Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Quick, Say Holly is a Top Student
Class had already been in session for a minute. Holly Winslow stood at the door to announce her arrival, and her math teacher, Mr. Lewis, waved her inside. Once she was seated, he repeated what he had just said.
"The county is organizing a sophomore math competition. Every school has to participate, and our class has three spots. For our class, it’ll be the class president, Mina Shaw, and Holly Winslow. Your scores aren’t important. Just go and experience the atmosphere of a competition. Think of it as a preview of the college entrance exams."
"The exam will be held next Monday in the first-floor hall of the County Center Plaza. Prepare well."
Although Holly Winslow’s grades were good, her math scores weren’t in the top five of the class. These kinds of competitions usually ca with prizes, and she didn’t want to waste a spot. She raised her hand and said, "Mr. Lewis, please let another student go. My math isn’t good enough."
David Lewis shook his head, his gaze gentle. "The score isn’t important. Just give it a try. The difficulty of this test is similar to past years’ college entrance exams."
’As long as a student was willing to learn, teachers like him were happy to nurture their potential. Besides, the school had specifically said to focus on developing Holly Winslow.’
Of course, the truth was that in any competition with Jarton High participating, schools like Jarton Second High and the others didn’t stand a chance of winning.
Especially not this year, with a student like Mortir Quincy. Jarton High had always been good, but it had never produced a student who scored in the 740s. The best they’d ever managed was the 720s.
Holly Winslow simply replied with an "Oh" and said no more.
...
「It was now nine o’clock at night.」
After rcy Willow finished mopping and was rinsing the mop, she heard the sound of laundry coming from the bathroom. She walked over for a look and saw Mortir Quincy, dressed in a white undershirt and sandals, squatting on the floor, hand-washing a pair of girl’s underwear.
’His movents were so practiced; it couldn’t be his first ti.’
...
’She was getting old. She just couldn’t understand young people anymore.’
She said awkwardly, "Moira, let
wash that. You should go back to your room and get so sleep."
Mortir Quincy calmly looked up at her. "No need, Aunt Willow. You go rest."
rcy Willow didn’t say any more. She turned and took a couple of steps, but then a thought struck her, and she stopped to look back at him. The boy was leaning in close, inspecting the underwear to see if it was clean.
...
’If she hadn’t known Mortir Quincy for five years, hadn’t known what a good kid he was, free of any weird perversions, she might have called the police.’
"Moira, a package ca for the house today. The na on it was ’Quick, say Holly is a scholar.’ I asked your parents, and it’s not theirs. Is it yours?"
Hearing that phrase, Mortir Quincy fell silent.
"Yes. Where is it?"
"On the sofa," rcy Willow said.
Mortir Quincy nodded. After hanging the clothes to dry, he went to the sofa to open the package. It was a black jacket. He took a picture and posted it to his feed with the caption: Holly is a scholar.
A minute or two later, it had seven or eight likes, but none from his "wife." So, he went to take a shower.
...
Holly Winslow didn’t see Mortir Quincy’s post until the next day. After a glance at the comnts, she put her phone down.
For the next few days, outside of classes and howork, she spent all her ti grinding through math practice tests. It got to the point where the re sight of a math paper made her feel nauseous.
At tis like these, she would look at a picture of Mortir Quincy, and her spirits would quickly lift.
That was how she’d gotten through her English certification exams back in the day.
That rascal Mortir Quincy had charged her a hefty "photo fee" for them, too.
The morning of the math competition arrived quickly. Jarton Second High had chartered a fifty-seat bus, which now held forty-five students.
Holly Winslow sat with Mina Shaw. Mina wasn’t one for conversation; she quietly reviewed math formulas.
Holly Winslow decided against it, afraid that last-minute cramming would just jumble everything in her head. Instead, she sent a text to Mortir Quincy, asking if he’d left yet.
’For a school-organized competition like this, there was no way Scholar Quincy, the school’s "pride and joy," would get out of it.’
