My Ex Shared His Genius With My Best Friend

The school secretly introduces a new "bonus score for couples" rule for the SAT, but my boyfriend, who's the top student in our grade, and I overhear it. When I hear that couples can each get 100 bonus points, I joke, "Why don't we sign up and give it a shot?" However, he immediately refuses, all serious and righteous. "No, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else." After saying that, he hurries off without looking back. Feeling ashamed, I decide to apologize to him another day. But the next morning, he publicly announces our breakup in front of the entire class. Then he proudly declares that he is now dating my best friend, the girl at the bottom of the class. He says, "You're always second in the grade. You can get into a top university without even trying. But without those bonus points, she won't even qualify for a community college!" My best friend nestles into his arms. "I'm sorry. I know I stole your boyfriend, but I really need those extra points." I nod in approval and even lead the class in a round of applause, wishing them happiness together. Since my boyfriend left in such a hurry yesterday, he didn't hear the principal's next words. The new rule isn't about giving couples free bonus points. Their scores will be added together and then split equally between the two of them. I can't wait to see if that arrogant top student boyfriend of mine will still be laughing when he realizes his SAT score has to be split with my best friend, who can only manage a score of 400. Chapter 1 Judy's POV The bell for morning study rang right on cue. Our homeroom teacher, John Sanders, walked up to the front of the classroom. "The final citywide mock SAT is next week. Your scores will determine how many recommendation slots you get. Everyone, you need to focus on your studies," he advised. As soon as he finished speaking, my ex-boyfriend, Jace Shelton, suddenly raised his hand and stood up. "Mr. Sanders, I request to sit next to Roxy." The entire class was in an uproar. Jace and I had been desk mates for two years. Mr. Sanders had paired us up in the first place, hoping we would do better together. Mr. Sanders frowned and said sternly, "Nonsense! The SAT is coming up soon. Why change seats now? Your current grades are enough to get you into Payton University. Don't let your foolishness ruin your future!" Yet, Jace explained, "Roxy's fundamentals are too weak. Her current deskmate can't do anything to help her. Only I can tutor her properly and make sure she improves her SAT score in this final stretch. "Judy's study methods are too rigid. All she does is grind through practice questions. She lacks flexibility. Sitting next to her would simply be a waste of my time." My hand holding the pen paused for a moment. For the past two years, more than half of his so-called flexible approaches were things I stayed up late working out for him. But somehow, they had become the reason he was belittling me. Mr. Sanders was still hesitating, but Jace pulled out his trump card. He said, "Sir, if you won't agree, I'll have to consider giving up my spot in the recommendation selection." The threat from the top student in the grade carried considerable weight. Mr. Sanders sighed and reluctantly nodded. I didn't say a word. I simply moved the books on my desk to make room. During break time, most of the students had already left the classroom. I was going over my mistakes when a shadow fell across my desk. My so-called best friend, Roxy Sutton, stood in front of my desk, holding a thick notebook. That was Jace's precious book of notes, the one he never went anywhere without. "Judy, don't blame Jace," she said sweetly, but her voice had a hint of smugness. "He stayed up until 3:00 am last night helping me organize the key points. He said you're too independent. You can solve everything yourself. But I'm so clumsy and can't manage without him." I looked up, my gaze landing on the page she had opened. I pointed to one of the formulas and chuckled, "Your fundamentals are so weak. Can you even understand these formulas?" Roxy froze at my words, her eyes darting away. She stuttered, "O-Of course I do." I pressed, "Then tell me, what is this formula for?" She was left speechless. Her face turned bright red as she struggled to answer me. "Enough!" Jace strode over and pulled Roxy behind me, glaring at me. He chided, "Judy, if you've got a problem, take it up with me. Picking on Roxy doesn't make you tough." I leaned back in my chair, looking at them coldly. "We were just discussing academics. You can't call that bullying. Since our dear top student is so eager to play savior, you could at least make sure she understands the basics." He turned livid and gritted his teeth. "You're