The Unveiling of Secret Queen-Chapter 72: Missed Call from the Hospital_1
Once Nathalie Quinlan entered the exam room for Class B, she realized that among all the candidates, she was the only one from Class A; the rest were unfamiliar faces.
As soon as she walked in, everyone turned to look at her in unison, their gazes a mix of curiosity, scrutiny, and the thrill of spectating.
Nathalie Quinlan didn’t look at anyone. She discarded the 2B pencils and a gel pen she had prepared onto the first desk in the front row, pulled out a chair, and sat down with a defiant air.
Soon after, the proctor carrying test papers arrived. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
No. 1 Middle School took the senior year’s practice exams very seriously, and to prevent cheating, each classroom was assigned two proctors. Coincidentally, the proctors for Class B were Gabriella Cagwin and another unrecognizable new face.
The monthly exams would be completed within one day, split between a session in the morning and one in the afternoon, with mathematics—the subject most feared by the students—being the first one tackled.
The other teacher was responsible for checking each student’s exam number and seat number, while Gabriella Cagwin stood at the podium with the test papers, surveying the classroom from her elevated position. Her eyes settled on Nathalie as she spoke.
"All of you are students of No. 1 Middle School; you should be well aware of the exam rules without me having to go over them in detail. I’ll just emphasize them briefly, be sure to listen carefully. Cheating is not allowed during the exam; anyone caught cheating will have their score for that subject immediately nullified. Furthermore, my policy is to report anyone caught cheating to the school right away, and severe cases may result in expulsion. Have you understood?"
"We’ve understood."
The students in exam room 1102 gave sparse responses.
Nathalie Quinlan didn’t bother with her, casually inspecting her 2B pencils with her head down. Her eyes, black and beautiful in their purity, remained disinterestedly away from Gabriella’s gaze.
Gabriella Cagwin’s lips curled into a scornful sneer before she withdrew her attention and began distributing the test papers: "Alright, let’s start handing out the exams."
*
The atmosphere was tense during the exam; apart from the swishing sound of diligent writing, there was almost no other noise in the classroom.
From the start of the exam, Gabriella Cagwin had brought a chair over to the front row, where she sat without moving, her gaze barely leaving Nathalie Quinlan.
With such vigilant proctoring, it wasn’t just that cheating was impossible; any minor fidgeting from Nathalie would be immediately noticed, and accused of ’cheating.’
However, she noticed that from the moment Nathalie received her exam paper, she never looked anywhere else; she simply flipped through it briefly before beginning to answer the questions.
The hand holding the pen was well-defined, movements smooth and sure as she tackled the entrance exam questions she had gathered from all over like she was merely choosing between options ABCD. Before long, the answer sheet was completely filled out.
Then came the fill-in-the-blanks and the essay questions...
Nathalie wrote quickly and hardly used any of the scratch paper provided.
In less than an hour, she had finished the entire paper. Gabriella Cagwin thought Nathalie would check it over, but unexpectedly, Nathalie flipped the paper aside, yawned, laid her head on the desk, and actually started to nap.
"Heh," Gabriella couldn’t help but let out a contemptuous snicker.
As if she had already secured victory.
The following exams were much like the first; Nathalie Quinlan was the first to finish each time, without reviewing or looking over again. She discarded her exam papers and napped.
Before long, all four exams were over, and the Sun outside began to descend.
Having finished, Nathalie packed up her things, exchanged a few words with Jhovany Sullivan and their company, and started strolling leisurely towards the school gate.
Her phone had been turned off all day. The moment she turned it on, dozens of messages appeared.
There were missed calls, text messages...
One call display from City Hospital made her eyes narrow. This was her personal phone, and she seldom gave out the number to outsiders unless they were acquaintances, but she remembered leaving an emergency contact number with the hospital because of Uncle Cagwin’s situation.
Her heart suddenly sank. Could it be that something had happened to Uncle Cagwin?
