Chapter 196
Mirabella wrapped up her chat with “No Stealing My Meds” and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was getting late, and she remembered her untouched school–assigned essays. The thought nudged her from the comfy couch. “Leo, I’m heading up to do my homework. Don’t stay up too late, okay?”
With that, she took the stairs two at a time, heading to her room.
Leo watched his sister’s retreating figure, his mind foggy from the evening’s distractions, snapping to attention at her mention of ‘homework.” Mirabella was just a high school senior, yet when she put on her serious face, she commanded the room with more presence than he ever did, looking every bit the part of an adult.
When she had insisted he take his medication earlier. he could hardly believe his timid compliance.
He’s totally whipped.
The day had finally arrived. The BrainSpark Nationals city finals results would be announced.
Typically, after the city finals, the next round would be at the state level. However, Ashford, being a charter city, posed a unique challenge with its higher difficulty level in competitions, allowing those who advanced to skip straight to the nationals.
Despite holding more challenging city finals, the threshold for advancing was higher than in other regions to ensure fairness. This meant that many hopefuls would be cut from the competition once the scores were released.
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At ten o’clock sharp, the official website posted the names and scores of students who made the cut. There was no need to enter an exam number. One glance at the online ranking was enough to reveal who had advanced and who had been eliminated.
In the Prodigy Class…
Summer took out her phone with a shaky hand and opened the competition’s official site, feeling nervous for the first time at the prospect of checking her results.
The questions in this competition were notoriously difficult, and to add to her anxiety, Aiden had swiped the study materials she had obtained from the Education Association before she had a chance to review them. This left her feeling less than confident about several major problems on the test.
“Summer, how did it go? What score did you get?” Madeline asked, still fumbling with her own phone, not ready to face the results.
Summer’s expression was composed, her voice a gentle calm. “I’m just checking now.
Her fingertips tapped the screen as she spoke, opening the homepage where the advancing
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Chapter 196
scores were prominently displayed. Her heart tightened at that moment.
First place, Mirabella, 150 points.
Second place, Vincent. 148 points.
Third place, Sawyer, 140 points.
Fifteenth place, Will, Tommy, Summer, 120 points.
Out of a perfect score of 150, the cutoff was 120 points.
When Summer saw her name at the bottom of the ranking, her hand trembled. She had barely made it… one point less, and she would have missed the nationals altogether.
And Mirabella, yet again with a perfect score, was at the top.
Summer’s gaze darkened. Even Vincent hadn’t achieved a perfect score. How could Mirabella, who was rumored to have bought her way through high school back in her hometown, outperform Vincent? It simply didn’t add up.
“Summer, congratulations on making it to the nationals,” Madeline said, her voice carrying congratulations but lacking the usual exuberance.
After being outshone by Mirabella time and again, Summer’s qualification for the nationals. even with her best effort, seemed rather lackluster by comparison.
Summer could sense the shift in Madeline’s attitude and felt an increasing irritation. She opened her mouth to respond when her phone vibrated incessantly. Glancing down at the screen, she saw messages from her agent and her girl group members.
