Chapter 4

"No one to copy off this time, huh? Wonder how that went for her."

I let my thumb hover for a second, then closed the app and tossed my phone aside.

A minute later, I heard Joey on a call in the living room. She had it on speaker, and it was our homeroom teacher's voice.

"Joey, I heard about your estimated score. That's incredible!

"Once the official results come out, I'm putting you up for the school's top scholarship, and I'll personally write you a recommendation letter for the Ivies. You're the pride of this school."

Joey cooed her thanks in that sweet little voice of hers. After she hung up, she made sure to raise her volume so that it carried all the way to my room.

"Mom, Dad, Mr. Harris said he's writing me a recommendation for the Ivies!"

Dad's laughter was loud enough to rattle the walls.

I sat at my desk, opened my laptop, and pulled up the answer key that had just been posted online. I went through every question, one by one.

Every multiple choice was correct. For the free-response sections, I graded myself using the strictest possible rubric. The final total came out well above last year's cutoff for the top schools.

Then I reached to the back of my desk and pulled out a locked file box that had been sitting there for six months. Inside, arranged neatly by date, were all 20 sets of exam papers from the past year, every answer sheet, and the scratch paper I'd saved from each exam.

I photographed every page. Each time, my answers matched Joey's to a T, but my scratch paper was filled with complete work, every step of every calculation laid out in full.

I sorted the evidence by date and stored it in a double-encrypted folder. The moment the official scores came out, this would be all the proof I needed to bury her.

I'd been sitting there all afternoon, and my throat was dry. I ran downstairs to grab an iced coffee, and when I got back, every study guide I'd left on my desk and every competition certificate I'd pinned to my wall had been ripped to shreds.

I was shaking.

"Oh, hey, El. You're back?"

I looked up. Joey was leaning against my doorframe, chewing gum.

She held up her palms with a shrug and smiled, all innocence. "I came in looking for something and saw all this junk taking up space. You're not getting into any good schools anyway, so what's the point of keeping a bunch of old awards and notes? I cleaned it up for you. You're welcome."

More comments floated past.

"Good. Those garbage awards should have been Joey's in the first place."

"Why is the side character hoarding old exams?"

"Doesn't matter what she's hiding. She is not getting in, period."

The day results were released, I was still picking up the torn pieces of my certificates.

Dad yelled at me to hurry up and come check my score. When I walked out, the laptop was already open to the exam board's score portal. Joey was sprawled on the couch, sending a voice message to her friends.

"I already estimated my score, and I know I crushed it. I'm totally treating you guys to dinner after this."

She saw me come out and raised an eyebrow, deliberately turning up the volume. "Oh, hey El. When my score shows up, don't you think you owe me an apology? You know, for copying off me all those times?"

Dad frowned at me. "What are you just standing there for? Take a page out of your sister's book. Even if all you can manage is community college, at least it's something. It's better than sitting around the house doing nothing."

Joey walked over to the laptop with a grin, typed in her exam number, and right before she hit the search button, she threw me one last taunting look over her shoulder.

For three seconds while the page loaded, the entire living room held its breath.

When the score finally appeared on screen, Joey's scream nearly brought the ceiling down.

"No. That's impossible. That is absolutely impossible!"