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When He Chose the New Girl, I Chose the Genius
Novelix
Completed
"I stood beside them for a long time. Ethan Carter and Sophie Lane were talking and laughing as if I did not exist. “Ethan,” I called. He frowned, impatience already in his voice. “What?” “There’s a problem I don’t understand. I wanted to ask if you could explain it to me.” Sophie laughed. The sound slipped out before she quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to laugh. Ava, are you trying for the Harvard Scholars recommendation too?” Our senior class had two school-backed recommendation spots for Harvard’s special scholars review program. Ethan was guaranteed one. Everyone assumed the other would go to Sophie, the transfer student who had arrived this semester. Before Sophie came, Ethan had once told me, “Ava, if you get the Harvard recommendation, we’ll be together.” I had held on to that sentence for a long time. I had studied like my life depended on it, just to get a little closer to him. “Why can’t I?” I asked. Sophie froze for a second, then looked at Ethan. He rejected me without hesitation. “Sophie wants that recommendation too. Do you really have to compete with her?” Sophie gently pressed a hand to Ethan’s shoulder, her tone soft."
Chapters (3)
第1章
I stood beside them for a long time.
Ethan Carter and Sophie Lane were talking and laughing as if I did not exist.
“Ethan,” I called.
He frowned, impatience already in his voice. “What?”
“There’s a problem I don’t understand. I wanted to ask if you could explain it to me.”
Sophie laughed.
The sound slipped out before she quickly covered her mouth.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to laugh. Ava, are you trying for the Harvard Scholars recommendation too?”
Our senior class had two school-backed recommendation spots for Harvard’s special scholars review program.
Ethan was guaranteed one.
Everyone assumed the other would go to Sophie, the transfer student who had arrived this semester.
Before Sophie came, Ethan had once told me, “Ava, if you get the Harvard recommendation, we’ll be together.”
I had held on to that sentence for a long time.
I had studied like my life depended on it, just to get a little closer to him.
“Why can’t I?” I asked.
Sophie froze for a second, then looked at Ethan.
He rejected me without hesitation.
“Sophie wants that recommendation too. Do you really have to compete with her?”
Sophie gently pressed a hand to Ethan’s shoulder, her tone soft.
“It’s good that Ava wants to try. You said she doesn’t have the ability, but at least she has ambition.”
Her words hurt more than a slap.
They sounded like she was helping me, but they cut deeper than open mockery.
Ethan gave a cold laugh.
“No one knows her better than I do. Ava Bennett is slow and lazy. She’s never had a head for studying.”
Then he looked at Sophie.
“You’re the one I believe in.”
Sophie smiled at him, as if she had known he would say that all along.
I tightened my grip around my workbook.
“I believe I can earn that spot on my own.”
One of Ethan’s friends snorted.
“Ava, Ethan doesn’t have time for you. If you’re so capable, go ask Noah Reed.”
The boys around Ethan all looked at me with teasing eyes.
“Noah hates spoiled rich kids the most. I wonder if Miss Bennett can even get him to say one word to her.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Ethan laughed too.
At that moment, something in my chest felt blocked.
But when I looked at the smile on Ethan’s face, I suddenly became calm.
If he did not want to teach me, I could ask someone else.
It was only a question.
What was there to be ashamed of?
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go ask Noah.”
The laughter stopped.
“Wait, seriously?”
“Seriously.”
I hugged my workbook tighter.
“There’s nothing embarrassing about asking for help. Noah Reed is ranked first in the whole school by a mile. It would be an honor to learn from him.”
The smile on Ethan’s face stiffened.
His friends kept jeering behind me.
“Ava, don’t come crying back to Ethan after Noah shuts you down.”
I did not turn around.
Amid their laughter, I only walked faster.
第2章
There was a reason people called Noah Reed the untouchable genius of our grade.
His face alone could make people nervous—cold, sharp, distant, the kind of good-looking that felt impossible to approach.
When I arrived at the classroom next door, he was bent over his desk, solving a problem.
A student near the door looked up.
“Who are you looking for?”
“Noah Reed.”
All eyes immediately fell on me.
I walked to Noah’s desk and tried to keep my voice steady.
“Noah, there’s a problem I wanted to ask you about. Is that okay?”
Noah looked up.
His expression was cool, but he did not refuse.
“What problem?”
I handed him my workbook.
Then I took out the black truffle cookies I had originally planned to give Ethan and placed them in front of him.
“I’m not asking for free.”
Noah lifted an eyebrow, his voice lazy with a hint of amusement.
“So you’re bribing me?”
My face warmed.
“It’s not a bribe. It’s a thank-you gift.”
Noah smiled.
He was already good-looking, but when he smiled, my heart skipped.
I suddenly thought that his title as school genius was probably not based only on grades.
“Ava Bennett,” he said, “from now on, if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can come ask me.”