just jealous. Do you think you can win me back by resorting to these petty tricks to give her a hard time?" He suddenly stopped, glancing around the room before lowering his voice. "The SAT isn't something you can fake your way through. With my help and the bonus from that new rule, Roxy will definitely get into college. Someone as selfish as you could never understand what it means to help each other become better." I almost burst out laughing. Help each other become better, he said? "Fine." I spread my hands, smiling brightly. "I'll be watching. Let's see if you two can still help each other become better when you're sitting for the SAT." Chapter 2 Judy's POV The mock SAT arrived right on schedule. It was the most important benchmark exam before the SAT, and it was notoriously difficult. When the math exam was handed out, I glanced at the final math problem. If I used the conventional approach, I would hit a dead end halfway through. I took a deep breath and started writing. With 40 minutes still left on the clock, Jace suddenly raised his hand and handed in his paper. He stood up, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor with an ear-piercing screech. Several classmates who had been working on their answers looked up at him in admiration. The invigilator froze, then walked over and quietly reminded him, "There's still plenty of time. This exam has plenty of questions. Don't you want to check your work again?" "No. Getting a perfect score is a piece of cake," Jace answered, picking up his pencil case and walking out of the exam room without looking back. As he passed by my desk, he deliberately slowed down and laughed mockingly. "Still stuck on the last math problem? I told you, you're too rigid in your thinking." I didn't even look up at him. I simply moved my pen quickly across the scratch paper. He didn't know anything. The real trap in this problem wasn't the usual way to solve it. It was the mathematical reasoning needed to work through the derivation. The shortcut he had prided himself on was about to come back and bite him. The next day, the exam results were posted on the bulletin board. I stood at the edge of the crowd, listening to the gasps of surprise. "Holy crap! Jace isn't first! Judy scored 1570. That's 20 points higher than Jace!" I squeezed through the crowd, my gaze landing on the top of the list. I was sitting proudly at number one. Jace was second. As for Roxy… I scanned the list from top to bottom. It wasn't until I reached the second-to-last page that I finally spotted her name. She had only scored 400. "No way!" Jace pushed through the crowd, staring intently at the list. Roxy followed closely behind him, tugging on his sleeve with tears welling in her eyes. She cried, "Jace, I'm sorry for being so stupid. I didn't even finish the exam…" Jace took a deep breath. When he saw her tearful expression, he forced himself to swallow his anger. He assured her, "It's okay. The exam was harder than usual. It's not your fault. I was also careless. I should've checked my answers properly." He looked up and found me through the crowd, his eyes brimming with defiance. "It's just a mock exam. It doesn't prove anything. What matters is your final SAT score." He emphasized the word "final". The students around us were totally baffled, but only the three of us knew exactly what went down. At the afternoon class meeting, Mr. Sanders went out of his way to praise me. Then, he looked at Jace, exasperated. He chided, "Jace, you lost this one because you got careless. The SAT is right around the corner. Stop wasting your time on things that have nothing to do with your future!" With that, he gave Roxy a pointed look. Jace suddenly stood up and said defiantly, "Mr. Sanders, even if I lose 20 points, my grades are still good enough to get into any top university in the country. I'm helping Roxy because I see her potential. I'll prove to all of you what overwhelming intelligence looks like." The entire class fell silent. Everyone was stunned by his arrogant declaration. I sat at my desk, watching them coldly. Overwhelming intelligence? He sure had a way of showing it. I wondered how he would feel when he found out he had to split his high score between him and Roxy. After school, Roxy stopped me in my tracks. She was holding a brochure for a relatively decent university in Jinton. She was glowing with smug delight. She said, "Judy, Jace said with all the help he's given me these past few days, plus the bonus points, getting into a good university will be easy. We'll be together in Jinton." I avoided her and walked past her. "Then you'd better make sure you hold on to him." Roxy's expression shifted, and her voice turned sharp. "What do you mean by that? Are you just bitter because you can't have