Chapter 132: Seeing the Teacher
"I’m not going." Upon hearing the suggestion, Brooke York’s first reaction was to refuse, and she was adamant.
’Me, go ask? I really don’t want to hear anyone mention my score again.’
’What’s the difference between that and just asking for more humiliation?’
"What do you mean you’re not going? Don’t you need to find out why? Why did you get a zero? Did someone swap your results, or what? You have to get to the bottom of this. Otherwise, do you really want people to remember you for this for the rest of your life?"
Alice Cole was frustrated by her daughter’s lack of fight. She couldn’t believe Brooke York was still trying to run from the problem.
Brooke York said nothing. She was absolutely terrified of leaving the house. Go see Mr. Parker? ’How could I possibly show my face out there?’
Seeing Brooke like this, Alice Cole’s anger deflated, and her tone grew earnest. "Brooke, I know you’re scared of seeing people right now. You feel like everyone’s laughing at you. But Mr. Parker said you need to go to the school in person. He’ll explain the reason; he said it’s too complicated to explain over the phone."
"For the sake of getting some clarity, and to figure out exactly what went wrong, I really think you need to go to the school."
Alice Cole said no more, waiting for Brooke York to make her decision.
In any case, she felt they needed to get a clear answer. Running away wasn’t a solution.
"Fine, I’ll go!" Brooke York agreed.
Just as Alice Cole said, she had to find out why she got a zero. Her score shouldn’t be this low. ’How could I possibly get a zero?’
The two of them went straight to Mr. Parker’s office when they arrived at the school.
Mr. Parker happened to be in his office and wasn’t at all surprised to see Brooke York and Alice Cole.
"You’re here."
"Hello, Mr. Parker," Alice Cole said, greeting him with a nod.
"Mr. Parker," Brooke York echoed.
"Please, sit," Mr. Parker said, standing and gesturing toward the sofa area.
As the three of them sat down, Brooke York felt a little nervous just looking at Mr. Parker.
"You’re here to ask why the score was a zero, right?"
Mr. Parker had an expression that said, ’I knew it.’ After all, even though he had explained the reason on the phone that night, he knew they probably hadn’t been listening carefully at the time.
And even if they had heard, they were bound to still have questions.
"That’s right, Mr. Parker. You’ve always been aware of Brooke’s academic performance. Her scores on the three mock exams slipped a little, but they were still good. There’s no way her college entrance exam result could be a zero!" Alice Cole asked anxiously.
"Don’t worry. The first reason Brooke got zeros across the board is that she didn’t write her name or her student ID number. Nothing was filled in."
Hearing this, Brooke York breathed a sigh of relief. ’So it wasn’t a problem with my knowledge, just that I was too careless.’
Now that he mentioned it, she seemed to recall not writing her name and the other information.
Alice Cole also let out a sigh of relief. ’And here I was thinking Brooke’s academic ability had really gone down the drain!’
"That’s not the only reason. If it were just that, there might be a chance to fix it. It’s just... that problem *did* happen. But there’s another reason: you filled out the content for every test on the wrong paper. I mentioned this on the phone, but you probably weren’t listening closely at the time."
As Mr. Parker spoke, Brooke York remembered overhearing him say something similar when Alice Cole was on the phone with him.
He had said she put her math answers on the English paper, her English answers on another, and so on. Everything was mixed up.
Alice Cole was left speechless. She knew exactly what had happened over those two days.
It was obvious: exhausted from her bout of diarrhea, Brooke York had been barely conscious during the exams and had just scribbled things down randomly.
"Mr. Parker, given the situation, would it be best for Brooke to repeat the year?"
Alice Cole was quick to recover and ask about the next steps.
’She has to repeat the year, no matter what,’ she thought. ’I can’t let my daughter’s education end here. How can she be any worse than that Chloe York!’
"Yes, repeating the year is an option. But if I may ask, Brooke... what happened to you that day?"
He had only taken over this class in its final month, but he had a general understanding of its students.
Overall, their results were excellent, which made Brooke York’s situation seem utterly impossible. If she had performed normally that day, her score would have certainly been over 700. It was truly a shame.
That was why Mr. Parker couldn’t resist asking. He was simply too curious about what had put Brooke York in such a state on the day of the exam.
Alice Cole and Brooke York exchanged a glance, but neither of them explained the reason.
Mr. Parker could see they didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t press the issue. The results were out, and that was that. Besides, he hadn’t been their teacher from start to finish, so he wasn’t overly invested in Brooke York’s case.
Alice Cole stood up. "Well, Mr. Parker, thank you for your time. We’ll be on our way."
Brooke York stood up with her.
"Alright. Take care," Mr. Parker said, also rising.
The two of them were silent all the way from the office until they were back in the car. Only then did Alice Cole speak. "You heard him. It wasn’t because you didn’t know the material; you just filled out the wrong papers. Repeating the year is the best path forward now."
"I’ll repeat the year," Brooke York replied. She had to. ’How else can I redeem myself?’
"That’s right, Brooke. Repeat the year. After you repeat, you’ll definitely be the top scorer in next year’s college entrance exam," Alice Cole said, taking Brooke York’s hand to encourage her.
"Yeah."
"Don’t worry about your father. I won’t let him give up on you."
Even as she said it, Alice Cole’s biggest worry was Miles York. He was a man who valued profit above all else—he cared most about whether a person could bring him tangible benefits.
And now, Brooke York’s actions had clearly embarrassed Miles York. He hadn’t even come home for the past few days, and no one knew what he was thinking or what he planned to do.
Hearing Alice Cole bring up Miles York, Brooke York grew worried as well.
She had planned to use her performance on the exam to earn more of Miles York’s trust and affection. She never imagined she would end up causing him such a huge loss of face instead.
"Mom, has Dad said anything these past few days?"
Brooke York had been hiding in her room for the past few days, with maids even bringing her meals, so she had no idea that Miles York hadn’t been home at all.
Hearing Brooke York ask about Miles York, Alice Cole’s expression grew a little uneasy.
’Miles York hasn’t come home at all. He must be utterly disappointed in Brooke by now.’
But she couldn’t bring herself to tell Brooke that; it would only upset her further.
"What could he possibly say? No matter how bad your score was or how much face you lost, could it be any more embarrassing than what Chloe York did back in the day? Besides, you’re his biological daughter. What can he say?"
The way Alice Cole said it felt strange to Brooke York, as if her mother were just trying to placate her.
But regardless, what was done was done. There was no changing it now.