Chapter 2

Judy's POV

The mock SAT arrived right on schedule. It was the most important benchmark exam before the SAT, and it was notoriously difficult.

When the math exam was handed out, I glanced at the final math problem. If I used the conventional approach, I would hit a dead end halfway through.

I took a deep breath and started writing.

With 40 minutes still left on the clock, Jace suddenly raised his hand and handed in his paper. He stood up, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor with an ear-piercing screech.

Several classmates who had been working on their answers looked up at him in admiration.

The invigilator froze, then walked over and quietly reminded him, "There's still plenty of time. This exam has plenty of questions. Don't you want to check your work again?"

"No. Getting a perfect score is a piece of cake," Jace answered, picking up his pencil case and walking out of the exam room without looking back.

As he passed by my desk, he deliberately slowed down and laughed mockingly. "Still stuck on the last math problem? I told you, you're too rigid in your thinking."

I didn't even look up at him. I simply moved my pen quickly across the scratch paper.

He didn't know anything. The real trap in this problem wasn't the usual way to solve it. It was the mathematical reasoning needed to work through the derivation. The shortcut he had prided himself on was about to come back and bite him.

The next day, the exam results were posted on the bulletin board.

I stood at the edge of the crowd, listening to the gasps of surprise.

"Holy crap! Jace isn't first! Judy scored 1570. That's 20 points higher than Jace!"

I squeezed through the crowd, my gaze landing on the top of the list.

I was sitting proudly at number one. Jace was second. As for Roxy…

I scanned the list from top to bottom. It wasn't until I reached the second-to-last page that I finally spotted her name. She had only scored 400.

"No way!" Jace pushed through the crowd, staring intently at the list.

Roxy followed closely behind him, tugging on his sleeve with tears welling in her eyes. She cried, "Jace, I'm sorry for being so stupid. I didn't even finish the exam…"

Jace took a deep breath. When he saw her tearful expression, he forced himself to swallow his anger. He assured her, "It's okay. The exam was harder than usual. It's not your fault. I was also careless. I should've checked my answers properly."

He looked up and found me through the crowd, his eyes brimming with defiance. "It's just a mock exam. It doesn't prove anything. What matters is your final SAT score."

He emphasized the word "final".

The students around us were totally baffled, but only the three of us knew exactly what went down.

At the afternoon class meeting, Mr. Sanders went out of his way to praise me.

Then, he looked at Jace, exasperated. He chided, "Jace, you lost this one because you got careless. The SAT is right around the corner. Stop wasting your time on things that have nothing to do with your future!"

With that, he gave Roxy a pointed look.

Jace suddenly stood up and said defiantly, "Mr. Sanders, even if I lose 20 points, my grades are still good enough to get into any top university in the country. I'm helping Roxy because I see her potential. I'll prove to all of you what overwhelming intelligence looks like."

The entire class fell silent. Everyone was stunned by his arrogant declaration.

I sat at my desk, watching them coldly.

Overwhelming intelligence? He sure had a way of showing it. I wondered how he would feel when he found out he had to split his high score between him and Roxy.

After school, Roxy stopped me in my tracks. She was holding a brochure for a relatively decent university in Jinton. She was glowing with smug delight.

She said, "Judy, Jace said with all the help he's given me these past few days, plus the bonus points, getting into a good university will be easy. We'll be together in Jinton."

I avoided her and walked past her. "Then you'd better make sure you hold on to him."

Roxy's expression shifted, and her voice turned sharp. "What do you mean by that? Are you just bitter because you can't have him? Jace said that even if you work yourself to the bone, you'll never beat him with that 100-point bonus.

"Meanwhile, I can get the scores other people have to work for without doing anything."

I stopped and looked at her seriously. "You're right. It must feel great to get something without lifting a finger. I hope you can still be this happy when you get your score."