I pulled it out and faced Loretta, forcing a smile uglier than tears.
"Why would I mind? I love your surprise."
I even made a show of sliding the pink pen into the most visible slot of my pencil case, right in front of her, to kill whatever suspicion they had left.
Loretta's tears dried up instantly, replaced by a smug grin. She shot Sebastian a triumphant look.
Henry gave my shoulder an approving pat, satisfaction dripping from every word.
"See? Monica knows how to be a team player."
Sebastian stared at me, lips parting, then pressing shut. He swallowed whatever he'd been about to say.
He knew. In a class held hostage by the cult of Loretta, anyone who crossed her became a target.
The storm passed. Henry took Loretta by the arm and led her away.
I lowered my head and tucked the pink pen into my pencil case.
Then I unzipped the hidden inner pocket of my uniform jacket and checked. Two identical black gel pens lay inside, exactly where I'd left them.
The morning of the SATs, our homeroom teacher stood at the podium for one final reminder. Her gaze swept the room, and she leaned into every syllable.
"Check your supplies one more time. Besides your number-two pencils for the bubble sheet, all written responses must be answered with a 0.5-millimeter black ink pen!"
The words barely left her mouth before Loretta's hand shot up, pink-polished nails glinting under the fluorescent lights. Her voice came out syrupy and small.
"Miss, can baby use a pink pen? Black makes baby feel all suffocated and anxious. It'll totally mess up baby's performance..."
She pressed a hand to her chest as she spoke, eyes glistening, the picture of a fragile creature on the verge of collapse.
The whole class burst out laughing, the tension in the room dissolving in an instant.
The homeroom teacher's face went dark as a thundercloud. She slammed her palm on the podium.
"Loretta Fox! Absolutely not! Rules are rules. The written-response section only accepts black ink! This is not a joke!"
"Come on, Miss, don't be so uptight about it."
Henry was on his feet immediately, pulling Loretta behind him like a shield.
"Think of it as our class tradition. Besides, technology's come a long way. You really think the scanner can't read color? Don't bring that old-school thinking in here."
"Yeah, Miss, we all switched to pink pens! They're good-luck charms from Loretta!"
"All for one! If we're doing it, we're all doing it!"
Voices piled on from every direction. The classroom erupted into chaos, and the homeroom teacher, outnumbered and overpowered, stood there with her lips trembling.
I stayed silent through all of it, until Henry's gaze drifted over to me, casual and contemptuous.
I knew. It was my turn.
I took a deep breath and stood up.
My voice came out steady, almost flat.
"According to the National Standardized Testing Regulations, any response written outside the designated area or with a non-regulation pen will be deemed invalid. Meaning every section except the multiple-choice bubbles you filled in with your number-two pencils, every short answer, every essay, will be scored as zero."
The classroom went dead silent.
Even the homeroom teacher froze.
Then, a split second later, Loretta's wail tore through the air like a siren.
"Waaah! Henry! Monica is being mean to me! She's cursing baby to get a zero on the written sections! She's so evil!"
Henry's eyes turned vicious. He jabbed a finger at me, his voice a roar.
"Monica! Enough! You think you're the only one who knows the rules? You think you're better than everyone? We're willing to take a chance for Loretta's sake, and you have the nerve to stand here and kill the mood for all of us!"
"Yeah, get off your high horse!"
"She's just jealous that Loretta's more popular. She's doing this on purpose to be contrarian!"
