Chapter 46 *

Chapter 46 Chapter 46
Angelina’s POV
Jax and the others had no objections to my arrangement. After all, Leo had experience, and the first qualifying race was crucial for us.
Leo loved racing anyway, not to mention that today he was driving the Lamborghini Veneno he'd been dreaming about.
I could tell he wouldn't mind running six races.
In fact, after finishing these six races, my brother probably wanted to keep going.
But unfortunately, there was no one left to race against him.
The results were naturally as expected.
Justin and his crew—none of them pulled any dirty tricks.
Leo—six straight wins!
Apex Racing Team—total victory!
Because of this outstanding qualifying race, the Apex's reputation suddenly exploded in the racing circuit.
When we were leaving, a bunch of girls from the spectator stands came over asking my brother for autographs.
I noticed my brother got so scared he rushed down the mountain, not daring to stay even a moment longer.
"Yo, first race and Apex crushed it. We gotta celebrate—wanna grab some food or something?"
After heading down the mountain, Jax excitedly suggested.
My brother refused:
"Maybe next time. We should head out."
Jax could only shrug it off. "Alright, bet. We'll celebrate next time though, for real."
"For sure!" Leo agreed.
We returned to the Sterling house and parked that beautiful Lamborghini Veneno not far from home.
Leo turned to me. "Wait—whose car is this anyway?"
I knew Leo hadn't asked before only because he hadn't found the right time to ask this question.
Being questioned by him, I blinked.
I hadn't figured out who to claim it belonged to yet.
Just then, Caelan walked over.
He seemed to have just returned to the Sterling house.
Seeing him, I blinked.
I don't know where the inspiration came from, but without even thinking it through, I pointed my finger at him:
"His."
He turned around in surprise when he saw Caelan's handsome face.
Leo cleared his throat.
Caelan must have heard what I said.
Those cold blue eyes of his gradually shifted in this direction after my words fell.
Finally, they landed on me.
Caelan was mysterious and powerful. Being stared at by those sharp eyes made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
I suddenly felt a little regretful.
I shouldn't have claimed the car was lent to me by him.
I didn't know if he would play along.
"What?" His voice was low and sharp.
Clearly, he didn't know what was happening.
I felt conflicted inside.
My brother simply raised his hand, pointing at the Lamborghini Veneno parked nearby, and said to Caelan:
"Dude—didn't know you had a Veneno just sitting around. Thanks for letting me drive it, that was insane."
Caelan remained expressionless and didn't answer. The scene froze, and I felt very awkward.
He turned his gaze to me.
That look seemed to be probing, and also questioning.
Although I felt a bit regretful about pointing to Caelan, since I'd already done it, there was no room for regret.
I was just about to speak.
Then Caelan spoke up: "I lent it to her."
I didn't expect Caelan would actually help me out.
"Hey, thanks man. I really appreciate it."
My brother here was really naive—he believed Caelan's words just like that.
As he spoke, my brother even walked up to Caelan and patted him on the shoulder.
But just as my brother reached out, before he could actually pat Caelan's shoulder...
Caelan's brow suddenly furrowed.
Immediately after, as if encountering something extremely unpleasant, he took a step back. He stood three meters away from Leo.
My brother was stunned speechless. The whole scene had this weird, awkward humor to it.
I shot Caelan a quick grateful look before turning to my brother. "Come on, let's go home."
"Yeah, alright." Leo nodded.
Although he didn't quite understand Caelan's reaction...
He didn't dwell on it either, still immersed in tonight's pleasant racing atmosphere.
Leo and I walked through the front door together.
These past few days, I hadn't had much interaction with Caelan. So little, in fact, that I thought we'd probably never have anything to do with each other again. But I still remembered how Caelan had helped me out that day. I'd just return the favor someday.
The morning light filtered through the classroom windows as I slid into my usual seat in the back corner of Algebra 1. It was late October, and the air had that crisp quality that made everything feel sharper, more awake.
I pulled out my notebook and set it on the desk. The classroom was filling up slowly, students trickling in with that particular kind of tension that only comes on grade release day. Everyone knew what today was. Midterm results.
Ms. Wilson was already at his desk, sorting through a stack of papers. He looked unusually cheerful for someone about to hand back what was probably a massacre of test scores.
"Morning, Aria," Logan dropped into the seat next to me and immediately threw his feet up on the chair in front of him. He yawned so wide I could see his back molars.
"You look tired," I said.
"Stayed up until three playing Valorant." He stretched his arms over his head. "Figured if I was going to fail anyway, might as well enjoy my last night of freedom."
I glanced at him. "That confident about failing?"
"Oh, I'm not confident. I'm certain." He grinned, but there was something hollow about it. "That test was brutal. I probably got like a fifteen percent or something."
I turned back to face the front of the classroom. More students were coming in now.
"Hey, remember what you said?" Logan poked my shoulder. "You said you'd bomb the test with me. Solidarity and all that."
"Maybe I'm the only one who didn't fail," I said quietly.
"Yeah right." Logan laughed. "We'll see about that."
