Chapter 17
When I returned to school, everything had already settled. I had replaced Natalie Wilkinson as the new academic star. Jason Brooks stopped me on the first day after school.
He hesitated for a long time before saying quietly, “I broke up with Natalie.
Wilkinson.”
I was very impatient, “What exactly do you want to say?”
He gritted his teeth, struggling for a while before squeezing out, “I’m sorry… I was wrong before.”
“Emily, do you think we might still have a chance…”
I felt sick to my stomach. I interrupted him before he even finished, “Do you think you’re good enough for me?”
With that, I turned and left. Jason Brooks stood there in a daze. Even when I was out the school gate, I could still see him standing there.
Natalie Wilkinson threw herself into studying with even more vigor.
She was now like how I used to be, studying fanatically every day, studying while
eating and sleeping.
But I had relaxed.
I believed health came first. After paying attention in class, I would go back and study only until 11 PM before going straight to bed.
Ensuring sufficient sleep was the only way to have a healthy body.
Natalie Wilkinson studied like a madwoman trying to surpass me, but I kept her firmly suppressed. Perhaps she had hit a dead end, but her mind didn’t seem as sharp as before.
The way she looked at me grew more and more twisted. I felt like I had become
her obsession. I wouldn’t be surprised if I haunted her nightmares.
But it was no use. On every exam, I was the steady champion.
She never had a chance to turn the tables again..
1/4
17
Time slowly passed like this. Just as I was getting used to this life, the college.
entrance exam arrived.
The same scorching June heat as last year’s finals, with a clear blue sky, high and
distant.
The whole campus was filled with hot wind and shrill cicada cries.
Who knows what ill fate it was, but Natalie Wilkinson and I were assigned to the
same testing room again.
Only this time, I was in the front and she was in the back.
I could feel the stare on my back practically burning a hole through me, but I didn’t care. I focused all my energy on the test paper before me.
I had gotten used to exam days, but this time there was a long–lost sense of
nervousness.
Time ticked by, minute by minute. After five minutes, the bell rang.
The whole world fell into silence, with only the sound of pens scratching on paper. The college entrance exam had begun.
Later, when I thought back to the college entrance exam, the memory felt a bit
hazy.
Those three days felt as long as three years, yet also as fleeting as a single
moment.
When I put down my pen after the last subject, I just felt an indescribable
sensation.
My three years of high school, my passionate youth, had finally come to a grand
finale.
But I had changed myself and altered the trajectory of my life.
Now, I truly had the power to choose my own path.
After the exam, I finally cut loose and had fun.
I didn’t bother estimating my score and completely put studying out of my mind. For the past year and a half, I hadn’t relaxed my studies for a single day. My whole
2/4
17
being had been in a state of tension.
Now that I suddenly didn’t need to study anymore, the first morning when I woke up, I actually paused for a moment, feeling a bit empty.
But I quickly adapted to this lifestyle.
I slept in until 11 AM and stayed up late playing video games.
This time, my parents didn’t nag me. I played without any guilt. Over the summer
vacation, I even reached the top rank in Honor of Kings.
My mom bought me skins worth several thousand yuan as a reward and took me on an international trip..
Emily Anderson: From Underdog to Top Scorer
I was like a wild dog off its leash, going completely crazy with fun, almost. forgetting about the exam results.
When the results came out, I didn’t even have time to check them myself.
My score was told to me by my homeroom teacher.
His voice cracked with excitement over the phone as he told me: “Emily Anderson,
you scored first in the province with 729 points!”
I was stunned, my mind freezing for a moment.
First in the province… 729 points.
At that instant, I didn’t immediately feel happy, but instead thought about how I still scored 10 points less than Daniel Collins.
How is that guy’s brain wired?
Damn, is he an alien?
My homeroom teacher’s loud voice pulled my wandering thoughts back.
“Emily Anderson, you must choose your college preferences carefully. Come back to school and we’ll discuss it, okay?”
you go to v
a even
“Yale University and Harvard University will definitely call you. Oh my, University of Cambridge will call. What to do? Should or Harvard…” I smiled faintly and said softly:
3/4
17
“Teacher, I want to go to Harvard University.”
♡ 20
