Reborn as the Romance Heroine, I Only Aim for First Place Chapter 05

Reborn as the Romance Heroine, I Only Aim for First Place Chapter 05

After the rankings for the first practice SAT were posted, I went to check the board.

From top to bottom, the first name was Evan Blake.

The second name was Tessa Jensen.

I was in second place again.

Expressionless, I stared at Evan’s name.

Evan really did live up to his reputation as a prodigy. As long as he was here, I had never once ranked first.

Chelsea’s voice came from behind me.

She leaned against Evan’s side, speaking just loudly enough for me to hear.

“Some people study all day, every day, and still end up more than forty points behind Evan.”

“No matter how hard second place works, second place will always be second place.”

Evan glanced at the rankings with a faint curve of his lips.

“There’s no need to compare me with her. The difference between first and second place isn’t the score. It’s talent.”

He did not even look at me when he said it, as if he were stating a fact that did not need to be proven.

Chelsea smiled and linked her arm through his.

“That’s true. Tessa has always been like this. Ever since we were kids, she’s wanted everything and tried to take everything.”

“But some things stay out of reach no matter how hard she tries.”

She paused, then added, “Grades, for example. And people.”

“Tessa, don’t you think so?”

I turned around.

Chelsea looked at me mockingly, malice glittering in her eyes.

Ever since I laid everything out for my father, he had cut off my mother’s cards.

Without my mother’s money, Chelsea’s father could no longer pay his gambling debts, so he simply went into hiding. Her mother, meanwhile, had stopped coming home almost entirely.

Chelsea was living alone in a run-down little apartment, and debt collectors kept calling to threaten that they would show up at her door.

She probably hated my guts.

“It’s not your win, so why are you taking a victory lap?” I frowned at her.

“What?” Chelsea did not understand.

I pointed at my own name.

“No matter what, I’m still ranked second in the grade. Where are you? I don’t seem to see your name anywhere.”

“Is Evan mute? Does he need you standing here speaking for him?”

Chelsea choked, and her smile froze.

“Why is someone headed for community college running her mouth? No matter how hard you kiss his ass, he won’t hand you forty SAT points. He’ll go to MIT, you’ll go to community college, and I’m sure both of you will have a very bright future.”

Chelsea’s eyes reddened.

“You… you—”

At first, Evan looked faintly disbelieving.

It seemed he could not understand how I, who had always obeyed him in every way, had become like this.

Then his voice sank.

“Tessa, don’t go too far.”

I looked at the two of them and laughed.

“You two are terrible at this, yet you still came here begging to get roasted.”

Then I said with contempt, “Dumbasses.”

After that, I squeezed my way out of the crowd.

…

The moment I stepped out, my expression fell.

I went straight to my SAT prep teacher’s office.

Most of the points I had lost this time were in the Reading and Writing section and the tougher Math questions.

My SAT prep teacher was actually very kind. He went through the questions I had missed one by one, then tried to comfort me.

“I know you’re a competitive kid. You’ve always wanted to rank first.”

“But Evan is different. He’s a real prodigy, the kind of student who could have gone into a gifted early-college program. His parents only held him back because they didn’t want to rush him too much.”

“Don’t compare yourself to him. That kind of pressure will be hard on you.”

If he had not tried to comfort me, it might have been fine.

His comfort only made me angrier.

Genius, prodigy, whatever the hell he was. If he was a genius, did that mean I was stupid?

I could not keep letting him stand above me and humiliate me.

That night, I tied a towel smeared with menthol rub around my head and started grinding through practice problems under my desk lamp.

Fuck it.

I was all in.