The bell rang.
Ms. Wilson stood up and grabbed the stack of papers. The entire classroom went silent. You could hear the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.
"Alright class," Ms. Wilson said, walking down the first row. He placed a test paper face-down on each desk as he passed. "I've finished grading your midterms. Some of you did really well. Some of you need to come see me during office hours."
He moved methodically through the rows. Each time he set down a paper, the student would stare at it like it might explode. No one flipped theirs over yet.
Ms. Wilson made his way to the back of the room. He set Logan's paper down, then mine. His expression didn't change. He just moved on to the next student.
"This is torture," Logan muttered under his breath.
Finally, Ms. Wilson returned to the front of the classroom. He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms.
"Alright. You can look now."
The sound of papers flipping filled the room.
"Oh thank god," someone said in the front row.
"Yes! Seventy-eight!"
"No no no no no."
I watched the reactions ripple through the classroom. Relief, disappointment, quiet celebration, silent despair.
Next to me, Logan flipped his paper over.
He stared at it.
"You've got to be kidding me."
His voice was flat. Shocked. He put his head down on the desk, covering his face with his arms.
The guy in front of us, Joshua something, turned around. "Dude, how bad?"
Logan's voice was muffled against his arms. "Don't even ask."
"That bad, huh?" Joshua winced. "I got a sixty-five. Thought that was rock bottom."
"I wish I got a sixty-five," Logan said.
Around the classroom, students were starting to compare scores in hushed voices.
"What did you get?"
"Seventy-two. You?"
"Fifty-nine. I'm screwed."
Up front, someone actually squealed with excitement. "I got an eighty-nine! That's my highest score ever in this class!"
Several people turned to look, their expressions a mix of admiration and jealousy.
Ms. Wilson held up his hand. "Alright guys, settle down. This is just one test. We still have the rest of the semester."
I hadn't looked at my paper yet. It was still face-down on my desk. I was spinning my pen between my fingers.
"Hey Aria." Joshua had turned around fully now, his arm draped over the back of his chair. "What did you get?"
A few more people glanced back at us.
Logan lifted his head slightly. Even in his state of despair, he looked curious. "She probably failed too, right? We had a deal."
I stopped spinning my pen. Everyone was looking at me now.
"One hundred and five," I said.
Joshua blinked. "Wait, what?"
"One hundred and five out of one hundred."
The words hung in the air for a second.
Then the explosion happened.
"No way!"
"Are you serious?!"
"Let me see that!"
Joshua practically lunged for my paper. I tilted it so he could see. There it was, written in Ms. Wilson's neat red pen at the top: 105/100.
"Holy shit," Joshua breathed.
More students were turning around now. The commotion was spreading like wildfire.
"She got one hundred and five?"
"That's impossible!"
"The bonus questions were insane, nobody gets those!"
"I thought she never studied!"
Sarah was staring at me with her mouth literally open. "Aria, those bonus questions... I couldn't even understand what they were asking."
"This is unreal," someone else said.
I felt Logan's eyes on me. I turned to look at him.
He was sitting up straight now, his test paper with its bright red 15/100 forgotten on his desk. He looked completely stunned.
"Bro." His voice cracked slightly. "You said you'd fail with me."
I shrugged. "I said maybe I wouldn't."
"Maybe? MAYBE?" He ran his hands through his hair. "You got one hundred and five! That's not maybe, that's like... that's like breaking the system!"
The classroom was getting louder now. Everyone was talking at once.
"How did she even do that?"
"Does she have a tutor or something?"
"Ms. Wilson's tests are impossible!"
Then Ms. Wilson's voice cut through the noise.
"Aria."
I looked up. He was standing right next to my desk. I hadn't even noticed him approach.
Everyone went quiet.
Ms. Wilson looked at my paper, then at me. His expression was strange. Serious, but there was something else there too. Pride, maybe. Or surprise.
"Can you see me after class?" he said. "I'd like to discuss your college recommendations."
The classroom erupted again.
"Oh my god."
"Ms. Wilson never offers recommendations!"
"You have to basically beg him to write you one!"
"This is insane!"
Ms. Wilson raised his voice slightly. "Alright everyone, let's go over the test. Turn to page one."
Slowly, reluctantly, people turned back around in their seats. But I could see them still glancing back at me every few seconds.
Logan was slumped in his seat, staring at the ceiling. His test paper was crumpled under his elbow. He looked like someone had just told him the world was flat.
"I can't believe this," he muttered. "I studied with you. We went over the same problems. How did you... how?"
I kept my voice low. "I just did what I knew how to do."
"Nobody just does that on a Whitaker test," he said. "That's not how this works."
Ms. Wilson started going over question one on the board. His voice faded into background noise as I sat there, pen still in my hand.
A perfect score. Plus the bonus. It wasn't that big of a deal, really. I'd understood the concepts. I'd worked through the problems. I'd checked my answers twice. That was all.
Logan put his head back down on his desk.
"I'm dropping out," he mumbled. "Becoming a monk. Moving to the mountains."
Despite everything, I almost smiled.