Chapter 4

I ignored Oliver. I didn't want to ruin my good mood today just by talking to him.

I walked into the examination hall. The bell rang, and the exams officially began.

Right after I was done with the questions, I filled out the scantron sheet with the correct answers. I no longer had to deliberately fill out the wrong answers just to feed Oliver's or Vivian's egos and make them think they were better than me.

The morning passed very quickly. As soon as I was done with the first module of reading and writing, I decided to hand in my papers and go shopping on my own.

I'd already experienced what it was like to take the college entrance exam, and I was done with it. There was no point for me to continue staying here anyway.

After leaving the examination hall, I grabbed my bag and prepared to leave the school. However, Oliver suddenly blocked me from leaving at the gate.

"Kay? Where are you going?"

I frowned when I saw that he refused to let me out.

"I'm going to the mall. If you keep getting in my way, then I'm going to call the guards on you!"

He broke into a huge grin as though he'd just heard some wonderful news.

"You've finally thought it through and decided to skip the college entrance exam? See, I told you I wasn't wrong. Wait for Viv and me at the gates for a bit. We can go shopping together after the exam.

"Viv said she wanted a dress the last time, but she couldn't bring herself to buy it because it was too expensive. You can buy it for her as her graduation gift!

"As for mine, you don't have to worry about it. The greatest gift for me would be you not staying mad at me anymore."

I burst into angry laughter when I saw the self-righteous look on his face.

"Why should I buy her a gift, Oliver Barton?"

Oliver feigned surprise. "Huh? Didn't we promise to buy each other graduation gifts the last time?"

After thinking for a while, he said, "But since you're not taking the rest of the college entrance exam this year, that means you're not graduating this year either, so we won't need to buy you any gifts. Viv and I will buy you one next year after you've retaken the exams!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Since you have a goldfish memory, let me remind you that we're not friends anymore, Oliver. You're both on your own without me now."

"Ollie! So, you were chatting here with Kay the whole time? I've been looking everywhere for you!" Vivian's voice suddenly came from behind me. "Should I go and stop disturbing you guys?"

The way Vivian made me out to be her "love rival" made me sick to my stomach. I just shoved Oliver out of the way and walked right past the both of them.

They'd always been trying to take advantage of me every time we hung out together. When it was their birthdays, Oliver would force me to buy expensive gifts for them, like a Casio watch or a Dior perfume.

He said that the price of the gift represented how much I valued them as my friends.

But when it was my birthday, Oliver gifted me a generic-brand value pack of chips, and Vivian gifted me a cheap plastic hair claw.

They then told me that their sentiment and sincerity couldn't be measured by value.

While that was true, the value of the gifts still showed me how much I actually meant to them in their hearts.

I had a great time shopping for myself at the mall. When my phone began buzzing incessantly later that day, I finally realized that it was already late in the evening.

Everyone in class was done with the college entrance exam, and they were happily chatting in the class group chat.

Someone posted a photo in the group. It was a photo of two hands holding the other. The accompanying caption tagged Oliver and Vivian and said, "Oliver! Vivian! What the hell? You made it official just like that?"

It was a screenshot of a photo that Oliver had posted on his Instagram stories. His accompanying caption was, "The best person to ever happen to me."

Oliver replied in the group chat, "Actually, we've been together for a long time, but we didn't want to expose ourselves, so we got Kayla to cover for us."

Someone asked, "Kayla's been a third wheel for the longest time ever. Weren't you scared that she'd fall in love with you instead?"

Oliver replied, "She likes me, but I like Vivian more. And since we've both got excellent grades, we'll apply for the same college in Haven City and move there together."

The other classmates began cheering for them. "Oh, my God, I'm so envious of you! You're both a perfect match for each other!"

"I saw that Kayla wasn't in her seat for the second part of the college entrance exam. Could it be because she couldn't take the devastating news and walked out on her own?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter whether she sits for the college entrance exam or not at this point."

I read the mocking and condescending text messages from the other classmates. However, I was the most pissed at the person who started the rumor about me "liking him" in the first place.

The same person sent me a personal text message.

"You can ignore the stuff in the group chat. I only posted the photo to make Vivian happy. I wanted to delete it, but she preferred it being up."

I didn't reply to him privately. Instead, I replied in the group chat, saying, "Some shameless people just like to pretend they're chick magnets and think women will trip over themselves falling for him."