Exchange - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

He grabbed my arm excitedly. “Pinky swear?”

I held up three fingers and swore a solemn oath. He sighed, relieved, and slung an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t forget me when you’re famous!” “If I get lucky and publish some groundbreaking physics paper, I’ll put you in mine, too!”

I got home around eleven. Not too late. I decided to read a couple of chapters of The Princeton Companion before bed. But Jessica was losing it, claiming the sound of pages turning was keeping her awake. This from the girl who used to revel in my futile all–nighters when I was failing. She pounded on my door.

“Ashley! You’re wasting your time! You’ll never be better than me! Give up! Besides, you’re so ugly now. No guy will ever want you! Men conquer the world. Women conquer men. Get it?”

I didn’t get it. Why couldn’t women conquer the world? Wasn’t that way more interesting than conquering some guy? Especially a guy like Ethan, who was second to last in our class. What world was he going to conquer?

“Jessica, some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, you were born with your foot in your mouth. It’s the 21st century! Haven’t you heard of gender equality?”

I swear I heard the system say, “You go, girl!” in an indignant tone. Speaking of which, why was the system helping me? And why hadn’t it told Jessica about the consent thing?

“Sys, Sys, are you there? I have a question.” I whispered, hoping for some answers. The aloof system remained silent. Fine. System’s mind, deep as the ocean. Unreadable.

In math class, Mr. Jones was going over the practice SAT, “Starting from the front, third row, each of you explain one multiple–choice question.”

My turn. The last question. The one with the wrong answer. “First off, the answer key’s wrong. It’s not B, it’s D. The third step should be…”

Mr. Jones cut me off, irritated. “What is it with you two sisters? One never studies, the other finally shows some improvement and starts arguing with the answer key.”

“Just read the solution. I checked it. It’s correct.” He was clearly taking out his frustration with Jessica on me. Before I could respond, Professor Chen and Alex appeared at the door. The principal, Mr. Lee, practically bowed as he ushered them in.

Professor Chen clapped Mr. Lee on the shoulder, a smug look on his face. “Lee, you’ve done well for yourself! You were the least promising student in my ’87 graduate class. Now look at you, principal of Southwood High.”

Mr. Lee, glancing at me, quickly changed the subject. “Young lady, arguing with your teacher is unacceptable. Sit down.” He addressed the class. “Professor Chen has an important lectureat UCLA tonight, and he’s invited one of our exceptionally gifted math students to attend.

Who’s Ashley Ellis?”