Chapter 3

Judy's POV

There were only three days left until the SAT, so Mr. Sanders organized a mock college application session for the class.

He handed out mock college application forms to everyone, telling us to practice filling them out using our mock exam scores to figure out where we stood.

The classroom was noisy. Jace didn't even bother looking at the application guide and simply wrote "Payton University" as his first choice.

Then, he took Roxy's application form and confidently wrote "Jinton Institute of Engineering" as her first choice. It was a fairly decent university in Jinton.

The students around them stared in shock, their eyes widening at the sight.

"Jace, you're guaranteed to get into Payton University. But Roxy didn't even score 430 on the last exam. And the cutoff for this school was nearly 850 last year!"

Ezra Manson, the class' sports rep, was a straightforward guy. So he couldn't help but speak up to remind him.

Roxy, who had been happily looking at the application form, immediately fell silent when she heard that. She tugged at Jace's sleeve, looking aggrieved. "Jace, do they think I'm not good enough to go to the same city as you?"

"Ignore them." Jace took her hand, reassuring her. "If I put this school down for you, it means you're definitely getting in."

He raised his head and shot Ezra a cold look. "The rules of the SAT are far more complicated than you think. I'll find a way to get her past this threshold."

Ezra was briefly at a loss for words. He turned away, muttering under his breath, "How can you possibly give her another 430 points? Do you think you can sway the graders or something?"

Mr. Sanders was walking around the classroom. When he reached their desk and spotted Roxy's application form, he frowned. "Jace, this mock application session is meant to help you understand your actual prospects! You can't just fill in Roxy's choices like this. Are you treating her future as a joke?"

Jace stood there arrogantly. "Mr. Sanders, I'm not joking around. After all, the likes of you could never understand the ambitions of someone destined for greatness. Roxy and I are destined to be in the same city. When the admissions results come out, you'll see for yourself whether I was fooling around."

He then turned toward me in the corner, where I was still reviewing my mistakes, and walked over. "Judy, still cramming?"

He looked down at me, his eyes filled with pity. He mocked, "You don't need to work so hard. If you apologize to Roxy now and admit that you were just jealous and narrow-minded, I might consider lending you my notes for a day."

I looked up and met his gaze. "Your precious study notes? The secret manual on losing 20 points on that last math problem?"

Several students nearby chuckled under their breath.

Jace's expression shifted. "Ungrateful runt!" he yelled with gritted teeth.

"You think you can walk over everyone just because you won one mock exam? Let me tell you, you have no chance of succeeding in the SAT. Someone like you, who only knows how to bury your nose in textbooks, will never understand how to make the most of the resources at your disposal!"

"Make the most of your resources?" I couldn't help but laugh. "So you're doing that by sacrificing your own future for a hopeless nobody?"

"What do you know?" Jace suddenly snapped. "Roxy is just a late bloomer! With my tutoring, plus that 100-point bonus, her total score will be enough for her to get into a four-year college program."

He couldn't help but subtly mention the bonus in front of everyone.

Ezra was bewildered. "What 100-point bonus? Jace, what are you talking about?"

Realizing he had misspoken, Jace scoffed, grabbed Roxy, and turned to leave.

…

The sky remained gloomy throughout that day of the SAT. It drizzled the entire time. The moment the bell rang, signaling the end of the final test, I sighed in relief.

As I walked out of the school gate, I saw Jace holding a black umbrella, sheltering Roxy in his arms. Roxy's eyes were red, and she was leaning against Jace. Clearly, she hadn't done well.

"It's okay. You can still get some points by guessing on the reading test. The rest is up to me," Jace comforted her gently.

When Roxy saw me walking out, she immediately smiled triumphantly. She asked, "Judy, how did the exam go? I heard the reading test was really difficult."

I answered calmly, "It was fine. I did about as well as I expected."

"That's good." Roxy chuckled. "Jace said we're going to register for that special bonus on the website tonight. Too bad you'll only have to rely on yourself for this."

Jace wrapped an arm around her shoulders, looking at me with disdain. "Don't waste your breath on her. Come on. I'm taking you out to celebrate."