“A bet, you say?”
“Yes, a bet.”
—————————
“Sindre! Can I copy your homework?”
The boy named Sindre, as usual, let his classmates copy his homework. It’s one of the things that come with getting good grades.Sindre always worked diligently for his grades. He knew that he was the only one, though.
“Look at all these fools. They’re all cheating. You are superior. You are truly intelligent.”
A voice that adressed him, even though it was from inside of his head.
“Yeah. I’m better than them.” He thought.
To be honest, there was someone besides him that never cheated: Nate. But he was the exact opposite of him, always lazing around and never studying.
“I don’t understand him. How can he be okay with those grades?”
“You don’t even need to study, you already know everything.“
“Yeah. I could get a perfect score without even touching the books, unlike everyone else.” While thinking that, a smile formed on his lips.
Sindre rarely remembered his dreams, but this one was worth remembering. He was sitting on a podium, alone, above all the other people he knew. He felt glorious, like a king.
“I know you can do better.” The teacher said.
“What do you mean? That’s ridiculous. Nate got a higher score? He cheated for sure!” Sindre was about to say, but stopped himself.
He knew that wasn’t true, Nate never cheats. But he couldn’t comprehend this result.
How? That lazy bastard…was he smarter?
He looked towards Nate. He was smiling. Rather, he was smirking. And that was probably the most arrogant face Sindre had ever seen.
“I am an idiot. That guy never does anything, but he got a higher score. Does that even make sense? Why did I even bother until now with studying?”
Sindre gave up. Along with the pen that he threw across the room, his confidence was also lost.
The dream he had that night was a nightmare. Nate had pushed him off the podium and he was falling into a dark, never-ending pit.
—————————
“And what is this bet about?”
“That kid right there. I can bet you that I can destroy all his confidence.”
—————————
“Does anyone know the answer? Sindre?”
“No, teacher. I don’t know.”
Those were the only words he could muster, but they were also the most embarrassing to him. He could feel how the teachers stared at him, all confused and all disappointed. He started feeling weak and defenseless.
He got home, but he was drained. He threw his backpack somewhere, lounged on the bed and fell asleep instantly.
He was on a podium. “Oh, this must be the same dream as the last one."
Nate appearead out of nowhere. Like last time, he tried pushing Sindre off the podium, but the latter was trying to hold onto the edge.
"It’s useless, holding onto it like that.”
“…"
Nate was right. There was no point to it. He let go. Falling wasn’t that bad of a sensation to have before being crushed on the ground, he thought. It’s like flying.
With his eyes closed, Sindre fell in the midst of thousands of pieces of paper, all scattering away upon impact and then slowly falling again in the ocean of white.
"What is this?” Sindre asked. He took a look at one paper, then another, then another. “These are all written by me. My tests, my homework assignments, exercises, theory, graphs…What are all these doing here?”
Nate, from the podium, said while looking down:
“This is your confidence."
He then appeared alongside Sindre.
"It’s a shame though. They are fewer than last time.”
“What do you mean? What confidence? I’m just an idiot. Even someone like you got a better score than me.”
“Well, that’s because you thought you can achieve something without doing anything for it. This pile was starting to decrease!”
“So you did something for it?”
“Yes, I studied.”
“Is that all?”
“Was there a need for something else?"
Sindre became silent and Nate disappeared without any other word. The boy, left alone, fell on his back and stared at the podium above him. He wanted to stay just a little bit more in the pile of scribbled paper, before he could start reaching for the podium.
Sindre woke up just as it was getting dark. He hurriedly went to his desk, then paused. It gave him a weird feeling, like the one you have when you haven’t seen someone in a while. He felt a smile forming on his lips.He sat down on the chair.
"I have a lot of catching up to do.”
—————————
“And I bet on your wings. If you win, I’ll give them back. But if I win, I’ll burn them and you will descend to hell.” said the Devil.
“Deal. ” said the Angel.
————————–
Nate didn’t come to school anymore.
“His dad apparently got a job offer and they had the occasion to move to a better place than this. Oh, some people have so much luck.” The teacher said.
“They are going to a better place? Are they going to Heaven?” A kid said.
The whole class laughed. Even Sindre, who was busy writing, smiled at the joke.
“Hahaha, that can’t be.”