Once they'd put some distance between us, snickering drifted back toward me,
as if they could already see the ruin they'd lined up for me this time around.
My mom looked baffled.
"Miriam, what's going on with Ethan? And that girl next to him, she's in your class too, right? Why are they both avoiding you like that? They don't know you're not taking the exam! They didn't even say hello!"
"Oh, they probably just didn't see me."
I pulled Mom and Dad over to a quiet corner and sat them down.
"You've been busy all morning and most of the students are already inside. Take a break."
I was sitting by the school gates with my parents, chatting about life after college,
when a commotion broke out near the campus security office.
More than a dozen security guards and over a dozen teachers hurried past us, heading straight for the exam rooms.
Minutes later, they came back—hauling students out by the arms.
I stood up and craned my neck to look inside—all fifty-six of my classmates, every single one, with Molly and Ethan dead center. The parents who'd been gathered near the school gate were already surging toward them, and the proctor's face was ashen.