Chapter 14 This Is Frustrating
- The principal was hesitant, but Lilian persisted, saying, “Sir, if word gets out that someone is cheating in our school, but we wouldn’t expose her, our reputation would be at stake!”
- He nodded. I should call her over to get to the bottom of this.
- He called the broadcasting room to provide them with some instructions before hanging up.
- Soon, a stern voice boomed around the school compound through the campus broadcast system. “Janet Jackson from Class A, upon hearing this announcement, take all the three subjects of your test papers to the meeting room!”
- Upon hearing the announcement, her classmates in Class A appeared gleeful, as if they anticipated to see her fail.
- “My guess is right, indeed. They must have collected evidence for Janet’s cheating.”
- “The consequence of cheating in our school is expulsion! This is great! We do not have to be in the same class as the village girl anymore.”
- “Shameless...”
- Abby and Gordon were both utterly worried when they heard those comments.
- On the other side, Janet seemed indifferent when she spoke to them, “Don’t worry!”
- When she said that, a flash of frost gleamed in her elegant eyes as she glanced at her classmates who mocked her.
- She arrived at the principal’s office.
- Emily smirked when she saw Janet, as if making a point. You are done for. You will be kicked out of Star High School soon.
- Janet instantly knew what was happening when she saw that a crowd had gathered. Emily must have been unsatisfied about my results, so she deliberately kicked up a fuss in front of the principal. Her ruby red lips curled into a faint smile. It hasn’t been confirmed who is done for.
- The principal coughed dryly before requesting, “Janet, hand over your test papers.”
- Her lips parted and her voice sounded especially cold. “What do you want to do?”
- Miss Lilian snorted contemptuously while exclaiming, “Are you still pretending? You have the guts to cheat, but don’t you have the courage to admit it?”
- Janet’s gaze seemed indifferent. “I did not!”
- “Janet, stop denying it. I have proof!” Miss Lilian laughed mirthlessly.
- “Oh, an evidence?”
- She snatched the test papers and tossed them in front of Janet. “This is the proof. Just look at it—your objective questions have identical answers to the standard answer sheet! If you hadn’t seen the standard answer sheet before, how could you have possibly answered this?”
- Janet burst out in laughter. “Is this the method that you use to judge my cheating? Miss Lilian, don’t you think that you lack knowledge?”
- Miss Lilian was rendered speechless in frustration after her own student had reprimanded her. After a pause, she exclaimed vehemently, “In that case, how did you get that score?”
- Janet did not answer her directly and instead turned to the principal. “Sir, I can endure it when Miss Lilian finds fault with me on a daily basis! However, she is claiming that I’m cheating now! If I prove myself, what should she do?”
- Miss Lilian smirked. “If you can prove yourself, I’ll apologize to you for three consecutive days!”
- The principal cleared his throat. “Fine, let’s go with that!”
- Janet glanced at Miss Lilian while stating coldly, “This time, you will give me the questions on the spot and I will retake the exam here and now!”
- “Sure. In that case, Miss Lilian shall set the question now.”
- After thirty minutes, Miss Lilian handed the test paper to Janet. “As long as you are able to score more than 130, I will apologize to you for three consecutive days!”
- Janet accepted the paper, casually flipping through it.
- From the beginning until the end, she was emotionally calm and even intermittently closed her eyes to process her thoughts.
- Emily glanced at Miss Lilian while whispering, “Miss Lilian, you didn’t make things lenient, did you?”
- “Did I make things lenient?” Miss Lilian cackled. “Those questions are the most difficult past year questions from the college entrance exam. I am confident that she wouldn’t be able to answer!”
- Emily smirked. “I trust you, Miss Lilian.”
- The exam lasted for an hour, but Janet took less than twenty minutes to complete it. After that, she looked almost as if she was ready to slump across the desk to sleep.
- Once Miss Lilian saw that Janet was almost falling asleep on her desk, she burst out in laughter. “Sir, just look at her. Is this a good student who received first place? Did she sleep by slumping over the desk to get first place? If I hadn’t exposed her today, she would have stayed around in Star High School!”
- Miss Lilian sounded like she was mocking Janet. It’s almost impossible not to suspect this type of student for cheating!
- Mr. Smith was feeling embarrassed as well, so he gently rapped his knuckles against the desk. “Janet, wake up and continue with the questions!”
- Janet had just fallen asleep, so she woke up with a start when she heard that. Her eyes were barely focused. “What?”
- “The test paper! Answer it!”
- She regained her composure and answered indifferently, “Mr. Smith, please excuse me, but I’ve completed it!”
- Miss Lilian and Emily both laughed mirthlessly when they heard that.
- “Who are you trying to bluff? Are you saying that you’ve completed everything within twenty minutes? My guess is that you have no idea how to answer the questions.”
- Janet covered her ears in annoyance and she placed the test paper right in front of herself. “Here! Have a look for yourself!”
- Miss Lilian picked her test paper up, but her gloating smile stiffened immediately... All the questions have been answered? However, it might not be correct.
- Next, I’ll have to meticulously mark them. The first question is correct, the second question is correct and the third...
- When Miss Lilian saw the answer, her red pen ticked automatically across the test paper. I can’t believe she got another question right...
- Toward the end, her expression soured.
- The principal walked over to her while asking, “What is it?”
- She did not answer him for the longest time. In the end, she stammered, “I-I can’t believe t-that it’s exactly 131. H-How is this possible?”
- Emily’s eyes widened in shock. How is this possible???
- Janet could not be bothered to spend a minute longer in the meeting room. Nevertheless, just when she was about to leave, she whispered quietly to Miss Lilian’s ear, “Remember your promise!”
- Miss Lilian clenched her fists tightly as a wave of unfamiliar humiliation washed over her.
- In Class A, when Gordon saw that Janet was walking back, he asked her hastily, “Janet, what happened?”
- She answered him calmly, “You’ll know soon enough.”
- Over time, the turn of events had developed according to her expectations. True enough, in less than two minutes, Miss Lilian and Emily returned to Class A while looking ashen.
- Miss Lilian kept her head bowed and she struggled with what came next. “This time, everybody has improved leaps and bounds in the French subject. Right here, I’d like to apologize to one of the students in this class.”
- When they heard her saying that, every single student in the class held their breath while anticipating what was about to come next. Some even thought that they were hallucinating.
- Why would that high and mighty French teacher apologize to someone else?
- She glanced at Janet while elaborating, “Janet has passed the exam with flying colors this time. However, due to my subjective judgement, I had wrongly suspected that she cheated. With that, I hope that everybody would learn from her and obtain even better results during the college entrance exam.”
- At the end of her speech, everyone’s jaws gaped. Does that mean that Janet’s results are legit this time? Is she the true but hidden savant???
- Nevertheless, her speech was merely a joke to Janet’s ears. She said that she would apologize, but there was not a single word of ‘sorry’ in her speech. This is quite an irony!
- “Miss Lilian, is this your attitude at apologizing?” Gordon broke the silence. “You did not even say sorry at all!”
- Miss Lilian’s expression darkened further, acutely feeling the anger burning within her chest. Does he expect me to say sorry to a wild girl? Besides, the results this time doesn’t mean anything. It only means that she knew how to solve those questions by chance. “I’m sorry! I hope that you’ll get even better results the next time, Janet.”
- I have always wanted to chase Janet out of Class A, but this time, it has backfired badly...
- I’ve never felt so frustrated throughout my 20 years of teaching career.
- Janet Jackson, just you wait!