The first arrival of first-year students was never noisy, on the contrary, the students were afraid to do something wrong, so that later they would not go to the group for expulsion. All of them were undoubtedly happy that they could be here, but it was the realization of this that provoked the question: "What will happen next?" 

 Then it will be much more difficult. The system of education in this school was built on the principle of competition. Constantly someone was deducted and therefore, only a few traveled to the senior class. 

If the student could still study at this school for at least a year - he was already becoming a significant figure in society. However, if the student was eliminated at the earliest stages, then in the future nothing was expected of him. The weather was familiar to the highlands: foggy and rather cool.

In spite of the fact that the last month of summer was outside, people had to throw something on top of themselves in order not to freeze. Morning - it's time to start a new day. However, in the hostels, with rare exceptions, it was quiet. 

In this painful and at the same time blissful silence. If one listens, one could hear human voices coming from time to time from the rooms. One of the larks who did not sleep at this time was Vlad, who had traded sleep for a cold shower.

Just imagine: cold streams of water, flowing down the body just awakened, heated from the stuffiness in the room. Vlad had no belongings with him - all the luggage had to be delivered the next day. And therefore, turning into a towel only, the brunet left the shower and went to his room. 

"Yan, wake up," he heard a familiar female voice behind the door. A strange voice did not bother him at all, because he was still in his room.

Therefore, the guy, jerking the iron handle, pushed the wooden door forward. The creaking of the loops and the trampling of men's legs forced the girl sitting on the nightstand next to the bed of the new neighbor Vlad to turn around. The dark-haired girl thoughtfully focused her attention on Vlad's face, after which she looked down slightly and looked into his eyes again. 

"And here you are?", the girl did not look embarrassed or at least a little confused. She rather stated a fact. 

 "I live here," Vlad calmly nodded, just not greatly surprised at the appearance of this girl in his dwelling. 

Generally, when he first realized that Jan was his neighbor, he immediately realized that from now on they would often meet with a grumpy sister: "My name is Vlad." 

 "Yana," the girl turned away and continued the process. Clutching at her brother's blanket, she abruptly lifted him up.

 "Get up," she said, trying to wake Yang, "I learned that the next test begins in an hour, and if you don't get up, you will go home!" 

 "If you hint that I can go there without you," Yana's eyes opened and slipped off her sister's face and switched to Vlad, "I agree," the black-haired boy smiled and winked at Vlad, apologizing for his younger one. 

"Very funny," answered Yana sarcastically, narrowing her eyes. The girl released the blanket from her hand and it slowly fell on her brother's half-naked body. It was necessary to say that Vlad and Yang were in good physical shape. So good that some schoolchildren of their age could only dream of it.

 "But I'm serious. I looked at the schedule of past years. Now there will be a rise, breakfast, then a ruler. If you are at least somewhere late, your rating will suffer."

"What is the rating?", asked Vlad, bypassing the bed of Yana. "The rules don't say anything about that." "They are not idiots to talk about it directly," the girl rolled her eyes.

Not knowing her a single full day, Vlad was already able to point out that when Yana was angry she squinted with displeasure, and when she did not want to explain something, she rolled her eyes. - If you don't know about it, the probability that you will be expelled will increase. The school just needs it.

 "Once again, from the very beginning", Jan sleepily rose, taking a sitting position. The blanket rolled off his chest, remaining only a small part of his groin. "What is another rating?"

The girl pursed her lips in displeasure. Jumping off the nightstand, she confidently crossed the room and, going up to the writing desk on which Jan's backpack lay, unzipped it and took out a laptop from there.

 "This school has its own evaluation criteria," Yana returned to her brother's bed and, climbing on it, sat in the lotus position. "All tests are evaluated on a 100 point scale, but this is not what decides the student is so important," opening the laptop, the girl began to drive some information into it. "The main criterion for the importance of the student for the school is the rating. The rating is made up of points for tests, general grades, victories at olympiads and events, extracurricular activities, namely participation in clubs", the girl quickly turned the laptop over to the guys, showing a small outline.

