Chapter 4

Cheers and shouts of support erupted across the bus, every face flushed red. A few students stood up and half-shoved the principal toward the door.

Principal Jones was shaking with anger, but when he glanced at his watch, there was less than half an hour before the first exam started. The drive to the exam hall alone was 20 minutes, and there was simply no time left to argue.

"You just wait. I'm going back to the school to reprint the tickets, and I'll have them sent to you." He forced the words out through clenched teeth, then turned and stepped off the bus.

The moment the doors closed, the bus erupted in cheers.

"We won!"

"The principal totally backed down!"

Ms. Ashby got up from the aisle, wiped her tears, and broke into a smug grin. Caelum turned and held up his admission ticket, his voice dripping with contempt. "Who even wants his boring black and white version? We're using the ones our teacher gave us. The whole class agrees."

"Yeah, that's right!"

"The pink ones are way better. What does the principal know?"

"We're the top class. Who's going to stop us from taking the exam over something this small?"

He scoffed, and his gaze drifted over to me, casual but deliberate. I didn't look at him. I just quietly touched the black and white admission ticket tucked away in my jacket pocket.

I hoped they'd keep making a scene. The bigger, the better.

The bus pulled up to the exam hall, and a woman in an official proctor's uniform stepped on board.

"Class Seven, Senior Year? I'm the exam coordinator. I'll be checking your admission tickets, and then you'll exit the bus in order and proceed inside."

Ms. Ashby rushed up to her immediately, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Hi there! Take a look at our class's tickets. Aren't they beautiful? I printed them on pink paper specially for the kids."

She grabbed the admission ticket out of Caelum's hand and held it up to the proctor's face. The proctor took it, and her brow furrowed into a deep frown.

"Admission tickets for final exams are required to be printed on white paper with black text. No modifications of any kind. This one is pink, there are stickers on it, the edge is torn, and the security watermark is barely legible."

Ms. Ashby blinked. "But miss, I put so much love into these…"

Caelum spoke up too, his tone confrontational. "We happen to like the pink ones. What, you're going to stop us from taking the exam over a color?"

The proctor looked at him coolly. "Yes. Pink admission tickets are not permitted. Let me make this perfectly clear. Pink admission tickets do not meet regulations. If you continue to disrupt exam proceedings, I will call the police."

The moment those words landed, panic swept through the bus.

The academic rep, Liam Jagger, was the first to stand, his voice trembling. "Then what are we supposed to do? Didn't you say they'd be fine as long as they were printed?"

"Yeah, Ms. Ashby, didn't you say there wouldn't be a problem?"

Ms. Ashby's face went rigid. Her eyes darted around for a moment before landing squarely on me. "Sienna! You're the class rep. Why didn't you warn me? You knew admission tickets had to be black and white. This is your fault!"

I almost laughed from sheer disbelief. "Ms. Ashby, I did warn you. More than once. Last week, when you showed us the sample printout, I told you there were specific regulations for final exam tickets. White background, black text. You know what you said?"

I mimicked her voice. "'I think pink is prettier. You young people have no sense of style.'"

The bus went quiet for a beat.

"And then on Thursday, the admin office sent Mr. Watson over specifically to tell our class that the ticket format wasn't to be altered."