Exams
For two weeks Albert and his friends had spent the days between the library, their rooms, and the canteen. Studying as many hours as they possibly could, only stopping to eat something, or to actually go to an exam. They all knew that they had to do well in the exams because of the university's strict policy of expelling anyone who didn't pass, at least, sixty percent of their subjects.
It was Albert's last day of exams, his friends had already finished them, Robert and Dalia the day before, Myriam two days past. And they had promised him to go to the end-of-exams campus party. He was feeling a bit nervous, the exam was about the Roman Empire, and he wanted to do it perfectly since it was his favorite part. He spent the morning rereading his notes to get all the facts right, and afterwards, he forced himself to eat something. His exam was at four in the afternoon and it was supposed to last three hours. He arrived at the lecture hall an hour in advance where he found some of his classmates sharing last-minute tips. He joined a group of them and discussed some doubts over past years' exams.
The professor arrived half an hour before the start of the exam and started sorting them out. Ten minutes before the exam everyone was seated at their places and ready to start the exam. The professor handed over the exam and allowed them to start. Then Marla came in, took the first seat she found and asked for her exam. Any other student would have been told to leave the room, and take the exam on another term, but Marla always did what she wanted. After getting her exam she turned around to make sure that everyone had seen how she had privileges and then fixed her stare on Albert. He felt nausea coming up and held up as best as he could until she went back to her original position. After that, he had trouble focusing on the exam, it took him more than half an hour to focus on what he was doing again, and by then he had to go back to some questions he had already answered and rewrite them.
The first hour passed and some of the students started handing out their exams in resignation, they hadn't studied enough and they knew they were bound to fail, but they had decided to try it anyway. The second hour passed fast as Albert was writing frantically, filling pages and more pages with his answers, he didn't even realize, and the professor was already telling them that they had only five minutes left. He looked up and saw that it was only him and Marla left in the room, however it was clear that Marla had already finished because she was losing time doing doodles in some draft paper. He got nervous, he didn't want to talk with her. He hurried up, handed his exam to the professor and left the room. Still, he could hear Marla calling him up from behind. He tried to ignore her, but she caught up with him.
-Albert, why won't you talk to me?- she asked innocently.
-Because I don't want to, Marla. Leave me alone.- he said picking up his pace.
-C'mon, don't be mean, I haven't done anything bad!
-You know what you've done, don't talk to me again.
That seemed to stop Marla, or at least Albert thought so until he heard her say:
-You can't hide forever, Albert Miller, you can't.
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