He paused, his eyes still carrying that faint smile.
“And I don’t need payment.”
I stared at him in surprise.
How did he know my name?
Then I immediately figured it out.
I was famous at school for chasing after Ethan Carter. Who didn’t know the girl who followed him around every day?
Noah took my workbook.
“If I explain the problem clearly, that’s enough of a thank-you.”
He showed me three different methods.
I understood every single one.
Afterward, I solved a similar problem and handed it to him.
He looked it over, nodding as he read.
“Not bad. You’re smart.”
“You don’t have to comfort me,” I said quietly. “My grades have always been pretty bad.”
Ethan had explained problems to me before.
But whenever I was even a little slow, he became impatient.
“How can you not understand something this simple? Are you stupid?”
I had tried so hard for so long, but whenever I faced a similar question, I still often had no idea where to begin.
Noah looked at me, his tone calm.
“Has it occurred to you that maybe you’re not stupid? Maybe no one explained the logic clearly before.”
I froze.
It was the first time anyone had ever said that to me.
Who had spread the rumor that Noah was cold and arrogant?
He was clearly very approachable.
Noah’s desk mate turned around.
“Now you’ve seen what our genius can do, right? The people who talk trash about him are just jealous.”
I nodded without thinking.
“Exactly.”
Noah rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Stop praising me.”
When I was leaving, Noah’s desk mate reached for the cookies, but Noah pressed his hand down.
“Noah, I’m hungry. Let me have one.”
“No.”
“You usually share everything with me. Why not today?”
Noah put the cookies into his backpack, his tone light.
“I earned these with my own skill. None for you.”
My heart jumped for no reason.
I quickly hugged my workbook and turned to leave.
第3章
When I returned to my classroom, Sophie was standing beside my seat.
As soon as I pulled out my chair, she came over and placed a hand on my arm.
“Ava, are you still upset?” Her tone was full of concern. “Ethan was only worried you’d set your goal too high. If you don’t get selected, the disappointment will hurt. That’s why he got mad.”
She paused, then added, “But it’s fine. I talked to him. If you have questions now, you can go ask him.”
She made it sound as if she was generously giving me another chance to go back to Ethan.
Suddenly, I felt tired.
When she first transferred here, I had been hurt that Ethan protected her at every turn.
But now I finally understood.
The Harvard recommendation was supposed to be a fair competition. No one had the right to decide whether I deserved to try.
I looked at her hand on my arm and frowned.
“We’re not that close. Also, I don’t need Ethan anymore.”
Sophie froze, then smiled.
“Stop it, Ava. Everyone knows your level.”
“Besides Ethan, who else would be willing to tutor you? You’re not really counting on Noah Reed, are you?”
She leaned closer and lowered her voice.
“If you keep acting out, Ethan might really stop caring about you.”
“I’m not—”
Before I could finish, Sophie suddenly fell backward and landed on the floor.
She lifted her head, eyes red.
“Ava, I was only trying to help you. Why did you push me?”
The classroom went silent.
Ethan strode over, helped Sophie up, and immediately turned on me.
“Ava Bennett, that’s enough. Tell me, what part of you can compare to Sophie?”
I hated that Ethan always compared me with her.
I was me.
She was her.
We were two different people. Why did one of us always have to be better or worse?
I looked at Ethan and said calmly, “Right. I can’t compare to Sophie. Since you’re so protective of her, keep a good eye on her. Don’t let her get hurt by me again.”
Ethan’s brows pulled together.
“Ava, that’s not what I meant. You can throw your spoiled rich-girl temper at me, but Sophie is different.”
He said it as if I was supposed to accept his favoritism and be grateful that he was still willing to deal with me at all.
I was too tired to argue.
I nodded perfunctorily.
“Yes, yes. You’re right. I understand. Ethan, could you move? You’re blocking my light.”
I walked around them, sat down, and opened my workbook.
Ethan’s expression turned ugly.
Sophie gently tugged his sleeve.
“Ethan, my hand is bleeding.”
“I’ll take you to the nurse.”
After they left, I noticed my workbook had fallen to the floor.
I bent down to pick it up.
There was a large patch of dust on the cover, and a shoe print marked the corner. I wiped it several times with a wet tissue, but the stain would not fully come off.
Mia, my desk mate, leaned over and asked quietly, “Ava, did you push her?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
She frowned, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she swallowed it.
I did not rush out to explain.
I did not go to Ethan to demand justice.
I only placed the workbook on my desk and opened it to the page that had been stepped on. There was a clear shoe print on the paper, with a crease beside it from where Sophie had released it.
I stared at the page for a few seconds.
Then my heart suddenly became calm.
Ethan had already decided I pushed her.
No matter what I said now, he would probably think I was making excuses.
I threw the wet tissue into the trash and picked up my pen again.
Ethan and I were probably only ever going to be like this.