When Time Doesn’t Exist

Chapter 21

It was the middle of class and the teacher was not looking. Benji’s mind is wandering around because he is already done answering the test while Enjo is still busy writing down his answers on the screen which is attached to the table. They were wearing glasses to protect their eyes from blue-light. The seat of Enjo is a little bit far from Benji because he is seated at the front row while Benji is seated at the corner near the windows.

Benji still didn’t know how Enjo attended the class without Lyn but he doesn’t care anymore. Even though he wanted to focus on other topics, he couldn’t help himself to be curious about her because she is his friend after all. When he was bored looking outside, he looked around the classroom and he observed his classmates. Everyone’s heads are down and they are looking at the bright screen of the tablet.

“Am I missing something?” he asked himself when he noticed that his classmates took so long to finish the test.

He double checked his answers because even Enjo was still not finished yet. Benji knows that his brother has much higher IQ and has much more knowledge than him so he is nervous because he thought that he is not doing it right. He looked at his brother once again but he noticed that his head is still looking down which means that Enjo is not yet finished after he scanned his answers.

After scanning and double checking his answers, he once again looked at his brother who is still writing so he didn’t mind checking his answers again for the ninth time. When Benji got bored again, he looked at his classmates and he noticed that more and more of them are done answering now. Only his brother, and some students on his opposite side are still looking down. Benji looked at the student that was sitting on the right side behind Enjo. He noticed that the girl sitting on the right side of him is not looking down to answer the test but she is also not sitting straight. She seemed like she was looking at Enjo’s tablet.

“Four more minutes,” said their teacher.

As soon as their teacher looked up to tell the minutes left for answering their test, the girl looked down and Benji noticed it so he observed her. She is clearly cheating but Benji doesn’t know if he should tell Enjo or their teacher about it.

When Enjo closed his tablet and he sat straight, the girl was also done after a few seconds. That was the moment that convinced Benji his classmate is cheating and copying his brother’s answers. However, he is now going to tell it to their teacher because he wants to grab more evidence. His plan is to wait for the day when the scores are going to be announced. If their scores are the same or close to each other, then Benji will check if they have the same answers. The questions in the tests are opinionated so it would be easy to know if the girl really copied Enjo’s ideas or not.

“It is already 8:45 am,” their teacher said. “Click the submit button. I will close the submission after two or three minutes.”

They all passed the tests on time. As soon as their teacher announced that it was already their break time, they stood up and they left their glasses on top of their table. Benji quickly ran to Enjo to go to the canteen together.

“What took you so long to answer the test?” asked Benji while they were walking in the hallway to the canteen.

“The essay and problem solving part,” said Enjo simply as he fixed his coat and collar.

The time for Benji suddenly stopped when he heard his answer. He did not know that there is a problem solving part in the test. While Enjo was walking, he noticed that Benji stopped so he looked at him. Benji’s face looked shocked and he was standing in the hallway with his eyes wide open like he realized something unusual while Enjo was looking at him with his furrowed eyebrows.

“There is a problem solving part?” asked Benji calmly, trying his best to be calm.

“Yeah, I guess,” answered Enjo as he started to walk, leaving him shocked in the middle of the hallway.

His eyes were still wide open when he also started to follow Enjo. He tries his best not to let a tear fall down on his cheeks. He is also convincing himself that it is alright and he will just try his best again next time. Benji really thought that he finished the test faster than him because he studied yesterday. He was mad at himself and he couldn’t help but blame himself because he already checked his test but he did not notice the problem solving part.

“It seems like you don’t care about her anymore,” said Enjo to open up the topic about her because he was curious that Benji is not asking about her.

“Why would I?” he asked as he put down the tray.

“She is your friend after all,” answered Enjo while wiping the spoon and fork.

No one bothered to continue the topic after he said that. They both ate their morning breakfast quietly. Benji planned that he will not tell him about the girl who cheated and copied his answers because now is not the right time. Even though a few months have passed, he still doesn’t know the name of the girl and it seems like it was Benji’s first time seeing her because he is not paying attention to his classmates.

“I have to go home before lunch,” said Enjo as he stood up while carrying his tray.

“Why so early?” asked Benji as he also stood up and followed him.

“Just tell the teacher that I have something important to attend to,” he simply answered.

There are a lot of thoughts that are clouding Benji’s mind now. He feels like Enjo is just lying and he is not really going to attend to something important. Benji thinks that he would probably meet Lyn so he will also not attend their third class to follow Enjo.