Chapter 234

“Mr. Norris, just give it to us straight! Tell us who made it, we can handle it!” a boy called out from the back.

“Yeah, just announce it already p>

“We just want to know the results. Am I in or not? Say it, please p>

Norris raised his hand, signaling everyone to quiet down.

“I get where you’re coming from,” he said. “But if I announce the rankings right away, none of you are going to care about the test review p>

He was right. Nobody cared about reviewing the test right now. Not knowing the rankings felt like slow torture.

And honestly, Norris seemed to enjoy dragging it out a little.

“So, let’s hand out the tests first and go over the questions p>

A wave of groans swept through the classroom.

Norris started passing out the test papers, not bothering to read out anyone’s score.

As each student got their paper, they started doing the math in their heads, wondering if their score was good enough for the top fifteen.

Some people got their papers and gave a quiet fist pump. Others saw their grades and just broke down in tears.

“Ugh, I barely passed. There’s no way I made it p>

“Same, I only got seventy-something p>

“I got in the eighties, but I’m not getting my hopes up p>

Claire looked at her paper. She’d gotten a perfect score. Wendy, sitting next to her, was in the eighties.

Wendy glanced at her own test, then at Claire’s. Her eyes started to water.

“Claire, I won’t be able to join you in the second round of training p>

“Hey, don’t say that. The results aren’t out yet. You might still make it p>

“And you’re awesome. Even if you don’t get through this competition, you can still get into Cabinda University. We’ll definitely get to see each other again p>

As Claire spoke, Norris happened to walk by.

He cleared his throat. “Claire’s right. Even if you don’t make it to the next round, don’t get discouraged. You’re all really talented Im sure you meet again at the top p>

The whole room seemed to breathe a little easier after that. People kept whispering, “meet at the top,” to themselves, like it was a promise.

“All right, let’s save the tears for later. This test was tough, but p>

He dove into the review, and most of the class snapped back into focus. They were

used to this kind of pressure. Even if a few drifted off, most were listening closely.

Norris didn’t blame the ones who couldn’t pay attention. Not everyone could handle disappointment so quickly.

Take Carr, for example.

When he saw his score, the world just seemed to go dark. It felt like everything was crashing down around him.

He wanted to ask the teacher if maybe there’d been a mistake with the grading. How could he have gotten a seventy-nine? That didn’t match up with how hard he’d worked.

“Can you check my paper? Maybe the teacher graded it wrong,” Carr whispered to

his desk mate. He didn’t dare ask Norris directly.

His desk mate rolled his eyes. “Come on, are you really that clueless? You’ve always been just above average p>

“Making it to the next round He almost said it was impossible, but Carr was glaring at him like he might bite.

He quickly changed his tone. “I mean, you’d have to work super hard to move forward p>

Carr shook his head, refusing to accept it. I’ve always done well. should’ve made it with just a little more effort. Maybe someone took the spot that was supposed to be ours p>

“If the teacher didn’t grade my paper wrong, then it has to be Carr shot a look at

Claire.

He couldn’t see her score, but he was clearly not happy about it.