him? Jace said that even if you work yourself to the bone, you'll never beat him with that 100-point bonus. "Meanwhile, I can get the scores other people have to work for without doing anything." I stopped and looked at her seriously. "You're right. It must feel great to get something without lifting a finger. I hope you can still be this happy when you get your score." Chapter 3 Judy's POV There were only three days left until the SAT, so Mr. Sanders organized a mock college application session for the class. He handed out mock college application forms to everyone, telling us to practice filling them out using our mock exam scores to figure out where we stood. The classroom was noisy. Jace didn't even bother looking at the application guide and simply wrote "Payton University" as his first choice. Then, he took Roxy's application form and confidently wrote "Jinton Institute of Engineering" as her first choice. It was a fairly decent university in Jinton. The students around them stared in shock, their eyes widening at the sight. "Jace, you're guaranteed to get into Payton University. But Roxy didn't even score 430 on the last exam. And the cutoff for this school was nearly 850 last year!" Ezra Manson, the class' sports rep, was a straightforward guy. So he couldn't help but speak up to remind him. Roxy, who had been happily looking at the application form, immediately fell silent when she heard that. She tugged at Jace's sleeve, looking aggrieved. "Jace, do they think I'm not good enough to go to the same city as you?" "Ignore them." Jace took her hand, reassuring her. "If I put this school down for you, it means you're definitely getting in." He raised his head and shot Ezra a cold look. "The rules of the SAT are far more complicated than you think. I'll find a way to get her past this threshold." Ezra was briefly at a loss for words. He turned away, muttering under his breath, "How can you possibly give her another 430 points? Do you think you can sway the graders or something?" Mr. Sanders was walking around the classroom. When he reached their desk and spotted Roxy's application form, he frowned. "Jace, this mock application session is meant to help you understand your actual prospects! You can't just fill in Roxy's choices like this. Are you treating her future as a joke?" Jace stood there arrogantly. "Mr. Sanders, I'm not joking around. After all, the likes of you could never understand the ambitions of someone destined for greatness. Roxy and I are destined to be in the same city. When the admissions results come out, you'll see for yourself whether I was fooling around." He then turned toward me in the corner, where I was still reviewing my mistakes, and walked over. "Judy, still cramming?" He looked down at me, his eyes filled with pity. He mocked, "You don't need to work so hard. If you apologize to Roxy now and admit that you were just jealous and narrow-minded, I might consider lending you my notes for a day." I looked up and met his gaze. "Your precious study notes? The secret manual on losing 20 points on that last math problem?" Several students nearby chuckled under their breath. Jace's expression shifted. "Ungrateful runt!" he yelled with gritted teeth. "You think you can walk over everyone just because you won one mock exam? Let me tell you, you have no chance of succeeding in the SAT. Someone like you, who only knows how to bury your nose in textbooks, will never understand how to make the most of the resources at your disposal!" "Make the most of your resources?" I couldn't help but laugh. "So you're doing that by sacrificing your own future for a hopeless nobody?" "What do you know?" Jace suddenly snapped. "Roxy is just a late bloomer! With my tutoring, plus that 100-point bonus, her total score will be enough for her to get into a four-year college program." He couldn't help but subtly mention the bonus in front of everyone. Ezra was bewildered. "What 100-point bonus? Jace, what are you talking about?" Realizing he had misspoken, Jace scoffed, grabbed Roxy, and turned to leave. … The sky remained gloomy throughout that day of the SAT. It drizzled the entire time. The moment the bell rang, signaling the end of the final test, I sighed in relief. As I walked out of the school gate, I saw Jace holding a black umbrella, sheltering Roxy in his arms. Roxy's eyes were red, and she was leaning against Jace. Clearly, she hadn't done well. "It's okay. You can still get some points by guessing on the reading test. The rest is up to me," Jace comforted her gently. When Roxy saw me walking out, she immediately smiled triumphantly. She asked, "Judy, how did the exam go? I heard the reading test was really difficult." I answered calmly, "It was fine. I did about as well as I expected." "That's