Octavia finally understood what it meant to have a grievance you couldn't even put into words.
"Mom, Cindy didn't tank the test on purpose. Ever since she transferred to Silverpeak, she's been under a lot of pressure.”
"If she bombed the exam, she bombed it. Our family doesn't need her grades to hold up our reputation."
"If she's not interested in going to a regular college, she can repeat a year to study, or maybe apply to schools abroad."
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"
"Cindy's happiness is what matters most. Please stop piling on the pressure."
Lance had stayed home from work that day because the exam scores were being released. He waited around the house, clearly showing how much he cared about his sister's results.
Latham, meanwhile, had already gone to the office. Even so, he'd called home earlier to check if his daughter's scores were in. Cindy hadn't checked yet, so there'd been nothing to report.
Octavia felt utterly drained. "I'm not pressuring her. I just don't get it."
"Cindy used to be such a strong student."
"So how did she end up with such a low score?"
"If there was some sort of grading error, we could have it investigated." The real fear nagging at Octavia, though, was that the blame might all fall on Cindy.
If that was true, then she really was disappointed in her daughter.
She thought, deep down, that she never should've pinned such high hopes on a child raised by Fallon.
How could Fallon have truly cared for her daughter? It must have just been another form of revenge.
Octavia's resentment of Fallon had reached its peak.
"Why don't we have her score double-checked, just to be safe?" Lance suggested, hoping to take his mother's mind off things.
Octavia frowned, her brows creasing. "Cindy, do you think we should have them review your score?"
What could Cindy say to that?
She couldn't bear the thought of that awful number, but she had a gut feeling there hadn't been any grading mistakes.
"Let it go, Mom. It is what it is. Even if they made a mistake, what difference does it make?"
“Claire came first in the city. I'll never catch up to her.”
"I know I'm not as good as Claire. I let you down."
Tears streamed down Cindy's face, unchecked.
Lance jumped in to defend her. "Mom, just let it be—maybe Cindy just had an off day. We'll figure out the next step."
"Stop putting her under so much pressure."
"She didn't want this to happen. She already feels terrible."
The more Lance shielded Cindy, the more it riled Octavia up.
She hadn't even scolded Cindy properly-how could her son act like she was the
bad guy?
And the way Cindy acted, it was uncanny how much she resembled Fallon.
What Octavia didn't realize was that, to anyone else, it was Cindy and
were who truly looked alike they
were, after all, mother and daughter.
Just then, Latham's call came through. Octavia picked up, her tone frigid.
She and Latham were barely
speaking lately-there'd been nonet
dramatic fights, just a chilling cold
Wurtesy of Fallon's presence in
their lives.
"Octavia, did Cindy's scores come out yet?"
Octavia gave a brief affirmative, then rattled off Cindy's results.
Latham's brow furrowed instantly. "How could she have done so
poorly? Patti just called with onet
news Shirley surprised everyone with her score this time content
"I can't believe Cindy didn't even do as well as Shirley."
In Latham's opinion, Shirley was a notorious slacker, barely getting by at school.
But apparently, she'd done well this time, and Latham genuinely felt happy for her.
He'd heard Shirley had been given a $20,000 reward by her parents—and Latham had quietly slipped her another $10,000 himself.
Of course, there was no need for Octavia to know about that.