Chapter 3
In our small town, we didn’t have many educational resources, let alone specialized training for academic competitions. Even when I participated in the competition in junior year, I had to mostly self-study. I had to find all the practice problems on my own and figure out the solutions through countless sleepless nights. The school teachers only realized there was such a path to college admission after I had already won and secured my spot. Fortunately, our class was considered the top one in our school, and most of my classmates were ambitious and eager to get into good colleges. They were naturally interested in this opportunity, so they all rushed over to sign up. I asked Mike to help me record the list of names first, and then I would screen them later to decide who to include in the competition team. Mike agreed without hesitation. But soon, he looked at me with some hesitation. “Actually, I think Emily would be a great fit. You know how good she is at math. If she could get into college through this competition route, she’d probably end up at a much better school than she could through regular admissions.” I knew Emily Parker, the class president from the neighboring class. I had a strong impression of her - throughout freshman and sophomore years, I never saw her score below 98 on a math test, and her physics and chemistry grades were also top-notch. But oddly enough, her English and literature scores were terrible, barely passing. Someone like her would indeed be more suited for the competition route. I thought for a moment and nodded. “If she’s interested, go ahead and put her name down. But keep in mind that these competitions are quite different from regular math classes. We’ll need to test her first to see if she’s really up for it.” “But…” Mike still hesitated, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. I looked at him, puzzled. “What’s wrong? She doesn’t want to participate? If that’s the case, forget it. It should be voluntary. There’s no point in forcing anyone, it’ll just make things harder to manage later.” “No, no, that’s not it,” Mike quickly said when he saw I was about to drop the subject. “It’s just that… Rachel doesn’t like you interacting with other girls, right? If you end up preparing for the competition with Emily, I’m worried it might cause problems for you.”