Chapter 7
That night, a state media outlet personally reposted the clip of my score reveal livestream, captioned, “They say it’s nearly impossible for top scorers to come from underprivileged backgrounds, but here’s a young woman defying the odds, soaring high against the wind!”
At the same time, sharp–eyed viewers rewatching the livestream picked up
on
the subtle tension between me, Gabriel, and Rebecca.
And just like that, classmates who had been holding back for ages finally saw their golden moment to spill some serious tea–and they came in hot.
“I go to the same school! Here’s the truth: Gabriel was actually Rebecca’s boyfriend. Rebecca got pissed that Evelyn kept beating her for first place (not ‘stole‘–that girl just couldn’t compete), so she told hot–but–dumb Gabriel to seduce Evelyn and drag her down. He’d skip class with her, get her to drink, party, ditch school–all just to ruin her.”
“But plot twist! Evelyn’s a straight–up genius. She pretended to throw her life away, ranking near the bottom just to mess with those two clowns- then boom! Hit ‘em with a perfect kill shot in the SAT. Y’all saw Rebecca break down on livestream, right? That wasn’t acting. Oh, and she was a bully. She bullied me for three years.”
***
Gabriel called me right as I was scrolling through that post, enjoying the comments section like it was a five–star buffet.
To be honest, ever since my score went public, he’d been trying to contact me nonstop.
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But I didn’t have the time–or the interest.
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I was too busy building my online presence across every major platform.
Viral attention doesn’t last forever, and I had to make it count.
The road that brought me here had been rocky. The road ahead? Still uncertain. But I knew one thing–I’d need a lot of money in the future.
So I started offering video tutoring sessions online and organized all my study notes from the last two years of high school. I bundled them with detailed, personalized strategies and launched a downloadable study guide–The A+ Playbook.
Riding the wave of my current popularity, it blew up the moment it dropped.
Students all over the country bought it and flooded the comment sections to thank me some said it gave them clarity during a period of academic burnout. Others begged for more content, more methods, more hope.
The momentum became a powerful loop, and the sales soared.
And on the day my sales crossed eight figures, and my revenue hit tens of millions, I looked into the mirror at the girl with stars in her eyes… and finally let out a long, steady breath.
I had finally laid the first brick of my own golden palace.
And at last, I had carved out a future for myself–clear, wide, and full of light.
I was about to reject Gabriel’s call like I always did–just press decline and move on. But this time, the call ended on his end before I could.
At the same time, a few texts popped up on my screen.
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Chapter 7
“Today’s my birthday. Can you come see me, just once?”
“I sent you a same–day delivery.”
“I’ll wait for you. As long as it takes.”
Then the doorbell rang. The package had arrived.
It was a hotel key card.
The exact same key card I had given him a year ago.
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Funny. The story had looped back to the beginning, but this time, Gabriel and I had completely switched roles.
Room 401’s door wasn’t fully closed. I pushed it open, and the moment I stepped inside, Gabriel pulled me into a crushing hug.
He held me so tightly it felt like he was trying to absorb me into his bones. I felt something warm hit the side of my neck.
“I don’t care that you lied to me.
“I don’t care if your grades were high or low.
“I just want to be with you.
“Wherever you go, I’ll go. If you’re going to Harvard, I’ll apply to a nearby school. Let’s just stay together, okay? Please. Okay?”
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