It was a Monday morning covered with light gray clouds, as if the sky was hiding a secret in its chest.
Mazen entered the classroom to find Mr. Sameh standing by the desk, sorting papers with sharp eyes, then saying in his firm voice:
— "The ten candidates for the reserve test… head to the third hall immediately."
Mazen stood up, followed by nine other students.
The hall was spacious, elegant, and quiet; papers neatly arranged, pens distributed, and water bottles placed before each seat.
Mr. Sameh stood before them and said:
— "You have thirty minutes. I'm not looking for the perfect answer, but for the one who knows how to think under pressure."
Then he gestured with his hand:
— "Begin."
Mazen opened his paper.
The questions were strangely varied:
What is the closest planet to the sun?
• Two students had a fight, one of them is your friend — what would you do?
• Open-ended question: If the wrong answer is more acceptable than the right one… what would you choose, and why?
He held the pen and began to write. He wasn't racing against time, but against himself.
In one question, he noticed a small flaw in the wording, but he didn't report it — he simply answered in a way that showed his deep understanding of what lay beyond the words.
To his left, Hani Shokry was writing quickly, as if talking to himself.
Behind him, Sayed Yassin scratched his head every minute, as if knowledge was hiding in his hair.
As for Safaa Abdelrahman, she wrote slowly and calmly, then stared at the paper as if she were the one examining the question.
Mazen finished his paper five minutes before time was up. He reviewed it calmly, then handed it in without hesitation.
After the test, Mazen sat in a corner of the courtyard beside Hani and Safaa, where several students gathered to talk about how difficult the questions were.
Hani said confidently:
— "I wrote five pages. Felt like I was writing a novel."
Mazen smiled and said:
— "What matters is that your novel makes sense."
Safaa said:
— "The question about popular correctness confused me the most… it made me rethink many things."
Mazen looked at her and said quietly:
— "Sometimes, being honest is more important than being liked."
Hani nodded with a smile as he stood up:
— "We'll see who'll be liked in the results."
The three laughed, then the bell rang, and each went back to their class.
In the last period, Mr. Sameh entered carrying a folded paper, placed it on the desk, and said formally:
— "The results of the reserve test are ready."
Silence spread, and breaths were trapped between hearts.
He began reading the names:
— Mazen Jad.
Hani Shokry.
Sayed Yassin.
Safaa Abdelrahman.
Tarek Bassiouny.
Some claps rose, and a few students exchanged nervous smiles.
As for Mazen, he didn't show loud joy, but he felt something different inside…
Something that resembled the first step on a long road.