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Chapter 2

Author: Cocojam
My alarm jolted me awake at 6 AM.

Today was it. My third and final SAT.

Victoria was setting out breakfast when I walked downstairs.

"Morning, sweetie." A huge smile lit up her face. "I made you a special power breakfast."

Chloe and Mason had plain black coffee and bagels.

But at my spot sat a thick, cloudy glass of juice.

"My special blend!" Victoria said proudly. "I bought the organic veggies at 5 AM. Added spirulina and maca powder too."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Mom, your favoritism is so obvious."

Mason grumbled, "Why does Ava always get special treatment? She bombed two years in a row."

I stared at the orange liquid. My heart raced.

"Mom, I just want coffee today." I reached for Chloe's mug.

Smack!

Victoria stopped me and snatched the mug away.

"No! This juice is good for your test. You have to drink it! Or else you aren't going to the exam!"

The air froze.

Chloe smirked. "Aw, is our smart Ava scared? Rejecting Mom's kindness?"

"Mom, what's actually in this juice? Why do I have to drink it?" I was burning with anger.

Victoria looked instantly hurt. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Never mind. I shouldn't have bothered." Her voice trembled. "I thought you'd appreciate everything I do for you."

Seeing her like that softened me instantly. Guilt washed over me.

She was my mother. Why would she hurt me?

She did so much for this test.

Bought organic food herself.

She even secretly donated a million dollars to the prep school hosting the exam, just to get me a dead-silent, private VIP testing room...

And here I was, doubting her.

But today was make-or-break. I couldn't risk anything.

I grabbed an unopened bottle of water from the fridge.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I'll just stick to water today."

She didn't push it. I got in the car and headed to the test center.

The test was at an elite Upper East Side prep school.

Thanks to the massive donation, I bypassed the crowded lecture halls. They took me straight to a plush VIP room.

"You must be Miss Ava?" The proctor was a middle-aged guy in gold-rimmed glasses. He was freakishly polite. "Please, take a seat. We'll begin shortly."

The first two sections went perfectly. I felt great.

This time was truly different.

But soon, a wave of dizziness hit me.

Just a little at first, but it got worse fast.

The algebra equations on the page started twisting. The black letters crawled like bugs.

My heart pounded out of my chest. Cold sweat soaked my shirt.

I pinched my thigh hard to stay awake.

It didn't work.

My vision blurred. A high-pitched ringing pierced my ears.

"I... I don't feel well..." I choked out.

The room spun. Everything faded to black. The last thing I saw was the proctor's cold stare.

When I opened my eyes, I was in my own bed.

Sunlight filtered through the curtains, but it didn't look like morning light.

I struggled to sit up. My legs felt like jelly.

"Mom!" I screamed with all my might.

Victoria walked in with a bowl of oatmeal.

"Sweetie, you're finally awake." She looked so worried.

"What time is it? What about the test? I need to go back!" I panicked.

Victoria just sighed. "You've been asleep for three days. The College Board portal is closed. You missed the Regular Decision deadline."
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  • My Family’s Deadly Competition   Chapter 12

    Victoria said she saw I was suspicious...My heart tightened. An unbelievable thought crossed my mind.The courtroom was in total chaos and shock.The live stream was blowing up. People were incredibly sympathetic."If my life got stolen three times, I'd jump off a building. This girl is strong!""That mom is brutal. What kind of mother does that to her own kid?""I hope she can get through this and take the test again!"I pushed past reporters trying to interview me and took a cab straight back to the Upper East Side family apartment.I stormed into my bedroom and started frantically tearing the place apart.The top of my walk-in closet, behind the bathroom mirror, under my desk...My fingers trembled as I searched every suspicious corner.Finally, behind the tallest decorative vase in my closet, I felt cold metal.A high-tech hidden camera.My blood ran cold.The serial number showed it had been there for at least five years.Five years!Meaning since I was thirteen, that woman had b

