The teacher in the gray shirt paused for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly as he spoke in a measured tone. "We've discovered that your score on the math section was one hundred and forty-three-the highest out of all students in this round of mock exams. Right below you is the top senior at Kingswood University Prep, who also ranked first among all participating schools. He scored one hundred and thirty- eight."

When he finished, the teacher fell silent, leaving the others in the office with plenty of time to speculate.

Emily Blair nodded thoughtfully. "Please, go on."

His gaze lingered on her face for a moment before he hesitated, then asked, almost as an afterthought, "Have we met somewhere before?"

Emily only smiled politely, not answering the question directly. "Why don't you continue? I'm listening."

The teacher's eyes stayed on her for another beat before he looked away and returned to the topic at hand.

"So, you've achieved the highest math score in this mock exam. All of our teachers have tried out this math paper themselves, and every single one agreed it was challenging. We expected most students to struggle, but your results were miles above the rest."

“And it wasn't just math. The other subjects were tough as well. The highest total score overall came from the Kingswood Prep student-six hundred and ninety-eight. That means, Emily, you were only four points behind him, making you the second- highest scorer in the entire mock exam."

Emily listened and then smiled, cutting straight to the point. "So you're saying you suspect I had access to the test and the answers ahead of time? That I came here prepared, and that's how I managed to get those scores by cheating. Isn't that it?”

He hesitated, then nodded heavily. "Yes."

Emily nodded too. "So, even though I ranked first in your school, you're not actually planning to let me enroll?"

As soon as she said it, the gray-shirted teacher shook his head and quickly clarified, "No, that's not it. We don't have any hard evidence that you cheated. It's just that, considering the difficulty of the exam, your results were... unexpected. But we're not accusing you outright. It's not that serious. We'd just like you to solve a few problems for us right now. If you can do that, both the principal and the rest of the staff will be happy to admit you."

"Is that alright?" he added, almost apologetically.

To be honest, nobody likes to be doubted, especially when they're innocent.

Emily Blair was no exception.

Although the teacher was trying to be diplomatic, Emily knew these were just polite words. Deep down, every teacher in this room was convinced she'd cheated-why else would they all be here?

But then again, if she were in their shoes and saw some unknown student suddenly appear, claiming to be top of the class and managing to snag second place in a national mock exam, she'd be suspicious too.

Looking at the whole situation, she had to admit it looked like she'd orchestrated the entire thing.

Their doubts were only natural.

Besides, the teacher wasn't being rude, and the entrance exam was coming up fast. Emily wanted to get into the school as soon as possible, just to make sure she could sit for the exam.

So, she agreed to their request without hesitation.

The moment she did, the teacher in the gray shirt visibly relaxed. He pulled a few sheets of paper from somewhere and placed them on the desk in front of her.