The security officer did a double-take when she saw me, then proceeded to pat me down roughly.
I spoke up carefully. "Ma'am, I don't have anything hidden in my clothes. Could you be a little gentler?"
She didn't care. "You had the nerve to take photos like that. How do I know you're not hiding some cheating device somewhere creative?"
Every pair of eyes in the room landed on me. Snickers rippled through the crowd.
Christina sat in a chair nearby, a cold smirk on her face as she watched me squirm.
I don't know how I made it through the exam. It took everything I had not to let that whole mess get to me.
The test questions hadn't changed from before.
I let out a small breath of relief.
In my last life, I'd beaten Christina by two points.
This time, I was going to do even better.
Christina seemed to notice this too. Throughout the entire exam, her pen flew across the paper. She looked every bit the academic star she used to be.
When the test ended, her parents were waiting outside the gates.
Christina didn't even glance at them. She just turned and walked off.
The two of them weren't angry. After all, the fact that their daughter had shown up to take the exam at all was a blessing.
So they grabbed my hands instead.
"Alvin, did she actually try to answer the questions?"
I nodded.
They both let out relieved sighs.
After the exam, Christina disappeared to who knows where.
Her parents didn't bother keeping tabs on her anymore. If their daughter wanted to run around with Myron, let her have her fun.
After all, with Christina's grades, as long as she took the exam, the only question was whether she'd pick Redwood or Kingsford.
On the day results came out, both families gathered together to check scores.
When they saw my score, everyone froze—
Zero.
My parents burst into tears of joy—
After all, only top scorers got that treatment. The system always hid our actual results.
Then it was Christina's turn.
A glaring zero stung the Sullivans' eyes.
Her parents embraced her excitedly. I turned to look at her too—
So in this life, she'd still managed a perfect score.
"What's everyone so excited about?"
Christina let out a cold laugh. "Aren't you worried I actually got a zero?"
"What are you talking about!"
Her parents lightly smacked the back of her head.
"How could you possibly get a zero? Besides, Alvin told us you were writing the whole time. You didn't put your pen down until the last second!"
Christina shot me a cold look and raised an eyebrow with disdain.
"I knew you'd never shake that little tattletale habit of yours."
She pulled out her phone, opened Myron's social media feed, and tossed it to her parents.
The moment they saw Myron's post, both of them clutched their chests.
Christina watched her parents' faces twist in fury, a victorious smile curling her lips.
"Did you really think dragging me to the exam would fix everything?"