"Also, points for inappropriate behavior, poor fitness, tardiness and disciplinary offenses can be removed from the rating." 

"Wait, for poor physical form?" Vlad asked in surprise. 

The girl nodded.

"You can even lower the rating for the disease, but now it is not important," the girl pointed at the screen.

It was a black and white chart.

 "Last year, even before the first day of school, thirty people were expelled. Ten of them were late and they were simply not allowed into the territory, and the rest did not fulfill the requirements of the first exam."

  "I don't know," the girl shook her head. 

There is no information about this even in the school database. Vlad frowned slightly. He also tried to find a database of the school or some information about it, but it was all classified. From this it was possible to conclude that Yana got this information in not entirely legal ways.

Going to his bed, Vlad calmly took off her dry school uniform.

"Clearly, it means that we are now at risk," he muttered out loud. "Not such a risk," Yana said tiredly, yawning. It seems that after these words, Yan still woke up. Eyes widening, he turned confidently to his sister.

 "What do we do?"

 "First, let's try not to be late for the line," she slowly closed the laptop. "And then we will look at the situation. This little director's son... Son?"  broke off Yan. 

 "Yesterday's playboy," Yana squinted again, showing her dislike, "Stephen is the son of the director of this school, the best student and president of the student council. Vlad thoughtfully froze. 

His gaze rushed off into the distance, while thoughts tried to resurrect the passages of yesterday. 

"Then it is clear why he met us exactly." 

"General," Yana quickly got out of bed, looking at her brother. 

"Wash your face and go down to the first floor, and you," the woman's gaze fell on half-naked Vlad, who was about to throw off a wet towel, "at least put on your clothes if you don't want to fly out the first day."

It took several hours.

***

At this time, behind the scenes in the assembly hall stood two guys.

"Look," the redhead stretched out, looking around the backstage of new students in the assembly hall, "this year the first year is taller than me." 

"All above you, do not worry", the fair-haired guy standing beside slyly smiled. 

 He was tall, handsome and quite sociable. His blue, as if violet, eyes were running around the hall, handing out an assessment to each student that entered the room. 

 "You go," said the red-haired Scot. Although he understood that the words of his friend were true, he did not want to recognize his true height, because he was only 168 centimeters in length. Still, after listening to the advice of his sister, Yan went downstairs.

It was not his plan to fly out on the first day, and the fact that this could happen could be quite likely, judging by the students who remained behind the gates of this school. The corridors were filled with first years of all nationalities and cultures, because the main feature of this school was that it was international. 

True, there were some nuances here. One country could send only two of its representatives to this school.

New representatives were selected only when the old ones finished school or, in the event that someone was expelled, then when they should theoretically have finished school. That is why all students set themselves a goal - to finish their studies. Otherwise, they were a threat to the interests of their own country.

"Yana is your younger sister?" Vlad was the first to break the silence. 

The guys went down the stairs. At the same time, a girl quickly ran behind them. Pausing, Ian let her go forward.

"Yes, we are twins."

"Twins?" Vlad was surprised. 

 "Exactly." 

 Having a little talk, the guys approached the assembly hall. 

At the entrance they were met by two strangers who seemed more mature and more confident in this tense atmosphere. It was not difficult to guess that these two guys were second years or even third years.

 Seeing them, Yan and Vlad mentally asked themselves: "Why are these guys here needed?" The presence of elders raised doubts not only in Vlad and Yang, but also in the other students. 

 What have they forgotten here? After all, the second year and the third year of the year should have returned no earlier than for the dinner of that day. At first, the first years were always settled, and then all the others. A dark-skinned girl entered the room of the spacious assembly hall. 

Confident gait, light grace and austere look. This girl could attract attention without saying a word. She had long black hair, woven into a braid and going down to the waist. From the slightly elongated nose and clear contours of the face one could say without any doubt that she was an Indian.

Her brown eyes, hidden under the round glasses, ran quickly through the room, as if searching for someone in the crowd.

"Punctuality is above all," she said coldly, and, stretching her arm upward, abruptly waved at her.

This sign was a gesture to guard. As soon as the girl did this, the doors of the assembly hall were closed, however, this time there were no latecomers.

