Chapter 3

Before I could even react, Mom suddenly raised her voice. “What are you doing, Evie?”

The entire exam hall fell silent in an instant, and every gaze turned toward me.

“Passing notes to cheat during an exam? You’ve got some nerve!”

Her voice was sharp and harsh.

I lowered my head toward the floor beside my shoe.

A small, unfamiliar slip of paper covered with answers lay there.

“Mom, it wasn’t me…” I said, panic rising until tears nearly spilled over.

I tried desperately to explain.

“That note isn’t mine. I don’t know how it got there…”

“Not yours?”

Mom let out a cold laugh and bent down to pick up the paper.

“The evidence is right here, and you still dare to argue?

“How have I been teaching you all this time?

“Cheating in the exam hall—have you no shame at all?

“You’ve completely disgraced me!”

She gave me no chance to explain and dragged me straight out of the hall.

Mom took me directly to the principal, Wanda Ambrose’s office, and exaggerated the story as she recounted the “facts” of my cheating.

Ms. Ambrose frowned and immediately recorded a disciplinary mark against me, saying the school would issue a public notice of criticism.

I stood to the side, trembling all over as silent tears slipped down my face, yet no one spared me a glance.

The next day’s class meeting became my public denunciation.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

Mom picked up the ruler, her tone icy.

“I didn’t do anything wrong…” I murmured in protest, my voice barely above a whisper.

“You still dare to talk back!” She raised her hand and struck my palm with the ruler.

The searing pain spread instantly.

Once. Twice. Three times…

The sound of the ruler striking my palm rang harshly through the silent classroom.

My palms quickly swelled red, and the pain made my whole body tremble.

The surrounding students looked frightened. Some quietly lowered their heads, unable to bear watching such a cruel scene.

I knew they wanted to speak up for me.

Cheating had once been common in the class, and everyone knew it, yet I had never taken part.

A few girls who were usually on good terms with me parted their lips, as if about to stand and say something, but Mom’s stern glare forced them back into their seats.

They could only lower their heads helplessly.

Only when Mom saw the fear on the students’ faces did she finally stop.

She placed the ruler on the desk and said coldly, “This is what happens when you cheat! Anyone who dares to follow her example won’t find me so merciful!”

After that incident, cheating in class disappeared completely.

My thoughts drifted back to the present.

After a while, Mom sent me another message.

[Evie, you didn’t come to the final exam, but I won’t hold it against you.

[You should at least reply to my message, shouldn’t you? Don’t make me worry, okay?]

I continued to drift in place, unable to leave, no matter how much I wanted to.

“Mom… I can’t come back.”

…

More than a month passed after the cheating scandal.

Just as the atmosphere in the class had begun to ease, the growing closeness between a boy and a girl caused the tension to return once again.

This time, Mom didn’t even bother with a private conversation.

At the start of the class meeting, she walked into the classroom clutching her lesson plans, her face dark with anger.

She slammed the plans onto her table with a dull thud.

“Recently, the atmosphere in this class has grown worse and worse. Some people are already getting into relationships at such a young age. Have they no shame?”

Her gaze swept across the class before finally settling on me.

“Evelyn Marlow, stand up!”

I froze in my seat, my fingertips clenching my chair until they turned pale.

“Mom… I didn’t…”