Back stage, the girls were all having a non-alcoholic toast to their success.
"To our success" Bloom said as everyone, including the boys clinked their glasses and sipped.
Flora didn't take a sip, her mind wondered off.
"Flora, are you ok?" Tecna asked and she held Timmy's hand.
"What?" Flora asked coming back into reality.
"Are you ok?" Tecna repeated herself.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind right now."
"Like what?" Musa asked with Riven's arm over her shoulders.
"Helia" Flora answered a little embarrassed to admit.
"Him again?" Stella began. "Darling, forget about him, he's a jerk that broke your heart"
"And over the phone" Layla added.
"Yes thank you, and over the phone Flora" Stella corrected.
The boys all looked at each other like they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Yeah, I guess you're right, but, why does he keep coming to our performances if he broke up with me" Flora wondered.
"That's a very good question" Tecna said.
"It sounds suspicious to me" Bloom said.
The boys still didn't say anything, they all showed like they were worried about something.
"What do you guys think?" Layla asked the boys.
"Ah, well" Sky began. "It's not really any of our business."
"But you are the ones who arrive with Helia" Flora said.
"Yes well" Riven began.
The girls all looked at the guys very suspiciously. Musa stared into Riven's eyes to see if he was hiding something.
"You guys are hiding something" Musa said.
"What?" Brandon said acting like it wasn't true. "What are you talking about?"
"She's right, you guys haven't said one word all night, actually you guys never say anything when the mention of Helia comes up" Stella said.
"Tell us what you're hiding" Bloom demanded.
"Nothing" Nabu said.
"You guys are lying, stop lying to us" Layla said.
Just as tensions were begging to rise, there was a knock on the door. Everyone went silent as Bloom opened the door.
A boy was standing by the door holding a bouquet of flowers, roses to be exact.
"A delivery for a Miss Flora" the man said.
Flora went up to him and took the flowers as Bloom signed the delivery forms.
"Thanks" Bloom said as the man left and she closed the door behind him.
"Who are they from?" Musa asked.
"I'm not sure" Flora answered, lying through her teeth, she knew exactly who they were from.
"Is there a card?" Layla asked.
Flora looked through the bouquet and found a small card.
"Yeah, but it doesn't have a name on it" Flora answered opening the small envelope.
"Read it out then" Stella said waiting to hear what it says.
Flora pulled out the card and began reading it out loud.
"7 seconds pass and I still hear your voice,
7 minutes pass and I still long for you,
7 hours pass and I still ache for you,
7 days pass and still wish to see your face,
7 months pass and I would wish to be with you,
7 years pass and I still love you,
My 7 things, to hear you, long for you, ache for you, to see you, to be with you, to love you
My 7 things count less than my wish to be together still"
The room was silent as Flora finished reading the card. It was a beautiful card, it was a poem.
"Wow" was all anyone could say.
"Roses and a poem, big day for you" Stella joked trying to break the silence.
A tear streamed down Flora's face. She knew it was from Helia and she didn't understand why it was from him. He was the one who ended it, he was the one who still sees her, gives her flowers and sends her poems. Was he just trying to play with her mind.
"It's from Helia, isn't it?" Flora asked the boys.
The boys didn't answer, they didn't even know that Helia would be sending her flowers, Saladine would eventually find out and send him away.
"It is isn't it?" Flora repeated. The boys turned their heads away.
"What is that guy playing at!" Flora yelled, tears started pouring down her face.
"What do you mean Flora?" Timmy asked confused.
"First he loves me, then he breaks up with me, then he comes to watch me perform, then sends me flowers with love poems on them!" Flora screamed at the end, her face red and tear stained.
"Is he just playing with me? Messing with my head for games, what is he bored at Red Fountain so he wants to play a game on Flora?"
"No, I don't" Sky began.
"You don't think" Flora yelled.
"Hey come on Flora" Bloom said getting a little defensive.
