Chapter 3

The moment the beers were popped open, foam blasted out and splattered across the entire room. In the middle of all the cheering, Priscilla's voice message popped up.

"I'm so sorry. I was only joking, but somehow, to prove you're not the one in his heart, Justin actually agreed to tear up your admission ticket."

I forwarded that audio recording straight to Justin, asking him to explain this.

However, he didn't reply until the next day when he said, "Oh, I drank too much last night and forgot to tell you. You'd better hurry and reapply for a new ticket."

My grip on the phone tightened. "Justin Kylemark, if I hadn't reached out first, were you planning to wait until the day before the exam to tell me this?"

My words caught him off guard, and he grew impatient. "Can you stop being so jealous?"

With that, he hung up.

In the past, I wanted to take the SAT so I could apply to the same university as Justin.

But now? I no longer cared.

I dialed the number of the research institute. "Aunt Helena, I cracked the project's code. Also, I'll take up your offer to join your research institute."

"Oh my gosh! Cassidy, you finally came around! What about that childhood sweetheart of yours? Is he coming to Northwich too?"

I shook my head. "There's nothing between us anymore."

The research institute relied on me to solve coding problems in the past. And with memories from my past life, their "unsolvable" projects were child's play for me.

Freed from the pressure of the SAT exams, I focused on packing for Northwich.

On the day before the exam, my inbox exploded with notifications. Every single one of my classmates messaged me.

"Cassidy, didn't you say you'd give us exam predictions? Where are they?"

"Hurry up! The exam's tomorrow!"

"Can you send them already? I need to sleep by 10:00 pm!"

They were all frantic. Yet, when I asked them to study seriously before this, offering my predictions, they only sneered at me.

"You just can't stand that Priscilla is everyone's favorite and doing this to seek attention, aren't you?"

"What a joke! Nobody wants your stupid predictions!"

So, I tagged everyone in the group chat, simply writing, "There are no exam predictions. You're on your own."

The chat instantly blew up.

"What do you mean? You promised to give us exam predictions, and now you're bailing?"

"I didn't study at all! I was counting on you! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Fine, you win. We were only standing up for Priscilla because you were targeting her. We'll apologize now, alright? Just hurry up and send those predictions!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Weren't you the ones who said that nobody would waste their time on my predictions? If you never trusted me, why slack off and wait on me? Pathetic losers who can't even take responsibility for themselves deserve to flunk their exam."

I had never been so blunt with them, causing them to explode in outrage.

Just as I was about to mute the chat, Priscilla shared a file in the group.

[I'm not as capable as Cassidy, but I've put together some exam predictions too. I worked hard on these. I hope you guys don't mind…]

I opened the file. Every single prediction neatly avoided the real exam topics.

However, my classmates were overjoyed.

"That's our Priscilla! She keeps our admission tickets safe, and now she's giving us exam predictions too! Honestly, what's Cassidy even good for?"

"That's so true. All she does is get jealous."

A notification popped up—I'd been kicked out of the group chat.

I didn't feel the slightest bit angry.

They probably hadn't noticed. Back when they were holding their celebration, a few admission tickets had already slipped out of Priscilla's bag and fallen into the trash.

…

On exam day, I still went to the school gates just to feel the atmosphere. From a distance, I saw Priscilla surrounded by panicked classmates.

"What's going on? Maybe you put them in a different bag? They can't just be gone!"

Priscilla's eyes were red as she rifled through her bag again and again. "No way… I checked last night. Every single one was there…"

I knew she was lying.

Those tickets had fallen into the trash during the drinking party. How could she have checked them last night?

Nervousness flickered across their faces. They kept glancing toward the exam hall, trying to stay calm.

"It's fine. Just keep looking. There's still half an hour left…"