Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Emily stood up abruptly, her voice trembling with indignation. “Mr. Smith, there must be a mistake! How could Janet possibly take first place? And full marks in French? That is fundamentally impossible!”

Her outburst acted as a catalyst. The classroom erupted into a cacophony of accusations. “She’s right! How could a village girl top the grade?” “It’s a miracle if she even passes. This is a joke.” “She must have cheated! Cheaters should be expelled from Star High!”

The students cast despicable looks at Janet, their whispers thick with mockery. Abby leaned in, her voice a hushed, worried anchor. “Janet… how did this happen?”

When Janet looked up, her eyes weren't filled with the panic of a caught cheater. Instead, they shone with a calm, terrifyingly sharp confidence.

“Shut up, all of you!”

Gordon’s roar cut through the chatter like a blade. He was clearly annoyed, his classmates' voices sounding like nothing more than chirping birds. “Mr. Smith hasn't even finished speaking. Who are you to blindly speculate?”

The room fell into an immediate, respectful silence. It was the first time they had seen the usually cool Gordon lose his temper.

Mr. Smith found himself in an awkward position. He frowned at Emily. “Take your seat for now.”

But Emily remained adamant, sensing the tide of the class was with her. “Mr. Smith, I cannot believe she received full marks. During our last French session, I was the one who had to solve a basic question for her! As class monitor, I want to trust my peers, but… could there be an error with the names on the slips?”

Mr. Smith was momentarily stunned. He had no evidence of foul play, so he leaned on his principles as an educator. “A village education does not inherently mean a lesser one, class. I expect you to treat a student from the countryside with fairness.”

“Mr. Smith, I actually agree. I don’t think it’s plausible either,” Janet broke her silence, her voice cool and slightly bored.

The class froze. Mr. Smith looked at her, baffled. “Janet, what do you mean? You told me in the office you took the exam on your own.”

Janet stood up, biting her lip in mock hesitation. “I’d like to clarify something. Why is my Spanish only a 144, and how on earth did I score a mere 146 in Math? There must be a mistake in the grading!”

The silence that followed was deafening. The students were reeling. Is she serious? She was demanding full marks while everyone else was trying to figure out how she passed at all.

“Enough!” Mr. Smith clapped his hands to regain control. “You will see your mistakes when the papers are returned this afternoon.”

As the first-place student, Janet was given the right to choose any seat in the room. To Abby’s immense relief, Janet chose to stay put.

“Janet, you have the best results in the school. Why stay back here with me?” Abby whispered.

Janet raised a brow, teasing her. “I’m not that capable, Abby. Honestly, my results are mediocre at best. I just got lucky this time.”

Secretly, however, Janet felt a twinge of regret. Why did I stay in the second-to-last row? If I’d moved Gordon to the front, I could have had the very back row to myself. It’s so much easier to enjoy the scenery from the back.

The news of the "Village Girl’s" victory spread like wildfire through Star High. Miss Lilian, the French teacher, was in a state of pure disbelief. She was determined to find evidence of cheating to reclaim the top spot for her star pupil, Emily.

On the other side of campus, the subject of the scandal—Janet—was lazily taking an afternoon nap. She was awoken by Gordon and Abby staring at her in a daze, her test papers gripped in their trembling hands.

“Did you… did you really answer these yourself?” they asked simultaneously.

They were looking at the elegant, flowing script across the pages. The essay was a masterpiece of logic and thought, on par with professional literature.

Abby’s jaw dropped. “Janet, your writing is outstanding.”

“Huh?” Janet blinked sleepily. “Actually, I used to be horrible at essays. My scores were usually zero.”

Gordon and Abby exchanged looks of sheer confusion. “Then how did you score this high today?”

Janet’s lips curled into a lazy, mysterious smile, her cheeks still flushed from her nap. “I saw the answers in a dream the night before. Pure coincidence.”

In the school’s meeting room, a grim-faced assembly had gathered: Miss Lilian, Mr. Smith, the Principal, and Emily.

“Sir,” Emily pleaded, her voice thick with feigned concern for the school’s integrity. “What is the protocol for cheating? Star High shouldn't be a place for such humiliation.”

The Principal nodded righteously. “We never cover for cheaters. They are expelled immediately.”

“Then you must look at Janet Jackson,” Miss Lilian added. “As her teacher, I know her ability. It is physically impossible for her to score full marks in French. This warrants a full investigation.”

The Principal frowned and summoned the exam invigilator. Within minutes, the invigilator arrived and shook her head. “Sir, I remember that girl clearly. She didn't cheat. She didn't even look up from her paper.”

“How is that possible?!” Miss Lilian snorted. “A village girl getting a perfect score without help?”

“Miss Lilian,” the Principal snapped, his patience wearing thin. “Do you have a single shred of proof?”

Emily spoke up, her eyes gleaming with malice. “The proof is in the paper itself. We just need to compare her handwritten answers to the standard key. A fake always leaves a trail.”