The proctor's expression darkened even further.
"Your children brought electronic cheating devices into the exam room! They don't even answer for themselves—and you want *me* to answer for them?!"
He turned to face Molly and Ethan, standing in the middle of the group.
"Do you know this year's new exam regulation?!"
"Anyone caught cheating during the national college entrance exam is permanently banned from taking the exam again! Your futures are destroyed by your own stupidity!"
The moment his words landed, the crowd erupted.
Every parent from our class went white.
"Cheating devices?"
Austin Henson lunged forward and grabbed the proctor's arm.
"Sir, you've got this wrong! My kid's always been honest—three years he's been grinding, up before dawn, studying past midnight. How could he bring a cheating device in there?!"
"That's right!"
Claudia Mason's eyes were already brimming with tears.
"Sir, this has to be a mistake. My daughter's grades are fine—her father and I sell from a stall at the morning market. Where would we get the money to buy her something like that?"
"It was Miriam Winfield!"
From the crowd, Molly pointed straight at me, tears glistening in her eyes, her teeth clenched.
"She made us all buy them! She said she wanted Westbridge University and she didn't think she could make it, so she wanted to cheat her way in!"
"That's right!"
Ethan fixed his eyes on me, voice cracking high and ugly.
"Miriam Winfield's the class president! She said use the devices for this exam—we couldn't say no! We were forced! You want to punish someone, punish her!"
Before the last word was out, the parents came at me like a mob that had lost all reason.
"You little bitch!"
"You're rotten to the core and you had to drag our Molls down with you?! Do you have any idea how hard her father and I worked to get her this far?!"
Claudia swung her arm and slapped me across the face.
She was on me before I could flinch—her palm cracked against my cheek full-force and my face was already swelling before the sting even hit.
My mother threw herself in front of me the second she saw what happened.
She looked at Claudia, face full of panic.
"Mrs. Mason, you must have it wrong. Our Miriam didn't—"
"Didn't what?!"
Claudia cut her off, voice like a blade.
She reached out and grabbed my mother by the hair.
"Of course you're going to say she didn't do it, right?!"