Chapter 1

[Pick "C"! Ah, Cecilia got it wrong after all. What a pity.]

[That's right. The answer should be "C".]

I sit in the SATs examination hall, surrounded by comments that only I can see.

In the past three months, these comments have helped me go from always being second to first in my grade. Therefore, I stop studying and revising for my exams, and continue indulging in endless fun and games while my grades continue improving with every mock test leading to the SATs.

The comments before me keep appearing, telling me the answers to each question. However, I keep making the exact opposite choice of the answers in the comments.

I feel an unprecedented sense of exhilaration the moment I hand in my paper.

After all, does Alexandria Johnson seriously think that I will fall for her tricks?

Chapter 1

I had only just finished estimating my SAT score when I heard Alexandria Johnson talking to her system.

I would probably get a score of 1570 out of 1600.

It wasn't as high as the score I got during the mocks, but at the very least, it was still the result of my own hard work.

The graduation party was just about to start. However, I still heard Alexandria talking to her system.

"It's just like before, right? Cecilia chose all the answers based on the comments, right?"

The system replied, "I was helping you with your questions during the SATs and didn't have time to keep an eye on her, Alexandria. But I had already pre-set the comments to roll out as usual, and according to the previous data, she should have answered the questions exactly as the comments told her to."

"That's good. The results are going to be announced today. Let's see how long this bitch can stay smug."

Alexandria was basically gritting her teeth while spitting out the last line.

"Lexie? Who are you talking to?"

I was currently standing outside the door to a private room in the restaurant, and Alexandria was standing near the door. There were also other classmates who had already arrived and were waiting inside.

When I heard the familiar male voice asking her the question, I suddenly wasn't in a hurry to open the door.

The male voice continued. "I realized that you've been talking to yourself a lot lately. Is it because of the stress?"

"I'm fine, Tom."

The other classmates in the room weren't dumb. When they heard both Alexandria Johnson and Thomas White talking to each other like this and showing concern for each other, they began egging them on.

"Hey, Thomas, you know that we're not going to be seeing each other again after this, right? Stop acting cool and cut to the chase! Why don't you just confess to her?"

"That's right! We noticed it a long time ago! We all know that you have a crush on Alex."

The classmates continued teasing them both, but Alexandria didn't say anything, and Thomas didn't deny anything either. It was just how things were, and exactly how things should be.

But of course, this was assuming that I didn't exist, after all.

Thomas had secretly made a promise to enroll in Longford University together with me. He had clearly already made plans about our future together, yet he had also implicitly accepted someone else's advances toward him.

Realizing that Thomas was remaining quiet for a bit, Alexandria changed the topic and said, "I'm sure that you'll be able to get into Longford University with your score, Tom."

"I hope so," Thomas replied with a seemingly humble smile.

"Oh? It's not like Thomas to be so modest about his results when he's always one of our top scorers in class! Honestly speaking, if anyone were to get into Longford University, it would be you and Alex," Jennie Carlson, Alexandria's best friend, said, inadvertently trying to draw them closer to each other.

However, Alexandria denied it and said, "No way. We're not the only two people who might get in. There's Cecilia Hilton too. She's been the one placing first in class during the past few mock tests."

The other people in the room seemed somewhat disdainful the moment they heard my name.

I didn't find it surprising. After all, I was nothing like Alexandria, who had a good personality, came from a good family background, and was the most popular female student in the class. People kept comparing me to her, and eventually, the more people liked her, the more they hated me.

But it wasn't like I'd even done anything to deserve all this.

None of the other people wanted to say anything about it. However, Jennie spoke up.

"How could you take her side, Alex? You know very well that Cecilia can only ever place second behind you. She's been slacking off for the past three months, but her results have been steadily improving. Don't you know how much we've been gossiping about her? We bet she's definitely been cheating all this while!"

Alexandria continued the topic and said in a pitious tone, "Well, Cecilia isn't from a good family background, so she probably doesn't have any good role models to guide her after she's gone astray. It's such a pity, though.

"But then again, she's always placed second in her tests beforehand. She probably does have some brains, after all."

