Chapter 3

Not long after the semester started, a city-wide mock exam was looming on the horizon.

This test was a big deal for me. It was my chance to see how I stacked up against everyone else in the city.

On the first day, I felt great and everything went smoothly. I was totally in my element.

But then, on the afternoon of the second day, I was hit with a sharp pain in my stomach. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

I tried to tough it out, but my hand just gave out. I couldn't write a single word anymore.

The proctor noticed something was wrong and quickly called over a teacher, who rushed me to the school infirmary.

When Gideon helped me up, my mind was already starting to drift. I kept mumbling, "I haven't finished the exam yet..."

Before I could finish, my mind went blank and I blacked out.

When I woke up, I found an IV drip hooked into the back of my hand.

The test was already finished.

Sitting there on the infirmary bed, I was feeling lost.

A breeze moved the thin curtain by the window. The sunset on the horizon was burning like fire.

Gideon was sitting by the window, working on some paperwork. He must've noticed I was awake, because he turned around and asked softly, "Feeling any better?"

My eyes were red, and I was fighting back tears.

He stood up, walked over to the bed, and gently patted my head. "It's okay. There's still the second mock exam. It's not the real deal yet. You've still got time."

His words were like a cool spring, soothing my parched soul.

I wiped away my tears and whispered, "Thanks."

It was already eight o'clock at night by the time I finished my IV drip, feeling a little worn out. Gideon noticed how out of sorts I was, so he drove me home himself.

"Get some rest, okay? Don't push yourself too hard," Gideon told me, his voice gentle.

Ever since my adoptive father passed away, no one had spoken to me with that kind of warmth.

I nodded, remembering I still hadn't thanked him for what happened last time. "Thank you," I said quietly, feeling sincerely grateful.

Gideon grabbed two cartons of milk from the car and handed them to me. "You're not looking too well. Make sure you eat your three meals on time. Your health matters.

"No matter how hard you study, it's useless if you ruin your body. You don't want what happened today to repeat on the day of the real exam, right?"

Something clicked inside me at those words.

Health really was everything. If I didn't look after myself, nothing else would matter.

I accepted his kindness, took the milk, and thanked him again.

*****

The results came in.

Just like I guessed, I was still top of my school, but in the city, my ranking was buried somewhere in the 900s.

My homeroom teacher had already heard about how I had to leave halfway through the language exam. Looking at my scrawny frame, he handed me a school meal card and said, "Take this and use it for your meals from now on. One failure doesn't mean much."

I wanted to refuse, but he stuffed it into my hand. "I'm waiting for you to get into a top university and bring honor to our school."

The card felt heavy, like it carried a whole lot more than just its physical weight. I accepted it.

A girl in class saw this scene, and that afternoon, rumors spread throughout the class.

They started making up stories that I was some lonely girl who craved love and was into men way older than me.

I stood at the classroom door, overhearing a handful of girls inside, mocking me for being such a bookworm that I'd even find our bald homeroom teacher attractive.

What a boring bunch of people.

I clutched my books and walked off.

There was no point in arguing with them. It'd just waste my whole afternoon.

I'd only made it a few steps when a loud bang echoed from the classroom. A guy kicked a desk and shouted, "Are you seriously done yet? If you're jealous of her grades, just own up to it! Why spread such nasty rumors? Don't you have any shame?"

After he spoke up, other classmates joined in, saying, "We're all in the same class. Does it really have to get this ugly?"

"For real, if you're so jealous, that's on you. She worked hard for those grades. If you think it's so easy, do it yourself."

The group of girls couldn't take the pushback and shuffled out of the classroom, totally embarrassed.

As soon as they walked out and spotted me waiting in the hallway, they got so flustered they couldn't even look at me.

I gave them an icy glance, turned on my heel, and walked away like they didn't matter.

That night, someone showed up with a letter from Derek.

The guy said Derek saw my lousy language scores and was offering to help me study.

Once he left, I didn't even bother looking at the envelope before tossing it straight in the trash.

No one knew that language was actually my strongest subject. I didn't need to boast to anyone. The SAT exams would prove everything.

*****

Before I knew it, time kept slipping by.

The second city-wide mock exam wrapped up.

I leaped from way down in the 900s straight into the city's top ten, and that was even after I purposely left out a big math problem.

When my homeroom teacher found out, he was so excited that he kept slapping his thigh in the office.

That very day, he raced through all the senior classrooms, showing off my report card to every teacher and student like it were a trophy.

This was his student, seventh in the entire city.

And it wasn't just me. Even a bunch of my classmates had made some serious progress.

He was absolutely beaming with pride.

That day, he treated everyone in the class to half a watermelon each.

He grinned and joked, "Since you're eating my watermelon, you all better bring in even better scores next time!"

The class erupted in laughter, everyone shouting with spirit, "Victory in the exam!"

The sunset that evening painted the classroom in warm light, and laughter echoed all around. For once, it truly felt like we were all in this together.

*****

After night classes, I made my way home by myself.

As I got closer, I spotted two people pacing around outside my front door.

They turned out to be my former homeroom teacher and the vice principal.

Back when the rumors exploded, these two were the ones who tried to talk me into quitting school.

Seeing them here now, I already had a good idea what they wanted.

When they saw me, they spoke with forced friendliness. I just looked at them coldly, too lazy to reply.

Seeing I had zero intention of letting them inside, the vice principal finally cleared his throat, trying to sound casual. "So, would you maybe consider coming back to our school to take the SAT exams?"

Clearly, my mock exam results shocked them.

Their place was a prestigious high school, but after two rounds of mock exams, their top student only managed to rank fifty-third in the city. Getting into a solid university was fine, but that wasn't nearly enough for the top-notch schools.

I replied without a second thought, "No need. I'm not going back."

The vice principal said, "If you come back, our school will give you 15 thousand dollars right away. Make the city's top ten, and that's another 30 thousand dollars. If you get into Evermere University or Regency University, you'll get another 60 thousand dollars on top."

That was one hell of a tempting offer. But I wasn't interested at all.

I could never forget the awful things they said to get me to drop out. And after I left, they mocked my family for being poor. They said my dad adopted a daughter because he couldn't find a wife, and wondered what use adopting me even was...

With minds that rotten, they were unworthy of being educators.

Seeing that I still wasn't budging, they started to get annoyed. "Whatever your current school is offering you, we'll double it."