Of course.
Being able to get into a top 50 university was already the best among his peers.
Brad usually scored around 1400 on practice tests, but this time instead of performing extraordinarily, he bombed the exam.
What's even more embarrassing was that he'd raised expectations too high beforehand, and on the day results were announced, it was like a balloon that had been popped. He even made excuses not to participate in the class party.
To be fair, if you looked at a normal person, he still belonged to the elite, and being able to get into a good university could be regarded as exceptional.
But the problem was that this guy usually scored higher than his final SAT score.
Then when estimating his scores, he'd even felt he could still go to the Ivy League. The moment the results came out, he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into—the boasting had been too much.
Ethan was about to close the group chat window when suddenly a message tagging him popped up:
"Ethan, have you estimated your score? Why aren't you saying anything online!"
Damn it. Back in the day, if you were online on messaging apps and not invisible, everyone could see you were online. What's even more outrageous was the notification sound, as if the system had to remind the whole world you were there.
Ethan stared at the screen and frowned.
In his previous life, there'd obviously been no drama today—he remembered very clearly that the last time he'd met Brad was on graduation day when they left school, and the two didn't even bother to say goodbye.
Maybe it's because he'd logged in too early in this life?
In the class group chat, Brad's messages were still flooding the screen:
"Could it be that you didn't dare to speak after bombing the exam?"
"Don't worry, even if you didn't do well on the exam, we won't laugh at you~"
This was followed by a [smirking] emoji.
Ethan raised his eyebrows and his fingers quickly tapped on the keyboard:
"Seeing someone using the group as a public toilet, I wanted to avoid the stink, but I still got hit by the smell... As for the score, it's probably over 1100!"
After the message was sent, three question marks instantly popped up in the group:
"???"
Brad stared at the screen and pondered for two seconds. Although he didn't fully get Ethan's metaphor, his intuition told him nothing good would come of this, and it was probably a dig at himself.
But when he saw the score of "1100," he immediately laughed out loud:
"Tsk~ Just that score? The practice tests were so hard, you still got 1450+. This time you went straight to disaster? No matter how good the practice was, what's the use? It's nothing if you drop the ball at the critical moment!" There was also a [contempt] emoji at the back.
Good grief, stop acting after graduation!
Ethan looked at this remark and was almost angry enough to laugh.
He sipped his drink slowly and thought: I said over 1100, and 1580 is also over 1100.
Jack immediately replied in the group:
"Screw you Brad, what are you pretending for? Believe it or not, I'll slap you silly!"
He'd never put up with Brad, and any grievances were handled directly, unlike Ethan who still smiled on the surface.
Ethan tagged Brad:
"So impressive? Then when results are released, remember to take a screenshot and let us see what an Ivy League score looks like!"
Sarah was also very angry after seeing the message Brad sent, so she said in their small group of four, tagging Ethan:
"Ethan, just ignore him. He likes to run his mouth—let him!"
Ashley also immediately replied:
"Exactly! Let's ignore him, always so passive-aggressive! Let's see how many points he can score!"
Jack said mischievously:
"I've already taken screenshots. Sitting and waiting to watch him get slapped in the face! (evil grin.jpg)"
With Jack's reply to Brad, Brad didn't respond anymore!
.....
The waiting time was so difficult.
At the moment when the hour and minute hands perfectly aligned at 12 o'clock, Linda suddenly slapped Ethan's back:
"It's midnight sharp—refresh quickly!"
She almost lay on the computer screen, pressing Ethan's shoulder excitedly, her emotions overflowing. Robert next to her seemed to be holding his teacup calmly, but Ethan clearly saw that his father's hands were shaking and tea was spilling out.
Although they knew their son was already valedictorian, they were still nervous the moment before seeing the score.
"Click!"
The F5 key was pressed heavily, and the page began to load in circles.
The originally blank score column suddenly turned snow-white—not that the scores were displayed, but the entire webpage was completely frozen.
The system crashed at this time every year, which was already like an authentication mark. If it didn't crash that day, then you had to check if you'd entered the wrong website.
At this time.
There was more discussion in the group.
Lisa: "Help! I keep pressing F5 but still can't get in! (crazy.jpg)"
Mike: "+1! The entire webpage is frozen like a slideshow! (frustrated.jpg)"
Amy: "So everyone's the same—then I'm relieved..." (wiping sweat.jpg)
Linda stared at the computer screen and sighed:
"This broken system is going to be stuck forever..."
Suddenly, Brad popped up a message:
"I'm in, I'm in! Haven't you all gotten in? (proud.jpg)"
Seeing that no one was paying attention, he added:
"Maybe the system gives priority to opening channels for high-scoring candidates" (smile)
Jack, Sarah, and Ashley were also in their group of four, coolly saying that Brad was an idiot...
At this moment, the webpage moved and loaded.
Ethan's fingers quickly tapped on the keyboard, and the input boxes on the screen were filled in turn:
Name: Ethan Miller
Test ID: XXXXXXXX
Social Security Number: XXX-XX-XXXX
His index finger hovered above the enter button, then pressed it heavily—
The page refreshed instantly, and the bright report card slowly unfolded like a scroll:
Reading and Writing: 790
Mathematics: 790
Total Score: 1580
Linda's voice changed. She clutched Robert's sleeve, and her knuckles turned white. Tears welled in her eyes, but they couldn't fall because she was smiling too brightly.
The shock she'd felt when she heard the admissions office say her son was valedictorian yesterday was far less real than the impact of seeing this string of numbers with her own eyes at this moment.
Robert was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and burst into hearty laughter:
"Hahaha! Good! Good!"
He hugged his wife and kissed her face, then patted Ethan's shoulder hard, his palm trembling.
The phone was out in a blink of an eye. Robert's fingers were a bit disobedient because of excitement, and he entered the wrong number several times before dialing:
"Hey! Mom, Dad, the results are out—your grandson got a 1580!"
"Hey! Aunt Mary, Ethan got a 1580 on his SATs!"
...
On the other side, Linda also grabbed her phone and called her relatives one by one!
"Hey! Mom, Dad, your grandson got a 1580! Yes, yes..."
"Hey! Sarah, your nephew got a 1580!"
The two parents were like they were in competition, one faster than the other, and the living room rang out with calls one after another:
"1580!"
"Only 20 points from perfect!"
"Yes, yes, he's valedictorian!"
...
Ethan sat in front of the computer, without any turbulence in his heart.
There are 50 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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