Chapter 8

Latham strode into the classroom, his arrival predating the bell’s chime by mere seconds.

He dropped a stack of thick papers onto the desk at the front, Daniel, would you mind handing these out?”

A hush fell over the room as Cordelia, seated at the back, watched necks crane and bodies lean forward in anticipation. As the papers made their rounds, a cacophony of sighs and gasps peppered the air from every

comer.

Daniel, a slim figure with glasses that seemed too heavy for his face, approached Juliana and handed her the

paper.

Curiosity bubbled up from the desks, “What do you get?”

Juliana glanced at her score with a mix of ease and pride in her voice. “A”

“And you nailed that with these brain–busters? Impressive!”

Juliana feigned modesty. ‘Oh, it’s nothing. I’m still trailing behind Hanley”

“No need to compare with that guy who is been raking in math awards since he was in diapers. But you know, you’re two peas in a pod, academically speaking.

Amidst the surrounding exclamations of admiration, Juliana inevitably drifted her gaze to the back row

With a hint of teasing, she said, “Daniel, would you be a dear and check my cousin’s grade?”

Fumbling through the papers, Daniel didn’t find Cordelia’s but instead pulled out Hanley’s and promptly handed it over…

Before the commotion could settle, Latham announced from the front, “This math test, there’s only one perfect score in the entire grade, and it’s from our class!”

“Wow!”

“Hanley’s got to be the man, right?”

As the class buzzed with astonishment, Hanley quietly exhaled in relief.

had been a toss–up on a few questions, but it seemed they were

You’re a genius,” came Juliana’s

curled his lips into a

had just learned that his family had arranged for him to marry Juliana, a relief in itself.

Not too

Daniel placed a paper on his

subconsciously glanced at the result. His smile froze, ‘A?

congratulations to Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics is remarkable.

as still as a tableau, erupted into whispers and turned heads, all eyes on

back row.

turning to see Cordelia slowly lift her head, her gaze sharpening on him. Then, with a slow and knowing smile, Cordelia whispered just loud enough for

as if slapped by an

him, Juliana was equally frozen, her mind a loop

“Class dismissed!”

review just in time for the bell

gone than the room erupted

“Screech!”

seat. With the laxity of a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia’s desk. “Hey, you’re Cordelia, right? I’m Merry,” she announced, her vibrant

eyeballed her for a moment, replying

school is buzzing on the forum about whether Hanley can cling to his top spot. I gotta say I’ve had it up to here with Hanley and Juliana,

a noncommittal, “Oh.”

thought your grades were embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you gonna try and top the class to show

Merry being

as a volunteer, collected the papers. The first thing was check Cordelia’s result. Upon seeing the

paper in hand, just in time to catch Merry’s comment. “Hanley is no one–trick pony,” Juliana

she did

this result, do you

Hanley or not, but she’ll definitely better than you. What’s

the bottom, I suppose you have no room for pride.” Merry chuckled, “Oh, I couldn’t be prouder to rank the last in the class.”

stormed off,

end of the school day, posted

a number to her. She grabbed her

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255