Chapter 2

Shawn stood at the front of the classroom with a stack of papers in his hands, tapping them against the desk until the edges lined up.

"These are self-study request forms. Once you sign this, you don't have to show up for classes anymore. You just roll up on test day and take the SAT."

Duncan Cooper was the first to rush forward, grabbing a sheet and signing his name without a second thought. "Whatever Shawn says, I do. Anyone who doesn't sign this is an idiot."

Liam Keller hesitated for a couple of seconds before following suit.

With people leading the charge, the rest of the class swarmed the front of the room, fighting to fill out the paperwork.

"I'm signing this right now so I can go home and play video games. See you guys at Quinby University!"

Eventually, only one sheet remained.

Shawn looked over at me as I sat in my seat, holding out the final form. "Jeremy, why aren't you signing?"

I stared back at him blankly, making no move to take the paper. The rejection left Shawn hanging, and a deep flush crawled up his neck.

"What, are you scared? Everyone else signed. What's your problem?"

Duncan immediately chimed in, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Come on, he's the top student in our grade. He probably thinks gaming the system with the rest of us is beneath him.

"He busted his ass studying for three years, and now he finds out we can get into Quinby University by including a prompt after every response. I'd be bitter too if all that work suddenly turned out to be pointless."

A few students burst into laughter.

Shawn offered me a sympathetic look. "Jeremy, I get why you're bitter, but even on your best day, your normal scores aren't enough to get you into Quinby University anyway."

He let out a patronizing sigh, looking at me like I was a complete moron. "Now, you have a golden ticket to cruise right into a top university. Why wouldn't you take it?"

My girlfriend, Tessa Thorpe, looked down her nose at me, her tone laced with impatience.

"You're the only person left in the entire class who hasn't signed. What are you trying to prove?"

She lifted her chin, disdain flickering in her eyes. "Someone just handed you an easy way into Quinby University, and instead of taking it, you insist on making your own life harder."

Shawn wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close as he threw a provocative glance my way, pretending to care about my well-being.

"Are you seriously not signing? Once everyone else leaves, you'll be sitting here all by yourself. Doesn't that bother you?"

Tessa let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "He just hates seeing the rest of us succeed. He's miserable because he studied his life away for three years, and now we get the same prize with one extra sentence."

Duncan nodded along, his tone dripping with mockery. "The whole class signed except for him. Look at him. He's acting like he's the only sane person in the room. What a pretentious prick!"

Shawn waved the paperwork right in front of my face. "Jeremy, I'm asking you one last time. Are you signing or not? Don't say I never gave you a chance."

Seeing that I remained completely unmoved, he let out a theatrical sigh. "Fine. Just don't regret it when the rest of us get into Quinby University."

I swept my eyes over the crowd of faces before finally breaking my silence. "I'm not signing."

The smile on Shawn's face stiffened, his eyes flashing red with anger as he balled his hands into tight fists.

"Jeremy, tell the truth. Is the real reason you're not signing because you plan on snitching?"

The room went silent.

He glared at me, taking a self-righteous stance. "If you have a problem with me, take it out on me, alright? Don't jeopardize everyone's future just because you want to throw a temper tantrum."

His words instantly turned the whole room against me. The expressions on the other students' faces immediately hardened.

"I knew it! No wonder he refused to sign. He's planning to stab us in the back!"

Shawn quickly waved his hands, playing the part of the reasonable diplomat. "Guys, calm down. I was only asking. Maybe Jeremy doesn't mean it that way."

Before I could say anything, Tessa slapped me across the face.

My left cheek burned immediately.

She leaned down, bringing her face close to mine, her eyes burning with malice. "Jeremy, are you seriously going to fucking snitch? How can you be so goddamn selfish?"

Her chest heaved with rage as she gritted her teeth. "If you don't sign this form, we're done!"