Chapter 4Trusting the Wrong Genius

The only problem was that, out of everyone who kept fooling around like that, Selene was the only one who managed to keep her grades up.

A couple of days later, Denise came to find me again. "Summer, why don't you talk to the class president? Maybe you could go back to tutoring us.

"I know it's slower, but at least we'd actually make real progress. That has to be better than drifting along like this."

"No," I refused without a second thought.

I wasn't going to throw myself at people who didn't want me. Not a second time.

The day before the mock exam, Selene finally organized a token study session.

She carried a stack of photocopied materials to the front of the classroom and slapped them down on the podium. "I prepared all of this myself for everyone, free of charge. You don't need to waste money on practice books anymore. You can spend that money having fun instead."

As she spoke, she glanced over at me, her voice laced with provocation. "I would never do what certain people do. They pretend to tutor everyone for free when they're really using it as an excuse to make their classmates buy materials from their family's stationery store."

I ignored her and kept my head down as I packed up my things.

But she wouldn't let it go.

This time, she called me out by name, "Summer Barnes, what do you have to say for yourself? Why don't you tell everyone how much money you've made off them over the past two years by sending them to buy materials from your mom's shop?"

I could ignore her jabs at me, no matter how many times she made them. But the moment she dragged my family into it, I couldn't let it slide.

I snapped my head up and stared at her. "Selene, if you're going to accuse me of something, back it up with proof.

"My mother's stationery shop has always sold materials to our classmates at cost. Sometimes, she even gives them away for free.

"When have I ever made a single cent off anyone? Don't make up accusations out of nowhere."

"Making things up?" Selene let out a scornful laugh. "You know perfectly well whether I'm making things up. You've tutored everyone for free every single day. Isn't that just an excuse to drum up business for your family's shop and take our money?"

A few people nearby tried to smooth things over, but every word they said leaned in Selene's favor.

"Summer, Selene was probably just saying it offhand. Don't blow it out of proportion."

"We're all classmates. There's no need to make things this tense over a little money."

"Yeah, Summer, maybe Selene was just joking around. Don't take it to heart. Nobody actually thinks you made money off us."

Selene crossed her arms and looked pleased with herself. "I was just joking. Why are you taking it so seriously? You're acting like I bullied you or something."

In that instant, every eye in the room turned to me.

Some people were trying to make peace. Others were watching the show or whispering among themselves. Somehow, they made me feel like I was the one being unreasonable.

I was about to argue back when our school advisor suddenly walked into the classroom.

Her gaze swept across the noisy room before settling on me. "Summer, come to my office."

I followed her out of the classroom. "Summer, congratulations. Your recommendation for Northshine University has been approved. The school has already received the official notice, and we'll take care of the rest of the paperwork for you."

I froze for a moment. Then everything suddenly became clear.

All my earlier frustration vanished in an instant.

Now I even found myself looking forward to seeing what kind of scores the people who had embraced Selene's "work-life balance" would manage on the mock exam.

…

When the results came out, the whole class crowded around the announcement board to check the rankings.

To everyone's shock, our class had claimed almost every top spot in the grade.

Classmates who used to rank in the lower-middle range had shot up the rankings, with some gaining nearly two hundred points in a single month.

Someone couldn't help but cheer. "This is amazing! I can't believe I gained this many points! We're set now! We're definitely getting into a good college!"

"Guess we really did need Selene. After two years of tutoring with Summer, we never saw improvement like this."

"Look at the board! Selene's number one! She actually beat Summer!"