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"Yulia! Oh my goodness, you monster!" Sofia Dy, Class B's president, and Allana Lau hurriedly approached the unsuspecting girl, bringing her into a giddy hug. Other students from the two lower classes formed a circle to congratulate the girl's amazing feat. Only students from Class A remained on their seats, defeated and with gritting teeth.
"What...happened?" Yulia was on a daze. The last thing she remembered was going through the most difficult round with the sole purpose of satiating her curiosity. She found the questions brain-racking, but also fun. Yes, fun. A feeling she thought she had long forgotten. When the buzzer signaled the end of the competition, she was fully expecting a crushing defeat. However, the leaderboards said otherwise.
"Totaled, you scored more than three-hundred points! No one's ever gotten that high before!"
It all sounded surreal. She was mindlessly walking through the questions she remembered from Elijah's reviewer, even randomly guessing the items she didn't know. Who knew she could reach that far? The record to beat from the previous years was 204, which Daniel also passed. And now, the current title-holder was 274 from Elijah Xia— someone who only joined the competition with 45 minutes left and only ever answered 7-points worth questions.
"But... this means Elijah Xia is the real thing, isn't it?"
There comes the competition again.
But this time, the girl's chest swelled with pride and an unspeakable bittersweet feeling. Somehow, she could tell when Elijah started catching up. A small, helpless chuckle sounded from her pressed lips. A tear slipped down her cheek, relieving the coldness of her skin from pure adrenaline and the examination room's temperature. She did it. She brought him back.
"Lim wouldn't have been in rank 2 if Xia didn't help her!" Of course, an empty barrel makes the most noise.
Before Andrei could sputter another unpleasant comment about Yulia's feat, another student got up brashly. The latter's chair tipped over, creating a loud bang as it hit the floor. And oh, was Daniel Chen livid. "And she wouldn't have been in rank 2 if you did not gang up on her!" She would have placed rank 1, seeing how Elijah Xia had no interest in competing until provoked.
Yulia gaped, unsure if she should calm Daniel down or let him speak for her. Dan had always been a timid person, also an airhead outside of his studies. Count out his academic achievements and he would most likely be isolated from the class. Or for worse, bullied. This was the first time Yulia had ever seen him speak up. And it was not for himself, but her.
"Woah, here comes the lover boy!," Andrei snickered. "See see, is this the new couple we're talking about right here?"
No one answered. Even Andrei's circle had not recovered from the loss yet. For the first time, they were ruthlessly picked out of the rank 20 in an academic competition. How would they explain that an unknown name ate off of their points?
