Chapter 1

I had only just finished estimating my SAT score when I heard Alexandria Johnson talking to her system.

I would probably get a score of 1570 out of 1600.

It wasn't as high as the score I got during the mocks, but at the very least, it was still the result of my own hard work.

The graduation party was just about to start. However, I still heard Alexandria talking to her system.

"It's just like before, right? Cecilia chose all the answers based on the comments, right?"

The system replied, "I was helping you with your questions during the SATs and didn't have time to keep an eye on her, Alexandria. But I had already pre-set the comments to roll out as usual, and according to the previous data, she should have answered the questions exactly as the comments told her to."

"That's good. The results are going to be announced today. Let's see how long this bitch can stay smug."

Alexandria was basically gritting her teeth while spitting out the last line.

"Lexie? Who are you talking to?"

I was currently standing outside the door to a private room in the restaurant, and Alexandria was standing near the door. There were also other classmates who had already arrived and were waiting inside.

When I heard the familiar male voice asking her the question, I suddenly wasn't in a hurry to open the door.

The male voice continued. "I realized that you've been talking to yourself a lot lately. Is it because of the stress?"

"I'm fine, Tom."

The other classmates in the room weren't dumb. When they heard both Alexandria Johnson and Thomas White talking to each other like this and showing concern for each other, they began egging them on.

"Hey, Thomas, you know that we're not going to be seeing each other again after this, right? Stop acting cool and cut to the chase! Why don't you just confess to her?"

"That's right! We noticed it a long time ago! We all know that you have a crush on Alex."

The classmates continued teasing them both, but Alexandria didn't say anything, and Thomas didn't deny anything either. It was just how things were, and exactly how things should be.

But of course, this was assuming that I didn't exist, after all.

Thomas had secretly made a promise to enroll in Longford University together with me. He had clearly already made plans about our future together, yet he had also implicitly accepted someone else's advances toward him.

Realizing that Thomas was remaining quiet for a bit, Alexandria changed the topic and said, "I'm sure that you'll be able to get into Longford University with your score, Tom."

"I hope so," Thomas replied with a seemingly humble smile.

"Oh? It's not like Thomas to be so modest about his results when he's always one of our top scorers in class! Honestly speaking, if anyone were to get into Longford University, it would be you and Alex," Jennie Carlson, Alexandria's best friend, said, inadvertently trying to draw them closer to each other.

However, Alexandria denied it and said, "No way. We're not the only two people who might get in. There's Cecilia Hilton too. She's been the one placing first in class during the past few mock tests."

The other people in the room seemed somewhat disdainful the moment they heard my name.

I didn't find it surprising. After all, I was nothing like Alexandria, who had a good personality, came from a good family background, and was the most popular female student in the class. People kept comparing me to her, and eventually, the more people liked her, the more they hated me.

But it wasn't like I'd even done anything to deserve all this.

None of the other people wanted to say anything about it. However, Jennie spoke up.

"How could you take her side, Alex? You know very well that Cecilia can only ever place second behind you. She's been slacking off for the past three months, but her results have been steadily improving. Don't you know how much we've been gossiping about her? We bet she's definitely been cheating all this while!"

Alexandria continued the topic and said in a pitious tone, "Well, Cecilia isn't from a good family background, so she probably doesn't have any good role models to guide her after she's gone astray. It's such a pity, though.

"But then again, she's always placed second in her tests beforehand. She probably does have some brains, after all."

While saying that, Alexandria kept staring at Thomas, who'd gone silent for quite a while. He was going to have to make a decision today, whether he liked it or not.

"We can only achieve success if we work with diligence instead of wasting our time playing around. But since she's been slacking off for such a long time, I guess there really isn't much hope left for her," Thomas ultimately said, making his choice obvious.

I had Alexandria to thank for letting me see Thomas' true colors now. Our future together was over.

…

I used to think that Thomas was someone just like me. We both didn't come from a good family background, but we did pretty well academically, and we both thought that education was our ticket out of poverty.

We grew up together since we were little, and even attended the same high school together afterward. I would always place second in class, while he usually placed third.