It was strenuous work. Watching everybody complete this course over the years must have made her think this was easy, but it really wasn’t.

The ledge Reina was holding onto vanished and she fell. Reacting quickly, she latched onto a nearby one.

Part of her wanted to simply push herself up and get to the top in a mad dash. No matter how fast she went through, she would get knocked back down.

Reina glanced down to check how her friends were doing. Felicie was experiencing trouble, already having it established she wasn’t the most athletic of people. She made up for it with her overwhelming enthusiasm, however.

Dawn was more focused and well built. Her family was most likely rich as well, so they would have created a regimen specifically for her.

Angel was actually doing better than Reina, a few ahead of her. Reina glowered at her. She didn’t like anybody doing better than her; call it competitiveness.

Reina pushed herself further, mimicking Angel. She seemed to know when and where an obstacle would pop out, and Reina was going to use that.

Her eyes tracked Angel’s path as she made a zigzag pattern. Reina quickly followed, waiting and observing as there soon became a clear pattern.

Every 10 seconds something popped out, and you could tell where it was coming because every obstacle had faint markings around it/

Reina was catching up now, almost to Angel. Her arm outstretched for the next ledge, something happened. Reina didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, but she would bet it was. Angel’s leg kicked out at the same time Reina’s hand touched the ledge, making her tumble over backward.

“Jerk!” Reina cried as she fell. Much of her progress vanished and she felt like crying, flailing out a leg to catch herself. She growled at the shocked faces as she swung upside down. Glancing back up, Reina found Angel staring down at her with an impassive expression.

The little-she did that on purpose! Reina thought. Rejuvenated, Reina picked up the pace, determined to make up for the lost space and time.

“Hey!” somebody underneath her exclaimed as Reina pushed off their face.

“Sorry!” Reina said, not sparing a single glance as her entire attention was riveted onto the frame of Angel. She was not going to be beaten by her.

Grabbing the ledges and pulling herself up, Reina managed to make decent headway. Still, the gap between the top two was too much; her fall was going to cost her this!

Reina panicked. Arcturus; what would he say if he saw this? Mock her? Rub it into her face? Or tell her he'd always known she would never be ready?

The thought of that happening bypassed the warning signs in her head that told her not to; instead, she listened to the ones who did.

Using a bit of her strength, Reina pushed up, flying into the air, and passed Angel with ease. A large gust of wind picked up, not enough to fling somebody off but enough to daze. With a single small kick, she cleared the entire wall and floated over the top.

Wait, what?

Reina knew there was a reason her brain was telling her not to. Reina’d underestimated her strength and passed the tip. Now, she was plummeting down the opposite side of the wall.

She dug her hand into the wall, ignoring the pain as it ripped through plastic in an attempt put to slow her down. Once she finally succeeded, Reina relaxed.

Her heart was pounding. For a split second, she really thought she was going splat. Conveniently, she forgot the fall was only about 20 feet, nowhere enough to kill her.

But she passed, right? Technically, she reached the top. Arcturus wasn’t going to go this far, right?

When she waited and there was no buzzer that signified somebody made it through, Reina growled. Arcturus could be such a child sometimes.

Reina wasn’t going to risk doing the same thing twice; she had to get used to her different strength first. Besides, she’d already drawn too many eyes.

“Hey, Reina!”

“Hi, Felicie,” Reina replied absentmindedly before her mind sharpened. She perked up. Did she just hear-?

“Over here!”

Reina painstakingly rotated her body to peek through the large rip in the wall she made. To her embarrassment, she just now realized her arm poked out on the other end. She hoped nobody got hit.

Through the tear, she could see Felicie waving energetically. “I thought you were a goner for sure, Reina! Don’t scare me like that, all right?”

“Uh, sure,” Reina said, still kinda dazed. “Wait, did Angel reach the top yet?” she asked frantically.

“Let me check,” Felicie leaned back and Reina worried she was going to fall over. Thankfully, she soon got close to the wall again. “Nah, she’s still like has a quarter way to go.”

Reina’s forehand puckered. That didn’t make any sense. Why was would Angel stop all of a sudden?

“Yeah, it’s like she can’t see or something,” Felicie said before realizing what came out of her mouth. “I mean, I know she can’t see but usually, I forget because it seems like she can see. You know what I mean?” Felicie inquired.

“Sure, sure,” Reina said. Her mind faced at 100 mph. There had been the gust of wind created from her kick. Did that daze her though? Maybe frighten her because she couldn’t see it coming?

She’d find out later. Right now, she had a race to win!

“Nice chat, but see you later!” Reina hollered before leaping up the wall.

“Oh, all right! Bye!” Felicie’s voice faded away as Reina’s eyes targeted the top. She was so close! She reached it and was about to smack her hand down. Nothing was going stop her-

Angel’s head popped up and she touched the top. Reina blinked in shock, fumbling the hit and almost falling again. Immediately recovering, it was too late though.

The buzzer rang and Arcturus’s voice said, “Angel won. Come down before you kids hit your head or something.”

Reina glowered as she dropped down. She wanted to prove herself to Arcturus, prove she was better than before! Prove she’d grown up!

All she proved was she was reckless and idiotic,

Reina went to the other side of the wall and rejoined the main group, ignoring the brewing whispers and looks shot her way. Arcturus glared at them and everybody clammed up.

“Okay, Angel. Not bad, kid,” Arcturus began. Angel nodded politely, but to Reina, she still seemed a bit off.