While saying that, Alexandria kept staring at Thomas, who'd gone silent for quite a while. He was going to have to make a decision today, whether he liked it or not.

"We can only achieve success if we work with diligence instead of wasting our time playing around. But since she's been slacking off for such a long time, I guess there really isn't much hope left for her," Thomas ultimately said, making his choice obvious.

I had Alexandria to thank for letting me see Thomas' true colors now. Our future together was over.

…

I used to think that Thomas was someone just like me. We both didn't come from a good family background, but we did pretty well academically, and we both thought that education was our ticket out of poverty.

We grew up together since we were little, and even attended the same high school together afterward. I would always place second in class, while he usually placed third.

Chapter 2

"Let's work hard and get into Longford University, Lia," Thomas once said to me.

He had never been the best at expressing his feelings, so the promise we made to each other then became a symbol of our special relationship.

However, things changed, and people changed too.

In the end, Thomas was still a little different from me. He was a young man, and a very handsome young man at that.

"Tom, my home chef, made me some extra food today. You can have it," Alexandria said one day.

Before this, Thomas had already rejected the water she handed him at the basketball court and also the gift she gave him on his birthday.

But this time, Thomas glanced at me before telling her, "You should give it to someone else. I already have my own food."

"I know you have food, but how can you even call that food when it's just plain spaghetti and sauce? It doesn't look the least bit appetizing at all. But all the ingredients used in my food are premium and flown in fresh from overseas every day.

"If you won't eat it, then I'm going to throw them all away. It would be a waste, then."

Thomas didn't say anything else and took the lunchbox from her. Meanwhile, Alexandria snatched his own lunchbox away and tossed it into the trash.

He was stunned and a little frustrated. "What do you think you're doing? I still want that container."

"How long have you even been using that lunchbox? It's so gross and dirty. Don't worry about it. I'll ask my chef to make food for you every day from now onward."

She then cast me a defiant look before leaving the classroom.

Thomas came over to me to explain things.

"Lia, your mom's cooking is really good, but I still think that we shouldn't waste Alexandria's premium ingredients more…"

I remained expressionless and said softly, "It's fine. Just eat it. I'll just tell Mom not to bother preparing your lunchbox hereafter. It'll help us save a little."

Then, I went over to the trash can, picked up the lunchbox that Alexandria threw away, and brought it to the toilet to rinse it.

Thomas had probably already forgotten that if it weren't for Mom's lunchbox every day from elementary school to high school, he would have already starved to death by now because his father was an alcoholic and his mother rarely ever came home.

I guess I was a little mad after that and didn't hold myself back in the next exam, scoring a total of 1453, which was a whole 13 points higher than Alexandria, who usually placed first in class. And in our very small town of Addington, my score was already one of the highest anyone had ever scored in history.

Yet, I was a little surprised and shocked when Alexandria didn't corner me in the alley after school and beat me up. Instead, I began seeing comments all around me just three days after the mock test scores were announced.

[Is this the female lead of the story? She doesn't look that attractive anyway.]

[This is a short story with a school theme about how the female lead gets into college. There's no need to be so picky about her appearance. The main thing is how satisfying it's going to be when she finally turns things around!]

[Yeah, I remember later on in the plot that she still managed to get the National Merit Scholar title even after messing around before the actual exam.]

[Cecilia only makes one single error in the upcoming math exam. The answer should be "C", but she put it down as "B".]

While reading the comments before me, I realized that I was being described as a character in a short story. They said that I was the main female character of a high school plot, where I could get great results even if I didn't study at all. They also told me all of the answers for the upcoming tests and mocks.

During the next mock test, I realized that the answers were indeed the exact same as the ones that the comments said.

While I was still figuring out what was going on, I overheard Alexandria talking to herself. She seemed to be talking to an invisible "system", and I swore I also heard a hollow, robotic voice replying to her.

"System, you've arranged for that bitch to see all the comments you set beforehand, right?"

"Yes, Alexandria. Aside from keeping an eye on you during the actual SATs, I will be spending the rest of my time monitoring her. She copied all the answers from the comments in the past exam, just as you wished."

