“You ready?” I asked as I walked through the familiar streets of New York.

  The sky was a dim, somber, blue that felt calming yet eerily lonesome.

  The cold winter breeze made me shiver, even through the warmth of my jacket.

  The sun that usually provided comfort and inspiration was hidden away by the clouds.

  And I…wanted to go home very badly.

  “Yeah,” Tristan replied as he walked alongside me.

  It was Monday, the day of the regents exam.

  Well, actually, we had three regents exams that week.

  English, Math, and social studies.

  And I was about to do the social studies exam.

  We only had to show up on the days where we had exams which meant I got to skip two days out of the week.

  But the regents were such a pain so I wasn’t even excited for that.

  “What about you?” Tristan asked.

  ‘Nope. Not ready in the slightest.’

  I ignored my internal thoughts and spoke calmly.

  “I’m ready as I can be,” I said with a shrug.

  Soon, we approached our school building and entered inside.

  **

  “That is all. Please begin your exam,” Ms Marvel, our proctor for the exam, instructed calmly.

  I picked my pencil and flipped open to the first page of the social studies regents packet.

  I had studied a good amount and I had gotten decent rest that night, so I had reason to be optimistic.

  Still, nothing was certain. And I knew that.

  ‘Alright, let’s do this.’

  I was determined to do well on that test.

  I had to.

  **

  “You may now begin the exam,” Mrs Moriel decred.

  It was now Wednesday, and I was about to begin the English regents.

  Mrs Moriel was the proctor this time and she was a giant strictler for the rules. It would be unfortunate for anyone who tried to cheat.

  But I had never cheated on a test ever, so I had nothing to worry about.

  Well, actually I did, I had to worry about the test itself.

  ‘It shouldn’t be too hard. As long as it’s like the tests from previous years, it’ll be fine.’

  English, unlike the other exams, didn’t have as much specific lessons or information to memorize, making studying a bit more difficult.

  But the exam was also a lot simpler and more based on reading comprehension, so that was a nice reassurance.

  I slightly stretched my neck and began the test.

  ‘Round 2…fight!’

  **

  ‘Finally, the st test….’

  It was Friday, meaning I was going to take my third and final regents for that year.

  After taking two other tests that same week, I’d be lying if I said I was as motivated as before.

  However, hope wasn’t lost.

  I was going to take the math regents, which was my strongest subject out of the three as well as the one I was most confident in.

  Although that wasn't saying much, since I was never confident in anything I did.

  ‘I just gotta stay focused.’

  Compared to completing the other two tests, I no longer had the same urgency as before.

  Perhaps that was because I was sitting next to a window instead of the middle of the css like in the previous two tests.

  Regardless of that, I stayed locked in.

  “Begin your tests,” Mrs. Rivers instructed once she finished reading the rules.

  I picked up my pencil, twirled it around, gripped it tightly, and opened to the first page of my packet.

  ‘The final battle has begun!’