"Is there even a need to guess?" Grace Bennett could estimate her daughter's movements based on the time. "You came back so quickly, you couldn't have just been taking a walk in the neighborhood. But isn't Brian Carter not at home during the holidays? Said... there was something going on at a relative's place, went to visit family? If he's not home, what were you doing at his house?"

Brian Carter.

Her childhood friend.

The one who was just now talking all cocky in the chat window.

The two of them have known each other since they were very young.

The Brian family lives in the building right across from hers, less than a three-minute walk away.

She can even see his family's drawn curtains from her bedroom window.

Ryan Bennett slowly stuffed food into her mouth, feeling a bit embarrassed to admit she had gone over to Brian Carter's place just to try out his new projector. Plus, staying at home during the holidays always meant getting nagged by Grace Bennett, so she found herself an excuse: "He... he said he left in a hurry and couldn't remember if he closed the windows, so he asked me to check."

Grace Bennett didn't suspect anything.

As a "soon-to-be high school freshman," Ryan Bennett was having a pretty carefree holiday.

She did well on her high school entrance exams, graduated, and naturally had no homework over the break.

Grace Bennett clearly couldn't stand seeing her daughter so relaxed: "I bought you a few high school textbooks. Start studying during the summer so you won't fall behind after moving up."

"..." Ryan Bennett swallowed her food. "High school... textbooks?"

"The early bird catches the worm, you should understand that."

Ryan Bennett defended herself: "I got into the district's key high school, same as Brian Carter, so I wouldn't call myself a slow starter."

The results had long been released, and each school's cutoff scores were announced.

Ryan Bennett's mock exam scores had always fluctuated—if she got a test that suited her, her scores would skyrocket; if not, they'd be average. So until the very last moment, no one knew what her final score would be.

Luckily, the final exam suited her well.

Grace Bennett concluded, "That was an exceptional performance, just a fluke."

"And how can you even compare yourself to Brian Carter just because you're at the same school?"

Grace Bennett spoke slowly, with a hint of disbelief: "You may be at the same school, but you barely made the cutoff, while he exceeded it by over ninety points."

"......"

Ryan Bennett felt like the food in her mouth was getting stuck.

"But it's strange," Grace Bennett changed the subject, "with his high score, he could have applied to No. 1 High School. Why did he stay here?"

No. 1 High School is the top high school in Lianyun City.

Ryan Bennett didn't apply to schools in the city—first, she couldn't get in, and second, it was too far from home.

Mainly, she couldn't get in.

She firmly chose No. 2 High School. Although the two schools were only one number apart, their cutoff scores were quite different.

She and Brian Carter were childhood friends, but only attended the same elementary school. Back then, she always hung out with the boys, and Grace Bennett thought her personality wasn't very girly, so after elementary school, she sent her to an all-girls' school.

Now that her time at the girls' school was over, she was finally at the same school as him again.

Ryan Bennett thought for a moment. "Maybe it's because it's closer to home."

After saying that, she tried to change the subject. Seeing that only she and Grace Bennett were at the dinner table, she asked, "Where's Uncle Harris?"

The Bennett family is a blended family. Her father left when she was very young, and Grace Bennett raised her alone. When she was seven, she met Uncle Harris. It was also because of the blended family that Ryan Bennett moved here at age seven.

"Your Uncle Harris had something at work," Grace Bennett served her some food. "He'll probably be back late."

After serving the food, Grace Bennett circled back to the previous topic: "Will three textbooks be enough? I heard high school is much harder, and a lot of people are hiring tutors."

"Three is... more than enough."

"You've got nothing to do during the holidays anyway, might as well keep busy."

Ryan Bennett held her rice bowl, but the food was just too hard to swallow.

-

The days that followed were pure torment for Ryan Bennett.

The days of hiding out at Brian Carter's place to use the projector were gone for good.

What lay before her were three textbooks: "Selected: Summer Intensive Training," "Getting a Head Start on High School," and "100 Thinking Skills Problems."

Twenty pages a day.

Every. Single. Day.

-555

-Life is putting pressure on me.

-I'm so miserable

-I can't go on anymore

During a break from doing exercises, Ryan Bennett hid her phone under the textbooks and tapped out, letter by letter, on the screen:

-I'm about to be crushed.

The other party replied in his usual cocky tone.

-I'll burn paper money for you at Qingming

Ryan Bennett: "......"

After taking a deep breath, she exited the chat, opened the contact card, and changed the nickname for Brian Carter—which had been a pun, "Take Medicine"—to "Chi Dog."

But even "Chi Dog" didn't feel satisfying enough.

With her limited vocabulary and good manners, she couldn't think of anything more insulting for now.

She decided not to chat with Brian Carter anymore.

She tapped around in her contacts and opened another chat window.

Then started typing furiously.

-Brian Carter.

-You're not human

-You're a dog