"That's great! She should just take a good look at herself in the mirror. How dare she try to take away what rightfully belongs to me? I'm going to make her the biggest laughingstock of the town this time!"

…

With help from the comments, I finally no longer needed to bother withholding my true potential during the exams.

Instead, I did just as Alexandria wished and stopped studying at school. I was the last to arrive in class and the first to leave every day, and many other classmates also said that they often saw me hanging out at bars, arcades, and Internet cafes.

Chapter 3

Everyone witnessed me slacking off in school.

When my classmates realized that my score kept getting higher despite my increasing laziness, they initially said that I was simply very smart and gifted. But this didn't seem to achieve Alexandria's goal, and it made her somewhat unhappy.

Then, on my birthday, Thomas suddenly gave me a phone as a gift.

"It's your birthday gift. Do you like it?"

It was the latest iPhone, and I knew that he could never have afforded to buy it for me with his financial situation.

"It's from Alexandria, isn't it?" I asked, exposing him right away.

He didn't hide it from me, though. He just nodded and said, "You've been distancing yourself from me a lot lately. Is it because you're misunderstanding my relationship with her?"

I didn't answer his question. However, he continued explaining, "I'm not in that kind of relationship with her, Lia. She's a good person. See? She isn't just treating me well. She even gave you a gift when she found out that it was your birthday. She's just a really good person overall."

Of course, I was going to accept this free iPhone. If not, then Alexandria wouldn't be able to carry out the rest of her plan.

As expected, rumors soon spread throughout the school that I had sold my body to buy the latest iPhone. Students also began discussing my grades and scores.

"Cecilia always placed second when she didn't have the phone, but the moment she got the new phone, her grades improved drastically. Wanna bet how she managed to 'improve' her grades?"

"What's there to speculate? She cheated, that's that!"

"She isn't that smart after all. Look how much she studied back then! I bet I would be able to score better than her if I worked as hard as she did."

"I bet she was just jealous that she couldn't beat Alex in class, so she resorted to cheating to beat her instead. We'll see what happens during the actual SATs!"

I overheard students saying this in the classrooms, in the toilets, and even at the school cafeteria. After all, Alexandria's father was the CEO of the biggest factory in Addington, and it was too easy for them to spread whatever rumor they wanted, whether true or false.

At this point, everyone began keeping their distance from me. Thomas also stopped walking home with me.

He could have stood up for me and told everyone where I got my iPhone from, but he chose to remain silent.

Judging from how he managed to get such good grades at school by his own hard work, Thomas wasn't a dumb person at all. He could have easily put two and two together—Alexandria giving me the iPhone, followed by the false rumors everywhere—but she still chose not to say anything about it.

While unlocking the door to my home, he suddenly appeared behind me again, seemingly offering me advice as he said solemnly, "Don't let the rumors turn out to be true. Remember, doing well in the SATs is your only way out."

I turned around and smiled at him.

"You're right. Education is my only way out of my current situation. But it's not your only way out now."

For a long time after that, we never spoke another word to each other again and treated each other like strangers.

Thomas just couldn't understand why there was this massive feud between me and Alexandria. But we were different. He was a male student. He was a male student who did well in his exams and had outstanding looks.

As for me, I was just a female student who also did well in my exams, but came from a very poor family.

In the countless days in the past when we didn't walk home together, Alexandria would corner me in the alley after school and lock me up in the public toilets.

I hadn't wanted to tell Thomas about it because I was afraid that he would offend the Johnson family by defending me from her. But now, there was no point telling him about it anymore because he no longer cared anyway.

…

"The SAT results are going to be released today! We all agreed that we'd be checking it together here at the party. Why isn't Cecilia here yet?"

It just took one question from Alexandria to make me the center of everyone's topic once again.

Jennie didn't hold back and said, "Well, since the cheater didn't manage to cheat on the SATs, I bet she's too scared to even attend the party today."

"Don't say it like that. Maybe she flunked her exams and felt terrible about it. We're going to have to properly comfort her later if she comes," Alexandria responded.

