Chapter 4
Ethan shamelessly held onto last place in the entire grade.
Converting to a 100-point scale, he would score in the 30s for math, physics and chemistry each time. His language, English, history and politics were slightly better, in the 50s!
I really didn’t want to comment, but I had secretly flipped through the “5 Years of College Entrance Exam, 3 Years of Simulations”, “Golden Exam Papers”, “Must-Do Exam Questions” and “Dragon Gate Special Topics” hidden in his drawer…
Damn, this guy was doing even more practice problems than me!
His handwriting was messy and rushed.
“Ethan, what exactly are you doing?” I asked one day at lunch when no one else was in the classroom, drumming on his desk. “What’s the point of scoring so low every time?”
“There is a point,” he suddenly looked up and stared at me intently, his eyes bright. “More valid than your reasons.”
I couldn’t help but clench my jaw, wanting to ask if he had investigated me.
Before I could speak, he smiled.
…
“Zoe, want to make a bet?”
…
“Bet on what?”
…
“See who can get into Clearwater University.”
Clearwater was my goal too. I had been preparing since elementary school and had some confidence.
“Alright, loser buys dinner.”
“Let’s add one more condition - loser has to be the winner’s girlfriend.”
Me: “…”
Ethan and I weren’t dating, except for that vague hint of attraction.
Olivia knew how to dress up and was pretty. She often had many boys surrounding her like stars orbiting the moon.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t envious at all.
Occasionally when we ran into each other on the way to and from school, Olivia would roll her eyes at me and whisper something to the group of boys. The boys would hiss at me and throw trash at me.
One time, on the way back to school on a Sunday, a group of people were waiting for me at a street corner. They started walking towards me as soon as they saw me.
Olivia was chewing gum as she walked in the middle.
I took two steps back and turned to run.
But I couldn’t outrun them…
Someone grabbed my clothes from behind and flung me hard to the side. I slammed into a wall.
The group swarmed me.
Some kicked my legs, some punched my stomach. I was in so much pain I could barely scream.
After the group finished beating me, Olivia told them to hold me down. She took out a razor blade and walked towards me.
She said she was going to cut up my face.
That day I was lucky. Among the people who shouted and tried to stop them was a teacher from their school. He yelled: “Which class are you from?”
I vaguely heard someone say “Mr. Song” with a hint of fear in their voice.
The group scattered.
I slid down the wall. My body hurt and my legs were weak. I couldn’t stand up at all.
“Young lady, are you alright? Should I take you to the hospital?” Mr. Song asked.
I curled up in the corner, shaking my head as tears streamed down my face.
Olivia and the others received major demerits at their school.
Everyone in town was gossiping about this incident.
Bella pinned Olivia to the bed and beat her viciously with a clothes hanger.
However, she still felt I was the root cause. She thought I shouldn’t have run at the street corner, shouldn’t have screamed, and most of all, shouldn’t have freeloaded in their home all these years, making people dislike me.
When she beat Olivia, she would beat me too, cursing me for being vicious. By now she no longer feared the reputation of being an evil stepmother.
I avoided them whenever I could, and gradually stopped going home on weekends.
Teenage boys and girls are at their most rebellious stage in life.
Olivia didn’t feel there was anything wrong with getting people to beat me up. On the contrary, she thought it was cool! She grew even closer with that group of boys.
I hid at school. Without all the chaos at home, I frantically did practice problems every day.
If I wanted to change my fate and leave this family, studying was the only way.