Chapter 3

The next morning at eight, Mom had a full breakfast spread ready for me.

I ate while scrolling through the group chat with great amusement. They were already in full celebration mode, showing off their shopping hauls.

Megan posted a selfie holding three bags from a luxury boutique, captioned, "Spent a couple hundred thousand. My arms are about to fall off. Once the 50 million hits my account, I'm buying out the entire store."

Tristan commented underneath, "Hell yeah, Megan! I dropped 400,000 myself. Got myself a Rolex."

Tyler sent a voice message, his voice shaking with excitement, "I maxed out all three of my parents' credit cards! That's 200,000! The 50 million will land in three days anyway, so who cares!"

The chat was buzzing with celebration, as though the 50 million dollars was already sitting in their bank accounts.

My phone buzzed again. It was a message from Megan.

"Zane, where the hell are you? If you don't show up, I swear I'll make your life miserable. I'm not letting this go!"

I muttered an insult under my breath and ignored her.

After double-checking all my stationery, my exam pass, and my ID, I looked up at Mom.

"Mom, let's leave through the underground garage. And could you call the police for me?"

I smiled and held out my phone, showing her the group chat history. "There are over 30 people planning to stop me from taking my exam. I already took screenshots of everything."

Mom's expression darkened.

She did not ask questions. She picked up the phone and dialed 911.

Within 10 minutes, the local precinct called back. Additional officers had been deployed around the exam site, and they told us to go ahead without worry.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and got in the car.

Mom dropped me off on a street near the exam site. Any closer and there would have been nowhere to park.

"Zane." She grabbed my hand. "If anyone tries to stop you, yell for the police."

I turned back and smiled. "Don't worry, Mom. I've got this."

I walked through the crowd toward the exam site. Sure enough, the sidewalk in front of the entrance was packed with all 32 of them.

"Well, well. I knew you'd try to pull something.

"Oh, do you think this makes you look good? You think you're the only one here with any brains? The only one who's got it all figured out?" Megan was the first to rush at me.

She was small, but she found strength from somewhere and clamped both hands around my wrist without a moment of hesitation.

Behind her stood the rest of the class, with Tristan at the front. Every single one of them had been waiting here just to keep me from walking through those doors.

"Zane, why do you have to make this so difficult?" Tristan stepped forward, sneering.

"The whole class signed, and you were the last holdout. The whole class went shopping, and you're the only one showing up to take the exam. Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look right now?"

He turned to the classmates around him and raised his voice. "Look at him. Our very own star student, with his ratty little backpack and his school uniform, marching into the exam hall bright and early like that somehow proves he's smarter than all of us."

The crowd burst out laughing.

Tyler stood next to Tristan, holding two Rolex shopping bags, and spat in my direction. "Zane, wake up. So what if you get into a top school? Do you think you'll make 50 million dollars working your entire life?

"Tristan said as long as we all skip together, Sage has no choice but to pay. And if they refuse, we sue. A company that big can't afford the embarrassment."

I looked at him and felt a strange mix of disbelief and amusement.

In my previous life, he was the first one to throw acid at me. In this one, he had not even changed his script.

Megan leaned close to my ear and dropped her voice, her tone carrying an unmistakable tone of threat. "Be smart and come with us. You’ll come to the mall now and you can still pick something up. Don't make us do this in front of all these people."

I tilted my head, looked at her, and smiled.

"Megan," I said quietly, "those designer bags you're carrying, you bought those on your dad's card, didn't you? That little factory of his, does it even clear 400,000 dollars in profit a year?"

The color drained from her face.

"And you, Tyler." I turned to face him. "Your parents' three credit cards, all maxed out. How exactly are you planning to pay next month's bill? Going to sell a kidney?"

The grin froze on Tyler's face.

I looked at Tristan, and my gaze settled on the Rolex on his wrist.

"Tristan, is that watch real or fake? If it is real, that's hundreds of thousands for a single watch. Do your parents make that much in a year? Or were you counting on Sage to pay it off for you?"

The smirk finally fell from Tristan's face, and his eyes turned cold.