Chapter 4

My stomach tightened as I walked toward her, my mind spinning.

Why was Sierra suddenly digging through my desk?

Before I could ask, Hailey stumbled forward—her "accident" almost too perfect—and the water in her cup splashed squarely onto my jacket.

Sierra jumped to her feet at once, grabbing tissues and patting at my clothes. "Oh no, Hailey! Be more careful next time! What if our class genius catches a cold now?"

Then she turned to me with mock concern. "Vera, check your pockets. Make sure nothing important got wet!"

Her little act was so transparent I almost laughed. I forced my expression to stay neutral, then methodically turned out both pockets of my jacket, just like she wanted.

Only a small, palm-sized notebook, which was my vocabulary book, fell out.

Sierra's eyes flicked over it, suspicious, but she couldn't find anything wrong. She finally backed off.

I gave my jacket a shake and sat down.

She leaned toward me again, her voice light as she probed, "Vera, why didn't you just tell me you already had lozenges? I wouldn't have bothered bringing any."

I met her gaze, calm and steady. "Oh, those? I ran out earlier. And I didn't want to turn down your kindness."

I even managed a grateful smile.

Her face softened at last.

Then, pretending to make up for Hailey's "accident", Sierra bought me two more boxes of lozenges "to keep on hand, just in case".

Afterward, I went to the campus store, bought a new batch of lozenges, and secretly swapped the ones in my desk for mine.

Later that night, I hid Sierra's two boxes safely in my dorm room.

There were over four thousand students at Ridgeway High. If I was going to share Sierra's "goodwill", I'd need enough to go around. I wouldn't want to shortchange my generous deskmate's high school finale.

The next day, we took the third mock exam.

I walked into the exam hall and quietly finished my paper.

When I stood to turn it in, I passed Sierra's desk. She looked up and gave me a smirk full of arrogance and mockery as if to say, "Your score's already mine. Your effort means nothing."

I smiled back, just as politely, and handed in my test.

A few days later, the results came out.

Every class posted their rankings by the door, and the hallways buzzed with gossip. Even before I reached the board, I could feel the stares and hear the whispers cutting through the air.

"Vera's scores have tanked lately…"

"Maybe she was cheating all along?"

"Guess she cracked under the pressure. Happens before college exams all the time."

I scanned the ranking sheet carefully.

I used to be in the top three in the entire school, but I had dropped to rank eight hundred and something. My teeth sank into my lip as I pushed through the crowd, face flushed with shame, and rushed back to class.

Not long after, Sierra returned too, her expression just as dark.

She strode right up to my desk and snapped, "Vera, what rank did you get this time?"