"Your friend from yesterday moves around in a wheelchair—what could he know?" Austin wasn't convinced and directly called her out.
Zoey was about to retort that it wasn't him when she frowned, stomping down on his leg as she realized the underhanded insult in his words.
"First of all, why do you assume it's him? He's not the only friend I have!"
The wince of pain on his face couldn't hide the surprise in his eyes as he looked up at her.
"He's not the only friend you have? You mean to tell me there's someone else other than us?"
Zoey glared at him.
In truth, he was right. She was snobby, didn't respond to any messages on social.
She had a social life, sure—but one she went about alone, too lost in her own world to notice the people nice enough to stop and talk to her.
But how he guessed it so accurately was so disturbing it made her do an internal self-assessment.
Leaning back on her seat, she folded both arms across her chest and snickered, "Of course I have a social life. I'm even meeting one of my… acquaintances in a few days."
Austin appeared to think about it for a moment before he shrugged calmly, "We both know you're lying. Even if you did have any friends, it wouldn't exceed three people."
"You little… why do I even bother? If you're so doubtful, come with me to the place in three days' time," she huffed, challenged into whipping out her phone to drop another message for SoaringEagle.
Since she'd be going to meet a stranger, it was only right she brought someone else along.
She even claimed she was bringing him because he knew the city better than she did.
"I'll wipe that smug off your face when we meet this acquaintance in three days."
Austin pretended to remain unconvinced and looked away. Once his face was turned, a wide grin broke across it.
For someone who had her guard up most of the time, she had easily fallen for this trick of bringing him along.
He was still jubilating when the teacher walked in for the first period.
Immediately, he bade Zoey goodbye and scurried off to his classroom.
Dropping his textbook on the table, the man turned to write on the board.
"Everyone, turn to page 87 of your Calculus textbook."
While everyone reached for their books and obeyed, Zoey turned her gaze outside the window, zoning out for the entire duration of the class.
"Everyone, questions like this should appear in your CSAT, so listen very well as I solve this."
Kate paused in the middle of following through the solution to glance at Zoey.
Seeing her stare out the window, her lips twitched, and she lowered her eyes to continue weiting down the solution.
"I'll explain this using layman's terms, answer your questions or retake it again if you didn't understand a part," the teacher said, turning to the class after writing down the solution.
However, this was a competitive class and grade. Even if they didn't understand something, no one wanted to be teased later for admitting it.
So, the classroom stayed silent.
Just when he was about to continue, a surprising person raised her hand.
"Kate? Y-you don't understand?" He was visibly taken aback seeing Kate's hand suddenly fly up.
"Of course I do, Mr. Garfield. I simply wanted to point out someone I don't think understood." Kate slowly got to her feet, muttering softly.
Gary Garfield exhaled in relief before nodding. "Typical of you to look out for your classmates. You don't have to point out who didn't understand—I'll just go over the solution again."
But Kate promptly shook her head, her face tightening in fake concern.
"It's my sister. She doesn't seem to be paying attention to the class at all."
At this, everyone's eyes turned to Zoey.
His brows furrowed into a surprised frown, "Sister? Since when do you have a sister?"
He had taken last week off to attend a wedding in his hometown, and the week before that, he'd been traveling, so he hadn't heard the news.
So he was surprised to hear Kate suddenly say she had a sister and thought it was bizarre he hadn't noticed the newborn baby in the class.
"Teacher, my sister returned a few days ago from the countryside, and she's been having a hard time settling in," as if hearing his thoughts, Kate spoke gently, her eyes darting toward Chloe as well.
Having really zoned out of the class, Zoey felt several eyes on her and naturally turned—only to find the entire class staring at her.
Her eyes shifted to the teacher, and she pursed her lips.
What? She'd only zoned out for a moment. Did she miss a question?
Kate saw her darting eyes and smirked inwardly, but her face softened worriedly, "Sister, why do you look so surprised? Have you been paying attention to the class at all?"
"What?" Zoey shifted her attention to Kate, her brows creasing slightly in confusion.
Gary looked her over.
Zoey was so confused the wittiness in her eyes disappeared leading him to make a decision.
"You're Kate's sister, so I'm going to take it easy on you. But if you zone out on me again, we'll have a problem."
However, this easy dismissal greatly displeased Kate.
She had been hoping for a harsh, humiliating scolding in front of the entire class, but this was it?
The class had just returned to normal when Kate suddenly called out, "Sister, didn't you say you're good with calculus?"
Zoey threw her a bored look. "I did?"
She had hyper-amnesia—of course she remembered every conversation she'd ever had with Kate, yet she didn't recall having a conversation about calculus with her.
So that could only mean Kate was trying to set her up.
Judging from her vague response, Kate beamed, thinking Zoey had really fallen for it.
"Yeah, you said you were the best in your class. Wasn't that why Mom told you I'm also the best in my class?"
"Oh, if she's so good, does that mean she can solve the equation on the board without much stress?" Natalie chipped in, two seats behind Kate.
Her words had barely fallen when Robin Dawson harrumphed in disdain, "Hey, no. She's just a student like us. I'd believe it if Kate says it, but not her."
Hearing him made Kate even more determined to put Zoey to shame.
As long as she continued playing the caring younger sister who supports her sister more than anyone, she'd always have the upper hand.
Beckoning onto Kelsie, she grimaced.
"Zoey, why don't you come show them what you're made of? You took our parents' wonderful genes anyway. I'm sure you took after their intelligence as well."
Zoey hadn't batted an eye at anything said today, but this genuinely made her frown.
What great intelligent gene? There were no intelligent people if they couldn't even see her for who she really was.
Lumping her in with the likes of them was just plain disrespectful to her very rare intelligence.
As she hissed inwardly, a thought suddenly seeped into her mind.
Getting on her feet, she headed to the front and took a marker.
Writing out an unsolved equation, she stared at it for a while before stepping closer to the board.