Chapter 321

Andrew stared at his score: 490. This was his best result yet, and he almost didn’t believe it himself.
“I seriously can’t believe I scored this high,” he said, grinning awkwardly. “If I show this to Anthony, he’ll probably think I cheated.”
It just felt unreal.
Shirley smiled with him, her voice gentle and light. “You’ve still got two months. You can do even better.” She was already planning to keep him on track with more practice tests.
Andrew’s smile grew. “It’s all because of you, Shirley.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, and gave her cheek a playful pinch. “Alright, tell me what you want as a reward. Anything. It’s yours.”
Shirley blushed and squirmed out of his grip, not used to being so close to him. “Buy me ten more sets of practice exams,” she said, half hiding her face.
Andrew rolled his eyes, pinching her cheek a little harder. “You really are such a nerd.”
Watching them, Olivia felt a tightness in her chest. She thought Andrew liked Charlotte, so why was he acting so close with Shirley?
“Olivia, your score,” Nancy interrupted, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Seven hundred fourteen!”
Nancy’s voice rang out and everyone turned to look. In seconds, a crowd gathered. “This test was brutal, but Olivia still got a 714? That’s insane.”
“I checked all the scores from the honors class. Olivia’s is definitely the highest.”
“Wasn’t the national top scorer supposed to be at Vanguard High? If Olivia’s score is the best, then she’s the one!”
Suddenly, everyone was staring at Olivia, their eyes full of awe and envy. Top in the whole country… out of millions of students, she was number one.
Some people just kept quiet, not entirely convinced. Seven hundred fourteen was impressive, but was it really enough for the national top spot? Maybe the test was way harder this year, or maybe everyone. just did worse than usual.
Olivia’s hands sh
shook as the
compliments, washed over her. She had actually done it. She was number one. Now she could choose any school, any major she wanted. There was no doubt this news would spread everywhere. Pretty soon, everyone in Eldoria would know her name.

“Olivia, go tell Ms. Ashley,” Nancy said, tossing a smug look at Shirley and her friends. “She’ll totally freak out when she hears.”
“Yeah.” Olivia nodded, standing tall as she walked toward the office, every head turning to watch her go.
Once she was gone, Nancy turned to Shirley with a syrupy-sweet tone. “So, Shirley, how did our genius Charlotte do?”
Like Charlotte could ever outshine this.
Shirley, who almost never swore, mumbled under her breath, “None of your damn business.”
Andrew looked over at her, his lips twitching into a smile. She was pretty cute when she was feisty.
“I’ll call Charlotte for her exam number,” he offered.
“It’s 0723 Shirley recited the last few digits while Andrew and Parrish bent over the score sheet, searching.
“Got it Andrew started, but then stopped short. There was a sudden, sharp take of breath The number on the paper was almost unreal. Was that really Charlotte’s score?