She had always been the one running after Zayden.
And Zayden had rarely paid attention to what she wanted.
+8 Pearls
“Eliza, why did you suddenly stop liking me?” Zayden hesitated for a long time before finally asking the question that had been weighing on him.
That sounded kind of pathetic.
Eliza never thought Zayden would actually say something like that.
“Because. Because I got tired of being let down. Eliza lowered her gaze, then said. “Because I finally started putting myself first. Always trying to get your attention just to feel like I mattered… I’m over it. It wore me out
…Oh. Zayden leaned his arm against his forehead. After a moment, he sat up. As he was about to leave, he stopped at the door, glanced back at Eliza, and said, “Pick someone else. Anyone. Just not Nolan.”
Before Eliza could respond, Zayden had already left her dorm.
Eliza sat in silence. Yeah. Anyone’s fine–as long as it’s not Nolan. or Zayden. Getting involved with someone like that could only end badly.
By Saturday, the weekend had finally arrived.
The prep class for the math competition had officially started.
Students in the competition could choose to attend the review sessions for a final round of practice.
The teacher would also hand out past competition papers for everyone to work through.
It helped students get familiar with the types of questions, and it gave them a better shot at scoring higher on the exam.
By the time Eliza gor to the classroom, it was almost packed.
Everyone wanted to attend the free prep class.
Even Zayden showed up.
But Naomi was nowhere in sight.
That didn’t surprise Eliza.
Naomi always had other classes on weekends. Her parents believed art was more suitable for girls, so they signed her up for painting and piano instead.
Naomi had never been interested in math to begin with. And since her name was only on the list for show, there was no way she’d skip her other lessons for this.
Eliza arrived late, so she ended up in the back row.
The questions the teacher covered were nothing like the SAT. A lot of them were unusual, tough, and required real problem- solving–not just plugging in formulas
For Elza–who had only been reviewing math for less than a week after reliving a whole lifetime–it was tough.
She barely kept up during the first class.
When she finally looked up, Zayden was already standing in front of her, reaching out and grabbing her practice paper without asking.
Zayden, can you not mess with other people’s stuff? Eliza frowned.
She hadn’t even gotten to the last questions yet, and he’d completely thrown off her focus.
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8:39 AM
Chapter 26 A Clear Divide
He scanned her answers. While her accuracy was high, the speed was way too slow
with
And honestly, these didn’t seem like the kind of answers Eliza could come up wi
48 Pearls
“You can copy someone else’s answers once, but do you really think you can cheat your way through the actual competition?”
“Copy?” Eliza frowned, confused. When did I ever copy!
“With your skill level, you’re just wasting your time here,” Zayden said. “If you go through with this, you’re the one who’s going to be embarrassed when the results come out.”
Hearing that. Eliza nearly laughed out of disbelief,
He glanced at her paper and just assumed she cheated? And now he was calling her unqualified?
“Zayden. I bet your score isn’t even better than mine. Why don’t you check your paper against the teacher’s key before running your mouth?” She grabbed her paper back.
“You seriously don’t remember your midterm scores? Eliza, I’m being real with you.”
Eliza didn’t even look up. She went right back to solving the problems.
She was slow today because she was still adjusting to the format–trying to figure out faster, smarter ways to work through it.
But Zayden took it the wrong way.
Then again, maybe it was understandable. Based on her last two midterm scores, Zayden’s suspicion made sense.
But jumping straight to accusing her of cheating? That was just ridiculous.
Knock knock at the classroom door, Nolan walked in with a single–strap backpack slung over one shoulder.
The moment the other students saw who it was, their expressions changed.
Nolan had signed up for plenty of city and district competitions before, but he’d never once bothered to show up for a prep
class.
y was he here now? Wherever Nolan walked, the others moved aside to avoid him.
Why was
Eventually, he reached Eliza’s side and casually tossed his backpack onto her desk.
He didn’t even pick up a test paper. He just laid his head down on the desk, looking half asleep, eyes still heavy.
The whole class glanced sideways at Eliza and Nolan.
It was like their presence alone was throwing everyone off.
“Wait, since when do kids from Class Six get to compete? This has got to be a joke,”
“It’s already embarrassing enough that they’re even going to the citywide competition.”
“My parents told me pot to go near anyone from Class Six. How are we supposed to concentrate with them around?”
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