Every Time I Check My Score, It Resets to Zero Chapter 02

After making sure the phone was connected to the Wi-Fi, I opened the browser and typed in the URL I knew by heart.

None of my relatives spoke.

They only stared at me.

The air went stiff and cold.

The page loaded.

I entered my student ID and password.

Then I tapped Submit.

The screen began to spin.

For one ridiculous second, a terrifying thought flashed through my mind.

What if something really was wrong with me?

What if I had actually fallen asleep in the testing room and dreamed the whole thing, dreamed myself filling out page after page?

No.

My muscle memory didn’t lie.

I remembered the scrape of my No. 2 pencil against the paper. I remembered how sore my wrist was by the time they called down pencils.

The score report appeared.

Name: Elena Chase.

Total Score: 0.

My air left me.

The phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a crack.

The screen shattered into a web of fractures.

“How…” I whispered. “How could this happen?”

I stumbled back, my knees giving out beneath me.

Mom bent down, picked up the phone, and wiped the dust from the cracked screen with her thumb.

“Do you believe it now?”

She held the broken phone in front of my face.

The zero on the screen looked even more grotesque, split apart by jagged cracks in the glass.

“No. The website has to be wrong.”

I shook my head, my voice bordering on hysterical.

“I need to check at an Wi-Fi café. I need to use someone else’s phone!”

Uncle Victor stood and grabbed me by the collar.

“Haven’t you embarrassed everyone enough?”

He jabbed a finger at me.

“Your parents have lost every bit of dignity because of you! How long are you planning to keep this up?”

Dad stepped over, pulled Uncle Victor away, and pointed with freezing detachment toward my bedroom.

“Go to your room. You don’t come out unless I say so.”

I clutched my cheek and backed into the corner.

Where was the problem?

If the device was fine and the Wi-Fi was fine, then the scoring had to be the problem.

“I’m going to find Ethan Lowell,” I murmured.

Dad frowned.

“What did you say?”

“I’m going to find Ethan!”

I shoved past him and bolted toward the front door.

Ethan had been my lab partner. He had also taken the test in the same room as me.

That day, he had been sitting diagonally behind me.

As long as he told the truth, he could prove whether I had bubbled in my Scantron or not.

“Stop her! She’s lost her mind!” Aunt Denise shrieked.

I shoved away the hand she lunged with and yanked open the apartment security door.

It slammed against the wall with a heavy thud.

I ran into the night without looking back.

I sprinted all the way to the Grand Harbor Country Club.

The lobby was bright and crowded.

Ethan was hosting his college acceptance party.

A huge red banner hung across the stage, congratulating him on his admission to a top university.

When I rushed into the Country Club, he was holding a glass of champagne, making a toast to a table of extended family.

Mr. Hale was at the main table too, looking down as he grazed on some appetizers.

“Ethan!”

My voice cut through the room.

The noisy Country Club fell silent in an instant.

Dozens of eyes turned toward me.

Ethan looked over, and the smile on his face froze.

“Elena? What are you doing here?”

I strode straight up to him and stared into his eyes.

“Ethan, tell me the truth. On SAT day, did you see me writing the whole time?”

The hand holding his glass stopped in midair.

He didn’t look at me.

His gaze flicked past my shoulder, darting quickly toward Mr. Hale at the main table.

“Say something!”

I grabbed his arm, my nails nearly digging into his skin.

“You were sitting diagonally behind me. You saw me, didn’t you?”

Ethan awkwardly pulled his arm free.