Triumphantly, I slide my paper onto the examiners desk and he looks at me, his eyebrow rose with shock but is soon replace by the usual all knowing smile.
"Finished already Charlotte?"
I nod, swinging my shoulder bag onto my shoulder and walking to the door, feeling the hot glares of two hundred students who were struggling with the (from their point of view) very difficult calculations. I pause at the door as I hear the examiner chuckle as I know his eyes have scanned across the page and are unable to spot a single flaw in my very detailed answers.
"10 minutes into the exam and this is a flawless performance even by your standards Miss Pegasus."
That line always gets me and I walk out the door, laughing to myself on the way. Another exam in the bag. Easily.
People always ask me why I still go by my surname. They say "but doesn't it get annoying being constantly photographed and harassed when you're out?" and frankly, my response is I couldn't care less. Not sounding cocky but of someone of my intelligence, I think I can tell when people are being fake with me. And trust me, I can.
But on a lighter note, my last exam of the semester was over and as I sipped on my chocolate cream iced tea I had purchased at the student café, I felt weird to know I would be leaving university, graduating in the fall when the exam results were posted. Being only twelve year olds, many of the other students had failed to warm to me when I had first arrived. Only now I was seventeen and I was getting ready to graduate and ironically, the same students who had sneered at me as I walked in the door, were now begging to me my friends and be with me, all because of my surname.
My official full name was Charlotte Cecilia Rose Pegasus. My middle name Cecilia was obviously named after my late mother who died, bringing me into the world. I never understood what the significance of Rose was or whether it had any significance but according to my father, Maxmillion Pegasus, it suited me perfectly as I was as delicately beautiful as the sweet flower.
Sometimes I think he goes a bit far with his wacko comparisons. But that has always been my father's ways. He was an overly eccentric billionaire who had made his fortunes by creating the world of Duel Monsters, my favourite thing in the whole world. So as far as he was concerned, he could afford to be a little crazy sometimes.
Still, despite all the crazy things he gets up to, when I was formally accepted into Harvard after technically completing my high school education at only nine years old, he was reluctant to let me go. He was so over protective of me that he forbid me going for a whole 3 years before I finally wore him down. But one day, he finally accepted and the next day, I was on a private plane to America where I settled into my joint Master's degree of Computer Engineering and Business.
He continued to check in on me; originally persisting I was escourted to every class by a team of armed security officials. To any pre- teen, this was a step too far. I understood that he was scared for his little girl, besides his fortunes of money; I was the only thing of his that he truly had. It was difficult for any single father and I could see he was taking it particularly very hard so I sympathised but I had to put my foot down. We agreed that one bodyguard may reside on campus and serve to protect me, which I was glad for when one night, some guy tried to stick his tongue down my throat. Thankfully, Billiard grabbed the guy and escorted him from the premises.
I had grown particularly fond of Billiard to which I noticed was sitting discretly at the back of the café. He was such a refreshing character compared to the other snooty bodyguards father had hired me over the years. This guy actually knew how to crack a smile once in a while!
As I sipped my drink, feeling the delicious warm liquid slide down my throat, I felt a vibration in my pocket. I reached in and dug my phone out, smiling when I noticed the caller ID.
"Yes father?"
"It is so good to hear from you Charlotte.." Father chuckles. "I trust your exam went well?"
"Does it ever not?" I say, chuckling a little myself.
"That's my girl."
"Anyway, I assume your next stop is a direct flight to Duelist Kingdom? You know I have missed you dearly my child."
"Well, actually, I was considering going to China for the summer, my professor was telling me all about this exciting opportunity and you see…"
"Well, darling that does sound fabulous!" he interrupts. "But you see, you will just HAVE to return home. You see, I have a very important tournament taking place and I'd hate for you to miss it."
"A duel monsters tournament?" I say excitedly. "Surely I can participate?"
"Surely not!" he exclaims and I'm suddenly reminded of when I was a child. I still think he sees me as a little girl and not the woman I am today.
"Now, please get on a plane, I've arranged a flight and Billiard is very much aware of the details. I hope to see you soon, goodbye for now my dear." He says and I feel the contact start to break and the phone cuts off.
Suddenly, I'm transported back to the café and I find I've dropped my coffee on the table, the coffee slowly starts to slide off the ends of the table, plopping onto the floor. Like always, a whole surge of people rush over to me with napkins and cleaning wipes which they start to paw at me with, saying that they hope I am okay and the usual nonsense about how we should talk and how they have always admired me, blah, blah, blah. I leave immediately, knowing that they are all entirely fake and want an easy pass to the life of the rich and famous.
I decide for once, I'm actually going to listen to my father and I plot my return to Duelist Kingdom.
Oh how father will be glad to see me. And I thank myself that I removed the belly button piercing last night. Father would not like that.
"Ready?" Billiard said, quickly coming up beside me and falling into step with me.
"Ready!"