"No Bloom!" Flora yelled back at her. "You have no idea how hard this is, I still love him and he is making it harder everyday with all the cards and flowers and appearances. What are broken up or are we back together? Does he still love me or is this just a game? I have had with all the games. He can go fall in love with another girl for all I care" Flora raged as she stormed out of the girls' backstage room.
There was an awkward silence in the room. No one dared to speak for a couple of minutes.
"That was intense" Layla said breaking the ice.
"What should we do?" Tecna asked.
"Why don't you girls go and follow Flora, make sure that she's alright and doesn't do anything stupid now that she's upset while we stay here and back up the instruments and stuff" Timmy suggested.
"Alright" Bloom answered as they all kissed their boyfriends goodbye and went after Flora.
When they left, the guys all looked at each other.
"What do we do now?" Riven asked.
"Maybe we should tell Helia that what he's doing is making the situation worse" Nabu suggested.
"Yeah, good idea" Brandon said as he packed up the instruments with the boys and left for Red Fountain.
At Red Fountain, Helia was studying for his theory exam with Saladine in the morning.
The guys walked in and immediately disturbed Helia.
"Guys, do you mind? I'm trying to study" Helia said still reading his text book.
The guys were about to walk up to him when Timmy stopped them.
"Wait, hold on you guys, do you think that this really is a good idea?" Timmy whispered.
"What do you mean?" Sky whispered back.
"I mean, even with the flowers and cards he's been sending Flora, he isn't keeping his mind on it. If we tell him what's been happening and how it's affecting Flora emotionally, he might get side tracked with that and stop studying for his exam tomorrow morning."
The guys thought about that for a minute.
"He's right" Nabu said.
"Then, what do we do? Try to convince Flora that Helia is just trying to be nice, not playing games?" Riven said sarcastically.
"That's a great idea Riven" Sky said happily.
"I was kidding" Riven said seriously
"I'm not" Sky replied.
"You're joking right?" Brandon began. "That is going to take a lot of time, and how on earth are we supposed to accomplish that?"
"Don't know, but we have to try, come on, they are our friends and Helia wants to be with Flora after his exams, and we all know that Flora still wants to be with Helia" Sky convinced them.
"Fine, he's right" Riven said caving in.
"Agreed" Timmy added. "We'll start preparations tomorrow then."
The boys all nodded their heads as they left Helia alone to study.
Back at the Alfea dorms, Flora was in her bedroom sitting at her desk. The girls all walked in to find that all the pictures of her and Helia, and solo pictures of Helia were all in a box.
"Flora?" Stella asked cautiously. "What are you doing?"
"Getting rid of the photos of Helia in them" Flora answered not looking at them, she kept her mind on the task that she was writing.
"What are you writing?" Musa asked
"Another song" Flora answered, still not turning her head.
"Don't you think you should get some sleep? It's past 2 in the morning Flora" Bloom suggested.
"No, I'm fine".
"Flora, please stop what you're doing and get some sleep. You will be useless for classes tomorrow, our whole lives aren't about this silly music competition, I mean, sure we are undefeated and haven't been voted out yet, but stop this and get some sleep and keep your mind off of Helia and the contest" Layla said worriedly.
Flora stopped writing and turned to face them. "Fine, I'll get some sleep" she answered relaxed and calm as she spelled herself to change into her pjs and climbed into bed.
The girls smiled as Bloom tucked Flora in. The girls were by the door waiting for Bloom.
"Night girls" Flora said relaxed.
"Night" they all answered as Bloom turned off the lights, and closed the door leaving Flora to fall asleep as a tear rolled down her cheek and she fell asleep.
That morning, Helia was in a private classroom taking his exam. The questions were really hard. If Helia gets more than 90% correct on this exam, he would pass. The guys were waiting outside and sometimes, they would peep into the door window for a quick second.
The Exam Paper
Which of the following would be best for you to do first in this situation?