  • My Family’s Deadly Competition   Chapter 11

    I slammed a thick lab report onto the evidence stand."This is my hair toxicology report! It shows three years of GHB residue in my system!"Victoria went paper-white and flatly denied it. "What GHB? I don't know anything about that!""It's fine if you don't know. Your dark web crypto purchase history does."GHB is a mind-control drug. Users become completely obedient to the person drugging them.Criminals use it to coerce and drug victims before assaulting them.I never expected Victoria to use a criminal drug on me."You micro-dosed my matcha to give me 'panic attacks.' On test days, you gave me a massive dose to hypnotize me into signing your names!"I pointed at Victoria's shaking hands."After every test, you made up a story about me fainting and going to the hospital, just to make me think something was wrong with my body!"The case instantly escalated to a federal felony.The courtroom doors flew open. FBI white-collar crime agents marched in."Victoria, you are under arrest for

  • My Family’s Deadly Competition   Chapter 10

    The glass shard shook violently in Victoria's hand, cutting deeper into her skin. Blood dripped down her fingers onto the courtroom floor."You're insane!" she shrieked. "Do you want your mother to die right here?"Chaos broke out. Bailiffs moved in to stop her.But I raised my hand, stopping them.I strode over to Victoria and, under everyone's stunned gaze, snatched the bloody glass right out of her bare hand."What's the point of playing the victim now?"Without a second thought, I slashed the glass across my own palm.Blood instantly welled up and dripped onto the solemn judge's bench. It was a shocking sight.Victoria was dumbfounded. She had never seen me this cold-blooded.I held up my bloody hand and backed her into a corner."If there's even a tiny piece of you that cares about your daughter, tell the truth right now. Or I'll keep cutting until I bleed out!""Ava!" Victoria panicked, tears bursting from her eyes. "Don't! Mommy loves you! I did all of this to save the family bu

  • My Family’s Deadly Competition   Chapter 9

    Victoria instantly slapped me hard across the face.The sharp crack echoed in the solemn courtroom. Gasps came from the gallery."Say one more word, and I'll die right here in this courtroom!" Her chest heaved with rage. Her eyes were completely unhinged.Crash!She grabbed a glass of water from the table and smashed it on the floor.Sharp shards flew everywhere. Victoria picked up the biggest piece and pressed it against her carotid artery without hesitation.The glass cut her skin. Blood slowly trickled down her pale neck."Enough, Ava!" Chloe jumped up from the gallery, screaming at me. "You sociopath! Are you only going to be happy when the entire trust is frozen?""Mom has always spoiled you the most. Can't you just grow up?"The three of them stood together, glaring at me with pure hostility, acting as if I were the villain here.My brother gritted his teeth. "You were the only one getting special matcha every night for years. Did we ever complain?""Mom babied you! So what if we

  • My Family’s Deadly Competition   Chapter 8

    An hour later, the forensic document examiner finished the analysis under the court's watchful eyes.The expert held up the answer sheet and solemnly announced, "Forensic analysis confirms that the handwriting on the 1580-scoring answer sheet under Mason's name, including all scratchpad calculations and final answers, belongs entirely to Miss Ava.""And the zero-score disqualified paper submitted under Miss Ava's name actually matches Mason's handwriting."The courtroom was stunned, but the biggest shock was yet to come.I sneered and raised my hand. "Your Honor, I have one more secret to reveal."I walked to the stand and pointed a laser pen at the magnified answer sheet on the screen."At the final step of every complex math equation, I always draw a tiny Greek letter Theta in the bottom right corner. It's a habit from middle school. Like an artist's signature."The red laser hit the microscopic symbol perfectly."It's my own anti-counterfeit mark. No matter the situation, if I did t

  • My Family’s Deadly Competition   Chapter 7

    The big screen lit up. Crystal-clear hallway footage played in the center of the courtroom.The timestamp showed the morning of the final SAT exam.Two medics rushed out of the VIP center doors, pushing a stretcher.Someone lay on the stretcher wearing an expensive Balenciaga hoodie. Their face was totally hidden by a hood and an oxygen mask. They looked like they were dying."Look closely," I pointed at the screen, my voice icy. "Only one student was taken away by ambulance that day. And that person wasn't me."I spun around and locked eyes with Mason.He flinched at my cold glare and shrank back into his chair."It was you, Mason." I stalked toward him. The pressure drained the color from his face. "You faked an illness outside. Put on a great show. You don't even know basic algebra. How on earth did you score a 1580?""You're lying!" Mason stammered. He was too guilty to even look at me.Victoria stood up in a panic.She leaned on the table, trying to maintain her last shred of arro

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