Chapter 4

The words had just left my mouth when the crowd descended into chaos.

"So that's it! You all planned not to take the exam together!" Mr. McFadden roared at me, jabbing his finger in my face. "This is all your doing!"

Mrs. Burke planted her hands on her hips and yelled, "I knew it! All you do is play around all day! Are you able to take responsibility if you ruin Greg's future?"

Mr. Trudeau, who had stayed silent this whole time, turned toward Mr. Levinski.

"A student with this kind of character should be expelled immediately," he said coldly.

Mr. Levinski opened his mouth, but a very odd expression crossed his face. Then he glanced at me, hesitating to speak.

Mrs. Burke noticed this immediately. She whipped her head around and asked, "Mr. Levinski, what's with that look?"

I chuckled. Before Mr. Levinski could answer, Dad strode forward.

"My daughter has been admitted directly to Mephton!" he declared in a booming voice. "She doesn't need to sit for the CEA at all!"

Complete silence fell over the crowd.

Mrs. Trudeau was the first to shriek, "That's impossible! My son is the top student in their year, and even he didn't get guaranteed admission! So how can she possibly get it?"

The other parents also turned toward Mr. Levinski, their eyes filled with suspicion.

"Mrs. Trudeau," he said, smiling awkwardly. "Wendell hasn't been at the top of his grade for two months now."

Just as Mrs. Trudeau stilled, Mom walked back into the house and brought out the official admission packet, complete with Mephton University's official seals and bright red stamps.

The color immediately drained from all three sets of parents' faces.

Like a madwoman, Mrs. McFadden lunged forward to grab the documents, but Dad shoved her aside. Staggering to a stop, she glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

"What gives her the right to have guaranteed admission when my son is missing? Hand Jer over right now, or there will be blood!"

"Yes! There will be blood," the other two families echoed in unison.

I glanced down at my watch. There were 20 minutes before the examinees had to enter the exam halls. Looking past the three sets of parents, my gaze landed on the group of classmates behind them.

"Are you guys planning to stay here and chant that as well?"

Their faces instantly paled. The next second, they all spun around and bolted off without even saying goodbye.

Mr. Levinski quickly tried to smooth things over.

"Let's not panic. Maybe they've already gone to the exam centers on their own. Maybe they heard that Abigail received guaranteed admission and were spurred to study even harder, and that's why they didn't go home last night."

Six pairs of eyes lit up instantly as the parents latched onto the possibility, as if it were a lifeline.

"Yes! Greg's always been the most competitive!"

"Jer hates losing, too. He must've studied through the night!"

"Let's go, let's go! We'll wait for them at the exam center!"

The three couples wiped away their tears and turned to leave. Just as I thought that would be the end of it, two of the parents exchanged a look.

All of a sudden, Mrs. Burke spun around and lunged for the admission documents in Mom's hands, while Mr. McFadden grabbed me by the arms and dragged me toward the car.

"She has definitely got something to do with our sons' disappearance! If they don't sit for the exam today, she can forget about going to Mephton!"

"Let go of my daughter!" Dad yelled.

He charged forward, but Mr. Trudeau held him in a death grip.

I was shoved into the back seat, and with a heavy thud, the door was slammed shut. But I didn't struggle. I just calmly leaned back against the seat, watching the streets blur past outside the window and the morning sunlight filter through the trees.

In my past life, I'd done everything in my power to drag their sons into the exam center. This time, it was my turn to watch them beg their sons to show up.

"Don't worry. You're going to lose far more than this," I mused to myself.

…

The car finally stopped at the entrance of the exam center, where students were streaming through the gates.

The parents craned their necks, frantically searching through the crowd. But there was no sign of their sons. Not even a single one.

By then, my parents had arrived as well. They stood in the distance, their expressions hard.

The parents finally quieted down. They stopped arguing and yelling, and just stood frozen outside the gates like three wooden stakes hammered into the ground.

For 18 years, they'd woken up early and slept late, pinched pennies and lived frugally, all just for that day—the day their sons would sit for the CEA. It was the one literal turning point in their sons' lives.

They were right at the juncture now, yet their sons were nowhere to be seen.

Five minutes were left until the gates to the exam center closed. Three minutes. One minute.

The doors began to close.

"Please!" Mrs. McFadden cried out, lunging over like a madwoman and clinging to the iron bars desperately. "Please just wait a few more minutes!"

Mrs. Burke's legs gave out, and she collapsed straight onto the ground, while Mr. Trudeau slumped onto the steps, letting out a raw, animal-like howl.

15 seconds remained.

"Mom! Dad!"

Hoarse cries echoed from the far end of the street, and three disheveled, miserable-looking figures came stumbling toward the entrance.

Mrs. McFadden burst into tears as she threw her arms around her son. "Where did you guys go? Get inside! Hurry!"

Gregory and Wendell were about to run inside when Jeremy suddenly grabbed them both by their collars and yanked them back. Then he spun around, his eyes bloodshot and his entire body trembling, and pointed straight at me.

"It was her!" he screamed with everything he had. "She confessed her feelings for me yesterday at school. When I rejected her, she grew a deep-seated hatred for me. She drugged the three of us, locked us in a hotel room, and even hired people to take nude photos of us!"

He gritted his teeth, and his voice was so raw that it cracked. "She blackmailed us for 200 thousand dollars and told us that if we dared show up for the CEA, she'd post the photos online! It's all because she's terrified that we'd score better than her!"