Chapter 7 - The Boy Who Came Second
The recalculated rankings arrived.
Emily Carter:
1
Mason Harrison:
4
The room went quiet when Dr. Whitfield told them.
Mason stared.
“Fourth?”
Three students had been affected by manipulated scoring.
Restoring grades changed the order.
Emily remained first.
But her lead grew from 0.7 to 2.3 points.
Mason had never actually been second.
His mother’s interventions pushed him there.
He cried in the bathroom.
David found him.
“I’m fourth.”
“That is still excellent.”
“That’s not the point.”
“No.”
“My whole year is fake.”
“No.”
“Stop saying no!”
David waited.
Mason’s breathing slowed.
“You studied.”
“Yeah.”
“You wrote the papers.”
“Yeah.”
“You earned something.”
“I don’t know what.”
“That’s what we rebuild.”
Mason withdrew voluntarily from one academic award cycle until his records could be fully verified.
Nobody required it.
Emily heard.
She respected him more for that than any ranking.
At home Evelyn exploded.
“You gave them my laptop.”
Mason stood across the kitchen.
“Yes.”
“You betrayed me.”
“No.”
“You chose that girl over your mother.”
“I chose not lying.”
She slapped the countertop.
“Everything I did was for you!”
Mason shouted back:
“I never asked you to cheat!”
David entered.
“That’s enough.”
Evelyn pointed at their son.
“He’s destroying his future.”
Mason laughed bitterly.
“You already tried to build it for me.”
Then:
“I want my own.”
He walked upstairs.
Evelyn looked at David.
“Do something.”
David shook his head.
“He finally did.”
Their marriage fractured.
Not because of one argument.
Because David discovered how much Evelyn had hidden.
Grade edits.
Invoices.
Messages.
Obsession.
He moved into the guest room.
Later, he filed for separation.
Evelyn blamed Emily.
Then Mason.
Then Walter.
May you like
Then Blake.
Everyone except herself.
