I’M A BRAT AND I’M IN LOVE
(That one exam???)
Chapter 12
Rika walked out of the exam hall, feeling dejected. The questions had been so hard, and she barely had time to finish before the time ran out. She was sure she wouldn’t even be able to gain admission with the score she would get, talkless of getting a scholarship.
They weren’t given the question papers to take home so as to prevent cheating, but she could still remember some of the questions.
She arrived home as quickly as she could and began to cross check the answers with the answers she had given, which was something she hadn’t done in a long time, and she failed much more questions than she expected.
Rika felt like sobbing. After all, crying came easier to her now.
She felt that the only thing left to do right now was to pray. But when last had she actually spoken with God? Her parents were Christians and regular church goers, but Rika had for a long time abandoned the idea of cultivating a relationship with God.
She had done this because she felt like God had also abandoned her as well. If God could still allow someone like her father to live on this Earth, then maybe God really hated her.
She curled up on her bed, not knowing what to do. She considered calling Levi but soon discarded the thought. What would hearing his voice now do to comfort her anyway? She was sure nothing could save her now.
Her phone rang and she dove to grab it. Hunter was calling her. She sighed and picked the call.
“Hey Blondie! How was your paper? Should I burst out the celebratory cake?” He asked cheerily over the phone.
Rika sniffed. “No Hunter. I bombed it. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna fail.”
There was a short silence at the other end. “What happened?” Came her friend’s concerned voice.
“I don’t know, I just….. the questions weren’t what I expected at all. I knew most of them, but I was too slow because I spent most of my time trying to understand how to answer. I barely even finished. And when I got back home and cross checked my answers, it turned out that some of the questions I thought I answered correctly, I didn’t get at all.” Rika responded, holding back tears.
“Come on Rika you haven’t even seen the results yet. This has happened to me several times before! And I still ended up passing!” Hunter argued, trying to convince her but it only made her feel worse.
“Well I’m not you Hunter, I’m always able to predict my scores on any exam I write. Now is no different.” She answered again, the tears finally spilling out.
“Wait wait hold on Rika, are you crying right now? Oh my God, I have never seen or heard you cry before! Is the world about to end?” Hunter yelled in surprise and Rika scowled.
“I’m having a huge life crisis here and that’s what you’re thinking about?! I’m hanging up!” She screeched into the phone before hanging up, despite Hunter’s protests.
She lay down on her plush bed and covered her face with a pillow. As usual, Hunter was completely useless in the area of comfort.
She sighed again, and glanced at her calendar. She should expect the results of the exam in at least two days, and two days after that, she would turn nineteen.
What was she going to do?
????
Some hours later as Rika was preparing for bed, she received a text from Levi.
“How was your exam?” It read and Rika scoffed. He sure took his sweet time before asking.
“Great!?” She lied, not wanting to tell Levi all about how big of a failure she was.
There was a few minutes pause before Levi’s text came in again.
“Are you sure? You’ve never actually texted me with Emojis before. Something’s wrong isn’t it?”
Rika marvelled. Levi’s sharp sixth sense and how good he was at reading her even just through texts should have been made illegal by now.
“Fine. It was trash. I’m probably gonna fail.” She typed back in response.
“Hm.” Was Levi’s reply.
Rika frowned in irritation.
“Is that all you have to say?” She asked.
“What do you want me to say? You said you think you’re gonna fail.” His reply came seconds later.
“Well you could at least comfort me.” Rika typed.
“Did you tell me you thought you were gonna fail because you actually did or because you wanted me to tell you otherwise?”
Rika grunted.
“Goodnight old man!” She furiously typed back, but still held on to the phone, waiting for his reply. It came several minutes later.
“You probably won’t fail though. Sleep well, brat.”
Rika fell on her bed and sighed. Levi had officially joined Hunter in the club of completely useless people.
The exam results arrived in Rika’s mail much earlier than expected. She had just woken up the very next day and was headed downstairs to grab some of her favorite candy that Greta always hid in the pantry, when said Greta informed her that a letter from her University was waiting for her on the table.
Rika approached the table in the family room with dread. Why had they sent the results a day early? She didn’t want to check it.
Her mom was already sitting there, waiting for her. Mrs Sato smiled pleasantly at her daughter.
“I was about to leave for work when Greta told me that this had arrived. I decided to wait awhile so we could see the results together.” Her mom said sweetly.
Rika groaned.
Of course.
It wasn’t like her mom was waiting because she loved her so much. It was probably only because she wanted to see her score. She sighed and picked up the letter. She considered just ripping it up, but then one could always just check the scores online.
