Todos os capítulos de Top Score, Bottom Morals: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

It felt like a hand was crushing my throat. Bitter nausea climbed up my chest, and I couldn't even cry anymore.Govind calmly wiped the blood off his arm. "A few days ago, you fought with Yvette. Her depression got worse again. She couldn't even finish her practice tests. Jovie, if you'd just behaved, would this have happened?"My whole body trembled. Pain tore through my broken leg, but it still didn't compare to the ice spreading through my chest."So you decided to ruin my SAT?"Govind tipped his head at me, completely guiltless. "I'm protecting you."Then he reached over and ruffled my hair like he always used to.That hand used to hold a flashlight over my books during late nights at the children's home.Now it rested on my head while he said the cruelest things I'd ever heard."With a broken leg, you can't take the SAT. Yvette can become the city's top scorer without pressure. Once she's happy again, she'll stop hurting herself over her depression. Your parents won't dump

I dragged myself off the floor and used the wall to keep moving, inch by inch, toward the door.After leaving the hospital, I took a cab to school.I limped into the building on crutches and headed straight for the academic office.Ms. Todd was sorting seating charts. The second she saw me, she frowned."Jovie? What are you doing here?""Ms. Todd, my SAT ticket got burned. Can I get a replacement?"Her eyes flicked to my cast before she looked away. "There's only one ticket. We told everyone to keep it safe. If you lost it, that's on you.""I didn't lose it. It got burned—"She cut me off immediately, her voice sharp. "Mr. Swinton already called. He said you were emotionally unstable after the accident and might come here causing problems. Besides, the system's already closed. Nobody can fix this now.""I didn't lose it. Govind burned it...""Enough!" She slammed her pen onto the desk. "Jovie Jevan, I know you're a top student, but that doesn't give you the right to act entit

The second I cut my wrist, I didn't even feel pain.Just relief.Warm blood poured out, sliding along the chain around my leg and spreading across the floor.Before everything went dark, memories started flashing through my head.Fifteen years ago, a car lost control and came speeding toward us. I shoved Yvette out of the way with everything I had. My knees scraped across the asphalt until the skin tore open.But my parents never comforted me.Yvette curled up in Mom's arms, pointed at me, and cried like she was the victim. "It was Jovie... Jovie tried to push me in front of the car..."Mom slapped me so hard my left ear rang. Nobody cared about the blood at the corner of my mouth.That night, Dad left me outside the rusted gates of the children's home with a burning fever.They held Yvette and comforted her.I stood alone in the freezing rain.From that day on, I knew blood meant nothing.I was born unloved.The scene changed.Winter at the children's home. No heat.I h

Late that night, the mansion was completely silent.I avoided the cameras and slipped into Govind's study.Half a month of acting obedient had finally lowered his guard. He didn't lock the door anymore.I turned on his computer.Password protected.My fingers paused over the keyboard before I typed in Yvette's birthday.Unlocked.A mocking smile pulled at my lips. I shoved the feeling down and kept searching.Finally, buried in a hidden folder, I found it.A record of a $500,000 overseas transfer from Govind to the driver who hit me.So my leg—and all those years of studying—were only worth $500,000 to him.When I opened the second file, my blood went cold.Govind had used his family's connections to bribe people on the test committee. He paid a fortune to leak part of the SAT questions to Yvette.I stared at the screen, feeling sick.Back at the children's home, I'd studied under motion-sensor lights until my eyes burned red just to earn my grades.Yvette only neede

After the party, the internet branded the Jevans and Govind as "murderers" and "corrupt elites."I heard Yvette finally snapped under the backlash and investigation. She locked herself in her room, ate paper, and screamed nonstop.Jevan Corp's stock kept crashing, hanging by a thread from bankruptcy.Govind got called in by the cops over and over.I heard he tracked down the driver who took the $500,000 fall-guy deal and barely got himself out of it. Even then, the Swinton family's reputation was wrecked. Rumor was the board wanted to strip him of his inheritance rights.Late one night, after days of being hunted and trashed online, Govind dragged himself back to the estate.I sat by the floor-to-ceiling window reading while moonlight spilled across my face.The second he walked in, he froze.He stared at me like something finally clicked.Maybe he finally realized that for fifteen years, the one who actually gave him peace was never fake, performative Yvette.It was me. The