Snap. My pencil tips breaks. I was pressing down too hard, my fingers too close to the lead. It flies off my desk and lands on the floor. I freeze for a moment, and then grab my last pencil.
Would it be that hard to give us more than three pencils?
I've put my packets in order of what I think I might find easiest to what I think I might find hardest. I might as well get as many questions done as I can. Spatial Intelligence is at the top, because that is what my teachers have always said I would do well in. Long-Term Memory is at the bottom, because, honestly, I'm a bit scared of what could be in there. I've always observed that the government knows more about me than they should.
I move through the questions as efficiently as I can. My head begins to hurt from trying to concentrate so hard. I try to ignore it.
Before I know it, I'm on the last question of the last packet. It feels like my time has passed already. But I know it hasn't.
Then I notice it.
Stapled to the last page of Long Term Memory is a page entitled Political Views.
Beneath it is just a single question:
"What is power, and how should it be managed?"
Oh. Um.
Think logically, I tell myself. How do I answer the first part?
I put my pencil to the paper:

Power is the ability or potential to direct or influence the behavior of others. Power can also be the ability to change the course of events.

How should it be managed?
There are so many answers to that question.

Power is dangerous and deadly. People generally don't handle it well. It goes to their heads. They may begin to act on self-interest. Power should always be managed very carefully. The ideal way is to give every person an equal amount of power. They should all be able to contradict each other and prevent things from happening. This was previously known in ancient civilizations as the Veto. Decisions should be made based on popular opinion. Overall, power should be treated fastidiously, and every member of every society should have an equal amount of power.

That's an odd question. And probably very important. I wonder why.
I try to shake that last one off, and then I make myself check over my answers, and answer the ones that I planned to go back to.
The door opens. A man walks in this time. He has dark blue eyes and gelled back hair. He seems to look down his nose at me, as if he's above me.
"Your time is up," he says. I'm jolted by the sensation of hearing a human voice after such a long and exhausting two hours. His eyes flick to my two broken pencils. I judge a book by it's cover and decide I don't like him.
"Please put down your pencil and follow me."
It's over. It's done.
I glance back at the stack of papers on my desk as I follow him out of the room.
Delphi is escorted to the van in front of me. I follow. We don't speak on the way back. I wouldn't want to, with the cameras focused on us.
My mother is home when we get back. She hugs us along with my father. The man who escorted me looks at my parents with a similar superior look to the one he gave me.
"Test results will be delivered within the next twenty-four hours." He speaks with such a condescending tone that I want to throw something at him. I see Delphi tighten her fists. I shift over slightly so that she can't hit him. He continued to speak at a slow pace, as if we can't understand him.
"Have a nice afternoon." He says and finally walks off.
As soon as the door shuts, Delphi and I begin firing questions at each other.
"Did you finish? I was-"
"Did you get the one about the time pieces?"
"Hourglass."
"Ooh. That's smart. I said human beings."
"That's actually pretty creative."
"Did you get the question about-"
"What did you say for the one with the number patterns?"
"I almost ran out of pencils-"
We discuss the Exam all through dinner -our parents never strictly followed the rules when they could get away with breaking them- and have to be told to stop talking and go to sleep.
The trials come in five parts, the last being the hardest. People are eliminated along the way. Our Exam results will determine whether we make it to the last part. We'll get them before dinner tomorrow. I can barely stand the wait already. It's a low chance, (only 17 percent of Fourth Round Exam takers make it) but it could definitely happen. We could make it to The Fifth.