Chapter 37

Everyone was thrown into shock again. "Wait, are you telling me she scored top in both the STEM and Liberal Arts exams? Dominating both fields at once?" people thought.

Bianca was incredulous. "How is that even possible?!" she thought. She had to see this for herself.

Justin was equally stunned. He remembered Elysia saying she hadn't written her essay. "How can she get first place without an essay? Was she lying to me?" he wondered.

Class 1's students couldn't remain seated; they had to see the results.

At the announcement board, a crowd had gathered. Seeing Justin and his group, everyone instinctively parted.

Leon was the first to comfort Justin. "Relax," he said. "She only beat you in one subject. You'll win next time."

Justin stared at Elysia's grades: Language and Composition: B, Math: A+, Morganian: A+, STEM: A+, Total: A+. His gaze fixed on the Language and Composition B. Elysia hadn't lied; excluding the essay, the grade was precisely a B! Without the essay, she had aced Language and Composition!

Assuming Justin was disappointed, Leon gave him a side hug. "It's okay. Just one subject. You can catch up."

"No, I can't catch up," Justin replied flatly.

Silence fell. 'Is he giving up?' everyone thought. 'That's not like him.'

"She didn't write the essay," Justin stated. Leon looked again at Elysia's Language and Composition grade. The B meant she aced everything else.

Except for STEM, she had perfect grades across the board. In their excitement, the students hadn't noticed the individual subject grades. Now, they were shocked.

If she had written the essay, that grade would have blown Justin away! they thought. She's amazing!

"Justin, how do you know she didn't write an essay?" Bianca asked, frowning.

"She told me," Justin replied.

"Maybe she's tricking you? What if she wrote it but didn't do well in Language and Composition? It's her weakest subject," Bianca suggested, trying to comfort Justin while doubting Elysia.

But she didn't understand him. Having not faced a serious opponent in six years, he'd longed for this. He wouldn't console himself by undermining a competitor; a loss is a loss. He feared not the loss, but the lack of challenge. Competing alone was lonely, and he'd waited to meet an equal. And she was strong. A real challenge!

He turned to Bianca, his gaze icy. "That's a fact."

Bianca's heart sank. She'd only been trying to comfort him.

Robert was incredulous. 'Wait, isn't Elysia a dropout? How did she get such good grades? Did she cheat?' he thought.

Class 6 was in an uproar. Having the top student was unprecedented. This was something to brag about. Class 1 always looked down on others. Now, the top student was Elysia from Class 6!

Elysia's desk was surrounded by admiring classmates.

"Elysia, you're amazing! First in the grade!"

"Right? You beat the school genius! He's been at the top for six years!"

"The school genius?" Elysia furrowed her brow. She remembered Natalie mentioning Emma's crush. Could that be him?

"You don't know who the school genius is?" a classmate asked.

"Nope," Elysia replied.

"He's super famous! Smart and gorgeous. Tons of girls like him! You were in the same class. Justin, remember?"

Elysia nodded, thinking, So it's him. No wonder Emma came looking for me, and Justin helped. They've known each other since childhood, and Emma has a crush on him. Now it makes sense why Justin helped me. He must have been doing it for Emma. Do I owe her a favor?

But she didn't intend to return any favor. If anything, she owed it to Justin.

Shortly after the results, a school forum post claimed Elysia cheated. It caused a stir.

[I knew it! How could a dropout get first place? She cheated!] [Exactly! Something shady is going on! Maybe favoritism!] [Right? I can't believe she aced the exam!]

Most comments attacked Elysia. Ava, scrolling through them, grew angry. She shoved her phone in Elysia's face. "Look at these haters!"

Elysia remained calm.

Ava fumed. "They're insulting you!"

Elysia finally looked at Ava. Ava had an adorable round face and shoulder-length, slightly curled hair. She was cute.

"I'm talking to you! Why are you staring?" Ava said, annoyed.

"What's your name?" Elysia asked.

Ava, surprised, muttered, "Ava."

"Nice name," Elysia replied.

Ava perked up. "Why do you want to help me?" Elysia asked.

"Well… I just want to help," Ava said. "You're really pretty, and I wanted to be friends."

"Is it really that simple?" Elysia asked.

"Yep!" Ava confirmed.

"Alright!" Elysia said.

Ava was amazed. She had to support Elysia. She opened the post to reply, but new comments appeared.

"Elysia, look!" Ava exclaimed, raising her phone.