shrill sound of the first-period bell cut his advance short. He stopp
ore turning to shepherd a fluste
It was only a te
rnoon. The large hall was filled with the sound of scratching pens and the rustle of paper. Mr. R
nd Ashleigh were all in the same exam hall. Nina's seat was diagonally behind R
was doodling on a piece of scratch paper, a series of in
This was the sweet spot. Everyone was focused, deep
ick, too layered with years of self-control drilled into him by the Hancock name. To crack it, she needed a more primal trigger-some
and crumpled it into a tight ball. She took aim
ely on the back
round, his eyes blazing. He saw her. She gave him
io
unch himself out of his chair. But he forced himself to turn ba
olled another, larger paper ba
r and landed on Ashleigh
es met Nina's, and Nina gave her a l
ed. She shot a look at Ryan, her eyes wide and glistening
s all i
eatened, Ryan's cont
ng backward across the floor. The noise
he hall turned
"Ryan Hancock, what is the meaning of this?"
t Nina. "Sir, she's cheating! And
ence. "I wasn't," she said, her voice soft and confused.
her palm was her own eras
said with a help
ce watery. "Mr. Reynolds, s
, picking up the two crumpled paper balls from the floor. He smoothed
his patience clearly gone. "Mr. Hancock,
dumbfounded
is voice dangerously low. "Or I will
s neck. Under the curious and mocking stares of his cl
ning into his back. He could hear the st
at the boy who had just made a fool o
Nina
n of a second, there was a flicker of s
/1/120751/coverbig.jpg?v=3cc764602e8182a8acfbecfc3cc6102a&imageMogr2/format/webp)