Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the Exam
On Monday, the monthly exam results at Harvard–Westlake School were posted.
The school bulletin board was swarmed with students.
Here, every monthly exam felt like a brutal survival game.
When the scores came out, it was always a rollercoaster–some cheered, others crumbled.
In front of the board, a few students were sobbing their hearts out, tears streaming down their faces.
Sabrina and Jane had to elbow their way through the crowd just to get a glimpse.
Sabrina tilted her head up and immediately spotted her name at the very top.
[Sabrina Fridman, Grade Leader, Total Score: 748.]
Right below her was: [Brianna Sterling, Second Place, Total Score: 720.]
And then: [Olivia Morgan, Third Place, Total Score: 718.]
2/8
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the… Beside her, Jane was still scanning the list from the bottom up. hunting for her own name.
Finally, she spotted it at the three hundredth position.
She couldn’t hold it in and let out a giddy squeal. “Oh my gosh, Rina! I got 300th! That’s a whole hundred spots better than last
time!”
She was buzzing with excitement and turned to Sabrina. “What about you? I couldn’t find your name anywhere!”
Sabrina pointed casually to the top. “Right up there.”
Jane followed her finger, and her eyes nearly popped out of her
head.
She double–checked, then triple–checked, hardly daring to
believe it.
Glancing at the mob around them, Jane clapped a hand over her
mouth.
“Rina, let’s talk outside,” she whispered, tugging Sabrina out of the throng.
Sabrina, a little dazed, let herself be dragged along.
Once they reached a quiet spot, Jane grabbed Sabrina’s hand, her voice tight with urgency. “Rina, be honest with me… Did you cheat?”
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the… 3/8 “Huh?” Sabrina blinked, caught between laughter and disbelief.
“I mean, how else could you snag first place? Rina, if you copied, you made it way too obvious.” Her face suddenly turned serious, clearly worried for her friend.
Sabrina paused, then burst out laughing.
“I didn’t cheat, I swear,” she said, her tone earnest
Jane looked at her, sensing the truth in her voice. Then she remembered the notes Sabrina had given her before the exam, and everything suddenly clicked.
Something else stirred in Jane’s memory.
Sabrina’s scores in past monthly exams had always hovered around the same mark, her rank barely budging.
A theory started forming in Jane’s mind.
“Rina,” she said suddenly, “I just realized I’m pretty amazing.”
“Hm?” Sabrina tilted her head, puzzled.
“I mean, being friends with someone as incredible as you? I feel so lucky,” Jane said, grinning. She’d never dreamed she’d end up pals with someone this remarkable.
Sabrina smiled back, her voice warm, “Well, of course. You’re pretty incredible yourself.”
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the… 4/8 Something soft flickered in Jane’s chest.
At that moment, she felt a quiet, glowing happiness.
Meanwhile, the air at the Sterling Villa that day was heavy, almost suffocating.
Brianna had trashed her room. Anything she could grab, she’d smashed. The place was a wreck.
The maids hovered by the doorway, holding their breath, terrified of setting her off and getting fired.
Hailey watched her daughter’s red–rimmed eyes and cursed. Sabrina a thousand times over in her mind.
Brianna refused to accept she’d come in second.
“No way,” she kept muttering. “Sabrina’s a nobody. How could she possibly take first?”
She turned to Hailey, her voice sharp with conviction. “Mom, for the past six months, Sabrina’s been scraping the bottom. There’s no way she jumped this far ahead.”
Brianna had slaved until midnight every night just to cling to first place, and even then, her lead over second was razor–thin, barely a few points.
But Sabrina? She’d breezed past her like it was nothing,
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the… outscoring her by a whopping twenty–plus points.
The second place felt like a slap in the face, and the more Brianna thought about it, the angrier she got.
Hailey watched her daughter’s fury, lost in thought.
Old memories started bubbling up.
5/8
Her voice cooled as she spoke, “Brianna, remember why none of the kids liked Sabrina when you were little?”
Brianna didn’t even hesitate, spitting out, “Because she always had to steal the spotlight. She deserved no friends.”
Hailey gave a faint smile but said nothing.
She thought Brianna was still too naive.
Hailey knew exactly where the problem lay.
Sabrina had always been terrifyingly smart. She’d taught herself complex math in kindergarten, and by elementary school, middle school material was a breeze for her.
But nobody at school liked a genius.
Nobody wanted to be the dumb friend standing next to one.
An old professor from Columbia University had once said of her, “Your daughter’s intellect and emotional depth are extraordinary. She’s a rare genius. But geniuses break easily. If
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the… 6/8 she’s nurtured well, her future is limitless.”
Hailey knew someone like that wouldn’t just fade into mediocrity.
She figured it didn’t matter if Sabrina had been hiding her talent these past six months or if this first–place finish was a fluke.
Either way, she was a threat, and Hailey wasn’t about to let her stick around.
She glanced at Brianna, brushing a hand over her hair.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” she said soothingly. “I’ll take care of it.”
Anyone who dared stand in her or Brianna’s way, Hailey would deal with personally.
She softened her tone, offering comforting words. Then, glancing at the clock, she added, “Alright, calm down now. You don’t want your dad seeing you like this.”
At the mention of Matthew, Brianna’s temper eased a little.
But she still couldn’t let it go.
The next day at lunch, Brianna brought it up with Kyle and his buddies.
Kyle, a junior troublemaker, was into smoking, drinking, and fighting. He didn’t care about top student rankings.
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the …
7/8
He knew Sabrina as the perennial bottom–dweller, just like him.
So when Brianna told him that same slacker had nabbed first place, Kyle nearly choked on his food.
“You serious?” he asked, eyes wide.
Brianna nodded, putting on a wounded look.
She sighed, playing it off casually, “Sabrina’s always been dead last. No idea what happened this time, but her score beat mine. by over twenty points.
“Sabrina is so impressive,” she added with a bitter smile.
Kyle narrowed his eyes. He knew Brianna had always ruled the top spol.
The idea of Sabrina outscoring her by that much was unthinkable.
Without thinking, he blurted out, “She definitely cheated.”
Nathan, still nursing a grudge from Sabrina’s slap last time, nodded furiously. “Brianna, she’s jealous of you, no question. Cheating’s the only way she’d top you.”
“Don’t worry,” Nathan added, thumping his chest. “I’ll make her apologize to you.”
He still thought Sabrina had been unhinged that day.
Chapter 16 She Must Have Cheated on the…. He believed if he ran into her, she’d probably regret her old behavior.
8/8
And now? He was already plotting how he’d mess with her when she caved and said sorry.
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