Josie felt a wave of nausea rise in her. She couldn’t help but think to herself, ‘Why did I even bother looking up just now? If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had to see Aiden’s phony, pretentious look. Was he actually trying to greet me? No way. He was just showing off and looking down on me.’

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked, seeing Josie’s face twist like she’d just swallowed a fly. “Did a fly get in your mouth? Want some water to rinse it out?”

Josie couldn’t help but laugh. “No, just got hit by someone acting all fake.”

“Aiden?” Claire grinned. “Yeah, he’s pretty pretentious, but he’s got nothing on Sean.”

Claire winked at her.

Josie thought, ‘Yeah, Sean is pretty good at putting on an act, too. He’s not actually cold at all. He has good looks, intelligence, and money, but he keeps such a low profile you’d think he was invisible. Everyone in school has heard his name, but almost no one has actually met him. He was the ultimate master of acting mysterious.’

Soon, Adeline’s group took the stage. Adeline was the main speaker, while Joseph and another guy handled the demo and explanations. The paper they were presenting had actually been written by Joseph. Josie had only heard Adeline mention it a couple of times and had never really looked at it. But now, listening to their presentation, Josie realized that their paper was way better than the paper she’d written in her previous life, which won the Grand Prize. This one was not only more rigorous and polished, but also went way deeper than anything she’d ever managed.

Josie’s eyes lit up. ‘Joseph really does have some serious talent,’ she thought. It was clear now that she had to talk to Delilah about getting him an internship at the research institute. Josie figured that if they managed to win the Grand Prize this time, it might just be the perfect chance to put in a good word for him.

“Your roommate’s actually pretty good,” Claire said while frowning a little, “But their idea kind of overlaps with Aiden’s group. Still, your roommate’s team covers more ground and is more thorough. That also makes it way harder to actually pull it off, but…” She didn’t finish her sentence.

Sean chimed in, “But if they can show in their paper that this tough plan is actually doable, they’ll totally beat Aiden’s team.”

‘Beat them?’ Josie was a little dazed as she thought. She froze for a couple of seconds, feeling like her heart skipped a few beats. Back in her previous life, this project had won the Grand Prize, but that was before Aiden’s group came in with their unique innovation. If the judges decided to really nitpick about rigor and feasibility, it was impossible to say who’d come out on top.

Just as Josie’s heart was pounding, someone nearby let out a low gasp.

“They fixed it,” the person whispered.

Another person said, “Yeah, they did. They completely nailed the execution problem Sean brought up in their paper. So does that mean…”

The first person asked, “They’re gonna crush them?”

The other person asked, “What about Aiden’s group?”

Even the judges’ table was abuzz now. Several professors had their heads together, clearly deep in discussion about the two projects. When Josie glanced up at the stage, she happened to lock eyes with Adeline, who was smiling at her. Their group had just finished their presentation and was about to leave the stage.

Josie let out a quiet sigh of relief. She still wasn’t sure if they’d totally crush Aiden’s team, but judging by the vibe in the room, there was no way they’d lose to them.

Soon, the competition was coming to an end, and Josie’s group stepped onto the stage as the final team to present. As Josie hugged her laptop and made her way to the podium, a subtle wave of excitement rippled through the students in the audience.

“How come I’ve never seen such an adorable girl before?” someone whispered.

Another person asked, “Which professor are they with? I don’t recognize a single one of them.”

A third asked, “Maybe they’ve never joined a campus competition before? I swear I’ve never seen them around.”

Someone else said, “That guy is Sean Reedshaw. I saw his picture on the campus heartthrob wall before, but he’s way hotter in person! He’s seriously gorgeous.”

A person said, “You’re such a fangirl.”