chapter312

Ms. Santoro's words caught Mrs. Smith completely off guard. For a second, she just stared in disbelief, then her voice turned cold. "Ms. Santoro, Lydia would never cheat. There has to be some mistake."

"You're so sure about that, even though you don't even know what she scored? You barely pay attention to what she does at school, do you? Did you know she's been at the bottom of her class for three years straight? Now, out of nowhere, she gets a perfect score on her finals. Seven hundred fifty... every single point. Does she think we're that gullible? She can barely manage to copy off someone else's answer. Do you expect me to belive she could get a perfect score? I'd really like to know what's going on in that head of hers."

Mrs. Smith let out a sharp laugh, her tone icy. "Maybe you should be the one checking your head. Instead of congratulating a student for doing well, your first thought is cheating? Every student is checked before they walk into the exam hall. The whole place is covered by cameras, there are signal blockers, and proctors everywhere. How could she possibly cheat?"

Ms. Santoro felt her blood pressure rising. How dare this old woman talk back to her? If Mrs. Smith wasn't the mother of Lakeview Town's wealthiest man, she would have started shouting at her ages ago.

"You know what, I think you're the one who's lost your mind. Lydia can't even get to three hundred most of the time. She's always dead last. And now she suddenly gets a perfect score? Even if you don't believe me, just check the class group chat. Everyone's saying she cheated."

And it was true. As soon as the scores came out, the senior class group chat blew up. Their class was famous for being a dumping ground for kids who couldn't care less about grades. Suddenly, someone gets a perfect score? No one could believe it and gossip about Lydia cheating spread like wildfire.

"Ms. Santoro, as a teacher, you should know that rumors stop with wise people. If you don't have evidence, you can't just go around accusing Lydia of cheating. If you don't stop, you'll be facing legal trouble."

Mrs. Smith might have been old, but she definitely wasn't clueless. They were just jealous because Lydia got seven hundred fifty. Lots of students do better than usual when finals come around, especially if they cram. Why couldn't it be Lydia? Her perfect score made the school look good. Too bad no one knew how to appreciate it.

Idiots, the whole lot of them. Now they were actually calling Lydia a cheater?

Ms. Santoro couldn't believe Mrs.

Smith, who was usually so mild, was standing up to her like this. "You

listen here, old lady. These days, net

students have a million ways to cheat Lydia's always been trouble school, and there no way she got that score honestly. She must've pulled something sneaky."

"You..."

start.

at

"Don't even start. The school's been wanting to expel her for ages due to her poor grades. If it wasn't for Mr and Mrs. Smith, she'd have been gone already. Now I hear she isn't even their real daughter. They're not going to stick their necks out for her anymore. So stop arguing and bring Lydia to school for anjnvestigation If you don't, when the someone look into this, not only will she lose her score, she'll be banned from taking exams for three years. She won't get into any college."

Ms. Santoro didn't give Mrs. Smith a chance to say a word. She rattled off her threats, full of herself, then hung up without warning.

As far as Ms. Santoro was concerned, it was obvious. Lydia's score had thrown the whole school into chaos. With her track record, there was no way she could have gotten a perfect result, no matter how hard she tried. It had to be cheating.

Mrs. Smith's chest ached with anger and frustration at the baseless accusations. Her legs, which had just started to feel steady again, suddenly felt weak and unsteady.