Yet, the more she pretended to be kind toward me with her words, the more her admirers would jeer at me.

"You're too kind, Alex. Cecilia can never compare to you. Look at how much of a diva she's still pretending to be at a time like this!"

Chapter 4

I looked at the time on my phone. For some reason, the SAT results this year were going to be announced at 6:00 pm today, and it was already 5:50 pm.

I pushed the door open and walked in.

The discussion in the room halted immediately. Everyone exchanged glances and looked at me with disdain like I was nothing but a joke.

Alexandria was the first one to break the silence.

"Why were you so late, Lia? Did you get into an accident on the way here?"

I went to an empty seat expressionlessly. Then, I said quietly, "Who said I just arrived? I was standing at the door listening for a long time."

Everyone looked embarrassed and uneasy the moment they heard that. After all, even if they didn't like me, it still wasn't anything to shout about for getting caught gossiping about someone by that person themselves.

However, Jennie, being as blind as she was, continued jeering at me. "So what if you heard us? We're just speaking the truth. What, you dared to cheat in the exams, but you don't dare to admit to it?"

I just smiled at her and waved my phone in her face.

"There are only ten more minutes till the results are released. We'll find out soon enough if I'm truly capable or just a cheater after all."

Jennie still looked indignant and wanted to fight back. However, the other classmates around us also noticed the time and realized that their scores were about to be released online. Since it was a huge thing concerning their future, they weren't in the mood to argue or gossip anymore.

The entire room fell silent as everyone logged into their accounts and waited for the scores with bated breath, staring at the screen.

Just then, the door to the private room was opened from the outside. It was our homeroom teacher, Mr. Wilson Tate.

There were also two other people behind him, one with a huge camera and another with a mic pack.

Everyone in the room froze and held their breath. We knew at once that those two people were reporters from the TV station.

"Everyone, Alexandria's father, Mr. Derek Johnson, received news that this year's top National Merit Scholar is from our town. Since the results will be released in ten minutes, the TV staff from the station are also here with us to witness this historical moment."

Our school was just a very small high school from an even smaller town, and the last time a Merit Scholar appeared here had to have been from centuries ago—let alone a National Merit Scholar. So, it wasn't surprising that it had caused such a massive commotion after all.

Soon, the classmates in the private room broke out in cheers when the realization dawned on them. They exclaimed excitedly, "It's got to be Alex, right? Alex has always placed first before Cecilia resorted to cheating!"

"Yeah! Maybe Alex did extremely well this time and managed to snag the National Merit Scholar title!"

"Wait, it could also be Thomas! There's also a possibility that it's him!"

As everyone began chattering excitedly with each other, Alexandria lowered her head bashfully and chuckled, while Thomas politely and modestly denied it.

I suddenly spoke up then and said, "Why don't any of you think that the National Merit Scholar could also be me?"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, everyone, including Mr. Tate and the two reporters, fell silent.

Then, the classmates' jeering and mocking laughter could be heard.

"Hahaha! Did you just hear what the cheater said? She finally went cuckoo from using her phone too much! Don't tell me that you managed to sneak your phone into the SATs with you!"

The only person who could have said such a brainless thing was none other than Jennie.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tate, who had always been openly accepting bribes from the Johnson family, turned serious and said, "As for you, Cecilia Hilton, I've heard about all the underhanded tactics you used during the school's mock tests. Don't think that the school doesn't know about it just because we aren't holding you accountable."

Mr. Tate's words carried a lot of weight, and even the other classmates who used to have faith in the two TV crew members and me began giving me dirty looks.

I just smirked nonchalantly and said, "It's time. The scores are out now."

There was a flurry of panicked activity as everyone refreshed their accounts. Under Mr. Tate's order, the two TV crew members pointed the camera straight at Alexandria's phone screen.

In the meantime, I received a text message from the College Board.

"Dear Cecilia Tate, congratulations on your excellent results in the SAT examination. This text message is to inform you that the College Board has temporarily hidden your score from view to prevent any unfair competition.

"However, we are pleased to inform you that your score ranking is among the top 50 in the country."