Chapter 290 : The SAT Result

Chapter 290 : The SAT Result
"The SAT?" Nigel laughed coldly. "What a joke. Do you even know what people are saying about you? About our family?" His voice grew harsher. "Cheating on a standardized test, is this your grand plan? Embarrass the Rogers family in public and let us get dragged through the mud?"

To Nigel, all of this was intentional. He thought Allison was causing a scene just to drag the entire Rogers family with her.

His eyes landed on the pencil pouch in her hand, and he immediately reached for it. "You even faked an ID, huh? Do you have any idea you could go to jail for that?"

He tried to rip up her admission slip right then and there.

In his mind, if he could stop this nonsense before the exam started, the whole situation might still blow over. It was better to shut it down now than let her finish the test and create even more trouble.

But Allison reacted faster. She snatched the pouch back and quickly moved aside, hiding behind the uniformed security guard standing nearby.

"Officer," Allison said loudly, "this man just tried to destroy my test ID. I don't even know him. I think he's mentally ill. Maybe even dangerous. Could you please stop him?"

The guard rested a hand on the baton at his waist and gave Nigel a sharp look.

Nigel immediately recoiled. "What are you talking about? I'm your brother!"

He quickly turned to the guard, trying to sound serious and reasonable. "She's cheating. She hasn't even been to school. She doesn't know anything. Letting her into that exam room is unfair to everyone else!"

Peeking out from behind the guard, Allison raised her voice. "If I don't know anything, then where did all the trophies in Sherrie's room come from? Did you forget? Tell a lie often enough, and eventually you start believing it yourself. Is that what's happening?"

Nigel stood there in shock.

Allison seized the opportunity and ran straight into the school building.

He tried to go after her, but the guard blocked his path and stopped him.

Nigel could only stand there, replaying her words in his head. The trophies in Sherrie's room...

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he felt. Sherrie had received some praise when they were younger. But now that he really thought about it, hadn't Allison been the one who actually won those competitions?

Back then, Sherrie's grades had been poor, and she had almost no confidence in herself. Wanting to help, Nigel had switched their names on the competition entry forms. Allison competed, and Sherrie received all the credit. The recognition gave Sherrie the encouragement she needed, and after receiving praise a few times, she gradually started improving on her own.

Those trophies had always belonged to Allison.

Nigel let out a sigh. Fine, maybe she had been smart back then. But that was years ago. She had been out of school for so long. There was no way she could have honestly prepared for this exam.

The only explanation he could come up with was that she had cheated, with Jareth pulling strings behind the scenes.

After waiting outside for a while longer, Nigel finally lost patience. He had done what he could. If Allison wanted to ignore his warning, then so be it. She could deal with the consequences herself.

On the third day, Allison finished the SAT.

The three students who had ambushed her never showed up again after that first incident. She figured Jareth had probably handled things behind the scenes. Either way, people like them had no place being there in the first place.

After the exam, Allison was in an unusually good mood. She even organized a celebratory dinner and invited her friends and the people close to her.

She felt confident about her performance. Getting into college was practically a done deal. All that was left now was to wait for the results and submit her applications.

Life finally seemed to be back on track. Everything felt clearer, and she had a sense of direction again.

The trending topic accusing her of cheating gradually faded from public attention.

It was as if the storm had finally passed.

Then the cheating scandal gradually faded from the internet. With no updates and no new developments, people quickly lost interest and moved on.

Meanwhile, Allison got back into her routine and spent most of her time in the lab. She followed Laurie around, observing the use of advanced equipment and sitting in on ongoing PhD-level research projects.

Laurie was incredibly strict. No matter how eager Allison was to try the equipment herself, Laurie refused to let her touch any of it. All she could do was watch from the sidelines.

The days passed quickly as she immersed herself in work, and before she knew it, the day the exam results were released had arrived.

Everyone was nervous for Allison except the Rogers family.

Allison sat in front of the computer while Jareth stood behind her, both hands resting on the back of her chair.

She entered her information and clicked the search button.

Jareth leaned closer, looking even more concerned about the results than she was.

But the moment the scores appeared on the screen, he furrowed deeply. "What the hell?"

Allison's hand tightened around the mouse as she stared at the screen, equally stunned.

Just then, her phone rang. It was Carl.

Allison answered the call. "Hey."

"Did your score come out?" Carl asked.

Allison paused for a moment. "Something's... not right."

Hearing the uncertainty in her voice, Carl immediately assumed the worst and tried to comfort her. "It's okay if you didn't do as well as you hoped. There's always next year."

Sandra's voice suddenly came through from the other end of the line. "Didn't you say you felt great about the exam? You even threw a celebration dinner. Was it the cheating scandal that got to you?"

If that were true, then all that confidence and celebrating would have turned into one big joke.

Allison kept staring at the screen. Then she looked up at Jareth and mumbled softly, "I think my score got flagged."

Jareth frowned. "Flagged? You think someone tampered with it?"

Before Allison could answer, Victor's voice came through from the other end of the call. "The scores of the top ten students in Kansas are automatically concealed. It's a standard privacy measure to prevent excessive attention and pressure on the students who score at the top. It helps keep things fair."