Gary was unaware that, for the usual competitions, Nicole would only need to scan through the questions before she answered them at top speed. She really did not need to listen to the long and complicated solutions Mr. Louis was teaching.
Nicole did not wait for the frozen Gary. She had simply chosen a dorm room that morning, so she did not get a good look at it. Besides, she had yet to meet her roommates, so she sped up her pace. Though some people were talking about her on her way back to the dormitory, she could vaguely hear keywords like “evil” and “the campus queen.” However, Nicole did not mind that and went to her dormitory straight away.
When she got to the dormitory, the other two roommates had already returned to the room. Lulu widened her eyes as she watched Nicole walking in as if she did not expect Nicole to be her roommate.
Nicole also knew the other roommate. She was June, their English class representative. Since June was a hardworking student, she did not really mingle around with her classmates. She seemed really prideful and cold, so everyone gave her a secret nickname, “Nerd.” Both Nicole and Lulu were not close with June, so June had just glanced at Nicole when Nicole walked in. June did not even greet her as she lowered her head, busy with something.
Lulu walked toward Nicole happily. “So, you are the new girl. This is fantastic, Nicole. We’re going to stay together from today onwards!” Nicole nodded to Lulu indifferently. Her bed was already done by the servants of the Riddle family. She sat on her bed and started to open her duffel bag, which was her luggage. After taking out and putting her daily necessities in place, she stored her laptop in the cabinet above her headboard and locked it.
When Lulu saw Nicole reading a book after tidying up her place, she walked over and asked hesitantly, “Nicole, I heard the Maths Olympiad training class you attend teaches a different syllabus than ours. Could you tell me about the Olympiad math questions you learned?”
Nicole nodded and passed Lulu the pile of example questions from Mr. Louis that afternoon. Lulu’s eyes sparkled. “Are these for me?” She had wanted the Maths Olympiad questions for a long time, but she just could not participate in the competition as she was not on par. “Thank you, Nicole! I’ll do them now. Can I ask for your help if I have questions?”
After getting Nicole’s reassurance, Lulu happily ran back to her spot to answer the questions. But it only took a few minutes before she returned to Nicole gloomily. “Nicole, I don’t even understand a single question. Could you explain it to me?” Before Nicole could respond, June, who was busy memorizing individual words, said frustratedly, “Are you done, Lulu Barrera? Do you know that some of us are trying to study
r you chirping even with my headphones on!” June was already annoyed that Lulu was a committee member of the study club despite being an average grader. However, June could only be the English class representative despite sitting in the third row in class.
After being yelled at by June, Lulu felt so wronged that she did not dare to speak anymore.
Nicole looked at Lulu’s scrunched-up face and said, “I’m hungry, so I’m heading to the cafeteria. Are you coming?”
Lulu immediately nodded, and they left the dorm, one behind the other. On their way to the cafeteria, Lulu said she could not understand how her soft voice disturbed June. Nicole and Lulu got their food and started to dig in as Lulu asked Nicole for the solutions to the Maths Olympiad questions she saw just now.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: My Wife Act Differently Behind Me