Chapter 1: The Final Exam

Fifteen Minutes

That was all Dhruv had left for his final paper of Class 9, which was of... Science.

His eyes moved from the clock at the front of the classroom to the last unanswered question on his Science paper. Around him, the scratching of pens continued, mixed with the occasional turning of a page and the faint squeak of a chair.

The last question on the question paper, which was “Calculate the total number of electrons present in 1.6 grams of methane gas (CH₄).”, was indeed the hardest one of them all. But not for Dhruv, as he had done that exact question the day before for practice.

But due to the pressure of the exam today, he had somehow forgotten that he himself had solved this same question just yesterday.

Just upon looking at the question, Dhruv felt a slight discomfort in his body. All the concepts which he had been learning late at night, early in the morning, and even in the school bus came flooding into his mind.

Suddenly, he started forgetting everything he had studied, including how to solve that last question, which he had literally practiced the day before.

He stared at the question paper.

He knew this.

He had done this.

But for some reason, his brain wasn’t giving him the answer.

The invigilator suddenly said, “10 minutes! Tie up your supplement sheets!”

Hearing this, Dhruv felt a drop of sweat run down his face. For the first time during this whole final exam, he actually started getting nervous.

Dhruv immediately took a long breath and tried to calm himself down. He held his gel pen tightly and started trying to remember the concepts he had learned, going through everything in his mind.

Until he finally remembered.

The moment he remembered how to solve the question, a feeling of joy, confidence, and relief burst through him.

He immediately started solving the question and writing the answer quickly, afraid that if he took too long, his overwhelming emotions would somehow make him have a “short-term memory loss” of the answer.

After solving the whole question, with 5 minutes remaining, Dhruv ended his Science exam with the final answer:

6.022 × 10²³ electrons.

The moment he finished his paper, he closed the lid of his pen and sat back, enjoying the feeling of finally completing the paper.

Then, he heard someone’s whispering.

He looked around the classroom, only to hear the familiar voice of his best friend, Rehaan Gupta.

“Psst... Dhruv!” whispered Rehaan.

Rehaan waved his hand and showed four fingers, indicating that he wanted the answer to question number 4.

Dhruv, on the other hand, had a very clear “bruh” type of emotion.

He was already exhausted from his own paper, and now his best friend was asking him to give him answers and help him cheat.

Dhruv slowly waved his index finger, clearly indicating NOPE, or No in simple language.

A desperate Rehaan, now out of options, looked back at his paper, wrote something completely random, and completed his exam out of frustration.

The time was over.

The invigilator collected all the papers from the students.

Rehaan immediately came over to have a conversation with Dhruv.

“Bro, WTH was that? You dumped me!” Rehaan said in a sad tone. “I thought we were buddies.”

Dhruv looked at him with a confused expression.

“Bro, you literally wanted me to help you cheat.”

Rehaan put his hand on his chest dramatically.

“And? We’re best friends!”

Dhruv just stared at him.

“That’s not how friendship works, Rehaan.”

Rehaan looked at Dhruv for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“Wow. I can’t believe you did this to me.”

Dhruv rolled his eyes.

“Bro, you were literally asking me for the answer in the middle of the exam.”

“Exactly! And you didn’t give it to me!”

“Because that’s called cheating.”

Rehaan sighed and looked away dramatically.

“Best friends these days...”

Dhruv laughed.

“You could’ve just studied.”

Rehaan immediately looked back at him.

“I did study!”

Dhruv raised an eyebrow.

“You studied?”

Rehaan paused.

“...A little.”

Dhruv started laughing.

“How little?”

“Enough to know that I should’ve studied more.”

Dhruv shook his head.

“You’re actually hopeless.”

Rehaan picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder.

“Whatever. Let’s just hope I passed.”

“You’ll pass.”

Rehaan looked at him.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Rehaan gave him a small smile.

“See? That’s the kind of support I wanted during the exam.”

Dhruv laughed and shook his head.

By then, the classroom was slowly getting empty. Students were leaving in groups, talking about the exam, comparing answers and complaining about the questions they found difficult.

Dhruv and Rehaan finally picked up their bags and walked out of the classroom.

As they stepped through the school gates, Rehaan stretched his arms above his head.

“Finally. Freedom.”

Dhruv adjusted his bag on his shoulder.

“Until the results.”

Rehaan immediately dropped his arms.

“Bro, you had to ruin it.”

Dhruv laughed.

The two of them started walking towards Old Delhi, where both of their homes were located. Their houses weren’t far from the school either, just around five to ten minutes away on foot.

The afternoon streets were already busy. Cars and rickshaws moved along the road, people crossed between them, and the sounds of horns mixed with conversations coming from the nearby shops. The smell of street food drifted through the air as they walked past small stalls and crowded corners.

