She had always been the one running after Zayden.

And bZayden /bhad rarely paid attention to what she wanted.

+8 Pearls

“Eliza, why did you suddenly stop liking me?” Zayden hesitated for a long time before finally asking the question that had been weighing on bhim/b.

That sounded kind of pathetic.

Eliza never thought Zayden would actually say something like that.

“Because. Because I got tired of being let down. Eliza lowered her gaze, then said. “Because I finally started putting myself first. Always trying to get your attention just to feel like I mattered… I’m over it. It wore me bout /b

…Oh. Zayden leaned his arm against his forehead. After a moment, he sat up. As he was about to leave, he stopped at the door, nced back at Eliza, and said, “Pick someone else. Anyone. Just not Nn.”

Before Eliza could respond, Zayden had already left her dorm.

Eliza sat in bsilence/b. Yeah. Anyone’s fine–as long as it’s not Nn. or Zayden. Getting involved with someone like that could only end badly.

By Saturday, the weekend had finally arrived.

The prep ss for the mathpetition had officially started.

Students in thepetition could choose to attend the review sessions for a bfinal /bround of practice.

The teacher would also hand out pastpetition papers for everyone to work through.

It helped students get familiar with the types of questions, and it gave them a better shot at scoring higher on the exam.

By the time Eliza gor to bthe /bssroom, it was almost packed.

Everyone wanted to attend the free prep ss.

Even Zayden showed up.

But Naomi was nowhere in sight.

That didn’t bsurprise /bEliza.

bNaomi /balways bhad /bother sses on weekends. Her parents believed bart /bbwas /bmore suitable for girls, so they signed her up for painting and piano instead.

Naomi had never been interested in math to begin bwith/b. And since her name was only on the list for bshow/b, there was no way she’d skip her other lessons for bthis/bb. /b

Eliza arrivedte, so she ended up in the back row.

The questions the teacher covered were nothing like the SAT. A lot of them were unusual, tough, and required real problem- solving–not just plugging in forms

bFor /bElza–who had only bbeen /breviewing math for less bthan /bba /bweek after reliving a whole lifetime–it was tough.

She barely kept up during the first bss/b.

When she finally looked up, Zayden was already standing in front of her, reaching out and grabbing her practice paper without basking/b.

Zayden, can you not mess with other people’s stuff? bEliza /bfrowned.

She hadn’t even gotten to thest questions yet, and he’dpletely thrown off her focus.

8:39 AM

Chapter 26 A Clear Divide

He scanned her answers. While her uracy was high, the speed was bway /btoo slow

with

And bhonestly/b, these didn’t seem like the kind of answers Eliza coulde up wi

48 Pearls

“You can copy someone else’s answers once, but do you really think you can cheat your way through the actualpetition?”

“Copy?” Eliza frowned, confused. When did I ever copy!

“With your skill level, you’re just wasting your time here,” Zayden said. “If you go through with this, you’re the one who’s going to be embarrassed when the resultse out.”

Hearing that. Eliza nearlyughed out of disbelief,

He nced at her paper and just assumed she cheated? And now he was calling her unqualified?

“Zayden. I bet byour /bscore isn’t even better than mine. Why don’t you check your paper against the teacher’s key before running your mouth?” She grabbed her paper back.

“You seriously don’t remember your midterm scores? Eliza, I’m being real with you.”

Eliza didn’t even look up. She went right back to solving the problems.

She was slow today because she was still adjusting to the format–trying to figure out faster, smarter ways to work through it.

But Zayden took it the wrong bway/b.

Then again, maybe it was understandable. Based on herst two midterm scores, Zayden’s suspicion made sense.

But jumping straight to using her of cheating? That was just ridiculous.

Knock knock at the ssroom door, Nn walked in with a single–strap backpack slung over one shoulder.

The moment the other students saw bwho /bit was, their expressions changed.

Nn had signed up for plenty of city and districtpetitions before, but he’d never once bothered bto /bshow up for a prep

ss.

y was he here now? Wherever Nn walked, the others moved aside to avoid him.

Why was

Eventually, he reached Eliza’s side and casually tossed his backpack onto her desk.

He bdidn’t /beven pick up a test paper. He justid his head down on the desk, looking half asleep, eyes still heavy.

The whole bss /bnced sideways at Eliza and Nn.

It was like their presence alone was throwing everyone off.

“Wait, since when do kids bfrom /bss Six get topete? This has got to be a joke,”

“It’s already embarrassing enough that they’re even going to the citywidepetition.”

“My parents told me pot to go near banyone /bbfrom /bss Six. bHow /bare we supposed to concentrate bwith /bthem baround/b?”

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