good." Roxy chuckled. "Jace said we're going to register for that special bonus on the website tonight. Too bad you'll only have to rely on yourself for this." Jace wrapped an arm around her shoulders, looking at me with disdain. "Don't waste your breath on her. Come on. I'm taking you out to celebrate." Chapter 4 Judy's POV The days spent waiting for the results seemed to drag on forever. Soon, the day to check our SAT scores had finally arrived. Someone in the class suggested that we go to the school's computer lab to check our scores together. Mr. Sanders also agreed. He said this would be our last chance to see everyone together. After that, we would go our separate ways, and getting everyone together again wouldn't be easy. The computer lab was packed. The air conditioner was cranked up high, yet it did nothing to ease the tension in the room. The sounds of keyboards clacking and heavy sighs filled the room. As expected, the school network crashed. The page kept loading, and everyone sighed in frustration. Jace sat in front of the computer. He kept one arm around Roxy while casually pressing F5 with the other. He reassured her, "Don't worry. Good things come to those who wait." He even had the time to reassure Ezra, who was sweating nervously beside him. "Now more than ever, you need to stay calm. Your scores aren't going anywhere." I sat diagonally behind them, quietly watching the screen as my fingers tapped against the desk. Then, suddenly… Roxy screamed and jumped to her feet. Her chair toppled backward, making a loud noise that startled everyone. "It's here! I got my score!" she yelled, pointing at the screen in disbelief. Everyone immediately turned to look at her screen. There, in plain sight, was her total score—960. The computer lab was immediately filled with whispers. "960? She can use this score to apply to a second-tier college. Roxy actually made it?" "Didn't she only score 400 on her mock exams? How did she suddenly do so well?" Roxy covered her mouth, tears spilling from her eyes. She threw herself into Jace's arms and broke down sobbing, "Jace! I did it! I scored 960! I can apply to the university I wanted!" Jace patted Roxy on the back, loudly boasting, "I told you you could do it! You scored 860 on your own, and with the 100-point bonus, that makes 960! Now we can finally go to the same city!" The students exchanged bewildered looks. They couldn't understand a word he was spouting. Where did the 100-point bonus come from? What kind of bonus could possibly give someone that many points? Jace paid no attention to the looks around him. He turned and sauntered over to my desk. He asked mockingly, "Judy, have you checked your score yet? Don't tell me you did so badly that you're too ashamed to show everyone?" I remained calm in the face of Jace's provocation and the growing whispers around me. I simply sat there, quietly watching the computer screen. Then, the page refreshed. "Test Taker: Judy Jensen "Total SAT Score: 1530" I didn't say a word. I simply turned the monitor around, angling it toward Jace. Ezra, who was sitting right next to me, gasped. He pointed at the screen with a trembling finger. "S-She scored 1530! Judy, you just broke our city's all-time record!" Mr. Sanders was so excited that he rushed straight over. Tears streamed down his face as he kept praising me. The computer lab erupted into thunderous cheers. Everyone crowded around me, congratulating me and celebrating my incredible score. The smile on Jace's face froze. A flicker of jealousy appeared in his eyes. He gritted his teeth and scoffed, "You're just a study machine. So what if you scored higher? You're still single, with no one to share the joy with. Roxy and I will be together, wherever we go." He turned around and frantically clicked the mouse. "Just wait until I get my score. With that 100-point bonus, I'll still crush you!" I stood up and pushed through the crowd. I slowly walked up behind him. Looking at the webpage that was still loading, I could no longer suppress my smile. I asked, "Jace, did you really think the new rule would simply give the two of you 100 points each for free?" Jace's hand froze. He turned back and frowned at me in suspicion. "What do you mean by that?" I chuckled. My voice wasn't loud, but it was clear enough for everyone in the computer lab to hear. "It's a pity. You only heard half of what the principal said before rushing off. The new rule doesn't simply give you both 100 free points. Instead, both of your scores are added together and then divided equally between you." Jace froze at my words. He stared at me in disbelief. His lips began to tremble, and even his voice changed. "W-What are you talking about? That's impossible!" Just then, the page on his computer finally refreshed.