The screen of Delh’s smartphone was <b>soon </b>flooded with information about the BrainSpark Nationals. With a chuckle, Delh thought to herself that her daughter’spetition seemed quite the buzz, popping up with so many exnations at just one search.
But her smile slowly solidified into a frown. Hadn’t her daughter described it as a dullpetition with no cash prizet What was all this about city–level preliminaries, provincialpetitions, national and even international tiers? And with Riverdale’s top high schools coborating with the Education Association no less<b>? </b>How could this be called a dullpetition?
A guaranteed admission spot to the prestigious Prestige College? It might not be a cash prize, but it certainly held more clout, didn’t it?
Delh was bewildered, beginning to suspect that thepetition she found online was not the same one her daughter had been talking about. So, she reopened the browser and searched <b>again</b>.
The BrainSpark Nationals were divided into several tiers<b>, </b>starting with city–level preliminaries, moving on to province. then national<b>, </b>and finally the top five students nationally would represent the country in the international contest.
Thispetition wasn’t confined to a single subject, making the difficulty quite substantial. After all, students who specialized in sciences tended to be weaker in the humanities, and vice versa.
Before the city preliminaries, there was a preliminary exam set by the provincial Education Association. Only those who passed could enter the officialpetition.
The prelim was scheduled for Wednesday, and all senior students who had registered would be brought to the examination hall by the school.
With ten sses in the senior year, and aside from the three students from Mirabe’s Advanced ss, nearly every other ss from the Prodigy ss to the regr ss had five to eight candidates each. That was why the vice principal had been so surprised when Ate had submitted the application.
Wednesday came around quickly.
The exam was set for the morning, and Mirabe, holding the test number given to her by her homeroom teacher, Ate, headed to the venue.
Parkside High School had a substantial number of participants, so they were split into two different rooms, with Mirabe assigned to the second. Her two male ssmates from the experimental ss were also in the same room. The boys, less prone to envy than the girls, shyly wished her luck before taking their own seats.
Unfortunately, Summer was also in the second room. She’s the campus queen, a straight–A student and a budding pop star, so naturally drew the gaze of many boys as she entered.
Most of the participants who signed up for thepetition were <b>boys</b><b>, </b>with the proportion of girls being less than one–third. Coincidentally, in the second examination room, there were only two girls, Mirabe and Summer.
Mirabe leaned backzily in her <b>seat</b>, Idly spinning a pencil in her hand. When Summer walked in, Mirabe didn’t even nce up, as if lost in her own tranquil world.
Summer, on the other hand, maintained the warm, gentle smile that made her the quintessential girl–next–door in the eyes of her male peers – polsed, graceful, and a stark contrast to Mirabe’s persona.
“Who do you think is prettier, the campus queen or the <b>new </b>girl?” one student whispered to another.
*Tthe campus queen for sure. She’s the epitome of Innocence and kindness, plus she’s so smart,” <b>came </b>a reply.
“I dunno, I find the new girl more striking. Although she appeared aloof, her presencepletely overwhelmed both male and female students,<b>” </b>another chimed in.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, it kinda makes sense<b>.</b>”
Summer, seated in the first row, could hear the murmurs from behind her. Her eyes lowered slightly, seemingly unaffected by the chatter.