I Was Sick Of Second Place So I Took Everything Chapter 04

I Was Sick Of Second Place So I Took Everything Chapter 04

I kept staring at that problem, like I could will it into revealing its secrets.

Silas chuckled beside me. “Alright, how about you let me actually earn my keep?”

His long, well-defined fingers held the pen as he circled two key points on the question.

His voice was close, low, as he explained, slightly leaning toward me.

The tangled mess in my head unraveled almost instantly with just a few words from him.

“You probably won’t see this kind of problem on an exam. Just think of it as a brain workout.”

As he spoke, he flipped back to the previous question.

“My answer was correct,” I said, not getting why he was still wasting time on it.

Silas smiled. “If everyone can solve the same final problem, how do you prove you’re a cut above?”

I thought about it. “The steps. A cleaner, more elegant solution wins.”

He asked, “And?”

I frowned, unsure.

“Think about it, Estelle. Tough problem. Everyone else knows one way to solve it.”

“But you? You’ve got two. Or more.”

He marked my solution and wrote “Method 2” underneath it.

It clicked instantly. My eyes lit up as I looked at him.

This was genius. So extra. I loved it.

Right after that, Silas proceeded to show me five additional ways to solve the same problem.

Two of them were concepts usually taught at the college level.

But after he explained them, I got every single one. I was so jealous.

By July, I was finally on summer break too.

When the final exam results came out, I was at the Sheffield House working on problems. I checked the rankings. Still second.

Silas glanced over. “Results are out?”

I gave a weak “Mm.”

“Not bad. Only five points behind first place this time. You’re closing the gap.”

At school, no one believed I could beat Caleb.

The main reason was that he used to outscore me by more than ten points every time.

On the surface, I acted calm and detached.

In reality, I was grinding my teeth to dust.

Silas’s words didn’t comfort me at all.

Until he handed me a notebook. “Here’s a study plan I made for your initial review.”

“Focus on this for the summer. You can worry about competing next semester.”

“Who said anything about competing?”

Silas nodded along, not even trying to hide his sarcasm.

“Right, right, you’re not competing. But come on, everyone says a bad soldier doesn’t dream of being a general.”

“And a bad student doesn’t dream of being top of the class.”

When something keeps slipping through your fingers, it burrows into your heart and becomes an obsession.

That summer, I showed up at the Sheffield House on schedule every day and studied until I lost track of time.

Of course, even Silas had days off. On those days, I stayed home doing lots of practice problems.

Sometimes classmates invited me out, and I went.

When the topic of tutoring came up, I smiled lightly.

“Me? Nah, I didn’t sign up for anything. I’ve just been binge-watching shows and gaming.”

The watching part was true. I watched those ten-minute recap videos at triple speed.

And the gaming? Also true. Silas kept going on about work-life balance and dragged me into a couple of rounds.

Just as I expected, their reactions were immediate.

“Estelle, why would you even need tutoring? If I were you, I’d already be packing for college!”

“Figures. Good students get to do whatever they want.”

“My mom just hired some top tutor for one-on-one sessions.”

“Forget watching shows, I don’t even have the energy to breathe…”

“What game are you playing, Estelle?”

I told them the name. The other person lit up. “No way, me too! Let’s team up sometime.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling.

Crap. Now I had to find time to grind my gaming skills too.