Trapped in a Room with the Top Student for Better Scores Chapter 04

Trapped in a Room with the Top Student for Better Scores Chapter 04

A week later, the benchmark exam results dropped.

I beat Blair by two points and took back second place.

First place was still Nolan. Word was, if he pushed his score any higher next month, he’d test into the AP track for next semester.

“Not bad on the test.” Nolan caught me after the after-school study block, his voice carefully casual. “Too bad the hardest questions were all exactly what we went over this summer. Don’t expect that to happen again.”

He smiled, slow and lazy. “Sucks not having anyone to help you, doesn’t it?”

This was his move. He’d freeze me out for a few days, then toss me a crumb, and I’d come running every time.

He’d counted on that since we were kids. He could push me away whenever he wanted, because I’d never push back.

I looked him in the eye, and something clicked.

If I could beat Nolan on the next exam, that AP slot he wanted so badly would be mine.

I walked away without another word and threw myself into studying harder than ever.

I finished my homework at home, fell asleep, and picked up right where I left off, inside the “Improve Your Grades or You Can’t Leave” room.

Declan appeared in the middle of taking a sip, still holding a glass of milk.

“My score went up on the benchmark!”

He glanced down at me, the corner of his mouth twitching up. “Oh.”

He handed me a notebook. He’d put it together himself, covering every kind of problem I was weak on.

“It’s so nice not being punished,” I said, taking it.

His hand stilled, and that cool, guarded look settled over him again.

“Yeah. Lucky us.”

The words barely left his mouth before the system chimed.

[Congratulations on raising your scores. Reward unlocked!]

I blinked. Reward?

The system continued: [Give your study partner some encouragement: hold hands, interlocking fingers, for one minute!]

Dead silence.

“Why would a study system make this a reward?” I asked.

“Because this thing was never just a study system,” Declan said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He looked away and wouldn’t say anything else.

“Just skip the reward,” he said flatly.

That night, he sat even farther away than usual. Colder, too.

I couldn’t help stealing a glance at his hands: long fingers, sharp knuckles.

I dragged my eyes back to the problem set.

The system stayed quiet for the rest of the night.

The next day, the entire grade filed into the auditorium for an assembly.

I grabbed a seat in the last row, near the back door, notebook in my lap.

Nolan and Blair ended up right in front of me.

The AP program had reserved seats up front. Students filed past me, and Declan was near the back of the line, impossible to miss.

Our eyes met for half a second.

Our classes were on different floors. We never crossed paths at school.

This was the first time I’d seen him in person since the room started pulling us in.

I hesitated, caught between waving and pretending I didn’t see him.

He walked right past me like I was furniture.

Fine.

Good thing I hadn’t waved.

The girl next to me, the one on the aisle, tapped my arm. “Did you bring tissues? I gotta go.”

She grabbed three of my last few tissues before I could answer.

Her seat went empty.

“Wait, is that Declan’s notebook?” The girl on my right leaned forward to talk to Blair. “Can I look at it?”

I hadn’t even noticed Blair was clutching a notebook to her chest.

“No.” Blair glanced back at me, guarded. “Nolan got it for me. It’s not for sharing.”

The girl clicked her tongue and turned to me. “So Blair’s got Declan’s notes too? You’re screwed next exam.”

I didn’t answer. I just looked down and kept flipping through my own notebook.

Ding.

The system’s voice cut through my head out of nowhere.

[Please complete the reward: interlocking fingers for one minute within the allotted time.]

[Time remaining: five minutes.]

My head snapped up. The auditorium was packed.

Wait. Here?

My eyes found Declan’s back in the front row instantly.

He was already turning around.

The second he did, a handful of AP guys turned with him, and the curiosity rippled outward, pulling half a row of heads along.

“Who’s Declan looking for?”

“No clue.”

My heart stuttered, and I ducked my head.

But then it hit me: nobody in this room would ever connect him to me.

When I looked up again, he’d already turned back around. Nobody spared my corner a glance.

The system chimed in my head.

[This is not mandatory.]

[You can skip it if you want.]

I exhaled.

Declan must have said something to the system, but I couldn’t hear his side.

Then the system spoke again.

[Just so you know, if you don’t complete it, the ultimate punishment will activate in the room tonight. ^_^]

No way out, then.

I’d just have to grind through problems all night.

Declan would definitely choose the problem sets over holding my hand in a packed auditorium.

The assembly started. Scattered applause moved through the room, the lights went down, and a presentation flickered to life on the big screen.

The blue light from the screen was all that was left. My corner in the last row went nearly pitch black.

I couldn’t even make out the front rows.

The girls on my right were whispering, deep in gossip. Every few minutes someone slipped past on the aisle, hunched low, heading for the bathroom.

The system pinged: [Time remaining: two minutes.]

I didn’t care. I put my head down and went over my notes.

But my mind kept drifting back to last night: Declan’s hand tracing across the scratch paper while he walked me through a problem, his long fingers moving unhurriedly, like it was nothing.

The seat on my left folded down with a click. Someone sat.

I kept my head down, still working through problems.

The girls on my right were still chatting.

“Did a lot of people like Declan back in middle school?”

“Have you seen his eighth-grade yearbook photo? The guy went viral for his face. Trust me, don’t even bother. He’s impossible to get.”

They both shook their heads and agreed: Declan was out of everyone’s league.

My pen ran out of ink.

I glanced up at the screen like I was paying attention and reached into my bag for my pencil case.

My fingers never got there. Someone caught them first.

Before I could react, a hand, warm and larger than mine, closed around them completely.

His palm slid up against mine, deliberate and sure, and his fingers slid between mine and locked in.

Interlocking fingers.

My brain whited out.

That clean lime scent cut through the dark, faint but unmistakable.

The person sitting next to me was not the girl who’d left for the bathroom.

Was he insane? This was way too exposed.

All it would take was one person glancing back, and they’d see Declan sitting right next to me.

I didn’t dare move.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

The girls on my right kept whispering, oblivious.

“Honestly, guys who seem the most untouchable are usually the most innocent. Like, just holding hands would probably wreck him.”

“He doesn’t seem like the type to date in high school, though.”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s out there holding some girl’s hand behind everyone’s back right now.”

They started making bets, and the girl on my right grabbed my arm.

“Avery, what do you think? Would Declan ever?”

Before I could answer, Nolan turned around in the row in front of me, and his eyes locked right onto mine.

My lungs forgot how to work.

Nolan scoffed. “Why ask her? It’s not like she’d know anything about that.”

The light was low enough that nobody noticed the person on my left.

Nolan glanced at me once more, then turned back around.

The system chimed.

[Reward completed!]

[Great job! Keep supporting each other. Good luck on the next exam!]

He let go.

The seat flipped up, and he was gone.

I picked up my pen again, but his warmth was still there, ghosting across my skin, my fingertips buzzing with something I couldn’t name.

The girl sitting next to me dropped back into her spot and leaned on my shoulder.

“Best bathroom trip of my life. Thank you for your generous tissue donation.”

I buried my face against her shoulder and didn’t look up for a long time.

When I finally did, the person responsible was already back in his seat, talking to the guys around him like nothing had happened.

Not a flicker of emotion on his face.

Apparently I was the only one still feeling it, and I slapped my left hand with my right, annoyed at myself.

There. Not tingling anymore.

The lights came on. The assembly was over.

Students filed out class by class.

Declan wasn’t talking to anyone now. He stood, hands in his pockets.

For one unguarded second, he glanced down at his own hand. Opened it. Closed it.

Then he started stretching his fingers, slow and deliberate, like he was working out a cramp.