She Asked Us to Give Up SATs for a Million-Dollar Promise Chapter 04

She Asked Us to Give Up SATs for a Million-Dollar Promise Chapter 04

Stella went wild posting selfies on Instagram with all the luxury goods she had bought.

There was a five-figure Chanel bag, a twenty-thousand-dollar Rolex, and a pile of high-end skincare products.

She even captioned it, “Loving yourself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

But all that money had come from Stella secretly maxing out every credit card in her house.

She had even stolen the lifetime savings her grandmother had set aside for retirement and funeral expenses.

Stella sent a voice message in the group chat, her voice trembling with excitement.

“Ten million dollars. Once I have ten million dollars, what’s a few dozen grand to me? When the System’s reward hits my account, my parents will be too busy praising me.”

The other three boys I had grown up with were just as insane.

They all thought they were about to get rich, and the group chat was filled with cheering.

They bought plenty of things too, splurging on everything they had never dared to buy before.

Ethan had always cared way too much about looking rich and spent money like it was nothing.

Now he went all out. He headed straight to a motorcycle dealership, maxed out every lending platform he could find, and “generously” paid cash for an expensive new motorcycle.

“Haha, I know the PIN to my parents’ debit card. Between that and the online loans, I pulled together a hundred and twenty thousand dollars and bought the bike outright.”

The remaining two boys refused to be outdone and went on revenge-spending sprees of their own.

Each of them spent at least seventy-five thousand dollars.

I laughed.

Stella’s family had a disabled father and an overwhelmed mother, and they were barely scraping by on government assistance.

The three boys’ families weren’t that poor, but they were still ordinary working families.

I had no idea how they planned to clean up this mess when the truth finally came out.

They kept spiraling all the way up to the day of the SATs.

It wasn’t that the adults in their families hadn’t noticed something was wrong.

But whenever they asked, Ethan and the others would say they were going to the library to study.

Since they didn’t tell the truth, I naturally wasn’t going to expose them either.

On the day of the SATs, I made full preparations. I chose to call the police.

“Hello. Someone is trying to stop me from taking the SATs.”

I was afraid something would happen on my way to the testing center.

Very soon, the local precinct responded.

“Don’t worry. We’ll escort you to your exam.”

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

My parents were both away on business and couldn’t make it back.

I had to be careful about everything myself.

The police drove me to the opposite side of the street from the testing center.

Because there were too many students there, the police car couldn’t get through, so I had to get out.

As I got out of the car, one of the officers reminded me, “Don’t worry. We’ve increased police presence in this area. If anything happens, just shout.”

I nodded and thanked the officers before heading toward the testing center with my SAT admission ticket.

The closer I got, the harder my heart pounded.

I was almost there.

I was so close.

But just then, I saw the four of them standing on the sidewalk across from me.

Stella was wearing the new little Chanel outfit she had bought. She tilted her head and smiled at me.

“I knew something was off with you.”

She lowered her head and picked at her rhinestone-studded manicure, murmuring softly, “Evelyn, why do you always have to be such a special snowflake? We’re all enjoying life, and you’re the only one showing up for this miserable SAT grind. You really don’t know how to be part of the group.”

The three boys stepped toward me, one step at a time.

“Evelyn, are you trying to ruin this for us? We already told you there’s an extra reward if we have five participants. Why can’t you just cooperate?”

“You’re turning down ten million dollars just to show up for this miserable SAT grind. What, are you trying to prove you’re so noble and different from everyone else?”

I backed away step by step, my eyes frantically searching for the police.

There were too many students and parents around, and for a moment, I couldn’t find where the officers were.

Stella let out a snort of laughter.

“Stop looking. I deliberately told them someone had stolen my SAT admission ticket. Those officers all went off to catch the thief.”

I tightened my grip on the pencil pouch holding my SAT admission ticket and stared hard at Stella.

“Stella, has your brain completely turned to mush?”

She froze for a second, probably not expecting me to speak to her so bluntly.

Ethan stepped in front of her and turned to snap at me.

“Evelyn, you’ve gone too far! We’re doing this for your own good. Why are you so ungrateful?”

“Even if you get into the best college in the country, so what? After graduation, you’ll still end up working for someone else. Right now, all you have to do is cooperate, and you’ll get ten million dollars for nothing. How can you not understand something that simple?”

I could barely hear him anymore. I looked down at my phone.

There were less than ten minutes left before the exam started.

Most students were already going through ID checks and getting ready to enter the testing rooms.

And I was still trapped in front of the testing center.

There was truly no time left.

“Get out of my way!” I screamed.

I tried to unlock my phone and call 911 again.

But my phone was quickly knocked out of my hand.

Stella smiled viciously.

“Don’t let her call the police. Evelyn can’t take the SATs. Hurry, take her admission ticket.”

The three boys immediately rushed at me.

I fought with everything I had, shouting for help.

The people around us hadn’t reacted yet. They only stared over in shock.

Just as my pencil pouch was about to be yanked away, I suddenly kicked Stella, who was standing off to the side adding fuel to the fire.

She cried out and tumbled into the strip of shrubs.

Those three white knights panicked at once and lunged over, trying to cushion her with their own bodies.

For a moment, everyone went down in a chaotic heap.

I seized the chance, turned, and ran.

I charged toward the testing center entrance with everything I had, pulled out my ID and SAT admission ticket, cleared the identity check, and officially entered the testing center.

Stella’s face went white with panic as she screamed, “No!”

She scrambled up and tried to chase after me.

But just then, a police car pulled up and blocked their way.