After seeing the hall with his eyes, Vlad noted a slight nervousness and, at the same time, the enthusiasm of the crowd. It seems he was not the only one who understood what would happen next.

"Look, look, it is she!" in the crowd began to sound extraneous voices. The first years tried to suppress their delight, looking at the stranger who entered. Not only girls, but now even the boys began to whisper and praise her.

"She is a member of the council!"

 "The most beautiful girl in graduation class. She is really amazing."

 "You heard? They say she is a genius from the Faculty of Science."

 Meanwhile, as if unaware of all this, the girl proudly went forward. Seeing this, the crowd mechanically began to part with it, opening the way to the stage on which Stefan was already standing.

Looking at the dark-haired girlfriend that was with him from the very first year of study, Stefan smiled. In principle, he smiled at all the girls that he met on his way, and therefore this was not a special sign.

Rising to the scene, the Indian became one with the president of the student council. As soon as she stopped, two more came out from the wings. It was a red-haired Scotsman and a fair-haired Brit. When these two appeared, the girls in the hall began to squeak.

No wonder, because in this school the members of the Student Council were almost like pop stars. They listened to them, they were respected, they were always smarter, stronger and better than others.

The advantage of the student council was unlimited rights and access to all experimental samples, which allowed them to be called "rulers of the school." The rating of those who were in the student council was always higher than the others, and they received numerous advantages for their work for the benefit of the school. 

 Everyone wanted to be in their place, but not everyone could. Stefan smiled at the crowd as he walked up to the bar with a microphone. "We welcome all participants on the solemn ruler in honor of the receipt!" 

The hall was filled with applause and joyful screams. The assembly hall was divided into three rows, and each row belonged to one of the courses. However, due to the fact that there were only first years here, only one row was occupied. 

 "A little about the rules," continued the president. "Your task is not to fly. Rating is your everything, it is on it that the place in school is based, the attitude of teachers and students towards you, and also the attitude of professionals towards you as a person. The rating consists not only of the test scores, it also includes club activities, appearance, behavior and much more."

 Each of the audience looked at the students standing on the stage. Without looking away, each of the first years remembered the words of Stephen, scrolling through his head all the possible options for raising the rating.

 So, having learned more about some banal rules of the school, which said three times about punctuality, two times about prestige and only once about what not to do, the students heard some very intriguing news.

"And now the floor to the Council," the guy smiled, and you know, there was a certain charm in his smile, a charisma that made people listen to him. Four guys came on the scene. A short, red-haired Irishman, a friendly, but slightly arrogant, blond-haired Brit, a stately, courageous German and a beautiful dark-skinned Indian woman. 

The members of the student council began to introduce themselves and take turns speaking with a short welcoming speech. So, all those present learned that Anita Neelam is a beautiful Indian woman who sets an example to all the girls in the school (although this conclusion was made by the students themselves). Martin Schwartzman is a German, the head of all sports clubs, the captain of a football team that has not lost in its history. Theo Lynch is a long-haired Briton, the best student of the scientific stream. Luc Francis - a beautiful and outstanding red-haired Irishman, the head of all creative clubs, always relieves the situation.

"You never know what to do better. Life forces us to make strange, and sometimes cruel decisions," the red-haired guy chuckled softly, softly... Observing the members of the Student Council and, in particular, this red-haired guy, Vlad noted that these guys for the sake of their place and status walked over the heads of others. 

And it was clear even from their speeches. Each of the speakers said parting words, good advice, having in stock that could be used in a difficult situation. 

"Your next task," said a tall, slightly stern German "teamwork. In your rooms you will find assignments with a route list, the final destination of which is the audience of your faculty. This is a task for a while, so it is in your interest to finish everything quickly. If everything goes well - get the first points in the rating. I remind you that the work is team-based, and the task will be completed when everyone comes to the finish line. Remember: punctuality is paramount!"

 After listening to the speech of one of his comrades, Stefan walked to the microphone with a playful smile. He looked around the audience, waited for a theatrical pause and said in a mysterious voice: 

"The game has begun."