"What, are you seriously saying someone cheated?"
Carr's classmate could barely deal with him anymore.
Carr's neck turned red. “Who knows... some people just.....'
"Carr, just quit it!"
His deskmate saw Norris walking over and quickly tried to stop Carr from digging a deeper hole.
But it was too late. Norris had already heard everything.
Honestly, Carr always seemed to need a reality check, no matter the situation.
"If you have questions about your own score, Carr, you can come talk to me," Norris said, his voice steady. "But if you're suspicious of someone else's results, maybe you should take a good look at yourself first."
The words hit Carr hard, making his head swim.
“Mr. Norris, I...” Carr started, trying to defend himself.
But deep down, he was annoyed. Why couldn't he question someone else's grades? Was Claire really that amazing? Did she really deserve first place every single time? Maybe a teacher had slipped her the answers ahead of time. That had to be it, right?
"Carr, is it really that hard to admit someone else is just better?" Norris's words echoed, not just in Carr's mind, but all around the room.
Everyone felt it. They were all top-tier students. How many could honestly admit someone else was ahead of them?
Only fifteen people got to move on. It was no surprise that the students who didn't make the cut felt a sting of jealousy.
But after Norris said his piece, everyone seemed to snap out of it.
"Norris is right. Claire really is incredible. She deserves to advance. I hope she wins gold for the country at IMO," someone said.
"If Carr made it instead, I'd probably be annoyed, but Claire getting in? That's just how it should be."
"There's nothing to be jealous about. I didn't make it, but now I can focus on the college entrance exams. Claire's right, we'll get another chance to meet at the top."
Opet
"We lost to these fifteen here, but that doesn't mean we'll lose out on college who knows, maybe wethe end up as classmates someday."
Most of the students, thanks to Norris, had a much clearer view of themselves by the end of it.
As for Carr, nobody really paid him any attention anymore.
Once Norris finished going over the test, he finally posted the list of who was moving forward.
Just as expected, Carr, who used to be above average, had fallen to somewhere in the thirties or forties.
He wasn't dead last, but he was nowhere near the top fifteen.
Staring at the results, Carr's eyes nearly popped out of his head. The moment Norris dismissed class, he stormed out.
"No way. There's no way I only got a seventy-nine. My grades are so much better than that!"
He was convinced someone had tampered with his answers.
Carr really did have an almost magical belief in himself.
But everyone else just looked at him like he was totally delusional.
"Is he nuts? How could he ever think he could beat Claire?"
"Who knows, maybe being the only person from Veridian at winter camp gave him a big head."
While Carr just made people shake their heads, Claire earned real admiration.
She'd handled all the nasty rumors online and still never let it affect her performance. That kind of mindset was rare.
Out of the five students from Frostford, three of them-Claire, Alva, and Leo- advanced.
Len got stuck in the twenties, and Wendy was right there with him.
They were both disappointed, but
།
they still cheered for the friends who
made it .
FindNovel.net
Alva and
were just outside the
up in the next round, they stemet
top ten, though. If they didn't step
might not
make it all the way to IMOK
But honestly, neither of them seemed too upset. Getting this far was already proof
that their hard work was paying off.