Chapter 72: Exams

Laila awoke early and stopped for a second as she realised that something was off. She wasn't in her own room. She stared at a green ceiling – Nick's room. She remembered that her parent's had called late at night because they at to stay in the hospital with Maes since Gracia was in labour, so Olivier and Bendix had no other choice than to stay with them. Helena and Rachel had had a calm night, so they had yelled just twice and both times, Olivier had been there to take care of them – without any complaints and so Nick had stated his honest opinion: someone who got up in the middle of the night to calm down two babies who weren't even her own would make a wonderful mother one day.

Laila smirked widely at her brother who slept peaceful next to her while their uncle slept on the floor. She sat up and saw the blue note on Nick's calendar before she groaned. Last exams for everyone: mathematic. Laila disliked the subject and at least forty percent of her homework was done by Victoria who had an unhealthy obsession with the subject. Vicky how nearly everyone called her was one of the most popular pupils of her grade and even Miss Miller who was the evil math teacher liked her – and that was quite an accomplishment since it was a known fact that Miss Miller hardly liked anything but her beloved subject. The younger girl, however, was also very smart and provided the notes of all lessons for her class mates.

Laila shook Nick who was a good student as well even though he hadn't the same level as his twin sister – on the other hand even Laila's excellent grades looked pretty sad when compared to Victoria's.

"Get up!" Victoria shouted as she passed the door. "We need to eat! The exam starts in one hour!"

Her mood was always pretty bad when they wrote a test and since the day she had missed the first ten minutes of her Cretan exam it had gotten worse. Nick and Laila had learnt to avoid her grumpiness.

"We are coming," Nick replied.

They got dressed and walked into the kitchen where Olivier was making breakfast while she somehow got the twin girls to eat their carrot mash. Bendix kissed her forehead before he took over the duty to feed Rachel and Helena while Victoria read the newspaper.

"Don't worry," Bendix said who knew their math teacher from his time as her student, "Miss Miller won't kill you. She can be nasty and her exams are hard but you should be able to do it."

"Well, I am prepared," Victoria said as she closed the newspaper. She was even paler than usual.

"Since you helped us, we shouldn't fail it either," Laila said with a little smile.

The doorbell rang and four kids entered the house after Bendix opened the door.

"Good morning everyone, hey-ho friends," Lisa Jackson said as she leaned against a kitchen counter. "Are you all prepared for our little trip to hell?"

She was a brunette girl with blue eyes from Victoria's class and a good student in history.

"I studied hard enough," Victoria shrugged.

"No surprise there," Pia Phelps smirked while she pushed back a strand of her black hair.

"What about you, Nick?" Anna Johnson from his class asked friendly.

"Sis helped us," he said before he looked at the boy who had come with the girls. "What about you, Tim? Are you ready too?"

"I am a little bit nervous to tell the truth," Tim Jackson replied. He was the oldest of their little group and Lisa's elder brother. He was in Laila's grade and very good in sports.

"Me too," Laila admitted while she hugged Rachel who clapped her chubby little hands in glee.

"Tss…" Olivier chuckled. "You survived every test so far, so don't worry, kiddos."

"Get up!" Jun Li ordered with her loud voice.

Cai yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Why should I, Jun-Jun? It's way too early…"

"Your last test is today and you will take it with your future class mates. Furthermore, you need a good result," she stated while she pulled away his covers. "Well, I made breakfast, so get up now!"

He sighed deeply as he got ready while he cursed her under his breath.

"Did you learn properly for your math exam, grandson?" Jun Yao asked while he sipped his tea.

"Yes, sir," Cai said with a polite little bow.

"I am very proud of you, grandson," the old man said while he took the plate from Jun Li who smiled.

"Thank you very much, sir. It means a lot to me."

"Call me grandfather, Cai," the old emperor said. "And I decided to escort you to school today."

"Master…" Jun Li sighed deeply. "Why?"

"My only grandson who will visit a normal school … that could be an interesting change…"

"Incorrigible…" she muttered.

"…and don't forget, Laila: first the division and the multiplication and afterwards the addition and the subtraction," Victoria said as they entered the old building. "And stay cool. The nerves are the only thing you can't predict in such a situation…"

"Yes, sis," the blonde sighed while she wished that it was all over.

"It's so pathetic that your little sister has to keep you calm before the exam," Jacqueline Weisman, biggest brat in the whole school, said. She was the daughter of Roy's idiotic cousin Alec and at least as dim-witted as her father. She was in Laila's class and terribly spoiled.

Pia hissed. "At least Laila didn't fail her Social Studies exam," she said. She had often insider knowledge since her older sister was the teacher and even though she was a calm and friendly girl, she hated Jacqueline as much as everyone else did and liked to rub her failure into her snobbish little face.

