Chapitre 27: Let the Games Begin

People milled out of the Hall, to go to their respective classes, all quiet and subdued. Some whispered and pointed at the Elite Five, but all did not dare to take pictures or make a commotion anymore.

Kyle ignored all of that as he looked at his schedule and class position. The five of them were all split up, probably due to Principal Dobbins actions. Each class was actually based on the performance from their previous school and by logic, all five of them should have been in the same class. Yet, not only were they split up, Kyle was placed in 1E, traditionally the 'bottom' class, so to speak and none of them were in the 'elite' class, 1A.

The excuse given was that this year, all first year students would not be divided by their final test performance of their previous school as the standards of the various schools were not uniform. Hence, it would not be fair. Instead, students were divided randomly and would only be streamed in their second year.

Kyle knew it was all a load of bull. Just from the list of students in each class, he could tell that generally, other than them - the results of the students were the same. He had already done his research into everyone that would be their schoolmates in the first year, so he had a pretty good idea of their performance.

The other Elite Five weren't happy, obviously, but Kyle just smiled at them. He put his arms around Xing Han and Sam, the two who were the most vocal of all, "Relax guys. This is just the first battle. She thinks she has us allllll figured out. So let's play with her for a while, why don't we?"

Sam smirked, asking, "So what are you thinking?"

"Here, only the final examination results determines the streaming for the following year," Kyle hinted.

Xing Han snorted, "Easy peasy."

"But what about your mum, Kyle?" asked Ali, "Didn't she set that #1 rule thing?"

Kyle laughed, and took his arms off their shoulders, "She said #1 in the school every year, not in every exam."

Kyle then turned to Sarah, saying, "Sorry, Sarah. Looks like Principal Dobbins has against us. You should probably not hang out with us in case you get labeled just by association."

Sarah shook her head vehemently, "No. I wouldn't do that! It's okay. I can handle it. You're all so nice!"

"She gives a bad name to the elf kind!" Xing Han suddenly declared.

"What on EARTH are you talking about?!" asked Sam in exasperation.

"You know, Dobbins. Dobby. Doesn't she sound like she's a descendant of Dobby? Dobby is such a cute little house elf though, while she ..."

Xing Han didn't finish the sentence after Sam smacked the back of his head while Sarah giggled.

"Just remember, guys. Don't fail. Below average or barely passing is just fine," Kyle said, "Your choice. Just make sure the finals will be a big bang."

Everyone nodded, and then separated and headed to their respective classes.

**--**--**--

Sam found 1B quite easily. He figured he was placed here since he was the youngest amongst the Elite Five so he supposedly must be the brightest one among the lot. Luckily, he didn't look like he was a year younger than everyone else and was already taller than most of them. His height was thanks to his 6'8" tall grandfather, while his slim physique was due to his mum. Unfortunately, with both together, at 6 feet, he looked like a pole.

Not that he really minded. After all, it just added to the 'nerd' look that he had going. Or were nerds generally short? Well, he was already a hot nerd, so being a tall hot nerd was okay as well. He already attracted quite a number of girls that seem to gravitate towards him as he sat down. He sighed inwardly but put on a warm smile as he greeted his new classmates.

**--**--**--

Sarah walked in 1C together with Xing Han, and promptly sat down right next to him. When he saw this, he looked at her and asked, "Are you sure about this?"

She blinked, tilted her head and asked genuinely, "Sure about what?"

"Sitting next to me," he said, and giving the class a quick look before he leaned forward to say softly, "Not only would you be targeted by jealous girls who are awed by my awesomeness, but the teachers may think you're one of us."

Sarah shrugged, taking out the pencil box from her bag and placed it on her desk. She took out a pen and ruler, arranging it just the way she liked it. "First, I you are my friend. Second, we're in secondary school now. No one is that petty to think badly of me just by sitting next to you. Third, I'm sure even the Principal will have second thoughts once she gets to know you."

