Chapter 2

I opened my book and started with the table of contents. I had a habit of reviewing the overall structure first.

Connor knew how to put on a show too. He pulled out a reference book for the Olympiads and held his chin with one hand before he began reading.

He simply read and didn't write down anything.

The students beside us couldn't stand it any longer and began mocking us.

"Reading questions from an Olympiad reference book without writing anything down? Are you treating it like a novel? That girl, too. She draws two lines on the table of contents and thinks she's finished studying? Do they think they're in an acting class? As long as they don't fool themselves, I guess."

We remained unconcerned. Anyone determined to be a show-off had to accept the judgment of mere mortals.

However, we did take our study seriously. After all, we had heard this honors class was formidable. Underestimating the competition was a show-off's greatest mistake, after all. If we slipped up, the humiliation would be unbearable!

During the second period, Ms. Dawson, who also taught math, came in with a stack of papers. "We're having a quiz."

I almost chuckled.

Our chance to prove ourselves had come so quickly.

Once the papers were handed out, I worked through mine with ease.

Halfway through the allotted time, Connor and I put down our pens almost simultaneously. We then stood up and handed in our papers.

Everyone stared at us in shock.

Ms. Dawson was surprised, too. She looked up; when she realized it was us, her surprise turned to contempt.

"What? You're turning in your papers already? Too many questions you couldn't answer? This is the standard difficulty in our honors class. If you can't handle it, move to a regular class now."

I said, "Why don't you grade them now then?"

Ms. Dawson picked up our papers, her tone contemptuous. "At your level, I can already tell how many scores you get with just one look..."

She gave the papers a few skim, then suddenly froze. Refusing to believe what she saw, she pulled out the answer key and checked our work line by line. Then, she went over both papers several times.

At last, she said in disbelief, "Perfect scores? Both of you got perfect scores?"

The entire class almost exploded in an uproar.

Ms. Dawson snapped out of it and slammed the papers onto the desk. Her voice turned cold.

"You cheated, didn't you? Tell me right now! Did you get the answers in advance? Or did you copy from each other?"

I smiled and pointed at the long-form structured questions. "Look carefully, Ms. Dawson. Our solutions aren't the same with each other and the answer key. How could we have copied from somewhere else?"

Ms. Dawson checked repeatedly, her expression changed from flush to pale.

Suddenly, she realized something.

"Was this quiz too easy?"

She called on the two top students in the class and several other students who were good at math.

"Those of you who are finished, hand in your papers."

I followed her eyes and I saw the legendary Genius Gemini, one boy and one girl. They took their papers past us, eyeing us as if we were garbage. My curiosity about these supposedly formidable opponents vanished.

Connor and I loved to show off, but we only pushed ourselves. We never looked down on anyone else.

Ms. Dawson graded their papers quickly, then stayed silent.

The Genius Gemini asked confidently, "Ms. Dawson, what did we get?"

Ms. Dawson's expression was strange. After hesitating, she looked at the boy who was ranked top. "Owen Cross, 95 points."

Then she looked at the girl who was ranked second. "Tessa Moore, 91 points."

As for the others, none of them scored above 93 points.

The other top students' faces turned red.

Tessa recovered first and smiled. "This test was unusually difficult. The last two problems covered material beyond the syllabus that we haven't learned yet..."

Owen immediately added, "Right. Your old school must have moved faster, so you learned it in advance."

I let out a sound of surprise intentionally. "But didn't Ms. Dawson just said the quiz was too easy?"

Connor supported me immediately. "So was it too difficult or too easy? Maybe you should agree on an answer first."

Owen's face darkened, and Tessa bit her lip without saying anything.

Ms. Dawson reviewed every question from beginning to end.

As if she had found an opening, she flung the papers aside and scoffed.

"This test was difficult, but I've taught math for years. With questions this hard, there's no way you could turn in your papers that early and still score perfectly! If you're going to cheat, at least use your brains and make your story believable!"

She continued coldly.

"Cheating is bad enough. You've got a serious character problem if you can't own up to it. Poor grades can be improved, but poor character will make you a disgrace to society!"

Several students immediately joined in.

"No wonder they transferred! Maybe they were caught cheating at their old school."

"They probably stole the answers. Disgusting."

I met Ms. Dawson's eyes without backing down. "If you're accusing us of cheating, you'll need evidence. We can solve new problems right here. If we fail, we'll leave the school immediately."

Connor added. "Yes, that's acceptable. But if we solve them, what will you do, Ms. Dawson?"