Who Stole Whose Score?

For a moment there, it was as if the air had frozen.

Celine Fairmont stared at the glaring red 128 on my phone screen; the score was so ridiculously low that the scowl on her face stiffened. Honestly, she looked like a honking goose that had suddenly been grabbed by the neck.

Lucian Fairchild's sobs stopped just as abruptly. A lone tear hung at the corner of his eye, neither falling nor disappearing, making him look ridiculous.

Still, that blessed peace lasted only a moment.

The disgust in Celine's eyes deepened the very next second. She slapped my phone away with enough force to nearly knock it from my hand.

"Evander! How dare you put on an act even after all this!"

She stepped in front of Lucian, shielding him as she looked down at me. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that I was some kind of irredeemable villain.

"To think you'd even photoshop a 128 to cover your tracks. How could you be this vicious? Our school is one of the best in the city. How could anyone possibly score 128? If you were going to fake it, you could at least make it believable!

"You might as well have a neon sign up that says you're doing this to humiliate Lucian!"

Well, getting 128 on the exam would normally be impossible, but certainly not improbable. After all, I'd deliberately kept my score that low.

I was born on December 8. Why couldn't I get a 128?

Regardless, her words pissed me off so much that I couldn't resist letting out a bark of laughter.

This was the girl I'd grown up with. The same Celine who had once promised she'd protect me forever.

Things changed ever since Lucian showed up in sophomore year. Celine would take his side without question whenever he showed the slightest bit of discomfort.

Just a slight furrow of his brow could make her go barking mad at me, even when it made no sense, even when the fact that I wasn't in the wrong was right in front of her.

A flood of comments flashed through my mind, all of them defending this perfect couple.

"The female lead is amazing! She saw through the side character's scheme right away!"

"The side character must have bribed the system and switched their names. The scores haven't been switched yet, but the college spots must already have been switched!"

"Poor Lucian. It's hard enough being a gifted kid from a poor family, and now he's being targeted by this vicious rich kid."

Lucian looked at me. Then, he shakily pulled a crumpled practice-test score report from his backpack and held it up for the neighbors who had gathered around to see.

"Evander, I know you've never liked how close Celine and I are."

He sniffed, his voice hoarse, but every word was pointed.

"But the college admissions exam determines your future. I've always scored over 1500 on my practice exams. How could I possibly have gotten only 324 on the real thing?

"And you may have kept a low profile, but everyone knows you never put much effort into studying because you were too busy chasing Celine's skirts."

He raised his head.

His expression looked pleading, but there was a faint trace of provocation hidden beneath it.

"You photoshopped a score of 128 just to humiliate me, didn't you? You want to force me to go back to my hometown and work in a factory so no one can compete with you for Celine. Please, just give me my real score back, okay? This is my future we're talking about here."

His argument made little sense, but it was undeniably incisive.

The neighbors, who had no idea what had actually happened, began whispering and pointing at me.

"Yeah, Lucian's one of the top students around here. How could he have scored only 324?"

"That Holloway kid's been spoiled rotten since he was little. I heard he'd do anything to win that girl over."

"That's downright cruel. He's ruining the kid's future!"