The brat paled and took a step back. "The exams weren't even checked yet!" she claimed.

"Audrey started yesterday – and I saw your test when I was in her room. You wrote just one page and you honestly think that would be enough to get a decent grade?" Pia chuckled. "Hardly."

"Girls, keep it down," Olivier ordered calmly while she rocked Rachel back and forth.

"Yuhu, Laila!"

Everyone turned around and a familiar black-haired boy tackled the blonde in a hug.

"Cai?" Nick asked as he recognised on of his best friends. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, well, I talked Ling into sending me over to Amestris to attend school here in order to learn more about your culture," the Xingese prince said. "I am staying with Jun Li and Mr Wu."

"Cai Yao!" Jun Li's sharp voice rang out as she turned around the corner. "You need to get to your test."

"Mathematic," the boy rolled his eyes. "Room 212 under the supervision of Miss Walker. Anyone else?"

Laila and Tim raised their hands and the trio took off while the remaining children made their way to room 201 where Miss Miller herself would supervise them.

Olivier smiled while she brushed back a strand of Rachel's golden hair. The twins were seven months old and their interest in their environment was huge. The Ice Queen (or better: the former Ice Queen) was a well-known person to them and they liked to toy with her long hair. "Aren't you a sweet little girl?" Olivier asked while she tickled Rachel gently. Rachel smiled a semi-toothless smirk which was already very similar to Roy's or Jade's infamous smirk (or at least was that what they both claimed).

"They are adorable," Jun Li said while the white-haired man who was nearly always around her nodded. "I mean, I saw many babies in my life but they are really, really cute." She stopped and reminded herself of her loyalty towards the Yao-clan before she corrected herself: "The emperor and the young prince were more adorable of course," she said quickly.

"How did their parents name them?" Jun Yao inquired while he tickled Helena's left foot.

"That's Rachel," Olivier said and held out one finger to the cute little girl.

"And that's Helena," Bendix added while she bawled in glee.

"Beautiful names, really," the old emperor said. "Really fitting for those beautiful girls."

"I hope that Rachel and Helena are fine," Riza muttered while she tried desperately to free herself from Maes' death grip.

"Olivier actually knows what to do," Roy calmed her down. "She used to babysit Catherine when she was younger. And Bendix is there too. I am sure that they are all fine. We should probably be worried about the older children. They write their last exam today."

"If they studied half as much as you said they did they will all pass with flying colours," Maes said while he didn't loosen the grip he had on their arms. "And honestly, there will be no problem. They are related to you, Riza, and you had always one of the highest scores when we went to school."

"I am still worried," the blonde replied. "If Victoria doesn't get her 100/100 in math today she will be upset – and I could understand it. She worked really hard for today … probably a little bit too hard."

"It's mathematic," Maria stated with a little shrug.

"That means that she will get probably more than just a 100/100," Denny agreed. "I mean … even I know that your daughter is literally obsessed with that subject. Some weeks ago, I saw her in a book store and she bought all these complicated books on that topic. I don't think that you have to worry."

"They are right," Maes agreed. "And Nick and Laila are pretty good too. I am sure that they will all get at least 95/100 as absolute result. I know that Vicky is worried because of her Cretan exam but even in the worst case she would never be under 80/100 so she will be fine."

"Nick was worried because of his Amestrian exam," Riza said with a sigh. "He fears that he will get nothing but an 85/100 because he couldn't finish it. He said the last sentence is missing."

"I would have been more than happy about an 85/100 in Amestrian," Denny admitted.

"We are telling them the same thing," Roy said. "Most people will never understand why Vicky sees a 95/100 in Cretan as a reason to study even harder for the next test but their biological parents were a little bit smarter than the average pupil in Amestris. Look at Riza, she never finished an exam with a result under 99/100 and the rest of them was nearly as good. Martin was the 'worst' and even he had always his 95/100. I am sure that Vicky will throw a fit when she isn't as good as him."

"These children are insane!" Maria announced. "For most jobs you need a 65/100 – for the military you don't even need that! I had better grades, of course, but I was never even close to my 90/100!"

"I am so excited when Elicia will take her first exam next year!" Maes announced. "She will go to the same school like Roy's and Riza's kids, so they can learn together for the next exam!"

His daughter looked at him. "Are they really so hard?" she asked.

"Not if you learn properly," her father said, "and I am sure that Nick will help you."

"I am not sure if I will allow Vicky to learn for an exam ever again," Riza sighed. "Did you see her this week? Next to her, a zombie would have looked pretty alive and healthy."

"Talking of grades, how did you do at school, Major General?" Denny asked.

