Chapter 194
As fate would have it, Shermaine and Jason were assigned to the same examination hall. For the exam, she had an impressive entourage of four family members seeing her off—her brother and grandmother, along with Joshua and Owen.
Janice asked, “Sheary, got your exam ticket?”
“Got it.”
Janice continued, “Got your pens, ruler, and all that stuff?”
Shermaine replied, “Got it all, Grandma.”
Janice knew that Shermaine had never taken the SAT before. On top of that, the bet weighed heavily on her mind—she was terrified that even the slightest mistake would mean Jason being officially welcomed into the family by Jameson.
Owen then said, “Sheary, here’s some strawberry milk for you.”
Shermaine showed no sign of nervousness. She took the milk from Owen, finished drinking it, and then took her backpack from Joshua. “I’m going in now. You guys can head back.”
The elders encouraged her, “Do your best!”
“Mm-hmm,” Shermaine nodded with a smile. She handed her exam admission ticket to the security guard for inspection, entered, and quickly found her exam room and seat for the Wallingtonian test.
Her seat was toward the back of the second row. As fate would have it, Jason was sitting directly to her left. It seemed like fate had deliberately orchestrated this encounter.
Jason looked a bit surprised to see her, but maintained his usual harmless demeanor. “Shermaine, I didn’t expect we’d end up in the same exam room.”
Shermaine dropped her backpack and slouched into her seat. “Makes no difference to me who I share it with.”
“For me, being here with you feels like fate,” Jason said, as if they’d always been rivals—like warriors competing for supremacy, whether fighting for a father’s attention as kids or now, for the top science student title.
Shermaine chuckled. “Yeah, fate put you right in front of me—so you can kneel in defeat before me.”
A shadow flickered in Jason’s eyes as he clenched his fists, but he held back. ‘We’ll see who really has to admit defeat when the results come out,’ he thought. But his ambitions went far beyond just being the top achiever in natural science. Getting into the Jean family was only his first step—he had much bigger plans, and what he wanted, he was determined to take for himself.
The morning session was the Wallingtonian exam. It ran from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Shermaine got her exam paper, wrote her name and examinee number on the answer sheet, and started on the questions. As always, she breezed through them, but since the exam was long, she deliberately slowed down. When she finished her essay and checked the clock, only an hour and a half had passed. With nothing left to do, she propped her chin on her hand and promptly fell asleep.
The proctor noticed someone napping and walked over, intending to wake her. But when she saw Shermaine’s completed answer sheet, she was stunned. She remembered this girl had started dozing off half an hour ago—yet her test was already finished. Since there was nothing left for Shermaine to do, the proctor decided to let her be and turned around to walk away.
As soon as the bell rang, Shermaine finally woke up. She handed in her exam and walked out of the hall. Right after her, Jason followed suit.
As soon as Shermaine left the exam hall, she spotted the two elders waiting for her. The moment she appeared, they rushed over with concern. “Did the exam go well?” “Are you tired?” “Hungry yet?” they asked. Shermaine smiled warmly and left with them, heading to a restaurant for lunch.
Jason came out shortly after, his expression gloomy as he watched the scene. But when he saw Jameson appear with his mother, the storm in his eyes dissipated.
‘Father loves me more. Shermaine and Ross? They’re nothing to father. They can’t even hold a candle to me,’ he thought.