Chapter 59
Outside the exam hall, the person in charge of maintaining order stood with Cordelia and Yuna
The exam was taking place at a borrowed school Inside the classroom, there was a surveillance camera
The person in charge played back the footage for Latham and Yunaâs team leader, Zack, explaining. âAccording to the surveillance, it was Yuna who threw the first punch Cordelia was merely defending herself when she pushed Yuna down. But the rule is clear that both parties involved in a fight will be disqualified from the competitionâ
High schoolers tend to be hot headed and impulsive. Some brawds started from a simple verbal dispute, making it hard to tell right from wrong. Therefore, in the competitive arena, the rules were unbiased. Anyone who resorted to violence got disqualified
On the video, Cordelia blocked Yunaâs path. After a struggle, Yuna pretended to be shoved by Cordelia From the surveillance alone, it was impossible to tell whether it was Cordeliaâs push or Yunaâs own stumble
Yunaâs waist ached from the impact. Even standing made her painful. Gritting her teeth, she admitted, âFine, I started it. Iâll take the penalty!â
She glared at Cordelia, thinking that if she couldnât win, at could drag Cordelia down with her.
Cordelia was tight with anger, her lips pursed.
Latham was frantic, âPlease look closely. Itâs clear that Yuna attacked, and Cordelia was just defending herself. She didnât fight back and only gave Yuna a light push. How could that have knocked her down like that?â
Zack, on the other hand, spoke up with dissatisfaction, âWhat are you implying, Latham? Are you saying Yuna is faking it?â
Latham nodded emphatically, âLast exam, she was already hostile towards Cordelia. They didnât even exchange words this time. Itâs obvious it was deliberate!â
Zack sighed, âI donât know the exact details, but the rule is clear. Cordelia did retaliate. Latham, are you suggesting we break the exam rules?â
Latham continued to plead with the person in charge.
When Cordelia had entered the exam hall she had surrendered her phone, but now, as she stepped out, she had it back.
Her phone vibrated.
Mr. AllâRound asked, âHas the exam started?â
Cordelia sighed and replied, âNope.â
It was already time for the exam, and the fact that Cordelia could still text was a red flag for Everard.
Mr. AllâRound asked, âWhat happened?â
Cordelia, still fuming, quickly typed out a summary of the events.
No sooner had she sent the message than Mr. AllâRound replied, âGive me twenty minutes.â
Cordelia was surprised and checked the time. It was exactly eight oâclock.
She didnât respond to the message
As Latham kept arguing with the person in charge for twenty minutes and was about to give up, a man with a buzz cut suddenly jogged over from a distance. He was dressed in a mechanicâs jumpsuit with a fair and boyish face. Once he arrived, he took a deep breath, checked his watch and said, âTwenty minutes on the dot!â Then he looked up and almost greeted Cordelia at the sight of her, but he caught himself in time, âIâve been briefed about the situation over the phone. Now, show me the surveillance footage.â
11:16
Chapter 59
Both the person in charge and Latham were taken aback, while Zack asked, âAnd who might
The man slapped his forehead, Ah, forgot to introduce myself. Iâm a cop.â
He flashed his badge quickly. âLetâs see the footage
Nobody had called the police.
The person in charge, still bewildered, played the surveillance video the computer
The man took over the computer, typed a few keys to slow the video down to one eighth speed, and pointed out. âLook here, this student hesitated after being stopped by Cordelia, steadied herself, and then fell backward. Itâs not apparent at normal speed, but at this slow rate, itâs clear Cordelia didnât retaliate at all. This was a selfâstaged act by this student. Do we still need to disqualify Cordelia
Within three minutes, he presented the evidence to everyone involved.
At the sight of the irrefutable evidence, the person in charge turned to Yuna in anger, âYuna, youâve disrupted the order of the exam, and you will be banned from all official competitive exams!â
After that, he checked the time again and addressed Cordelia, âYou can enter the exam hall, but because thereâs another exam after this, I canât make up for the lost time. Is that okay with you?â
Cordelia expressed her understanding.
Latham reassured her, âCordelia, donât panic! The spirit of competition is to never give up. You got this!â Cordelia nodded and followed the person in charge to the exam hall. The plainclothes officer called out, âCordelia, Iâm Skyler. Remember my name, weâll meet again!â
Cordelia glanced at him again. His jumping and waving figure was quite endearing, like a little dove. Cordelia was late entering the exam hall, so she had half an hour less than the others.
After the first part was over and her papers were collected, Cordelia sat in her chair, letting out a sigh of relief. Then, the light in front of her dimmed.
She looked up to see a tall and lean boy standing before her, wearing Lakeshore City High Schoolâs uniform, with a mischievous smile on his handsome face, âCordelia?â
Cordelia was slightly taken aback.
He spoke, âIâm Keen. To be fair, Iâll wait for you for half an hour before starting the second part.â
Cordelia wanted to decline, but before she could speak, Keen turned and left, taking a seat in the front row
When the second part of the exam began, the boy indeed rested his head on the desk and slept for half an hour before starting to answer the questions.
As soon as the bell rang signaling the end of the exams, the Math League forum was buzzing with a new post, [OMG, I am totally shipping Keen and Cordelia! These two geniuses are just too cute together! Someone needs to write a high school romance novel about them now!]
The thread quickly caught fire. Amidst the excitement, the story of Cordelia losing a precious half hour during her exam spread like wildfire. In no time, the forumâs pool on who would snag the top spot saw Keen and her slipping in the ranks, while Jake emerged as the new favorite to win.
But Cordelia couldnât care less about the online chatter. After her math ordeal, sheâd been busy collaborating with Mathster.
Frankie had found someone reliable to digitize her handwritten draft, although some details still needed her personal touch and confirmation.
It took over a week of hard work, but her paper was finally ready. Frankie had submitted it to an international journal, and now it was just a matter of waiting for the peer review process.
Meanwhile, the scores for the National Math League finally rolled in.