She heaved a big sigh, and opened it up. Her eyes widened as she took in the contents. It read;
“Dear Miss Rika Sato, we are pleased to inform you that you are one of the few successful candidates who passed the written aspect of our entrance exam.
Your score astounded our examiners, as you passed with a distinction of ninety five percent. As such, when your admission is finalized, you will be awarded a scholarship based on your performance.
Your final screening and interview date is scheduled for the eleventh of next month. Congratulations once again.”
Rika couldn’t believe her eyes.
Was she dreaming?
“Well? What does it say?” Her mother asked cooly.
Rika looked up.
“I……I passed.”
????
Rika spent the rest of the day assessing the letter. How could she have passed? She kept twisting and turning the confusing piece of paper, looking for some hidden message that would probably reveal to her that the whole thing was some elaborate prank.
Hunter had already besieged her with phone calls, as her mom didn’t waste any time in spreading the news that her daughter had gotten into one of the top Universities in the country.
Hunter was ecstatic, and she actually had to block his number for some hours so that he would stop calling her.
She still couldn’t believe it. This was nothing short of a miracle. Why was God suddenly doing things for her now?
She grabbed her laptop and video called Levi.
He picked not long after, a slightly surprised look on his face. Levi never failed to answer whenever she called. He was always there.
His hair was messy and wet, he was wearing a simple grey T-shirt and he looked like he had just stepped out of the shower.
“This is new. Since when did you decide to start video calling me?” He asked casually, running his hands through his hair.
Rika smiled. “Well we need to start getting used to this you know. Talking through video calls is going to be the new normal once I get into the University since it’s so far away.” She said, beaming.
Levi’s eyes widened. “You passed?”
Rika nodded excitedly, and Levi scoffed.
“I told you you probably would.” He retorted, folding his arms.
Rika rolled her eyes. “Can’t you even pretend to be excited?” She asked.
He frowned. “I am. This is my happy face.” He responded frankly and Rika burst into laughter.
Her room door was suddenly yanked open and Greta walked in.
“Are you crazy Greta?! Can’t you knock?!” Rika screamed but Greta ignored her, smiling widely amd walking over to her bed. Her eyes caught Levi on the laptop screen and she smiled a mischievous smile.
“Señor Levi! How nice to see you!” Greta greeted, wiggling her eyebrow at Rika.
“Oh, hey Greta.” Levi greeted back, and Rika pushed Greta away in irritation.
“What do you want?!” She yelled and Greta chuckled.
“Your father wants to see you.” She responded and Rika felt her blood run cold.
She bit her lip nervously and turned back to Levi. “I’ll…..call you later.” She muttered before ending the video call and heading for her father’s study.
She arrived there and knocked feebly on the door.
“Come in Rika.” Her father’s voice said, and Rika gulped, opening the door and walking in.
Her father was sitting at his desk, and he looked up at her with hooded eyes.
“I heard from your mother that you passed your exam.” He said quietly, and Rika responded in affirmative, still standing close to the door.
“So I guess that means you’re leaving me aren’t you?” He asked, but Rika remained silent.
“Why are you standing so far away? Come closer, I want to show you something.”
Rika swallowed nervously and moved closer to her father’s table. Scattered on it were several photographs of she and Levi at the Tenji Mountain hotel, from the moment he had taken her to his suite to the time he had taken her out.
Her eyes widened as she looked at her father, trying to stay calm.
“You acted recklessly Rika. If you wanted to sleep around and behave like a whore, you should have at least tried not to get caught. It seems like you get more stupid the more time you spend with Levi Akabane. You used to be smarter than this.” Her father paused.
“So is this what it has all come down to? You feel like you can betray me this way, and just run off to some Faraway University and live happily?” Rika’s whole body trembled. She could feel the rage emanating from her father. When he was like this, he could do anything.
Her father laughed, then smiled at her, a smile full of pure malice and contempt.
“You’re sorely mistaken my dear. I’ll show you what happens to ungrateful sl.uts that don’t appreciate their fathers’ love.”
????
Rika had been left unsettled and shaken by her father’s threat. She had waited, expecting him to do something to either her or Levi. She thought about warning Levi but what would she say to him? She chose to wait in fear instead.
When two days had passed without incident, Rika tried to relax. Maybe her father wouldn’t follow throw with his threat. It was unlike him, but maybe he would be different this one time.
She awoke on the morning of her Nineteenth birthday to almost forty five missed calls from Hunter. Her heart stopped, as she immediately knew something was wrong.
She dove to her phone and dialled Hunter’s number.
“Rika! I’ve been calling you for ages!” He screeched over the phone.
Rika’s hands trembled, and so did her voice.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” She asked feebly.
“Rika….” Hunter began, his voice breaking.
“Your n@ked pic.tures are all over the internet.”
??????
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