Chapter 11 How Could Lily Be in the Top 10% of the Class
Austin was feeling pretty worried about the competition.
Michael gave Austin a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't stress, man. Once the results come in, I'll talk to her. The revival round is super important."
Austin looked really upset. "Lily begged me for ages to teach her the game, and now she's trying to play me. When did she get so sneaky?"
"If it comes to that, let David handle it. No way Lily says no to David, right?"
Sophie, overhearing the conversation, felt a wave of frustration.
No way was she giving up her spot to Lily! This was her chance!
When Lily arrived at school, everyone was buzzing about the exam results.
Seraphine shot Lily a glance and said loudly, "Lily has been busting their butts lately. I wonder how many points she racked up!"
Lily tried to look calm as she pulled out her textbook, but inside, she was a bundle of nerves.
A little while later, Alex walked in with the report cards, and the room instantly buzzed with excitement.
Alex tapped the table to get their attention. "Alright, everyone, settle down. Overall, the performance wasn't great this time, so now's not the time to slack off. Especially you, Sophie, your scores have taken a nosedive."
Sophie's face went pale. She knew she hadn't been on top of her game lately, but she didn't think she'd done that badly.
Alex turned to Lily and hesitated. "But Lily, you've shown a lot of improvement. Keep it up!"
Seraphine wasn't satisfied. "Mr. Taylor, how did Lily do?"
"She's now in the top 10% of the class," Alex replied.
The room erupted with chatter.
Lily couldn't help but smile. She did it!
She was thrilled and couldn't wait to tell Dennis about her grades!
All her hard work had finally paid off.
If she kept this up, she might actually have a shot at getting into Quest University!
"Mr. Taylor, I think there's something fishy about Lily's grades. No way she improved that much so fast!"
The room went silent.
Everyone turned to Lily with suspicion in their eyes.
Alex glanced at Lily's ranking, feeling a bit doubtful himself, but he knew she had been putting in the effort.
Sophie spoke up softly. "Mr. Taylor, Lily really wants to do well to prove herself. She made a bet with her brother, so please don't doubt her grades. This means a lot to her."
Her words were carefully chosen.
But Lily caught the hint of sarcasm. What a smooth talker.
No wonder she fell for Sophie's tricks in her past life.
Sure enough, after hearing Sophie's words, Alex began to suspect Lily might have cheated to win the bet.
Seraphine jumped in. "Mr. Taylor, you can't cover for cheaters. Sophie and Lily have been prepping for their family team competition. Sophie's grades dropped, so there's no way Lily could've improved this much!"
Calista added, "Yeah, Mr. Taylor, to be fair, Lily's grades should be canceled."
Alex hesitated, clearly swayed by Sophie's words.
Sophie knew she had won this round.
'Lily, how dare you try to outshine me? Don't you know what kind of trouble you are asking for?' Sophie thought.
"Lily, don't you have anything to say for yourself?"
Lily felt Alex's doubtful gaze and replied coldly, "I didn't cheat."
And that was all she said.
In her past life, every time her grades surpassed Sophie's, Sophie would find ways to make her life miserable, making Lily afraid to ever outshine her again.
Now, Sophie was at it again with her old tricks.
Sophie quickly continued, "Mr. Taylor, I told you she wouldn't cheat. Please don't doubt her. If you cancel her grades, it may seem like you're being fair, but it will really hurt her."
Alex thought for a moment and said, "Lily's ranking will be temporarily voided until I investigate further. If cheating is confirmed, she will face the appropriate consequences."
After Alex left, the classroom buzzed with chatter.
Seraphine sneered, "I knew Lily couldn't improve her grades that much without cheating."
Sophie looked smug and immediately pulled out her phone to text Austin: [Austin, what should we do? Lily cheated on the exam to win the bet with you and got good grades. Now she's going to be punished, I'm so worried about Lily!]
Lily opened her book and started reviewing, ignoring the noise around her.
Whether her ranking was canceled or not, she didn't care.
Sophie might influence Alex, but she couldn't touch the SAT scores!
Still, it stung a bit.
She had made a deal with Dennis to play games together if she made it into the top 10% of the class.
But she hadn't been to the nurse's office lately, and Dennis hadn't replied to her messages.
Lily felt a bit down. She had finally made a friend, but maybe she was just overthinking it.
After the morning classes ended, there were excited screams from the girls outside the classroom.
Lily looked up and saw Austin had arrived.
What was he doing here?
"Sophie, your brother is so handsome!"
Sophie looked proud and went up to accept the small cake Austin handed her. "Austin, Lily is in the classroom. Do you want to talk to her? If she apologizes properly and admits to cheating, maybe she won't be punished."
Austin glanced at Lily in the classroom.
But Lily never looked up, quietly reading her textbook.
She didn't need to guess why Austin was here. Sophie was eager to see her humiliated.
But she didn't care whether her grades were canceled or not.
However, she would never admit to cheating!
Sophie stood at the classroom door and said in a fake concerned tone, "Lily, Austin is here, you don't need to worry."
Lily pretended not to hear and didn't look at Austin outside.
Austin's face turned sour.
The little worry he had for Lily instantly vanished. Why should he care about Lily?
He spoke coldly, "I'll go find Alex in the office first."
Austin turned and left.
Sophie then took the cake and walked over to Lily. "Lily, Austin only brought one cake for me. He probably forgot, but I'll share half with you."
Lily saw through Sophie's attempt to brag.
She was used to it.
Every time her brothers came to school, they would bring Sophie little gifts.
She never got any.
Later, she had cried about it, and Michael said she didn't behave, so she didn't get any gifts.
But now she didn't care about those so-called gifts at all.
Lily's phone rang, and she saw it was Dennis calling. She immediately took the phone and walked to the hallway, taking a deep breath before answering. "Hello, Dr. Gonzalez."
"How did you do on your exams?"
Lily suddenly felt a bit sad. "I was ranked in the top 10% of the class, but my grades might be canceled."
Dennis's tone instantly turned serious. "What's going on?"