School Beauty Accuses Our Class of Cheating Chapter 10
Landon saw the panic on my face and froze for a moment before finally telling me the whole story.
After the results were announced, the entire class cornered Pearl, demanding an explanation. She called everyone to the school rooftop. Then, in front of the entire class, she dropped to her knees.
She cried as she begged for forgiveness, then swore she would take responsibility for what she had done. She told everyone that she often worked part-time as a dancer at high-end clubs and had met plenty of successful people through those connections.
That day, she brought a man in an expensive suit who claimed to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
The man claimed he did not care about a college degree. He told them that with the brains of a top-ranked class, they would be valuable wherever they went. For anyone unwilling to repeat their senior year, he offered them an immediate position at his company, promising executive roles and seven-figure annual salaries.
Landon’s voice was dry and hoarse. It was as though every word was being dragged out of his throat.
“To prove he was serious, that so-called boss handed each person 10,000 dollars in cash right there. A lot of people took it.
“I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen. They said the whole reason people go to college is to make money. If there was already a shortcut right in front of them, why wouldn’t they take it?”
I turned around and grabbed my phone. The moment my finger touched the screen, I realized I was shaking
from head to toe.
“Landon. Call the police. Now!”
A flicker of hesitation crossed his face. “Isn’t that a little too much? Everyone has the right to choose their own
path…”
“Which Fortune 500 CEO personally recruits high school students? And hands out 10,000 in cash on the spot?” I snapped, cutting him off.
“What kind of executive position doesn’t require a degree? Pearl’s just a high school student. The places she goes to… What kind of ‘successful people’ could she possibly have met there?”
When Ms. Zane’s call finally went through, I heard Landon suck in a quiet breath. Nearly half of the graduating class had vanished. The police immediately treated it as a major case.
Soon, they tracked the students’ movements through the surveillance network.
Pearl had taken more than a dozen classmates with her. They headed South with that man, moving from buses to vans and then abandoning vehicles altogether and continuing on foot.
Eventually, they crossed the border and disappeared into the endless rainforest.
The situation was complicated. Yet there was nothing else I could do. I had done everything within my power. The rest was up to the police.
When I finally saw news about them, I was sitting in the airport lounge. My flight was scheduled to board in ten
minutes.
On the television screen, footage showed the rescued students being brought out.
Almost every one of them looked broken. Their clothes were torn and filthy, their bodies covered in wounds.
One student was carried out on a stretcher, one pant leg hanging empty.
Another had both hands wrapped in bandages. His face was covered with burn scars.
Claire was helped out by rescuers. Her eyes were completely empty. Half her hair had been shaved away, and she kept mumbling the same words under her breath.
Diana was crouched on the ground, clutching a car tire. Every time someone approached, she screamed in panic
and lashed out.
The news anchor’s voice echoed from the television.
“According to investigators, this criminal organization has been using fake high-paying job offers to lure victims overseas. Once there, they were illegally detained and forced to participate in telecommunications fraud.
“More shocking still, one of the organization’s key members was identified as the victims’ former classmate, Pearl Lowe. According to the rescued students, she showed no sympathy toward her former classmates and even personally took part in their abuse…”
The footage changed to Pearl being escorted into a police vehicle. Her hands were cuffed. Her hair covered most of her face.
The boarding announcement sounded overhead. I looked away, picked up my bag, and walked toward the gate. Through the glass corridor, I watched an airplane lift from the runway, its nose cutting upward into the clouds.
One college entrance exam might not decide an entire lifetime. However, once you stepped onto some paths, there was no turning back.
