The Unveiling of Secret Queen

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: First Place_1

Everyone had heard about the wager between the two homeroom teachers that morning, and the mood was far from upbeat; hardly anyone was seriously following along with the textbook reading.

Jhovany Sullivan, doubling as the Chinese language representative, saw that no one was willing to memorize properly, and with a smack on the desk, said with a stern face, ”What are you doing? None of you are memorizing earnestly. What are you going to do with the exams starting next week? Do you want to lose?”

Someone from below retorted, ”Who wants to lose? It’s all because there’s someone in our class holding us back.”

Jhovany Sullivan was least tolerant of anyone picking on her deskmate and immediately confronted them, ”Who are you saying is holding us back? Make it clear.”

Clerent Miller refused to show weakness, ”Who else could it be but Nathalie Quinlan? If it weren’t for her, why would our homeroom teacher have clashed with Ms. Cagwin and made that bet?”

”Is Class B targeting Nathalie Quinlan? Class B is targeting our entire Class A,” Jhovany Sullivan, hands on the podium, said with a face flushed with anger.

At that moment, Justin Wafford stood up and with a smack, he threw his book onto the desk. His gaze swept across the whole class, lingering for a few seconds on the face of the girl who was arguing with Jhovany Sullivan before saying deliberately, ”What’s all this noise about! Don’t you all want to win anymore? Don’t forget, we are all people of Class A. If we win, we win together; if we lose face, we lose it together.”

”Now, who doesn’t want to win?”

With that question, the people of Class A all lowered their heads, and no one spoke up, not even Clerent Miller who hung her head in guilt. She wanted to win too.

Seeing that the class had quietened down and everyone’s attention had returned, Justin Wafford’s defiant gaze fell on Nathalie Quinlan, ”Nathalie, you’ve just transferred here, so it’s normal for everyone not to know your grades. You’ve seen the scores from every exam in the class. How many places do you think you can get?”

”It’s not that we don’t believe in you. We’re all members of the same class. You give us a number, so that everyone has some idea in their hearts. For the next few days, those who need to take extra lessons at home should do so, to try and pull up your and Freddy Cagwin’s scores.”

Freddy Cagwin hadn’t arrived at school yet. When Freddy did, Justin would communicate with him privately. Freddy’s previous performance was there for all to see, so there wasn’t too much to worry about. The main focus was on Nathalie.

How much Nathalie could score was very important.

Nathalie had been leaning against the wall playing with her phone and lifted her head upon hearing the discussion, as if pondering for a few seconds.

She had never thought about how much she should score before. According to her usual habit, aiming for a middle-tier score just for the sake of it was fine; she didn’t want to stand out. Too much trouble!

But now... it seemed that wouldn’t do.

Seeing that she hadn’t spoken for a long while, Justin Wafford thought she really had poor grades. Considering her relationship with Jhovany Sullivan, he softened his tone, and his encouraging look devoid of blame, ”It’s okay if you don’t do well, I, Jhovany Sullivan, and the rest of the class will work hard to improve your grades. Mr. Sullivan really put himself on the line for us this time; we don’t want him to lose.”

Nathalie Quinlan narrowed her eyes, sweeping over the dozens of pairs of earnestly hopeful eyes staring at her. For the first time, she felt a new sense of responsibility. She flipped open a blank textbook and after a moment’s thought, said lazily, ”Then I’ll aim for first place.”

Justin Wafford: ”...”

Jhovany Sullivan: ”...”

Class A students: ”...”

The big shot, are you still half asleep?

Justin Wafford was the first to snap back, his expression serious, his voice lowered, ”Nathalie, I’m being serious with you.”

Her phone vibrated just then.

[Lowie Wilmar: Nathalie, I’m being serious with you.]

Her eyelids twitched violently. If she hadn’t been sure Justin Wafford and Lowie Wilmar didn’t know each other, she’d have suspected they were talking through a connected microphone.

Their words were exactly the same!

Nathalie Quinlan tapped on her phone, her mind full of the matter she had asked Lowie to check on. Distractedly, she replied, ”I’m serious too, first place.”

Awesome! Justin Wafford wanted for the first time to use these words with someone; don’t ask, asking is about being first. The question is, the first place of Class A was consistently the No. 1 of No. 1 Middle School, and a person who ranked well even at the city level. Did Nathalie Quinlan really grasp the situation!