Burning Hope

Chapter 12: Testing, Testing, 1 2 3 Testing

I walked into the door of the exam room. There was nothing really special about it; it was a small room only big enough to fit a handful of students. The walls were decorated with strange symbols and a pie chart with various different colored sections that were labeled things like: "Parasite", "Ice", "Fauna" and even "Ash". The room was fairly empty otherwise—only two students, Xiao, and a teacher with bright green hair holding a clipboard in the room.

"Welcome, ren flavia." Xiao greeted me.

I looked around. "Are there any more students coming?"

"Nope." The woman said. "It's just you three today."

I nodded and carefully sat down next to one of the girls. She had bright wisteria-colored hair and cornflower blue eyes, her overcoat purple like Adrian's was. The girl on the other side of her had curly darker red hair, and wore a brown coat. The one next to me held out her hand and shot one of those smiles so perfect she could have been the poster child for oral hygiene.

"Hello, there! It's nice to meet you. I'm Lavender!"

I laughed as I shot another quick look at her hair. "No kidding."

She cocked her head and gave me a really confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh...Nothing just forget it." I tried leaning back in my chair, but I was met by the face of the other girl. She looked down at me with her face scrunched up in concentration. She finally snapped and pointed at me.

"Hey, Lav! It's her!"

Lavender turned her confused face to her friend. "What do you mean by 'her'?"

"The Prince, Lavvy!" She said, waving her hands spastically in the air to make a point.

Lavender scrunched up her face and got too close into my personal bubble for my comfort. After a few more uncomfortable moments, Lavender's eyes widened. "Oh, my gosh! You're totally right!" Lavender began fanning her face and talking really fast. "The Prince of Sciana! Oh my gosh, I'm sitting right next to her! Should I bow? I think I should bow."

"That's really not-"

Too late. Lavender and her friend were already on the floor bowing to me. I groaned and pulled on my hair in frustration. "Does everyone know about me?"

"Everyone on campus at least." Lavender said. "Principal Xiao made an announcement that all four future members of the Crown were finally attending Eternal Academy."

"Yeah, you're famous!" The redhead chimed in.

"I sure as hell didn't ask for it." I muttered. I looked back at the redhead. "Wasn't this entire country founded to get away from worshipping royalty?"

"I guess so." The redhead looked me up and down. "You know, as the princess, I kinda pictured that you'd be more...princess like. For one, I pictured you a little thinner and a bit more flat-chested. I thought you'd maybe have a little aura of gracefulness to you as well."

I gave the girl a sideways glance, trying not to get offended at the 'thinner' part. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name. What did you say your name was again?"

"Ruby, your majesty."

"Don't call me 'your majesty'." I begged. "Please, if you're going to call me anything at all, Scarlett is fine. And stand straight, please? Bowing people look ridiculous."

They quickly stood up straight and looked to each other nervously. "I'm afraid they won't have enough time to call you by your preferred moniker." The woman at the front said. "We're ready to take the Attribute Matching Exams now, and the quicker we get over with it, the quicker you get out of this place. Let me introduce myself. My name is Miss Wise, and I'll be guiding you through your exam today. First of all, I would like to welcome you as students of the esteemed Eternal Academy." She said, showing no joy or expression whatsoever while she talked, as if she was reading something straight off a piece of paper. "It is great to meet you, Ruby Cook, Scarlett Kaida and Lavender Praymaveera."