All Chapters of The Candy Thief: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Bonnie Greenwood's eyes were still red around the edges, her voice so meek that she sounded as though she would shatter at the slightest touch. "This opportunity is just too great to miss. I can't bear to see you all lose out on this chance simply because you didn't know about it."Someone hesitated before asking, "But… aren't we not supposed to get the answer sheet wet?"Bonnie's lashes trembled as if the question itself had hurt her. However, Leon Zander had already leaped to his feet before she could answer."What are you implying?" he demanded coldly, glaring at the student who had spoken. "Do you have any idea of the risk Bonnie just took to tell us this? Yet the first thing you do is question her?"The student immediately fell silent.Bonnie hurriedly shook her head, her voice quivering. "Leon, don't be like that. I'm not upset. It's perfectly normal for everyone to have doubts. After all, it really does sound a little unbelievable."The more understanding she acted, the mo

I stood at the edges of the crowd, watching them accept the bottles of water one after another as though each one were a ticket to a prestigious university.In reality, it was nothing more than ordinary bottled water that cost two dollars a pop. Yet, it was enough to wash away the fruits of their 12 years of hard work.When it was my turn, Bonnie handed me a bottle herself. Then, she looked up at me and asked softly, "Ondine, you'll do it too, won't you?"Leon stood behind her, his gaze icy. Honestly, it felt as though he was more than willing to drag me into the nearest corner to beat me up the moment I said no.I lowered my eyes to the sticky note attached to the bottle. "Hope everything goes exactly as planned!"Eventually, I slowly reached out and accepted it. "I will."A look of genuine relief washed over Bonnie's face. She smiled, though tears still clung to her eyelashes. "That's good. I really don't want to leave anyone behind."I nodded. "Yeah. No one is going to get le

"Same here," I murmured into the wind.…Our class booked a large private room for dinner half a month after the exam finally came to a close.It was supposed to be a graduation gathering, but… Judging by the expressions on everyone's faces, it looked more like an early victory celebration.Leon stood in the center of the room with a glass of juice raised high, his voice loud enough to nearly drown out the music. "Once the special admissions results are released, our class is going to become the school's biggest legend. "Then, all those people who only know how to bury themselves in textbooks will finally understand what an information gap really is."The room immediately erupted into cheers.Bonnie sat in the middle of the group, surrounded by classmates. "Everyone's worked hard these past few days. From now on, let's all relax and keep our heads down. The manual special review is confidential. You won't be able to see its progress through the normal channels."Several people

My classmates had just barely managed to regain their composure, desperately comforting themselves with Bonnie's flimsy explanation, when an official notification suddenly appeared in the class group chat.It was a detailed disciplinary notice forwarded by the City Department of Education.The announcement wasn't long, but it completely snuffed out the last of everyone's hope and wrenched them back to reality."The investigation has confirmed that the intentional damage to answer sheet barcodes in an attempt to trigger manual review constituted a serious examination violation. "All candidates involved have had their scores for every subject in this year's college entrance exam invalidated permanently. The scores will not be reinstated, and the violation will be recorded in each candidate's academic disciplinary record."This time, they no longer had any comforting, white lies to hide behind.The private room fell into a deadly silence before it finally erupted."All subjects in

They had chosen their bed of roses. The price of their greed and blind obedience was always theirs to pay.A suffocating silence settled over the private room.The recordings and videos continued looping across the giant screen. Every lie Bonnie had spread, every sweet smile she had used to pressure her classmates, replayed over and over. Each loop felt like another slap across everyone's face.No one dared look me in the eye after that.Instead, they turned their attention to Bonnie. Whatever pity they had once felt for her disappeared completely.At some point, their piercing gazes had pushed Bonnie to rest her back against the wall, her legs splayed. She covered her face with both hands, sobbing in broken, uneven gasps that only grated on everyone's nerves."I-I never wanted to hurt anyone," she cried, her voice weak and shattered. "I was just terrified of having to repeat my senior year. You all knew how bad my grades were. If I took the exam normally, there was no way I'd ge