Chapter 72
Summer was brimming with confidence about her test scores. Since stepping out of the examination hall the day before, she felt certain that, despite a few vague answers in the humanities section, everything else was spot on. Passing the preliminary round was, in her mind, a foregone conclusion. Scoring one hundred and thirty–eight and ranking sixth was well within her expectations.
A smug smile played on Summer’s lips. She had barely glanced at the results on her phone before she almost handed it back to her agent. But then, a thought struck her, and she smoothly withdrew her hand, her fingers delicately swiping up the screen.
Summer scrolled down to the bottom of the ranking page, but still did not see Mirabella’s name. A frown creased Summer’s brow. Hadn’t Mirabella taken the test? Why wasn’t her name listed? Could it be that Mirabella didn’t pass the preliminaries?
That thought deepened the smile on Summer’s face. She knew It. With Mirabella’s ability, how could she make the cut? With a soft chuckle, Summer’s fingertip inadvertently tapped the ‘back to top‘ arrow. As she was about to close the
ebpage, the name Mirabella suddenly jumped out at her.
First place, one hundred and filty points, Mirabella.
The smile on Summer’s lips froze, and her grip on the phone tightened Involuntarily. How was this possible? How could Mirabella have gotten a perfect score? How could Mirabella be at the top of the list?
“Summer, you look a bit pale. Are you worn out from the rehearsal?” her agent asked with concern upon noticing his client’s unusual demeanor.
Summer’s eyes flickered, and she casually handed the phone back to her agent, her voice gentle. “I’m fine. Maybe I just got too wrapped up in the performance. I’m still coming down from that.”
Her agent patted her shoulder reassuringly, “Take a breather here, and once it’s time for the live recording. I’ll come to
get you.”
“Thanks.” Summer replied graciously.
As her agent took the phone and started to leave, he paused and turned back to Summer, “Summer, there will be a Q&A segment. I’ll mention your competition to the producers. Just play it by ear when you answer, alright?”
Summer blinked, then nodded in agreement.
Mirabella had sailed through the preliminaries with a perfect score, a feat unmatched in the dozens of schools across Ashford. Her name sat confidently at the top of the official BrainSpark Nationals citywide rankings. Even the student in second place trailed by nine points–a testament to her solid grasp of both the arts and sciences.
At the city Education Association headquarters, the buzz was about the extraordinary student from Parkside High School who had aced the test, even cracking John’s notoriously tricky physics problem.
“This student is quite remarkable,” the secretary–general commented, holding up the test paper with admiration before passing it to the chairman.
The chairman, adLeog his glasses, took the paper and cast his eyes downward. Before he even examined the answers, the neat handwriting caught his attention. It was pleasing to the eye.
“Nice penmanship,” the chairman remarked generously. “The handwriting reflects the person. This student must be quite cultivated.”
“Humanities students tend to have a bit more finesse than those in the sciences, I suppose,” the secretary–general replied with a chuckle.
The chairman raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? A humanities student solved John’s physics conundrum?”
