The Unwitting Guardian Ch. 05A

"What is is Gramps?" Ryna asked, also becoming serious.

"The Board meeting earlier was to determine your grade for the Admissions Test. As you are a special case, we couldn't leave it to the regular grading committee. We couldn't find anything wrong with your performance: you beat the time record by over 2 hours, you weren't seriously injured, you had a higher difficulty level, and you weren't even seriously injured at the end. At the end of the meeting, the only grade we could give you was a perfect 1000\1000," he said, looking both impressed and defeated at the same time.

"A perfect score, huh. No way, I don't deserve that. Take off 4 points," Ryna demanded.

"Why in the world would you want to take off 4 points? Not only does this make you the Student Body President, it makes you the highest scoring participant in that test ever!" Iures explained, confused at Ryna's demand.

"That is good and all, but Sensara is the Student Body President. I don't want to take it away from her, and I really don't think that I am qualified to hold the position anyway. So take the 4 points off," Ryna demanded again.

"Hmmm... I see your point. Well, since I am in the habit of bending rules anyway, how about this: In the official records, it goes down as a perfect score. However, in the Lists that will be distributed over the next week, it will be a 996, which prevents you from being the Student Body President," Iures said, compromising.

"Sure, but, what are the lists?" Ryna asked.

"The lists are Van-cademy's student Ranking System," Iures stated simply.

"Ok, that works for me, see ya' round, Gramps," Ryna said, turning to leave.

"Ryna, one more thing," Iures called out.

"Yeah, wassup?" Ryna asked, looking over his shoulder at the old man.

"Don't tell Sensara that you got a perfect score please. She will fry both our asses if she finds out," Iures said, looking very concerned.

"You got it pops, not a word about it to Sensara," Ryna said, yawning. He ambled his way back through the office, and got back to the elevators. Opening the one he had come up in, he was surprised to see Sensara standing in the elevator.

"Hey darling," Sensara said, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the elevator, then pressing the button to return to the ground floor.

"Oh, Sensara, I didn't think that you waited for me," Ryna said, genuinely surprised.

"I didn't want to leave you alone here with Grandfather. When I left he was very angry at you, and I didn't want anything to happen, so I stayed in the elevator," Sensara lied. She shifted uneasily, obviously giving her away.

"That may have saved my life," Ryna joked, playing along, "What's wrong, are you cold?" he asked, pulling her into a hug. She continued to fidget in his arms until she was saved by the elevator door opening to the lobby. Ryna released her, allowing her to get out ahead of him. They walked the rest of the way back to the dorms silently, Ryna following behind her just close enough to make sure he was going the right way, but still giving her space.

It was dark outside when they got back to their room, and Ryna was tired from everything that had happened that day, and didn't really take in the room's layout. He swiftly got ready for bed, realizing quickly that Sensara had placed all of his toiletries and clothes in the exact same places he would have put them.

"Well, that is a little creepy," Ryna remarked to himself before laughing. When he was done, he crawled into bed. He heard Sensara finish preparing for bed a couple minutes later, and felt the sheets and blanket rise up as she crawled into the bed next to him. She continued to fidget for a while, prompting Ryna to turn to face her, and pull her close to his chest.

"Ryna, I'm sorry," she said without preamble.

"And why is that?" he asked sleepily.

"For lying to you," she explained.

"Don't worry about it, it isn't a big deal," Ryna soothed.

"You don't even know what I lied about yet!" she exclaimed.

"You aren't good at keeping secrets. You've been fidgeting since the elevator at Gramps' office. And since the only thing you said to me was that you waited in the elevator, I'm going to guess that you lied about that," Ryna said, stroking her hair.

"It sucks to have a perceptive boyfriend; I can't get away with anything. You're right, I didn't wait in the elevator. I hid in the bathroom and listened to your conversation. I know all of it: that you're a Diuwel, that you took a harder version of the courier mission, that you aced it, and that you sacrificed points to be lower on the Lists than me, so I could stay as the Student Body President," Sensara explained, calmer now that she wasn't trying to cover up her lie.

"Uh-oh, you weren't supposed to hear that last part. Please don't be mad," Ryna pleaded, pulling her closer and moving his hand from stroking her hair to her spine.

"Why would I be mad at you? I think that is incredibly romantic that you were willing to give up a perfect score just so I could still be Student Body President. I gotta say, I feel much better now that I told you all that," Sensara purred, arching her back in response to his touch.

"Alright, well, goodnight," Ryna whispered, feeling her breathing slow as she dozed off. Soon, he too was asleep.