<b>Calista </b>said with feigned concem, “Maybe there was a system glitch. Why don’t you try checking again? Coincidentally, <b>my </b>brother is <b>checking </b>his scorche <b>right </b>now. He could give it a try for you.”
<b>“</b><b>No </b>need,” Aria said. “Ms. Gibbs, I’ll pass the phone to Lily now.”
“Alright,” Valerie replied.
Aria closed the door behind her and finally got some peace.
Valerie told Lily, “There are a lot of outstanding students in this year’s senior ss. We just learned that the SAT scores for the state’s top 50 students are being withheld and won’t be avable to check for another four days.
“You seniors this year are truly outstanding. Including you, three students in our ss have their scores withheld. I’ll go and gather the scores <b>and </b>estimate the score range for the state’s top 50.”
Lily replied, “Alright, Ms. Gibbs, you go ahead.”
Meanwhile, in the kitchen.
Tina nced around the spotless kitchenware and concluded, “Aria doesn’t cook. There’s not a single sign that she’s ever used them<b>.</b>”
Curious, Calista asked, “So how do her two younger sisters eat? Do they order takeout every single day?”
Vanessa shot her a sidelong nce. “They order from Amour Bistro.”
Calista said, “Wait, doesn’t Amour Bistro usually not take standing orders?”
“Cloe is her friend, and we all know each other. We just pulled a few strings<b>, </b>that’s all,” Vanessa exined.
Calista was speechless. She’d had enough of talking to Vanessa, so she turned to chat with Luther instead.
Afterpiling all the seniors‘ SAT results at Larkridge High School, Valerie called the other two students first before calling Lily. She said, “The statistical results are out. Eleven of our students made the state’s top 50. Excluding those with withheld scores like yours, the highest mark is 1475.”
After Vanessa and the others finished cooking, Calista suggested, “Why don’t we have Aria’s two sisterse out and eat with us<b>? </b>They’ve been cooped up in their room all morning. We can blur their faces even if they don’t want to be on camera.”
Inside the room, Lily turned to Aria and said, “Aria, I just heard that girl being snarky. I’ming out to eat with you.”
Given Pearl’s condition, Aria didn’t trust the food others had prepared and had already arranged a special meal for her. Since Pearl had already eaten, she didn’t need toe out.
Vanessa came over to fetch the three of them and asked about Lily’s SAT score. After Lily exined, Vanessa visibly rxed. Her face broke into a bright smile. “Come on, let’s <b>go </b>out and put Calista in her ce.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Lily said.
At the dinner table, Calista<b>, </b>as expected, asked<b>, </b>“So, have you figured out what happened with the SAT score? Howe <b>it’s </b>zerc
Lily gave a faint smile. “It’s all sorted out.”
Then, a staff member said, “Mr. Greer, check the trending topics. The scores for the top 50 in the state got withheld.”
Everyone froze<b>, </b>stunned by what they <b>saw</b>.
<b>Chapter </b><b>486 </b>
“<b>All </b><b>top </b><b>50 </b><b>scores </b>in <b>the </b>state are showing zeros!”
<b>“</b><b>I </b>checked thements section. People are saying all the state’s top 50 scored above 1475!”
Vanessa immediately burst into apuse. “Top 50 in the state. Above 1450. Lily, you’re freaking amazing<b>.</b><b>” </b>
‘Above 1450, top 50 statewide!‘ Calista snapped out of her daze. Just moments ago, her brother’s 1350 SAT score seemed impressive, but <b>now</b><b>, </b><b>faced </b>wit <b>a </b>score above 1475, it suddenly felt insignificant.
Lily <b>cast </b>a subtle nce at Calista and smiled. “Nothing special. My estimated score is only around 1500, so I probably won’t be the top scorer,
<b>‘</b>1500? And she won’t be the top scorer?‘ Calista’s face stiffened further.
Tina smiled and asked, “Lily, you must be a straight–A student at school, right?”
Lily replied modestly, “Well, I only performed well during the second semester of junior year and throughout senior year at Larkridge High School
Luther asked curiously, “So your performance before that must be excellent, too, huh?”
Vanessa finally found her chance to interject, “She only transferred to Larkridge High Schoolte in her junior year, right before finals.”
Everyone was stunned at this.