Chapter 49   - 49: 2nd Place

When their teacher left for lunch break, everyone started surrounding and congratulating Serena except for Emily who was still looking at her paper, perhaps thinking how she got some of the answers wrong, and Isabel who seems to be comforting her.

"Serena! You're so awesome! I wish I can be half as good as you! You're my idol!" Lydia, one of their classmates said.

"No, no, I believe if given the same opportunity as me, you all would have performed just as well. It's just that I took some of this classes when I was younger, so I have an advantage." Serena modestly replied. Well, she was saying the truth.

"Wow, you're so humble too… Not only are you the most beautiful person here, you're also the smartest, the kindest, and even more, you're also a future queen. Unlike some people here who's so full of themselves." Cornelia loudly said while taking a side glance at Emily, then she made her eyes roll.

The girls in their class all laughed. It was as if Serena's victory were their very own victory.

Serena can only ignore their veiled insult. Well, it's not like they're directly bullying the female lead and it's not her fault that she was not well liked.

Who asked her to be such an insufferable know-it-all? It's not like she's a Hermoine Granger.

--

After that short episode, Serena and her friends went to the assembly hall/ auditorium to see the bulletin board containing the names of the top 10 ranking students of the preliminary exam.

They all saw Serena's name immediately. She managed to land herself on 3rd place with the average score of 96%. What made her outstanding was that if she had managed to get a higher score in biology, she could've been on 1st place.

"100 in math, 100 in economics, 98 in Philosophy, 100 in reading, 95 in Geography, 98 in History, if not for Biology with the score of 81, then you would've been number 1! The top scorer only got an overall score of 97. Wow! I knew that you were smart Serena, but I never expected that you were a genius." Gizel exclaimed.

"Hey, don't you see what I see? History in the making! Even Teacher Grace only managed to enter the top 10 during her senior year." Milly remarked.

"Hey, look, Emily also made it in the top 10, she actually ranked 9th place with an average score of 90." Via commented.

"What 9th place? Isn't that too far from 3rd place? Ha! What a slap on her face. Looking down on us, feeling like she's the best student in our class. HAHAHAHAHA!" Gizel, who didn't care if anyone heard her laughed out loud.

Thankfully, no one was around as they were all at the cafeteria having lunch. The other students already saw the bulletin board earlier.

Serena then looked at the result of the 2nd year students. As expected, Geoffrey got first place with an average score of 100. Again, he wasn't male lead for nothing. Besides, the score could even be biased. He IS the crown prince. But what was surprising was Charlton's result. In the novel, he's just usually at the top 5, not scoring higher than Leonard who was usually in 2nd place. But clearly in front of her was Charlton's name with an average score of 99. Geometry 100, Chemistry 100, Political Science 96, Accounting 100, World History 100, Macroeconomics 100, Writing 100, Ethics 96. Did he work hard to impress her? She thought as she smiled, feeling happy for him.

"Wow Serena, you're the same as your brother on third place. Haha! He got an average score of 98. Not bad! And look at lover boy, 99!" Milly said, careful not to mention the crown prince who got first place.

Serena nodded happily. Leonard did work had, but she bets that he was not happy with this result at all. She can already imagine his furrowed brow as he looked the bulletin board seeing Charlton's name on top of his. He was a bit competitive that way, well at least that was how he was portrayed.

"This got me thinking, well, Serena, I guess since you got the highest score from all the ladies in our batch, then that means that you get to be the female student representative. Right?" Gizel casually mentioned.

The cogs in Serena's mind started moving. In the novel, that position went to Emily. But based on the examination results, that role would fall on her.

Does she want to be a member? Well, a part of her doesn't want the responsibility. Plus, that only means seeing more of her soon-to-be ex-fiance. However, there was also a part of her that wants to be. It was something she has never tried before in her previous life, she was curious. Anyway, it's better to wait and see. She hasn't been offered the position yet.

"I don't know, it's not too good to presume. Anyways, we should go for lunch." Serena replied.

--

"Wow Charlie! I didn't know you had it in you! You beat Leonard here for the first time ever!" Kylo who thought that his friend looked better than he did the previous days remarked.

Leonard, who was still a little upset, can only grumble. He can't believe that Charlton got a higher score than him. It's not that he thought himself better than his friend. It's just that, he haven't seen Charlton put as much effort as he does.

Charlton, on the other hand, was not as satisfied with his score like what his friends thought. In truth, who he wanted to surpass was Geoffrey. Geoffrey who has always been perfect in everything. If he can't surpass him, then he should at least be on equal footing. But no, he still fell short. How can he tell his girlfriend that he just got second place? Worse, second place to her fiance? He can only sigh.

After looking at his result on the bulletin board, he looked at the 1st years. And boy was he in for a surprise.

It wouldn't be surprising if Serena had some formal schooling before, but, she hasn't. She's a girl, for heaven's sake. But she singlehandedly surpassed almost all the boys in their batch and landed herself on third place. In fact, if she did better in biology, she would've surpassed all of them. He felt so proud of her. But that should not be a surprise. He always knew that she had it in her.

Kylo whistled. "Whoah Leonard, your sister is not bad at all. You didn't tell us how capable she was."

Leonard was also surprised himself. He didn't know his sister was this smart. Last he remembered; she can't even do single digit multiplication. But maybe his knowledge of her has been outdated. He never did join her in her tutorials. But anyway, he was proud and happy for her.

"Hey, doesn't that mean that she gets to join the student council?" Kylo said off handedly.

"I guess so…" Leonard replied as he and Kylo looked at Charlton.

Well, it's not like they can't read what's going on in his mind.

TBC