Beating the System

Maddie’s expression changed, and she spoke with impatience.

“I did all this for you. If it weren’t for me, how would you have gotten first place?”

“But did I ask you to sleep with him?!” Blaine roared, his eyes red.

Maddie fell silent. Then she sighed softly.

“Stop making a scene, okay? There’s only one week left. This farce will be over soon.”

I didn’t feel any heartbreak. After all, Maddie and I were just using each other.

Pretending to be a bad student in exchange for one hundred days of intimacy with the school beauty was honestly a great deal.

The mock exams arrived as scheduled.

On both the first and second practice tests, I performed “steadily”, scoring somewhere in the 800-900 range.

Forget Harvard or Yale; even getting into a decent college would be impossible with those scores.

On the day of the SATs, the three of us were assigned to different exam rooms.

Before entering, Maddie comforted me. “It’s okay. Even if you don’t do well, you still have me.”

I smiled and nodded, then turned and walked into the exam room that would change my fate…

When the exam was over, I understood something clearly.

At last, I could rely on myself to leave that storage room behind. I would no longer have to endure my parents’ punches and kicks.

Finally, I could live my own life.

While waiting for the SAT results, I sold all the gifts the Zimmermans had given me on second-hand platforms.

After everything was sold, the balance in my account was enough to cover four years of college tuition.

On the day the results were released, the Zimmermans held a grand party, inviting our entire class to their villa to check the scores together.

It was all Blaine’s idea.

He wanted to defeat me, the rival who had always ranked above him, in front of everyone. Then he’d watch as I, the failure, was thrown out of this place and scorned by everyone.

Our homeroom teacher, the principal, and several media outlets all arrived on time.

After all, our class was the best in the entire city and the most likely to produce the top scorer.

Every media outlet wanted the first report on the top student.

One by one, students checked their scores. Most of the results were better than expected.

Then Blaine confidently stepped in front of the cameras and entered his exam number.

After the page refreshed, his final score appeared.

He shouted excitedly, “1500! I got 1500! With this score, I have a chance at Harvard and Yale!”

Blaine excitedly showed the result to the cameras, while Mr. Zimmerman waved his arms with joy.

[That’s right, this is the male lead! Just barely making the cutoff for Harvard and Yale and then starting a dramatic love triangle on campus.]

[I can’t wait to see what happens next!]

While everyone around him praised him one after another, Blaine suddenly turned his gaze toward me.

“Levi, why haven’t you checked your score yet? You were always the top student in the grade, weren’t you?”

The comments exploded again.

[The love-struck top student? Getting 900 points would be dangerous!]

[Hurry up! Let him check his score! Watching him get slapped in the face will be the most satisfying moment. Who told this supporting character to keep competing with our male lead for the girl!]

Seeing that I still hadn’t checked my score, Maddie walked over and took my hand to comfort me.

“Don’t be afraid. You still have me.”

I smiled, gently pulled my hand away, and entered my exam number.

The moment the page refreshed, the smug smile on Blaine’s face froze.

He stared at the screen in disbelief and suddenly screamed.

“Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!”