The Twin They Saved, The Twin They Destroyed Chapter 05

The Twin They Saved, The Twin They Destroyed Chapter 05

“Score Canceled?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Didn’t they just say Blake was the top scorer?”

The room erupted.

Mom stared at the screen, her voice shaking. “No. Impossible. How could Blake got score canceled?

too?”

Cole panicked. “Yeah, yeah-both canceled? The score portal must be broken.”

“The admissions reps came all the way here! They must be here for the top scorer!”

“Blake, hey-don’t worry. Something’s wrong with the system. Has to be.”

He wrapped his arms around her, patting her back.

I leaned against the wall in my corner, watching them fall apart. And smiled.

What they didn’t know was that the day Blake got her diagnosis, something else happened. Something I never told anyone. A system activated inside me-the Score Swap System.

From that moment on, every test score of mine and Blake’s was swapped. Every time Mom and the others pulled something to tank my scores, I gritted my teeth and finished that exam anyway.

What they didn’t know was that my real scores kept climbing. But to them, it looked like their plan

was working.

They didn’t know Blake’s grades were crashing. How could they? She was too busy spending their money-new dresses, fancy dinners, designer bags.

And me? I was the one in my room every night, drilling vocab until my eyes burned, redoing math problems until my hand cramped. All those low scores they waved in my face to cheer her up? Those

were hers. Every single one.

She thought my failure was her ladder. The lower I sank, the higher she’d climb. But those scores they kept throwing at me-the ones they used to prove she was finally winning? Hers. All of them.

On exam day, I looked at that water bottle in my hands. And I knew I was done with all of them.

“No, Mom. No, that’s wrong.” Blake twisted out of Cole’s grip, stumbling back until her knee

cracked against a chair leg. She didn’t even flinch.

She didn’t cry out in pain. She just stared at the screen, her lips trembling. “I answered everything. Every last question. There’s no way my scores got canceled. No way.”

She whipped around and grabbed Mom’s wrist. “I want a rescore! Do it now!”

Mom made a call to the testing board right there, demanding answers. The whole thing caused such

a commotion that an official agreed to pull up the scanned answer sheets on the spot for

verification.

Two scans appeared on the big screen, side by side.

Blake’s answer sheet was packed. Bubbles filled in everywhere. But every row was marked with red

X’s. Even her random guesses-every single one-was wrong.

The odds of getting every single guess wrong? She’d have to be both clueless and cursed.

My answer sheet was clean. Just my name. The rest was blank.

Mom stared at the screen, her face going slack, like something inside her just broke.

Her knees buckled and Cole caught her. “How? How did this happen?” She kept shaking her head. “Blake said she felt amazing. She said she’d be top scorer.”

Then she pushed Cole away and staggered toward the admissions counselors, grabbing the sleeve

of the nearest one.

“You’re here for Avery! But her scores were canceled! How can you possibly want her? Something’s wrong!”

They looked at each other, uneasy. Nobody wanted to be the first to speak. Three elite schools, all showing up at once? For someone with canceled scores? It made no sense.

They all pulled out their phones and called their deans. When they hung up, the Harvard officer turned to Mom. “Our deans confirmed it. No mistake. We’re here for Blake Lawson.”

Mom froze. “Blake? But her scores were canceled!”

The Yale officer didn’t blink. “Our dean was very clear. Blake Lawson.”

The Stanford officer nodded. “Same here.