Chapter 86
Suddenly, Aurora jumped up, sending everything on her desk crashing to the floor. The room filled with a thunderous crash. A glass of water shattered on the smooth tile, its contents spreading silently, glistening under the ceiling light. The liquid seeped into books and papers, leaving dark stains. Aurora collapsed back into her chair, throwing an arm over her eyes as if to shut out the world.
She had known this was coming. She had prepared herself. But it still hurt so much. In her past life, Aurora had been by Jason's side through everything—negotiating contracts, entertaining clients, following his every order. She had helped him build a fortune. Yet, even as she lay dying, she received no genuine affection from him.
Aurora thought she’d moved on, but he’d managed to twist the knife on this crucial day. She had lived at Crawford Manor for months. Every trace of her mother had vanished, and Jaxon never mentioned it. Even when he screamed at her to leave, he didn’t bring up her mother’s belongings.
Yet, he chose today of all days, right after her first SAT exam, to call and demand she return. He wanted her to ditch the SAT and come begging for her mother’s things. Quite a clever hiding place he’d found. He’d picked this critical moment, dangling her mother’s only keepsake. It was clear he just wanted to torment her.
“Fine,” Aurora muttered, lowering her arm. She glared out the floor-to-ceiling window, the colorful neon lights reflected in her cold eyes. “Let’s cut ties for good.”
In the quiet of her room, isolated from the noisy world outside, she made peace with her past self—the one who had always craved family love. In this life, she decided, she would live for herself. “I won’t let my heart soften again, Jaxon,” she whispered to the silence.
The next day dawned unusually overcast. Aurora stepped into the exam hall with her head held high, her spirits lifted, as if the previous night’s events had never happened. During the afternoon exam, the sky grew restless. Dark clouds rolled in, bringing an unexpected drizzle. The light rain dampened the ground, chasing away the summer heat.
“Time’s up. All students, please put down your pens immediately,” the proctor announced. Aurora joined the stream of students leaving the classroom. Around her, classmates chattered about Mereida’s fickle weather—scorching sun yesterday, rain today. Nearby, students compared answers, occasionally letting out excited exclamations.
“Professor Crawford!” a voice called from a short distance. Aurora looked up to see Erik, Louis, and about a dozen other students from Class F waving enthusiastically from beneath a shady tree.
“What’s up?” Aurora asked as she approached the group.
Erik grinned, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively. “We’re finally done with exams. Let’s go out to eat together! It’ll be like putting a final punctuation mark on our high school years.”
Aurora’s brow furrowed slightly. She’d never been fond of noisy social gatherings. It wasn’t personal; she just found them too loud and disliked small talk.
Before she could respond, Erik cut in, hands on his hips, a mock-serious expression on his face. “Don’t even think about saying no! Professor Crawford, without you, we would have been a total mess. We wouldn’t have stood a chance at university—heck, even community colleges would have turned us away. Today is mainly about thanking you.”
Erik grinned mischievously and gestured for his friends to surround Aurora. “Come on, Professor Crawford! If you won’t come, we’ll just have to carry you there ourselves!”
Aurora sighed, rubbing her forehead. Realizing she had no choice, she reluctantly agreed. Overjoyed, Erik let out a whoop and started pounding his chest like a gorilla, much to the amusement of passing students. His friends joined in, howling and cheering. It was hard to tell if they were more excited about Aurora’s acceptance or the end of their high school years. Maybe it was a bit of both.
At the Falcon Hotel, Erik and his friends splurged on a fully equipped private room. It had everything—a dining area, movie screen, karaoke setup. As Aurora walked in, she noticed several people huddled around, intently reading newspapers.
Margaret was the first to spot her. She bounced over excitedly, pointing at the group. “Rory, we’ve got the SAT answers here. Want to check yours?” As soon as the SAT ended, various education companies had been handing out free newspapers with the answers printed inside. They had received quite a few.
Aurora poured herself a glass of plum juice and settled on the couch. “I’ll look after you guys are done,” she said, feigning disinterest. The truth was, she was curious. She wanted to know how well she’d done.
In her past life, she’d deliberately underperformed on the SAT to avoid outshining Maura. She’d ended up at a community college and barely studied there, constantly being called away by Jaxon for social events. It had always been one of her regrets.
Suddenly, five newspapers appeared in front of Aurora. Following the hands holding them, she saw five pairs of eager eyes. “Come on, Professor Crawford,” they said, “let’s check now! We’re dying to know your score!”
“Me too, me too!” Margaret, squeezed out of the group, couldn’t find a gap to squeeze back in. She resorted to hopping up and down behind the others, trying to make her presence known.
“Alright, fine.” Unable to refuse their enthusiasm, Aurora grabbed a random paper and sat at the table. Valyricon’s multiple-choice answers read…
As Aurora flipped through to the last pages, more people gathered behind her. Some late arrivals, puzzled by the crowd, were about to ask what was going on when others quickly shushed them, whispering explanations.
“750 plus 790…” Erik pulled out his phone’s calculator. His eyes widened. “1540! That’s without Valyricon’s essay score. Add that in, and it’s a perfect 1600 for sure!”
“Valyricon’s essay is bound to be strong. No way Professor Crawford would give it less than an 8. A perfect score is practically guaranteed!”
“Does this mean our Class F just produced Mereida’s top STEM student?” another student chimed in.
A student grinned. “Professor Crawford, I haven’t even looked at any answers yet. I’m just here to soak up some of your magic!”
Someone grabbed Aurora’s hand, rubbing it vigorously. “Me too! Me too!” Margaret called out, still unable to squeeze through the crowd.
Aurora stood firm, allowing them to “soak up her magic” without complaint.
After quite a while, the group’s excitement began to wane as hunger set in, and they started calling for the waiter. Aurora remained seated, her hands now red but otherwise unfazed. It was clear the students knew their boundaries; “soaking up her magic” meant just that, nothing more.
“Phew! Finally, I have Rory all to myself,” Margaret said, slightly out of breath as she sat down next to Aurora. Noticing the beads of sweat on Margaret’s forehead, Aurora glanced up at the central air conditioning unit to confirm it was working. Surprised, she said, “What on earth have you been doing? Here, wipe your face. You look like you’ve just run a marathon or something.” Aurora pulled some napkins from the table and handed them to Margaret.