Chapter 208
The physics teacher’s gaze lingered on Morgan with an increasingly peculiar curiosity. He simply inquired. “Why can’t Mirabella crack it, Morgan? Are you perhaps harboring a bit of a blas?”
Morgan choked on his words, blindsided by the counter–question. After a few seconds of silence, he managed to stammer out, “You’re the one deep into physics. You know the level of difficulty we’re talking about here. She’s from the humanities..
Although Mr. Hammond couldn’t make heads or tails of the physics problem, he was well aware that an Olympiad question was no walk in the park. He had heard Morgan harp on about ‘Mirabella being a humanities student‘ one time too many, couldn’t hold back any longer, and chimed in. “Morgan, you seem to have forgotten something. Initially, I wanted to place her in your Prodigy Class.”
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His implication was clear. She was meant to be a science student all along. Morgan’s doing led to the twist of fate, which landed her in the humanities class.
Mr. Hammond’s reminder hit Morgan like a ton of bricks, almost making him stagger. He had always refused to entertain, let alone admit, the fact that he had personally pushed Mirabella out of the Prodigy Class. Every time Mirabella topped the charts with remarkable grades, he would deliberately turn a blind eye, stop his ears, and shun any twinge of regret. But as Mr. Hammond brought it up, it struck him like thunder, shattering his self–deception.
Unaware of this backstory, the physics teacher piped up upon Mr. Hammond’s revelation, “So Mirabella is originally a science student? No wonder she’s so good at physics. I was wondering. why such a promising student was in the humanities. I’ve been meaning to suggest we transfer her to the science class, Mr. Hammond.”
Noting the physics teacher’s astuteness, Mr. Hammond glanced at Morgan again, smirking. “You’ve got quite the eye for talent.”
Morgan’s face paled even further.
“With all this distraction, I almost forgot what we were talking about. Morgan, you mentioned the competition materials, correct?” As Mr. Hammond spoke, he made his way to his desk. pulled open a drawer, and retrieved a book. He tossed it casually onto the desk, “Is this what you were looking for?”
Morgan’s eyes fell upon the book. After a few seconds of silence, he picked it up and began to leaf through it tentatively.
Leaning against the desk, Mr. Hammond’s gaze was indifferent. “Mirabella gave me that material a few days ago. She said someone had couriered it to her place by mistake and passed it on to me since she had no use for it. I thought I’d make a few copies for the students to review.”
Flipping through a few more pages, Morgan found various types of questions and answers.
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including those from previous competitions–all documented within. Looking up, he began, “This…”
“Oh, that’s right,” Mr. Hammond interjected, as if recalling something after a brief pause. “Mirabella also mentioned she found some of the solutions in there a bit too cumbersome and old–fashioned. She was concerned that some might exploit the materials, so she said her approach would be slightly different…”
He paused as if pondering for a moment, then added softly. “Since we’re investigating. I’ll stop by the Education Association at noon, pull up Mirabella’s exam paper, and make a copy for all the teachers to review and compare.”
At the close of Mr. Hammond’s words, Morgan’s complexion turned a ghastly shade. Dropping the materials on the desk, he seemed to deflate as if all the life had been drained from him in
that instant.
The physics teacher glanced at Morgan, shook his head with a mixture of pity and
astonishment, then casually picked up the book, thumbing through it before clicking his tongue in disappointment.
