The Mocked Miss’s Hidden Crowns novel Chapter 1607

How could this happen?

Karan just stood there, completely stunned, staring at the projection screen with red, unblinking eyes. The final scores for the five finalists were right there for everyone to see, ranked from highest to lowest.

Her name was at the very top.

Karan—298 points.

Right underneath, in second place, was Shirley, with 289 points.

She beat Shirley by almost ten points.

So… Karan actually won?

She kept staring at the rankings, but all the color had drained from her face. There was no denying it. The results were right there, clear as day.

It didn’t make sense. She could hardly breathe.

She was sure Mr. Lane had helped Shirley cheat. Shirley had been so confident, handing in her paper way before time was up. And yet, Shirley lost.

How was that even possible? What was going on?

“Wait, Shirley’s not first? How is it Karan?” Someone in the audience broke the silence, voices echoing with shock.

Someone else jumped in, “Karan probably thought she was already losing, so she tried to blow things up. Blaming Mr. Lane and Shirley for cheating—look where that got her. I can’t wait to see how she gets out of this one.”

“Didn’t Karan already report the cheating to Apex? They must know by now. There’s no way she can walk this back.”

“That’s not just an accusation,” another student said. The girls from Shirley’s class, the ones who’d stood up for her before, were furious.

“And for the record… Dr. Cole wouldn’t even bother with a small event like this. She’s far too busy. No way could we get her to write problems for a school competition.”

Gary glanced at Karan, and his words grew ice-cold. “Honestly, if she had written the questions, none of you would have solved them—not even close. Karan, do you have anything else to say for yourself?”

Karan just stood there, hands clenched in front of her, shoulders bent, her proud anger completely gone. She never thought things would turn out like this. Never once imagined that Shirley hadn’t gotten any special help. Never even dreamed that she—the one who started all the drama—would be the one to win the exchange spot.

“I…” The words stuck in Karan’s throat. Dozens of eyes followed her every move. But she felt absolutely none of the excitement she should have felt standing there as the winner. Instead, all she felt was a heavy weight pressing down on her chest, making it hard to breathe.

She tried to speak up, her voice shaking. “I… I just want to know—why did Shirley hand in her paper early?”

She looked over at Shirley, standing beside her. They’d shared the same lab for so long. If there was one thing Karan was sure of, it was that Shirley would never submit unfinished work without a good reason.

“Me?” Shirley replied softly, glancing at Karan. She seemed to get what Karan really wanted to know, and just answered, plain and honest, “I didn’t know how to do the last step. I couldn’t finish it.”