Chapter 39 The Fall of Naomi

After all, aside from the bst /bmonthly exam, Eliza’s performance had always been inconsistent.

“Teacher. what about Naomi?” Zayden suddenly asked, realizing her name was nowhere among the award recipients.

Not even once.

At the mention of Naomi, the homeroom teacher sighedb, /bclearly frustrated. “She failed the exam.

Zayden froze.

“Naomi? Failed? That can’t be right. There must be ba /bmistake.”

Naomi had always had good grades. Even if herst exam wasn’t great, failing outright seemed impossible.

“I haven’t received the original test paper yet, but I do have a photo of it.”

The teacher then pulled bup /ba photo of the test and bhanded /bit to bZayden/bb. /b“See for yourself. Also, please tell Naomi toe to Jmy office. I need to speak with her.”

Zayden nced at the photo.

Most of the paper was bnk/b. Therge problems in the back hadn’t even been touched.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced: Naomi’s practice book. It had beenpletely nk too.

She’d exined it by saying she bhad /balready finished a whole workbook and bwas /busing the new one just for review.

At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it.

But now if she’d really done that much work, why had he never once seen her solve a single problem?

Eliza, on the other hand.

Zayden fell into deep thought

He left the office silently, but not before casting a long nce at Eliza.

From the dark, conflicted look in his eyes, Eliza could tell: Zaydeh was bstarting /bto suspect Naomi.

But to her, that didn’t matter anymore.

bShe /bturned and walked away.

Naomi, it’s your bturn /bbto /bexin all those tests I took for you.

bss /b1.

Zayden stood at bthe /bdoor.

bNaomi /blit up when she saw bhim /band rushed over bto /bbask /bwhy he’d gone to the office, but Zayden spoke bfirst/b.

“The mathpetition results are bout/b. bWant /bto know your bscore/b?”

Her smile froze.

“Sixty–three,” he said tly. “I didn’t expect this from you.”

Naomi paled. “bZayden/b, I…”

“You bdidn’t /bbtake /bthest few monthly exams yourself, did you?”

Zayden’s eyes were bcold/b, his voice even colder.

It was impossible for anyone’s performance to drop this drastically in just one month.

It didn’t add up.

And he remembered how, on the way to the mathpetition, Naomi had boasted she was sure she’d win ban /baward.

She’d been so confident.

Yet she failed

Even a teacher would get suspicious, let alone him.

“I.. I just didn’t go to the prep ss, so I wasn’t familiar with the test format…”

“And thest monthly examb?/b”

Zayden pressed on. “You barely passed, and that test was bway /beasier than the ones before. How did you even manage that?”

Naomi’s expression grew more panicked by the second.

Or… were you letting Eliza take your exams this whole time?”

Zayden didn’t want to believe it.

He couldn’t imagine that sweet, kind Naomi would ever use her sister like that.

“Zayden, it’s not what you think! Let me exin-!”

“I don’t want to hear it. bSave /byour exnation for the teacher.”

Naomi felt her legs weaken.

Zayden didn’t say another bword/b. He just turned and walked back to his seat.

The rest of the ss didn’t know what had happened–until a student appeared at the door.

“Naomi, the homeroom teacher wants to see you in the office.”

Naomi stood frozen in ce.

Zayden didn’t speak up for her. He simply kept his head down, quietly working on his assignments.

With no other choice, Naomi dragged herself to the office.

By the end of the day, the whole school had heard: Naomi bhadn’t /bced in the mathpetition.

Even worse—she had failed the test.

And by ss I’s strict merit–based policy, Naomi’s bscore /bbwould /bneed to be breassessed/b.

If she bcouldn’t /bmeet the standard, she’d be kicked out of ss 1.

“My daughter? Failing? bThat’s /bimpossible!”

Evelyn hade storming into the office after receiving the teacher’s call.

No matter how the homeroom teacher tried to exin it, Evelyn refused to believe that Naomi had failed the city–level mathpetition.

After all, Naomi had always been raised with strict tutoring and private lessons. Her grades had always been solid.

Never in her life had she failed anything.