Rehaan was casually looking around while walking, his hands now in his pockets.

Then he suddenly glanced towards the road.

A girl on a scooty passed by them.

Rehaan’s eyes followed her for a second before he quietly nudged Dhruv with his elbow.

“Bro...”

Dhruv looked at him.

“What?”

Rehaan gave a small smile.

“She’s kinda pretty.”

Dhruv looked towards the road and then back at Rehaan.

“That’s what you stopped me for?”

Rehaan shrugged.

“I was just saying.”

Dhruv continued walking.

“You notice every girl.”

Rehaan quickly caught up with him.

“No, I don’t.”

Dhruv gave him a look.

Rehaan thought for a moment.

“...Okay, maybe I do.”

Dhruv laughed.

“At least you’re honest.”

Rehaan grinned and bumped his shoulder lightly against Dhruv’s.

“What? You can’t blame me for having eyes.”

Dhruv shook his head, smiling.

The two continued walking towards Old Delhi, their conversation moving from the exam to their results, and then somehow to completely random things within a few minutes.

The final exam was finally over.

For the next few weeks, there was nothing left to do except wait for the results and enjoy the holidays.

A few weeks later, the results day had finally arrived.

Dhruv and Rehaan were standing in front of the school notice board, surrounded by many other students who were trying to find their names and check their results.

Dhruv slowly started looking for his name.

His eyes moved from one name to another.

He wasn’t nervous.

At least, that’s what he told himself.

He knew he had studied hard throughout the year, but seeing the actual result was different.

His eyes continued moving down the list.

And then he stopped.

He found his name.

Dhruv Sharma

For a few seconds, he didn’t look at the marks.

He first looked at the subject-wise marks.

English - 98

Hindi - 97

Mathematics - 99

Science - 98

Social Science - 98

Dhruv’s eyes widened.

He quickly looked at the total.

And then at the percentage.

98%

For a moment, Dhruv didn’t say anything.

He had scored the highest percentage in the entire class.

“Bro...” Rehaan said from beside him.

Dhruv turned towards him.

“What?”

Rehaan looked at Dhruv’s result and then looked at him.

“98%?”

Dhruv gave a small smile.

“Yeah.”

“Bro, you’re actually a machine.”

Dhruv laughed.

Rehaan then looked at his own result.

His expression immediately changed.

Dhruv noticed it.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“How much did you get?”

“Don’t ask.”

Dhruv laughed.

“Just tell me.”

Rehaan sighed and finally showed him his result.

Dhruv looked at it.

“At least you passed.”

“Obviously I passed!”

“Then why are you acting like you failed?”

“Because you got 98%!”

Dhruv started laughing.

“Bro, that’s your problem.”

“Yeah, yeah. Mr. 98%.”

Dhruv shook his head and looked back at the notice board.

Class 9 was officially over.

Afterwards, Dhruv reached home and showed his result to his parents.

His mother, Kavita Sharma, looked at the percentage and smiled.

“98%? That’s amazing, Dhruv!”

His father, Manoj Sharma, looked at the result too and nodded proudly.

“Highest in the class. Very good, son.”

Dhruv smiled.

“Thanks.”

Kavita gave him a small hug.

“You worked hard for this.”

Dhruv nodded, but his eyes went back to the result sheet.

Manoj noticed.

“What happened?”

Dhruv hesitated for a moment.

“Nothing... I just feel like I could’ve scored a little more.”

Kavita looked at him.

“Dhruv, 98% is already excellent.”

“I know.”

He smiled slightly.

“I just keep thinking about the marks I lost.”

Manoj chuckled.

“That’s just how you are.”

Dhruv looked at him.

“How?”

“You get 98 and start thinking about 99.”

Dhruv smiled awkwardly.

Kavita shook her head.

“Just don’t forget to enjoy what you’ve achieved.”

Dhruv nodded.

He knew they were right.

Still, somewhere in his mind, he was already thinking about how he could do better next year.

He accepted his marks this year, but took them as a challenge to score 99% for sure next academic year.

The summer vacation went by faster than Dhruv had expected. He read many books such as IT by Stephen King, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Hidden Hindu trilogy by Akshat Gupta, and many more. He also went through the books of Class 10, learning a little bit about this year’s syllabus.

And before he knew it, the first day of Class 10 had arrived.

Dhruv entered the classroom with his bag on his shoulder and saw Rehaan already sitting inside.

“Bro!” Rehaan called him.

Dhruv walked towards him.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just surviving.”

Dhruv laughed and sat down.

Slowly, all the other students started entering the classroom.

Everyone was talking about their holidays, their new books, their teachers and how difficult Class 10 was supposedly going to be.

Dhruv was just listening to everyone when suddenly, the new class teacher Ms. Deepika Mishra entered.

The entire classroom became quiet.

“Good morning, everyone.”