“Reina!” Arcturus barked. The aforementioned girl jumped but regained her nerves, glaring back.

“Yes, sir?” The way she said ‘sir’, there was no way anybody could mistake it for an honest reply, least of all somebody who could detect lies like nobody’s business.

Arcturus’s eyes narrowed. “Did I not make it clear there was supposed to be no powers during this exercise?”

“You did,” Reina stated bluntly.

“And yet I’ve found you using them for every single exam. You fail.”

Reina saw red. “WHAT?! That’s not fair-“

“The world isn’t fair, kid. Take this as a lesson, kids. Who saw her use her powers?” Arcturus redirected his attention to everybody else.

They all raised their hands, albeit Dawn and Felicie reluctantly. The only person who didn’t was Angel, who still studied the floor.

“See?” Arcturus snared. “Congrats, Reina. You earned yourself a run.”

Reina grit her teeth. It wouldn't do at all to lose her temper now. “Yes, thank you very much, sir,” she bit out. “How many laps?” It was absolutely painful to submit to this prick.

“5 laps.”

Reina sank her teeth into her lower lip. 5 laps? Each lap was about half a mile around the entire training room. How was Reina supposed to do 5 of them before the next exam?

When there was no reply, Arcturus leaned in. “Do you understand?”

Clenching her fists, Reina stiffly nodded. Arcturus smirked. “Very well then. The rest of you, strip!”

Even Reina in her rage-state was taken back from this particular command. Strip? Wasn’t this going too far? How far were they supposed to strip to?

Evidently, everybody else thought so too. One girl in particular-April, she believed-shrieked and fainted. The rest were turning pale (mostly the girls though) and conversing hastily with each other.

Arcturus growled, bringing them to silence. He pointed toward a set of doors. “Those are your locker rooms. I believe you can find which one to use. There are lockers inside with your name in them. Find the swimming suit inside and change.”

Reina let out a sigh of relief. Thank god he wasn’t a pervert. As the girls made their way to the locker room, Matthew had something to say.

“Uh, this locker room is locked.”

Arcturus grunted. “Kick it down.”

Matthew chuckled nervously. “I don’t-“

“Yeah, I know, I don’t care. Do whatever you want.” Arcturus headed over to the swimming pool, effectively cutting off every chance of further communication.

While some of the girls looked sympathetic, most of them were glad they were getting what they deserved. Judging from what Reina overheard, a few boys had already tried hitting on them multiple times.

“Come on, April. Let us in!” Matthew suddenly blurted out.

All the girls backed away, shielding their bodies. Reina suddenly felt like the male specimen looked a lot more dangerous. And lecherous.

“Ew, no! This is the girl's locker room! Pervert!” April yelled.

Matthew rolled his eyes. “You over exaggerate. Nobody is going to drop anything to you girls!”

“Oh yeah? What about them?!” Juliet pointed at a select few males. Matthew turned around and found several people slobbering as their eyes greedily took in them. Reina gulped, finding herself hiding behind Dawn with Felicie. She was not used to this kind of attack.

Matthew nodded his head. “I see your point. But it doesn’t matter! Let us in!”

“No way!” April shouted.

This grew into a chant. “No way! No way! No way!” All of us banded together, pushing back the fearsome forces.

Mathew and the rest of the boys (who weren’t perverts) were starting to become annoyed. “Look, why don’t we have separate sections, all right? We get the left side and you girls get the right!”

Felicie whimpered. “I don’t like the look of them.”

Dawn rubbed her head. “Don’t worry, Felicie. I’ll protect you!” She snarled at them.

Reina sighed. “All right, well I’m out.”

Felicie, Dawn, and a few others looked at her. “Where’re you going?” Dawn asked.

Reina shrugged. “You guys seem to be having a lot of fun and I’m supposed to be running. Guess I’ll see you guys later.” Sticking her hands in her pocket, she walked away.

“Reina! Don’t leave me alone!” Felicie cried.

“You’ll be fine!” Reina called back before running into something. Glancing up, she found Arcturus looming over her.

“Oh, just my luck,” Reina said. Arcturus nodded in agreement.

“That’s right, it is your luck. Now, where do you think you’re going?”

“Um, to run? Like you said. Because you're stupid.” Reina replied bitingly.

The muscles in Arcturus’s jaw bulged but he managed to restrain himself, for once. “No. You are ordered to go dress in your swimsuit, then run.”

“What? Those swimsuits are itchy unless in the water! And I can’t run as fast!” Reina protested.

“Exactly,” Arcturus said unflinchingly.

Reina growled. “You know, you’re being a real prick right now.”

“If you keep on acting like this, I could send you to the headmistress,” Arcturus said.

“I’d rather see Wynn than spend another minute around you!” Reina snarled before turning on her heel and stomping back. Felicie perked up when she spotted her.

“Reina! You’re back!”

“Not by choice,” Reina grumbled before seeing Matthew and April on the ground tussling. Her eyebrows leaned into one another. “What happened here?”

“It’s a fight, whoever wins gets the locker room,” Dawn told her nonchalantly.

Reina sighed. “She was so picky about not sharing the room with the boys because of what they might do, but the position they're in right now is far weirder. Welp, I’m not sticking around.” Gently moving past everybody, she silently slipped into the locker room. As the door closed, Reina felt her lips twitch when the sound of Felicie failing to do the same reached her.