Chapter 4

I swallowed hard. "Was there anything wrong with the matcha?"

"Sorry, we didn't detect any abnormal substances. The sample only contained regular tea leaves and natural honey."

I hung up and slumped into a patio chair.

Nothing wrong.

That meant it was all me. I just had terrible luck...

But watching Mason celebrate inside, my doubts didn't fade.

I knew exactly how dumb he was. Clubbing every night, utterly clueless about the test.

There was no way he scored that high!

Chloe and Brianna flashed through my mind.

An insane idea started creeping into my head. I took a deep breath and walked back inside.

"I want a recount," I said loudly.

The living room fell silent. Everyone stared at me.

"What?" Victoria frowned.

I repeated myself.

Chloe snorted. "Ava, are you delusional? Your score is canceled. What is there to check?"

"I'm not just checking mine. I'm checking Mason's."

Mason's face turned beet red. "Why do you think I can't do it? Maybe I'm just gifted!"

I was shaking all over. My voice trembled. "Mason, you can't even solve a basic algebra equation. And the rest of you... did you do something? Did you steal my scores?!"

Dead silence. Then, the whole family cracked up.

Victoria walked over and patted my shoulder. "Ava, have you been under too much stress lately?"

I smacked her hand away.

"I'm serious! I don't get it. I studied like crazy to win this seat and protect you all! What did you do to me?!"

I pointed at my sister. "Chloe, how many times did you even go to high school? Your workbooks are totally blank. How did you get into Penn?"

Chloe glared at me. Before she could talk back, I pointed at my cousin.

"Brianna, you literally bought your high school diploma. Why do you deserve Cornell?"

Brianna turned red with rage.

Then I pointed at my brother. "And you, Mason. Throwing money at clubs every night. Have you ever passed a basic math test?"

He looked down.

"Did you guys steal my scores?!"

Victoria finally snapped.

"Ava, shut your mouth! Do you think this is a movie? Who has the power to swap scores like that!"

She grabbed her phone and called the College Board right there.

"Hi, I'm calling about my son Mason's SAT score... Yes, the 1580... Can you check if there are any flags on his record?"

For a few agonizing minutes, you could hear a pin drop in the living room.

"Okay, thank you." Victoria hung up and glared at me coldly. "The file is perfectly fine. No red flags at all."

I was stunned.

"It's time to tell you the truth." Victoria sighed deeply. Tears actually welled up in her eyes.

"Ava... you wanted the power and money in the will so badly, you developed severe stress-induced delusions."

What?

"All these years, to protect your mental health, the whole family played along with your fantasy." She walked over and gently stroked my hair. Her voice broke. "We pretended you were a genius. We pretended you were working hard to protect your siblings. But the truth is... you can't even solve the most basic logic puzzles."

"Mom is right," Chloe said, coming over to pat my shoulder sympathetically. "Ava, wake up. You're no genius. You're just totally average."

"Now that the truth is out, just give up on the board seat," Victoria said tearfully. "Just take your twenty grand a month allowance and be a carefree trust fund kid. Isn't that nice enough?"

The room started spinning.

Was I really delusional?

With shaking hands, I pulled up some SAT math problems on my phone.

The problems were easy. Embarrassingly easy.

Was my "genius" fake? Were my memories of studying day and night to save my family just some delusion I made up?

Despair crushed me. I couldn't breathe.

"I'm sorry..." I sobbed. "I'm sorry, Mom. I shouldn't have doubted you."

I totally gave up.

For the next few days, I locked myself in my room. I didn't want to see anyone.

A week later, I finally came out. I decided to run to Erewhon for some groceries.

Maybe it was time to face reality and move on.

In the organic juice aisle, I ran into Marcus from high school.

He was a premed student now, working the Tonic Bar on weekends.

"Ava! Long time no see!" he beamed. "Heard you were prepping for the SAT. How'd it go?"

"Don't ask," I smiled bitterly. "Bombed it three times. It's hopeless."

"No way! You won the state Math Olympiad," Marcus said, looking concerned. "Were you too stressed? Want to try our organic brain-boosting matcha? It's a special formula."

I shook my head automatically. I hadn't touched any matcha since giving up.

But he was so insistent. I took a sip.

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Is this the Erewhon special brain-boosting matcha?"

"Yeah. Good, right? Great for energy."

My whole body started shaking violently. The cup slipped from my hands, spilling matcha all over my clothes.

I finally knew my mother's secret.