During finals, a hot guy sat there with his chin in his hand, just staring at me. Not only did he smile at me, but he also let me copy his answers. The result? My class rank dropped by one. From third to last, to second to last. I swore eternal enmity against Dylan Thorne from that day on. Until later. He got early acceptance to MIT. And held me in his arms while I did practice problems. Every time I got a question wrong, he would... 1 The school decided to switch things up for finals this year. Instead of seating us by GPA, they drew lots. I had already coordinated signals with my fellow "academic underachievers," but now I was sitting in the middle of the exam hall, wanting to cry but failing to shed a tear. Front, back, right—I didn't know a soul. The seat to my left was empty. What were the odds that the empty seat belonged to the school's top scholar? Slim to none. But just as the bell rang, someone slid into the seat. I looked over. Holy crap. It really was the school's top scholar. 2 There probably wasn't a single person at Lincoln High who didn't know Dylan Thorne. Not just because he was hot, but because he once scored 104 points higher than the second-place student on a monthly exam. The exam started, and I snuck a peek at him. ...Well, at the paper under his hand. His fingers were long and slender, and he didn't write fast, but he was just far enough away that I couldn't quite see. I squinted, barely making out a stroke. Was that a C or a D? I pouted and looked back at my own test. I could guess my way through English and History, but Math? I was completely hopeless. Subconsciously, I looked at the person next to me again. And crashed right into his starry eyes. 3 Dylan Thorne, the school genius, must be a saint. He was actually willing to let me see his paper. Afraid I couldn't see, he even nudged his test toward me. I mouthed "Thank you" to him. He saw it, and his eyes curved into a smile. I had never seen anyone look so good when they smiled. I panicked for a second. My gaze fell back to my own paper, and I couldn't tell if my heart was racing because I successfully cheated... Or because of him. 4 We had two exams in the morning with a thirty-minute break in between. I glanced at the seat next to me. He got up and left, probably to the bathroom. When he came back, he stood in front of my desk. He was tall. He looked down at me, his knuckles rapping on my desk, his shadow enveloping me. "You copied everything from my paper?" I looked up at him, confused. When he looked at people, he was serious and patient. His tone was gentle too. "Hmm?" I nodded obediently. "I just glanced at your test. Did you forget we have Test Form A and Test Form B?" "..." So Form A has horizontal answers, and Form B has vertical answers. I forgot. Every single answer was wrong. 5 For the second exam, my heart was already half cold. What froze the other half was when, swish, a ball of paper landed behind me. I unfolded it halfway, just catching a glimpse of dense answers written inside. Then, the proctor in high heels snatched the paper ball from my hand. "Great job, Lily Wu. Instead of studying, you spend all your time on these crooked ways, huh?" "Get out. Automatic zero." "..." I was shoved out of the exam hall by the teacher without a chance to explain. Looking back, based on the trajectory of the paper ball, I could only think of one person... Dylan Thorne. It was him. And he was staring blankly at me as I was dragged out. I suspected he didn't want to help me. His real goal was to sabotage me. 6 I sat on the school stairs. Hugging my legs, sniffing. It wasn't that I didn't want to leave; school wasn't out yet. I stared at the birds in the distance, wishing I could be as free as them. But before my daydream ended, someone appeared next to me. To be fair, Dylan Thorne's face was indeed handsome. But I still swung my backpack and hit him. "Are you an idiot?" "Do we have a grudge or something?" "..." He let me hit him, standing there openly. After a few hits, I was the one who felt embarrassed. "Sorry. First time cheating, didn't time it right." "Wanted to help you, didn't expect the teacher to intercept it." His voice was cool, but when he spoke to me, it was light and gentle. "..." So he really tried to pass me answers. Yeah right. "I copied the math multiple-choice wrong, got a zero in this subject, I'm going to be last place again waaaah..." Thinking of this, I couldn't hold it back anymore, sorrow welling up from my heart. "Why are you crying?" He was clearly startled by me, squatting beside me to wipe my tears with his sleeve. "It's okay. I'll be in last place with you, okay?" "..." Men's words are always lies. 7 Class assignments for the new year were based on last year's finals. Because one subject was ruthlessly given a zero, I ended up back in my familiar Class 16. The class with the worst grades. However, I stared at the class roster in deep thought. Why was Dylan Thorne in our class? Shouldn't he be firmly in Class 1? My buddy from last semester, Ben, was still stuck in the same class with me. Seeing me, he stuck his head out and waved. "Let me tell you..." "Dylan Thorne only turned in one math test. The other five were blank." "..." He really was an idiot. I put down my bag and leaned over to chat with Ben. "But I still hate him." "Hate? You know him?" I nodded solemnly. "But did you know before he came to our school, he was a delinquent at North High? The kind that fought until the cops came." Ben told me mysteriously. "..." I kicked the chair in front of me. "What are you talking about? He has such good grades, how could he be a delinquent?" "Tch, believe it or not." He shook his head and turned back around. 8 As the most chaotic class in Lincoln High, Class 16 had all sorts of characters. Like the school bully, Rex. Rex wasn't a nickname; this guy really acted like a T-Rex. No one dared to mess with Rex at Lincoln High. He walked around with two lackeys like he owned the place. Since the class was newly formed, seating was currently a free-for-all. I suddenly had a very bad feeling... as Rex slowly sauntered into the classroom, the only empty seat seemed to be next to me. Rex indeed aimed for my spot. "Move over!" He barked at me. I hugged my backpack and shrank into the corner. Even Ben, who turned to talk to me, retreated like a turtle into its shell. "Tsk, why does a girl take up so much space?" Rex's voice was loud, causing many classmates to look our way. But I was already squeezed against the wall. Just as I was considering finding a new seat, someone knocked on Rex's desk. I had never seen Dylan Thorne have such a main character moment. Like a god descending. He stood there lazily, backpack slung over one shoulder. Lowering his eyes, tone flat, staring at Rex who was sitting next to me. "You, go sit somewhere else." "I want to sit here." ...Damn, someone in Lincoln High actually dared to talk to Rex like that. The key was, the bully next to me actually stood up abruptly. Bowing and scraping. "Oh hey, it's Dylan. I didn't know you wanted to sit here. If you're sitting here, I wouldn't dare take the spot. Here, there's dust on the desk, let me wipe it for you..." "..." I was dumbfounded. Dylan sat next to me. I continued to hug my backpack and shrink in the corner. Seeing me like this, his eyes curved. "What?" "Scared now?"
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