Xing Han looked at her, amazed. Was there really someone that pure ... no, naive ... still in this world? One just needed to look around to see several glances of displeasure being directed at her right now. Not to mention the way Principal Dobbins had talked earlier, it was blatantly obvious that she had deep rooted prejudices and issues that wouldn't just 'go away' by knowing him better.

She looked back at him with a smile, completely oblivious and Xing Han raised his hands, saying, "Fine, you win. You're right. But remember, make sure you always talk to me if you face any trouble, okay?"

"No problem-mo," Sarah answered, giving an A-ok sign with her fingers. "Don't worry, Xing Han. Nothing bad will happen."

Xing Han scratched his head, and decided that he would keep a very close eye on this clueless girl. If left to her own devices, she'd probably just drown or something.

**--**--**--

When Kay walked into 1D, all eyes fell on her. She smiled sweetly at everyone as she passed by, and many boys stood up to offer her the seat next to theirs. Some even went as far as pushing off the person who had sat there before.

Kay shook her head politely at all their offers, and chose an empty seat in the middle of the class. The front row was completely filled, as well as the back row. Everyone knows that the best place to escape the teacher's eyes would be the front and last row, and the worst would be the middle row to the back. Teachers are often misguided to the concept that the front row are full of the studious people, thus, pay less attention to them. The back row would be the trouble makers, and teachers tend to avoid those as well as they only want to finish the syllabus within the time frame.

In order to be able to look at the entire class, the teacher would focus on the middle row in general - hence, those right in the middle would be under the scrutiny of the teachers most of the time. That was why, when Kay entered, there were still some empty spots in the middle of the class.

Everyone watched as she gracefully sat down, then smiled at the girl that was sitting there, "Hi, I'm Kay. What's your name?"

"Ayra," she answered, pushing her spectacles up her nose, shaking Kay's hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Kay replied, "I hope we can be good friends."

"I'd like that," she replied.

Two rows behind them, were Janice and Belinda - the two girls who had made fun of Sarah back at the Dorm Lounge.

"LUCKY!" whispered Belinda to Janice, nudging her. Janice nodded, thrilled and grinning widely. It would have been better if Kyle had been there, but this was the next best thing. Kay was his twin sister and best of all, they lived at the same dorm. There would be many, MANY opportunities to get close and then, through her, get Kyle. Janice's smiled widely, thinking of this, already lost in dreamland where Kyle was taking her out on a date.

**--**--**--

Ali's entrance was perhaps the least dramatic among the lot. Other than the fact that he was a member of the Elite Five, no one was really bothered with him. They had looked up expectantly when he walked into 1E, and then their faces fell in acute disappointment when they saw that it was him.

Most girls were interested in the idol Kyle, the guys wanted angelic Kay, the ones who liked nerds wanted Sam and even Xing Han was the type that were chased after by those who liked the 'older brother' vibe. Him? With his olive skin and curly hair, he was struck off the list of most people.

Ali wasn't bothered by all of this, as he was quite used to it. People tend to worship fair skinned people, and darker skinned people like him ... not so. Only the Elite Five members treated him normally, and he cherished that immensely. He flung his bag at the desk at the far back, sat down, leaned back and promptly closed his eyes. He didn't notice a pair of eyes looking intently at him.

Sophia bit her lower lip, something she did whenever she was nervous, as she turned to look at Ali. As much as she wanted to be friends, she was too ashamed and scared to do so.

**--**--**--

When Kyle walked into 1F, the extremely noisy class suddenly became pin-drop silent. No one ... and I mean no one ... in their wildest dream would have thought that Kyle would be in their class. Every single person's gaze were on him, no one really daring to go up to him to talk to him as he sauntered in and walked right to the back.

Kyle gave a dazzling smile at the guy who was sitting at the corner and asked, "Do you mind if I take this seat?"

The guy just stammered, picked up his books and went, "G-g-g-go ahead!" and quickly found another seat further in front.

'Wow,' thought Kyle to himself, 'That went far easier than I thought.' He sat down, propped his chin on his hand and smiled.

Let the games begin.