Chapter 3

The classroom slowly fell silent.

By the time she wrote the final stroke, the blackboard was packed from top to bottom with calculations.

Mr. Carter had been leaning against the podium, but at some point he'd straightened up, his eyes widening behind his glasses.

"This is the second method." He pushed up his glasses. "It's even cleaner than the standard answer. Evelyn, had you seen this problem before?"

Evelyn dusted the chalk off her hands. "Nope. I thought of it just now."

The whole class erupted.

When Evelyn returned to her seat, Sophie secretly gave her a thumbs-up under the…