Lego picked up his pencil again and wrote the answer down; he had a renewed motivation and was answering the remaining questions quickly. Of course, I took advantage of the answer as well…

Not long after, the last final came to an end. All the students stood up from their desks: some were pumping their fists in victories, others were sobbing. I walked over to Lego’s desk. Mona was already there, and Aito was making her way over. When we all gathered together, Lego stood up and moved next to Aito. Then, they both bowed their heads to us.

““Thanks for the help!”” Lego and Aito sounded genuinely grateful, not just for the cheating but for the help with actual studying too. They lifted their heads up, both smiling. My face turned slightly red.

“Umm, it’s nothing.” Mona wasn’t responding at all, but her cheeks were also slightly blushed. The finals were finally over.

“Katlego Etiename and Ayano Aito, would you please come up to the front.”

…at least for some of us.