The shock from the last statement still lingered in the air.
"You got all A+?" Laura repeated, staring at me with a blend of disbelief and amusement.
"How did you two not know?" I asked, looking at Cher and Regina. "You're the gossip queens."
They both gasped, offended.
"We are queen bees," Regina corrected, pointing a finger at me. "And grades are definitely not something we gossip about."
"Don't you feel shame calling yourself a queen bee?" I asked, looking directly at her.
"You are the one person who can't talk about shame," she fired back without missing a beat.
"Heyy," I said indignantly as I noticed everyone around nodding in agreement with her.
Cher narrowed her eyes. "You fall asleep in class, you barely study... and yet, A+? Did you cheat?"
"I don't need to," I said, unfazed.
"Let's put it to the test," Regina said, eyes gleaming. "Pick your books."
"Really? Who are you and what did you do with Regina?" I replied, raising an eyebrow.
Still, I got up and grabbed my books.
"Are we really studying?" I said, looking around in disbelief. "What a weird day."
Everyone slowly followed suit, grabbing notebooks and textbooks from their bags or shelves around the room. The deck that had been filled with teasing and laughter now buzzed with the rustle of pages and the occasional groan.
"Okay, ten questions each," Regina said, already flipping through a math book.
"Is this happening?" Sam groaned.
And yet, everyone started solving the questions, pencils scratching paper.
Minutes later, I leaned back and said, "Done!"
Yeah, 9th grade math, I thought. Not worth mentioning.
They all looked at me. Carly and Freddie were calm—they'd seen this before. Since some classes include in-class group exercises, they already knew I understood the material.
But the other three—Laura, Cher, and Regina—stared at me with genuine surprise on their faces.
"Let me see it," Cher said, holding out her hand.
I handed her the paper.
Meanwhile, Laura pointed to one of her questions. "How do you solve this one?"
I leaned over and began walking her through it step by step.
By the end, Laura's eyes lit up and she gave a small smile—a clear expression of realization.
Cher, seeing everything was correct (the book has the answers), raised her eyebrows at me. "Now you're a genius too?"
"Now?" I said with a grin. "I've been intelligent since day one."
Cher rolled her eyes, and Laura just started to pinch my arm, amused.
"Okay, okay! I'll stop being cocky," I laughed, gently pulling my arm away.
"Too late," Sam said. "The ego is already airborne."
We kept studying for a little longer. Carly, Freddie, and Laura were focused, taking notes seriously. Cher was a little distracted but trying. Regina was struggling, flipping through pages and muttering to herself.
Meanwhile, Sam looked like one of those defeated cartoon characters—slumped in her chair, arms hanging lifelessly, eyes glazed over as if she'd already given up on life itself.
I had to stifle a laugh just watching her.
At that moment, Uncle Charlie walked in, holding a beer in one hand, looking around at the scene with mild astonishment.
"Hey," Charlie greeted.
"Hi, Uncle Charlie," I said first.
Everyone else quickly chimed in with their own greetings.
"Are you using my deck to study?" Charlie asked, a little indignantly, looking at all the open books and scattered papers.
"What is wrong with you people?" he added, shaking his head in disbelief.
I just shrugged. "Obviously, it wasn't my idea."
"A thousand bucks if you guess who had the idea," I added, smirking.
Charlie pointed immediately at Freddie without hesitation. "Him."
Everyone burst out laughing.
I made a buzzer sound. "Wrong. It was Regina," I said, pointing right at her.
Charlie gave me a skeptical look. "Are you sure it was her?"
"I wouldn't believe it either if someone just told me," I admitted.
A second later, a small paper ball hit me square on the head. I turned to see Regina sticking her tongue out at me.
Just then, a beautiful woman stepped onto the deck, calling out, "Charlie!". She walked over, taking Uncle Charlie's arm and smiling warmly at all of us.
"Melissa, this is my nephew and his friends," Charlie said, introducing us.
We all waved and greeted her with a chorus of "Hi!"
Melissa tilted her head, amused. "They're studying? On a Friday?"
Charlie, straightening up like he was the proudest role model in the world, replied, "I encourage them. For their future."
"Awn," Melissa cooed, charmed.
Charlie grinned, gave us a quick wink behind her back, and led her away from the deck.
I shook my head, amused. When I noticed everyone staring at me, I blinked. "What?" I asked.
"It comes from the family, huh?!" Cher teased.
"They have zero shame," Regina added, laughing.
A few days later, the tests happened—and now, everyone had received their results.
"Fuu, it actually helped me with my grades," Sam admitted, referring to the day we studied together.
I went to sit next to Laura. She turned to me with a smile. "Got all A+?"
Laura smiled wider and nudged my shoulder lightly. "Show-off."
Around us, the others were comparing their grades, some celebrating, others groaning dramatically.
"At least no one flunked," Carly said, trying to stay positive.
Regina clapped her hands to get our attention. "Okay, but can we talk about what really matters now?" she said, clearly referring to the upcoming music recording.
Cher immediately chimed in, her eyes lighting up. "I brought J.Lo's album, The Wedding Planner DVD, and a T-shirt to get autographed!"
Cher and Regina exchanged a playful look and then clapped their hands together in a silly, exaggerated high-five celebration.
But undeniably, both the movie and the album, released back in January, had been a successes, I thought.
Auxiliary Chapter updated!
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