Mortir Quincy replied instantly: "Here. Waiting for you at the entrance."
Half an hour later, the bus pulled up to the entrance of the plaza’s main hall.
As soon as Holly Winslow got off the bus, she saw Scholar Quincy in his black jacket. He was leaning lazily against a pillar, his head slightly lowered. His profile looked like sothing out of a manga.
Backpack bouncing, she ran over to him. "Mortir Quincy."
Like an excited little rabbit.
Mortir Quincy walked over to her, reaching out to pinch her round cheek. It felt so good he pinched it again. "Little rabbit."
"You’re the little rabbit," Holly Winslow pouted, glaring at him.
Mortir Quincy raised an eyebrow, a roguish glint in his eyes. "I’m not. I’m the Big Bad Wolf who ’eats’ little rabbits."
Holly Winslow was speechless.
She poked him and whispered, in a voice only he could hear, "You’re a big bad pervert, is what you are."
...
The examination hall was huge, large enough for over two hundred students from several different schools to take the test simultaneously. Nothing but pens and student IDs were allowed inside; all other belongings had to be placed in lockers outside under a teacher’s supervision.
At the entrance, a teacher used a security wand to check if students were carrying any electronic devices like cell phones.
Holly Winslow had taken the college entrance exams before, but she hadn’t taken them seriously back then and hadn’t been nervous at all.
Now, she was a little nervous.
Mortir Quincy was number 78; she was 96. Her seat was in the row to his right, two seats ahead of him.
The exam hadn’t started yet, but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. They sat in silence for over ten minutes before the teachers finally began to distribute the test papers.
Mortir Quincy gave the test a quick glance. For him, the questions were of average difficulty.
’For Holly Winslow, though, it would be a bit difficult. It covered a lot of material from their first year.’
’Holly Winslow’s grasp of first-year math wasn’t very solid. A conservative estimate would put her score at around eighty percent.’
An announcent over the speakers signaled the official start of the exam.
While other students were still working on the first or second question, Mortir Quincy was already on the fourth.
Holly Winslow spent five or six minutes on the very first question, which would normally only take her one or two. It was a clear sign of the test’s imnse difficulty.
’If she knew Mortir Quincy was breezing through it like it was a ga, she’d have to scratch him a few tis just to vent her frustration!’
Students could turn in their papers after the first half hour, but no one had. Mortir Quincy was already done, yet he sat perfectly still.
After half an hour, Holly Winslow wasn’t even done with the multiple-choice section. But she didn’t panic, focusing instead on maintaining a high accuracy rate.
In the last half hour, students began to turn in their papers one after another. Zeke Zane glanced at Mortir Quincy and shot him a look, as if to ask why he hadn’t turned his in yet.
’This test wasn’t even that hard. Sure, it was a competition, but the difficulty was watered down compared to a real one.’
Mortir Quincy glanced in Holly Winslow’s direction, his aning clear: ’My girlfriend is still here.’
’I’m waiting for my girlfriend.’
Zeke Zane was speechless.
’Why did he, a single guy, even have to ask?’
He got up and turned in his paper.
Holly Winslow didn’t put down her pen until the exam ti was over. She hadn’t even had ti to do the last major question.
Outside the exam hall, Holly Winslow’s face was a mask of dejection. She looked pitifully at Mortir Quincy next to her, seeking comfort. "Mortir~ It was so hard."
"It was hard. It took
a long ti, too," Mortir Quincy comforted her with a straight face. He then took her backpack and glanced at a restaurant across the way. "Want to get a hamburger?"
The results would be posted in an hour, so all the students had to wait.
"I want two," Holly Winslow said, holding up two fingers.
She wasn’t very tall and still had so baby fat on her face, making everything she did seem cute. A lump moved in Mortir Quincy’s throat. "Seeing as my ’wife’ worked so hard, I guess this ’husband’ can be generous for once."
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