Chapter 4

My fingers quivered, and I decided to stop scrolling, and I flung the phone to the side. It was not long before I heard Jacob speaking on the phone in the living room. His speaker was turned on, and I could hear the voice of our class teacher.

"Jacob, I heard about your score estimate. It's incredible! Once the results are announced, I'll help you apply for the school's special scholarship and write you a letter of recommendation to Kale University. You're the pride of our school!"

Jacob replied with great relish, and even after he hung up, his voice went an octave higher as he shouted toward my room, "Mom! Dad! Our class teacher says he'll be writing me a letter of recommendation to Kale University!"

My father laughed so loudly that it hurt my ears. I sat in front of my desk, staring at the computer to search for the exam answers shared online, and I started to compare them one by one to get an estimate of my score.

I had most of the answers right, as there were subjective answers in essays that might not hit the right note with examiners, but after using the strictest standard to take off possible points, my score was estimated at 1,560, 60 points higher than the minimum requirement for Kale University.

I took out a folder from the innermost section of my drawer that I had locked up for six months, containing all the exam papers and drafts I used in twenty major school exams in the past year.

My answers matched Jacob's 100% for all of them, but I had drafts that were filled with my draft calculations, and I took pictures of each of them and saved them in folders. They were evidence that I filed according to the dates, and I saved them in double-encrypted folders. Once our results were announced, these would become hard evidence against Jacob.

After an entire afternoon of work, I started to get thirsty, so I headed downstairs to buy myself a cold drink. When I returned to my room, I found all my revision papers on the table, and the certificates I won in competitions that were on the wall had all been torn to shreds. I trembled with anger at the sight.

"Oh, you're back, Jonah." I looked up to see Jacob chewing gum while leaning against my door. He shrugged and smiled innocently. "I was in your room looking for something and thought these useless pieces of paper were taking up too much space. You won't be able to attend Kale University anyway, and all these papers and certificates would just be rubbish. So, I threw them away for you. No need to thank me."

[Good job tearing them up to shreds. Those lousy certificates were supposed to belong to Jacob anyway.]

[Why would Jonah hide those papers?]

[Hiding them was pointless. It's a fact that he can't get into Kale University.]

…

On the day the results were announced, I was still picking up the torn-up certificates in my room, but my father kept pushing me to check my score. When I walked out of the room, a laptop was sitting open with the College Board Student Score Reports page staring back at me.

Jacob was leaning against the couch while sending a voice note to his friends. "The results will be announced soon. I have no problem scoring 1,550. Once it's official, I'll buy all of you a big meal."

When Jacob saw me out of the room, he raised an eyebrow and said louder, "By the way, shouldn't you apologize to me for copying my answers so many times once the results are out, Jonah?"

My father frowned and glared at me. "What are you standing there for? You should be learning from your younger brother. You can still get a job after finishing community college. Stop being a slacker at home."

Jacob smiled as he went to the laptop to enter his username and password into the website gleefully. When he clicked on the submit button, he turned to glance at me with a taunting look in his eye. Everyone held their breath during the three seconds the page was loading, and when the results appeared, Jacob's scream almost blew the roof off.

"No! That's impossible!"