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

genius,” came Juliana’s

curled his lips into a smile

family had arranged for him to marry Juliana, a relief in itself. A guy like him deserved nothing

Not too shabby.

as Daniel placed

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

Latham added, “Let’s extend our warmest congratulations to Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics

classroom, briefly as still as a tableau, erupted into whispers and turned heads,

back row.

lift her head, her gaze sharpening on him. Then, with

cheeks as if

Juliana was equally frozen, her mind a loop of

“Class dismissed!”

review just in time for the bell and left

gone than the

“Screech!”

front–row neighbor, swung around in her seat. With the laxity of a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia’s desk. “Hey, you’re Cordelia, right? I’m Merry,” she announced, her

replying simply, “Nice to meet

about whether Hanley can cling to his top spot. I gotta say I’ve had it up to here with Hanley and Juliana, prancing around like

a noncommittal,

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

first impression of Merry being that of an overfriendly

the papers. The first thing was check Cordelia’s

paper in hand, just in time to catch Merry’s comment.

she did

Cordelia, with this result, do you think you can take the top

another bubble and tilted her head at Juliana,” I’m not sure whether Cordelia beats Hanley or not, but she’ll definitely better than you. What’s there

Juliana sneered, “Considering you’re at the bottom, I suppose you have no room for pride.”

off, fuming.

the school day, posted on the wall for

her. She grabbed her bag and was the first to

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