Students could turn in their tests half an hour
early. While everyone else was scribbling
furiously, I raised my hand, smiling.
The proctor’s eyes widened. “Sure you don’t
want to check your answers?”
I shook my head.
He beamed. “Just like a top student from
Central High. Such confidence, such
composure…”
He walked over and looked at my test. His smile
<
vanished.
Blank. All six subjects. Blank.
The proctoring team was shocked. Two days
later, the scores came out. I shocked the entire
school. “Where’s Katie?” The student who
usually got last place was confused. “I guessed
on one multiple choice question and I’m still
second to last? Who’s worse than me?”
Mr. Davies threw my tests at me. “Blank?! Are
you insane?!” He hadn’t believed the score
report at first, thinking it was a computer glitch.
He’d had someone retrieve my actual tests.
Zeroes.
“No,” I said calmly.
“Then what were you thinking?! This is the
Seven Schools exam! Do you even want to go
to college?!”
“It’s not the SATS. What does turning in blank
tests have to do with college?”
He clutched his chest. “Because of you, we
don’t have a single student in the city’s top ten!
And you’re not even sorry!”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Of course!”
“What?” I blinked. “I’m always first in my class.
You gave my early admission to someone else
and then told me to be a good sport. If grades
don’t matter, then my score is my business. I
don’t mind the blank tests. Why are you so
upset?”
“Should I have just kept quiet and taken it?”
His face turned purple. “Get out!”
“Fine. But if you come crawling back…”
く
“Never! We don’t tolerate this kind of
insubordination! You’re expelled! I’m filing a
report that will bar you from even taking the
SATs!”
I scoffed. “Go ahead. Who needs you?”
“Still playing tough, huh?” He scribbled on the
expulsion form. “Expelled from Central High.
Think any other school will take you? With your
background, you think you’ll ever set foot on a
campus again?”
I’d kept my family background a secret. I had a
bet with my dad – I wanted to prove myself.
He slammed the signed and stamped form on
the desk. “Get out!”
I picked it up, dusted it off, and left.
I hadn’t planned to escalate things. I could have
handled this
—
taken the SATS independently.
<
10:31
But the next day, my brother and sister–in–law showed me a document. “Katie, what is this?”
It was a report accusing me of cheating on the Seven Schools exam. The complainant: Mr.
Davies.
Cheating on the joint exam was way more
serious. It could get you banned from the SATS, ruining your future.
My brother said, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle this.
Just focus on the SATs.”
Less than a month to go. I thought for a
moment. “Okay.”
“But your bet with Dad is off.”
