She Called Me a Cheat, But the Principal Begged Me to Enroll Chapter 01
After I transferred to Riverton Arts Academy, I placed first in every internal portfolio review I entered.
Even in cross-country time trials, I stayed at the top of the women’s open division.
The Annual All-Around Excellence Scholarship was calculated from portfolio rank, athletic points, and community service. My overall score was more than ten points ahead of Brandon Wells, who ranked second.
That afternoon, student conduct advisor Madison Blake summoned me to her office, her face dark with anger.
The second the door closed, she started digging through my running bag and jacket pockets.
No explanation. No warning. She searched me like I had already been convicted.
“Girls like you are all vanity and shortcuts,” she snapped. “Always trying to fake your way to the top. This time, I caught you red-handed in the inter-school five-mile race, didn’t I?”
Then she turned to Brandon Wells, and her voice turned syrupy.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make this right for you. This year’s Annual All-Around Excellence Scholarship will still be yours.”
She practically simpered at him.
“And you’ll still teach me how to shoot threes as my reward, won’t you?”
I stared at the spare timing chip in Madison’s hand.
For a second, I honestly had no idea what I was looking at. Then I recognized it.
It was a spare chip from the boys’ varsity team, not the official chip linked to my race bib.
Riverton’s inter-school five-mile race used both bib timing and ankle chip timing. Every chip had its own number, linked to a runner’s name, division, and split records.
The women’s open division and the boys’ varsity division were not even in the same data system.
Even if someone had shoved that boys’ spare chip into my bag, it still could not touch my result.
I opened my mouth to explain, but Madison’s hand cracked across my face before I could get a word out.
“I’ve seen plenty of girls like you,” she said. “What, are you going to cry now and play victim? I don’t buy that garbage.”
My cheek burned.
She looked pleased with herself.
“I’ve already reported this to Dean Miller. Just wait until every one of your race results gets canceled. Then you can pack your things and get out of Riverton for good.”
I was so angry I almost laughed.
Fine. Let them throw me out.
Principal Harris had driven to my house three times and offered full financial aid, an art-supply grant, and college application support just to recruit me as an art scholarship student.
Cancel my athletic results?
That would not ruin my life.
When I stayed quiet, Madison folded her arms and looked me over like I was a stray dog she had found in the hallway.
“Scared now? Maybe you should have thought about that before you cheated.”
“This school values sportsmanship and character. A rotten little stain like you transferring in only drags Riverton’s name through the mud.”
The words scraped at me.
Only a few months earlier, Principal Harris had come to my home with financial aid contracts, art-supply sponsorships, and college application resources. He had tried hard to convince me to leave my old public arts high school and transfer here from out of state.
If my family had not needed the money, I never would have left.
I never would have traded my old school for this expensive Boston private academy that looked more like a museum than a campus.
Madison pulled out my student file. She pinched my need-based aid application between two fingers, like the paper itself was dirty, then hid her smirk behind one hand and read aloud.
“Ava Carter. Mother bedridden long-term. Father visually impaired. Whole family living on state assistance and community aid.”
She looked me up and down.
“No wonder you cheated. Poverty clings to girls like you.”
“But being poor doesn’t give you the right to tamper with a race. Girls like you steal grades in school, and once you get out into the real world, God knows what you’ll sell for opportunities.”
Her gaze stopped on my old running shoes. The fabric had been washed so many times it had faded almost white.
Beside Brandon’s brand-new limited-edition trainers, they looked painfully out of place.
I could not take it anymore.
Did Riverton screen its teachers at all, or did it just hand out titles to anyone with a badge?
I swallowed my anger, but I did not bother being polite.
“Ms. Blake, first of all, the cheating accusation has not been investigated.”
“Second, you just insulted my family and my character. Does that count as defamation?”
Another slap landed.
This one was harder. The cheap rhinestones glued to her nails scraped my cheek open.
“Ava Carter, I went too easy on you the first time. Cheating is cheating, and you still refuse to admit it.”
“Girls like you only get anywhere by training yourselves half to death. How could you possibly beat a naturally gifted boy like Brandon in the last mile?”
She pointed at him again.
“A poor transfer student from some out-of-state town. First in portfolio reviews. First in the women’s five-mile race. More than ten points ahead of Brandon overall. If you didn’t cheat, what else could it be?”
The more she talked, the angrier she became. Every word sharpened itself around her need to defend Brandon.
The other teachers in the office started looking over.
“What is Madison doing this time? Which boy is she defending now?”
“Brandon Wells. The one ranked second overall. I heard the new transfer girl messed with a timing chip in the five-mile race, and Madison found evidence.”
“Honestly, I get why she’s suspicious. Some out-of-state girl shows up, ranks first in portfolio review, places first in cross-country, and beats the star student our own school trained by more than ten points. Doesn’t that make us look useless?”
Whatever goodwill I had left for this so-called elite arts prep school disappeared.
My old school had a shabby studio. The track was cracked like a dried riverbed.
But the teachers respected every student.
They did not assume a student was dirty just because she was poor. They did not look at a worn-out pair of shoes and decide the person wearing them must be guilty.
I wiped the blood from my cheek.
That was when Brandon finally spoke.
“Ms. Blake,” he said gently, “maybe this is a misunderstanding. Ava is usually quiet. She doesn’t seem like someone who would cheat in a race.”
His voice was soft.
His eyes were not.
I remembered something.
Before coming to Madison’s office, I had run into him in the gym stairwell. He had been carrying a basketball bag, and his shoulder had brushed against my running bag.
The zipper had come open an inch or two. The side pocket had bulged, as if something had been shoved inside.
I had been in a hurry, so I had not thought much of it.
Now, looking at his innocent face, my stomach sank.
Before Brandon even finished speaking, Madison lifted her voice into a sweet, fake little coo.
“You boys are too trusting. You always fall for girls who know how to act helpless.”
“I’ve seen too many girls like this. They soften their voices, turn on the tears, and wait for boys like you to feel sorry for them.”
She pulled out a tube of lipstick and scrawled a few huge words across a sheet of paper.
Then she slapped the paper onto my chest.
“Enough. It’s a scratch. Stop being dramatic. Cheaters get punished. Keep that sign on and run twenty laps.”
Madison shoved me toward the door and pulled it open.
“What are you waiting for? Trying to look weak so Brandon will pity you?”
Cold wind rushed in.
A male teacher tried to stop her.
“Ms. Blake, it’s freezing outside. Twenty laps is too much.”
“If she really cheated, this should go to the athletics office and the student conduct committee for a proper investigation first.”
He would have been better off staying quiet.
The second he spoke, Madison lost it.
“She’s a poor student. Since when is twenty laps too much for her? Doesn’t she take care of her bedridden mother and half-blind father at home?”
“So why is she suddenly too delicate to move at school? What, is she some little princess now?”
She opened the door wider and kicked me in the calf.
“Go. You don’t stop until you’re done.”
I looked down at the paper stuck to my chest.
In bright red lipstick, it read, “I CHEATED IN THE RACE.”
I clenched my jaw.
If she wanted a scene, I could give her one.