(A) Ask your supervisor to clarify his order.
(B) Refuse to comply with the order because you believe that it is unethical and illegal.
(C) Comply with the order because your field-training officer has more experience than you do.
(D) Comply with the order but speak with your field-training officer's immediate supervisor after the incident.
Battle strategy chapter 9: When being pursed behind enemy lines, what are the three rules to follow?
(A) 1) Attack the weakest enemy 2) Look for means to escape 3) Hesitate before taking action
(B) 1) Don't panic 2) Constantly look for means to escape 3) Take the first course of action that comes into you head
(C) 1) Surrender to the enemy so that they can take you to their leader 2) Drop weapons to show that you aren't a threat 3) Attack the leader 4) Look for means to escape
(D) 1) Don't panic 2) Hesitate to look for means to escape 3) Take action
True or False: The element of surprise is always to your advantage in a fight or battle.
True False
What is the best time of day to attack?
(A) Lunch time
(B) In the afternoon
(C) After dinner
(D) Just before dawn
If you are in the jungle with only a knife and no other Red Fountain weapons, what would you do to defend yourself?
In the exam, there were 30 questions; most were multiple choice questions with a few true or false questions and written response questions. At the end of the exam, Helia has to write a 400 word essay about the tactics he would use and order is army in a battle situation, which he is given. The essay counts for 75% of his overall exam mark, if he fails that essay, he fails that exam.
Helia was starting to get stressed. He had 20 minutes left and had one question before he had to write his essay.
The boys outside were watching the clock, they could see that Helia wasn't up to the essay.
"Oh man, looks like he's going to fail" Riven said bumming everyone out.
"Don't say that Riven, Helia can make it" Sky said optimistically.
"By my calculations, Helia won't have time to check over his answers if he rushes through his essay" Timmy said logically.
"Timmy, not helping" Brandon said annoyed.
10 minutes until Helia has to stop. He was up to 200 words. Helia has to write another 200 words in 10 minutes, but Helia is having trouble thinking of other tactics he would order.
The guys were watching and waiting. Sky started to pace back and forth.
"Dude, relax, you're starting to make me dizzy" Riven said sitting on one of the seats outside the room.
"He might fail" Sky said.
"If he does then he has the last exam to fall back on, no big deal" Brandon said.
"That's too much pressure for him" Nabu said.
"Well, he was the one who cut classes" Riven mocked.
Sky took another look through the glass window of the door and looked at the clock.
"Oh no" he said worriedly.
"What now?" Riven whined.
"Helia has 5 minutes left, and by the looks of it, he is still writing his essay" Sky answered
"He won't be able to finish in time" Timmy announced.
"Thanks for the comfort captain brainiac" Riven said sarcastically. "It's too early for your logic, it's 7 in the morning."
In the classroom Saladine looked at the clock. "You have 5 minutes Helia, then pencils down."
Helia started to really panic now. He just need another 50 words, he can't go under the minimum word limit, he would lose marks, but on the other hand he needs time to check his answers. He would only lose 2 points of his mark if he is 50 words under the limit where as he would lose 3 marks for every question he gets wrong. Helia made an executive decision and stopped writing the essay at 360 words, leaving him just 40 words under the limit, taking away only 1 point, with 3 minutes to quickly check his answers.
Helia quickly checked as many questions as he can.
"Time's up Helia" Saladine said just as Helia was about to check question 15.
Saladine took his paper as Helia stood up and left the classroom.
"How did it go?" Nabu asked as everyone stood up from their seats.
"It was seriously hard, I had to leave the essay at 360 words so I could check my answers" Helia said.
"Why did you do that?" Sky wondered.
"40 words under the limit would take away only 1 point, whereas I would lose 3 marks for every question I get wrong."
"That makes sense" Brandon said nodding his head.
"You think you went well?" Timmy asked.
"I hope so, or there will be so much pressure on me for the last exam" Helia answered worried.
