The subject of social studies.
Rudy checked his answer sheet and found he had lost 28 points even though his answers were correct. But he still read his answers to make sure he hadn’t made any mistakes such as inserting the wrong date, or number.
However, everything was correct.
‘Why did I lose points even though my answers are correct?’ Rudy asked himself before glancing at the teacher, who was almost done distributing the results to the entire class.
Rudy waited for the teacher to finish before asking him as he didn’t want to interrupt the class. Once the teacher was done, Rudy raised his hand and called out to him.
“Sir, can I ask why my points were cut even though I have written the correct answer?” Rudy asked in a calm voice.
“What do you mean? You have written wrong answers,” the teacher retorted in an annoyed tone.
“But they are not wrong, Sir.” Rudy furrowed his brow and said, “Why don’t we confirm it?”
SIGH!
The teacher pointed his finger at Alice and said, “Why don’t you compare your answer with Alice, who has scored the most in the class.”
“Fair enough…”
Rudy glanced at Alice, to see her looking at him with a troubled expression on her face.
‘Why is her face telling me that I am in the wrong here?’ Rudy thought.
He took Alice’s answer sheet and compared the answer, and sure enough, Alice’s answer was completely different.
‘Her answer is wrong….’ Rudy was getting confused.
Why would the teacher cut Rudy’s points for writing the right answer and give Alice points for writing the wrong answer? Unless, of course, Alice’s answer was right.
However, Rudy was having a hard time believing it, as he was sure his answer was correct. He took out the textbook from the bag— for the first time— and opened it to see the answer. And sure enough, the textbook had a different answer too.
‘What’s going on?!’
Rudy had lost 28 points because of 7 wrong answers, 4 points for each.
The first and the second questions were about the economy of the world, and Rudy wrote the answer based on his past life knowledge. However, this world’s economy was different. Hence, Rudy’s answer was wrong, and he lost 8 points.
The third, fourth, and fifth questions were about the geography of the world, and Rudy answered them based on his past life knowledge. Thus, he lost 12 more points.
The sixth and the seventh questions were about politics and history, and Rudy answered them wrong too.
“…”
Rudy couldn’t help but facepalm after realizing that, and he felt stupid. But it wasn’t his fault. He never had time to open the books, nor did he get any time to study.
He could have still answered them right if he knew about the test, but he didn’t. Furthermore, on the test day, Rudy was going through a lot and his mind was occupied with thoughts about Alice since he had accidentally kissed her.
However, that was the only subject Rudy could have messed up since history, politics, economy, and geography could change and could be different in another world. However, science, mathematics, and literature subjects would never change, no matter the world.
‘Now I am surprised how I scored 72 points despite that…’ Rudy thought to himself and glanced at Alice, who was staring at him with the same expression on her face. Seemingly, she had realized that and she wanted to warn Rudy, but it was too late as he had already called the teacher out.
Rudy turned to the teacher with an apologetic look on his face and said, “I might have mistakenly read the old syllabus.”
The teacher shook his head in disbelief and said, “I used to think you were one of the few role model students in the school, but I guess I was wrong, after all.”
“…”
“Just because you can score good points, doesn’t make you an ideal student.”
“…”
The teacher shook his head in disbelief and turned around before saying, “The rest of the results are pinned on the notice board at the end of the hallway. As for your report cards, they will be given after the sports week ends, and to claim that, you must bring your parents with you on that day.”
After saying that, the teacher left.
‘Where did that newbie teacher go? I am already missing him…’ Rudy uttered inwardly.
DING~ DONG!
Soon after, the bell rang and the period changed.
“Psst~ Psst! Rudy!” Eric whispered to Rudy from the side.
“Hmm?”
“Whatchu smokin bruv?” he asked.
“Uhh… I am not…?”
“Then what was all that?” Eric asked curiously.
Rudy looked at Eric with a serious look on his face and said, “let me tell you a dark secret about this world.”
“Oh?” Eric’s curiosity piqued.
“Ever since we are born, we are labeled to do something. We grow up, go to kindergarten, and then go to elementary school, middle school, high school. After that, we are told to go to university where we think our life would get better once we graduate, but it doesn’t. Even after we graduate, we have to look for jobs everywhere, and once we get a job, our life as a slave begins. It doesn’t matter what job you get at what post; even if you are the boss, you are a slave to work. We spend half of our lives studying, and the rest of our life working. There is no shortcut to success. That’s why, we should live our life to the fullest whenever we get time,” Rudy asserted in a solemn voice.
“…” Eric heard all that, and he got lost in his thoughts. After a brief silence, he said, “What you said is completely obvious to everyone, but it still hit hard. I wonder why…?”
“I wonder too…”
In truth, What Rudy just said to Eric was told to him by his girlfriend— Elise, in his past life. And after hearing that, Rudy had changed his perspective on life and enjoyed everything.
The lectures ended one by one and the recess time came closer.
Rudy and Alice kept shooting glances at each other from the corners of their eyes, as though they both were waiting to get some alone time together.