"Second best of his year," Riza said as she patted Roy's head. "A stable 97/100 and never content because Maes or Kay was always one point better. It was actually very funny to see their arguments afterwards. One time, he didn't speak with Maes for a whole week because of the exams."

"You didn't visit a school in Central, right?" Maria asked.

The blonde shook her head. "We went to school in New Lanchester," she said. "The town is a little bit famous because of that school. When I still attended my lessons there, we were one of the best schools in whole Amestris. We even surpassed the Tempest High…"

"Especially in that one year when Serena got perfect 100/100," Roy nodded. "I never saw her that smug before."

"She had all reason to be smug," Maes shrugged. "She had studied more than Victoria…"

"…the atmosphere during the exams is still the same," Olivier smiled as she looked around in her old school. "I would never forget the panic and the fear radiating from the other students…"

"Sadist," Bendix said with a smirk. "Not everyone could have your grades and you know it…"

"Were you that good?" Jun Li asked while she sat down on a bench.

"She has still a cup because she was so good," the blond man chuckled. "In our last exam, she got 105/100 in mathematic and our teacher was shocked."

"Tss…" Olivier ruffled his hair before she tickled Rachel once more. "Don't act like you weren't as good as I. You had always the same grades, Benny."

Victoria's eyes were trained on the paper in front of her while her pen danced across the white plain. She knew that she was doing great so far but she was a little bit worried because of the time. She had still three tasks to do and the additional assignments. She cursed under her breath before she pinched her own tight to regain her concentration and went back to her equations. They were all easy but she was writing so terribly slow. She looked up for a second and met the arrogant gaze of her teacher. She bit her lower lip in frustration and wrote down the result of another addition.

Laila was sweating in her exam while she tried to remember what Victoria had said while they had learnt for the exam. It was a little bit embarrassing that her little sister was able to solve her problems in record time while she had to work that hard but it was hardly Laila's fault that her little sister was a mathematic-obsessed genius that could figure out even the hardest problems without a problem.

She inhaled deeply before she continued to write down her equations. If Victoria could do it, it was Laila's duty to do it too. And honestly: it was just mathematic.

Nick sat behind his sister and nearly groaned in frustration. Victoria had already reached the last assignment sheet and was getting closer and closer to the end of the exam while he was stuck with an especially tricky problem. He stared at the back of her head and wanted to be able to look right into her brain because he was sure that she had the right result.

"Crap, what do I have to do now?" he muttered under his breath. "Damn you, number 7b. Damn you!"

With shock saw he how his sister got up from her place after putting everyone neatly in order and just as she stepped back to put her chair back to her table, a little white paper landed on the floor and Nick couldn't believe his luck as he saw that it was the right solution for his problem.

Cai knew that he was lucky that he had had the chance to study for this exam with Jun Li who was pretty good in mathematic. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to finish it at all. It was the hardest exam for him so far, even harder than History or Amestrian which had been bad enough. Whoever the math teacher was, he or she was definitively more than just mad. He or she was absolutely insane.

Miss Miller raised her gaze as a pupil put down a bunch of papers next to her. "Are you sure that you are finished, Miss Hamilton?" she asked calmly. "As soon as you leave the room, you can't take it back."

The red-haired girl just smiled. "I gave my best and I hope that it was enough," she said.

"Your decision," the teacher said. "If you are really sure, you can leave now."

"I wish you nice holidays, madam," Victoria said before she left the room.

Miss Miller sighed. That girl was one of the few who actually saw the beauty in a simple number. Victoria Hamilton saw the grandeur of an equation and she could derive pleasure from an especially difficult task. Pupils like her were rare and the last ones she could remember had been Olivier Mira Armstrong and Bendix Jonathan Llewellyn.

The adults sat still on their bench when Victoria came down the stairs and Olivier looked at her. "How did it go?" she asked, remembering the strange exams of Miss Miller quite well.

"I expected something worse," the girl said as she sat down and hugged Helena. "Honestly, it was easy."

Bendix ruffled her hair. "How did Nick do?" he asked. "Or didn't you see him?"

"A little bit desperate and he had problems with one task but I … um … helped him out."

"Aren't you a good sister?" Olivier asked with a smile.

"Alright," Maes said as he tried to open the door with a trembling hand. "I am so, so sorry, Roy. Because of me did you miss Nick's and Vicky's first great exam. You will never ever forgive me!"

"It's fine, Maes," Roy sighed. "I am sure that Olivier and Bendix are happy for the experience."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

Gracia sat in her bed and looked pale and fragile but her smile was so bright that she could blind people with it. Maes forgot everything around him as he took out his camera and started to take pictures of his wife, his newborn sons and his daughter.