CALEB'S GRANDFATHER and ASSASSIN ACADEMY

I woke up late, with a teared-stained face, and checked my phone, and Caleb still hadn't texted me. I texted, 'I need to talk to you.'

He read it almost instantly, but still did not text back. I sighed. "I think I've lost my parents and Caleb."

I wore a sundress, it was a brand new day, and the beginning of the rest of my life. My school days were over, and now I had to contemplate over Erudition or Assassin Academy. I ate my oatmeal, and went out for a walk. 

I think I forced myself to be overly cheerful, so I wouldn't think about the sad things in my life. I focused on my path, and cleared my head. Just then, a notification popped on my screen. The results of my exams were out. As expected, I had gotten a 100% in my fitness exam. 

When I saw my exam results, I was disappointed. An overall 99.8%. If only I'd gotten that simple antimatter question right. 

I opened mine and Caleb's chats. I read some of our best memories. 

Seven months ago...

Caleb: Why aren't you in the badminton court?

Me: My leg is hurt.

Caleb: How??

Me: Someone kicked me while playing badminton.

Caleb: Who was it?

Caleb: That prsn would die if I was there

Me: What can I do?

Caleb: I am going to kill him.

When we were friends, I loved how possessive he was over me. He had beat up the guy who had kicked me so badly, that he almost made me cry for him to stop. 

I scrolled further down. I saw how our friendship was when we first talked to each other. I remember, we had met at a society gathering when he was just 11. I had liked him for so long. Three years! And today was the first day he hadn't texted me since. 

My heart squeezed and tears began pouring down my cheeks. What the hell was going on with me?! I was never this emotional, especially for a guy. 

But I wanted him to be here with me. Get a grip! I internally yelled at myself. An elderly, possibly retired man came up to me. "What seems to be the matter, little girl?" As he led me to a bench on his porch.

I broke down, and told him everything. About my parents, about Caleb, about my dilemma about Erudition and Assassin Academy. 

"Isn't the choosing today?" He asked. 

I nodded. "Well about that, I can't do anything. You must follow your heart. But as for Caleb, I can scold him for you if you like."

"How-?" I asked. 

The man said with a twinkle his eye, "Caleb Jackson is my grandson." Holy fuck. Out of so many people here, I had to break down in front of Caleb's grandpa?! I was the stupidest person alive. 

Just then Caleb rounded the cul-de-sac, and made his way to his grandfather's house. He was engrossed on something in his phone, and he didn't notice me. He walked up the porch stairs still staring at his phone. I strained my neck to see what he was so enticed by.

"Grandpa, mom made you a pie." He said, and still did not look away. I finally got a glance of what he was staring at. It was a picture of a blonde girl, with blue eyes. And I was the only blonde girl in the whole society. He was looking at a picture of me!

His grandfather smiled mischievously at me. "What are you looking at, Caleb?"

"There's this really beautiful girl that I am in-" He stopped short when he looked up, at his grandfather and me. "Aurora! What are you doing here?" He said surprised, like I had not heard what he had just said. 

I waved it off trying not to smile, "Nothing, I'm just talking to an elderly man about the academy I want to choose. I'm still quite unsure." 

"Assassin, of course!" He said. Caleb's grandfather smirked at him, or something close to a smirk. "Aurora, can I talk to you? Privately?" He begged.

"Okay." I said smugly, though I hid the smugness in my voice. If I was not wrong, he had just declared his love for me. 

"I'm so sorry." He said running a hand through his hair. 

"Why're you sorry?" I asked him. 

His cheeks turned red, "For calling you my little sister, for kissing you, for not talking to you, for ignoring you, for you know, just now..."

"The only thing you should be sorry about is not kissing me sooner." I said, and kissed him.

We broke apart, and Caleb blurted, "I'm in love with you. I have been since the first day I saw you. October 19th."

"Wow, you remember the date?" I asked, astonished. Even I, didn't remember the date. I remember what had happened clearly though. 

I was staring at him, as I knew he was the most gorgeous kid I'd ever seen. When I was twelve I was pretty tall for my age (that time I was only an inch shorter than Caleb), and honestly, I stopped growing much after that. Caleb, on the other hand, grew a lot taller in the past three years. 

"That's all you got from that?!" He asked, shaking his head. 

I smiled, and said, "I don't know if it's right, but I love you too."

He took my hand, "I don't want to ruin your future, but I want you to choose Assassin Academy. You could be the best assassin in the world! Not only that, we could never be together if you chose Erudition." He said quietly.

"I don't know, Caleb. I can easily become a genius. But being an assassin will require loads of work and determination for me." I told him truthfully.

"I know, princess... But isn't the hard path more fun? And I was thinking, with that, we could one day maybe, leave the society for good?" He said sadly. 

Leaving the society. That was something I thought about regularly. Leaving the society was punishable by death. "I want to get out of this society too. But that isn't something we can just do, y'know?" I was also upset now. 

He wrapped me in his arms and hugged me. I started sobbing in his chest, "I want to leave so bad!" 

He rubbed my back, and whispered, "Me too, baby." It wasn't till I got my first taste of freedom, till I first snuck out of the society did I think this way. I was in a deluded fantasy that the society was an ideal way of life, probably because I didn't know any other way to live my life. 

Once I snuck out of the society, I got so addicted to this outside, carefree way of living. All the unhealthy food choices. All the professions. The society life felt suffocating. In a world of choices, I was born where there were hardly any choices, only of life or death. Erudition or Assassin. 

I calmed down in a few minutes and broke away from Caleb's hug. "Do you promise that we'll leave the society?"

"I promise, and till death I shall uphold." He said as seriously as he could muster

I giggled at his showmanship. He pressed his lips to my forehead. Just then, my phone started ringing. My sister, Brianna, was calling me. 

I looked at Caleb, and said, "I need to take this." My sister hadn't spoken to me in over an year, and I would not miss an opportunity to speak to her. 

He nodded and left me on the porch alone. I picked the call up. "Hey Anna!" I said cheerfully.

"Aurora! I can't wait to meet you in four days!" She said brightly.

I stuttered, "Umm, the thing is- I- I don't think- I'm, you know..."

"You failed your examinations?!" She exclaimed.

I was taken aback, "No! Of course not!"

"Then, what?" She asked impatiently.

"I'm not taking Erudition." I said quietly.

She was flabbergasted, "You- what?"

"I'm not-" I started again. 

"Yeah, I heard what you said. What the fuck do you mean?" She practically yelled. 

I was going to try and act dumb, "I'm taking Assassin." I said slowly, enunciating every word.

"You can't do that!!" She screamed. 

I smiled, "It's my choice."

"Only, it isn't! You can't make choices! This isn't the life we're born in!"

"You can't influence my decision." I said firmly.

"Do our parents know?" She asked softly.

"Nope."

My sister sighed, "I wish you the best of luck, and don't end up on the wrong side. I'll miss you. Bye." She ended the call.

I left Caleb's grandfather's house, and went to my house to get ready for the choosing. My fate would be final in four hours.

There lay a beautiful white dress on my bed, made of silk. My mother must've gotten it for me for the choosing. I groaned, because, all my mom cared about were my grades. I picked a note on the side of the dress. It read, Good marks. You could do better. Choose genius.

I rolled my eyes at that, because my decision was final. I put on the white dress, and a matching pair of heels. I put on some light make-up, and headed to the auditorium of the society, to seal my fate.