Reborn as the Romance Heroine, I Only Aim for First Place Chapter 08

Reborn as the Romance Heroine, I Only Aim for First Place Chapter 08

This regional practice SAT was jointly hosted by four school districts across the state.

On the day the rankings were posted, a senior official from the State Department of Education was visiting the school for an inspection.

The district superintendent and Principal Sanders trailed behind her with careful, deferential smiles, while quite a few students gathered around the posted rankings.

“This regional practice SAT was important, wasn’t it? I heard you prepared for it for a long time.” Chelsea smiled sweetly. “Hey, Tessa, why don’t I see your score anywhere?”

I took a deep breath.

Anyone who had prepared for that long and poured that much effort into something, only to have it all go to waste, would not be in a good mood.

After thinking for a moment, I deliberately drifted toward the visiting officials.

Sure enough, Principal Sanders noticed me immediately. Smiling, he introduced me to the State Department of Education official.

“Commissioner Taylor, this is Tessa Jensen, our school’s second-ranked student. She’s not only an excellent student but also an extremely hardworking one. Her scores have been rising lately, so on this regional practice SAT, she must have…”

He had meant to show me off.

But when he turned to look at the rankings, my score was not on the board at all.

Principal Sanders’s face tightened. He clearly felt embarrassed, but he forced a smile and said to me, “Oh, well, it looks like the competition was especially fierce this time. That’s all right, Tessa. Keep working hard next time.”

“Of course, the first-place student, Evan Blake, is also from our school. He has always—”

He immediately tried to change the subject, but I cut him off.

“Principal Sanders, I didn’t bomb the exam. My admission ticket was stolen. I never even got into the exam room.”

Principal Sanders froze, then forced another smile.

“How could something like that happen? You must have forgotten it. Our school would never have that kind of problem.”

“No. It was still in my bag when I checked after arriving at school. Then I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, it was gone.” I lowered my head, sounding crushed.

“I prepared for this exam for so long. I woke up at four every morning and stayed up until midnight. I really…”

I covered my face, my shoulders trembling slightly.

Commissioner Taylor was a sharp, efficient middle-aged woman. Hearing this, she frowned.

“How could something like that happen? That’s bullying.”

With one sentence, she defined the entire incident. Then she turned to Principal Sanders, whose face had gone slightly pale.

“There’s targeted bullying happening in your school, and this is how you handle it as principal? Are you still trying to smooth it over?”

“Incidents like this keep happening precisely because people like you keep minimizing them. Investigate it. Don’t tell me the security cameras just happen to be broken.”

Principal Sanders wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“No, no, they’re not broken. They’re all working. We can check them. So, if you would like—”

“We’ll check them now.”

Chelsea, standing off to the side, went deathly pale.

…

I was just about to enter the security room when someone grabbed me and pulled me aside.

Behind me, Evan’s eyes were cold.

“What do you think you’re doing? Go tell the officials you remembered it wrong and forgot your ticket. Why are you making a scene?”

I looked at him strangely.

“What’s wrong? Did you steal my admission ticket because you were afraid I’d beat your score?”

Evan sneered. “It’s broad daylight. Why are you already daydreaming?

You think I’d be afraid of you?”

“Then why are you stopping me?”

Evan choked.

Of course, he could not say that he knew Chelsea had stolen my admission ticket.

“Just go tell them right now before it’s too late. Otherwise, don’t ever come looking for me again.”

I almost laughed out loud.

He really thought he was some prize everyone wanted.

The old Tessa might have been frightened by him, but me?

I let the smile fall from my face.

“Good dogs don’t block the way. Move.”

I shoved past him and walked into the security office.

With officials present, things moved fast.

An hour later, Chelsea’s face was frozen in high definition on the security footage.

The class rep, who had come with me, immediately pointed at her.

“That’s her. Chelsea has had problems with Tessa for a while. She used to keep making Tessa cover her cleanup duties, and when Tessa refused, she must have done this to get back at her.”

When Chelsea was called in and saw the footage, her knees almost

gave out.

“I didn’t. I just… I took it by mistake,” she said, trembling.

Her excuse was so ridiculous that no one even bothered to refute it.

Principal Sanders shot Chelsea a hard glare, then turned to Commissioner Taylor, looking furious.

“Commissioner, please rest assured. We have already gotten to the bottom of this, and we will take this matter seriously.”

Chelsea looked terrified.

The original Tessa’s reputation for being weak and easy to bully must have been too deeply rooted.

Even now, Chelsea still thought I would let the whole thing get swept under the rug like before.

Evan stepped forward.

“Principal Sanders, Chelsea just made a momentary mistake. She’s still a kid. Sometimes classmates have conflicts and play stupid jokes. There’s no need to turn this into bullying, right, Tessa?”

He stared at me in warning.

“Chelsea is your cousin. Are you really going to ruin her?”

Before I could speak, Commissioner Taylor was furious.

“Someone stole her admission ticket and kept her from taking the exam, and you’re saying she’s the one ruining someone else’s life?”

Then she turned to Principal Sanders.

“So this is the student who ranked first this time? Schools are supposed to educate character as well as academics. Do you teach anything besides test scores?”

Cold sweat had soaked through Principal Sanders’s shirt. He said to Evan, “This has nothing to do with you. Leave.”

“But Principal Sanders—”

“I said leave!”

Evan’s icy gaze landed on me before he finally walked out.

Commissioner Taylor patted my shoulder.

“I know you’ve been wronged. Don’t worry. We will make sure this is handled properly, won’t we, Principal Sanders?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Principal Sanders said, bowing slightly.

I smiled.

“Then thank you all.”