My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 197

Chapter 197 He Signs The Written Petition

74

“We possess nothing to discuss.” He reached down and picked up his briefcase. He avoided my gaze. “I reviewed your biology midterm this morning. You scored a sixty-five. I believed you were the brightest scientific mind in this institution. I was mistaken. You lack focus. You let a high school romance destroy your academic discipline.”

The words stung, but I refused to let the tears fall. I needed his logic, not his pity.

“I did not lose my focus, I countered. I took a step closer. “Question four on the midterm asked for the primary function of the Krebs cycle within cellular respiration. I wrote that it produces lactic acid. That is incorrect. The correct answer is the oxidation of acetyl-CoA to produce NADH and FADH2 for the electron transport chain.”

Mr. Harrison paused. His hand hovered over the door handle of his sedan. He looked at me, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Question twelve required the balanced chemical equation for photosynthesis, I continued. My voice grew stronger. The scientific facts anchored my racing pulse. “I intentionally left out the six molecules of water on the reactant side. I unbalanced the equation on purpose.”

He turned to face me. The strict authority in his posture cracked.

“You sabotaged your own examination,” Mr. Harrison deduced. He possessed a sharp mind. He connected the data points. “You threw the

Valedictorian rank away.”

“I threw it away to protect someone, I confessed. The raw truth hung in the cold air between us. “Chloe Vance found the contract. She threatened to expose the signatures to the principal and trigger Ryder’s expulsion. She demanded the top rank in exchange for her silence. I paid her price.”

“She leaked the document anyway,” he noted.

“Yes. She took the rank and she burned the bridge.” I reached into the front pocket of my hoodie. I pulled out the folded college-ruled paper. I smoothed the creases. “The administration views me as a fraud. The school board plans to expel me. They think I am a desperate girl who tried to manipulate the system for social status. They are wrong. I am a scientist. I believe in merit.”

I held the paper out toward him.

“What is this?” he asked.

“A formal petition for an Academic Tribunal,” I stated. I quoted the handbook from memory. “Pursuant to Appendix G, Section Fourteen, Paragraph C. I dispute the written grade of my midterms. I request a public, oral examination before a panel of senior faculty. I want to answer the biology questions out loud. I want to prove my intellect to the board.”

Mr. Harrison stared at the paper. He did not take it from my hand.

A verbal examination,” he murmured. He recognized the old, archaic rule. “The administration has not convened a public tribunal in

thirty years.

1/3

13:56 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 197 He Signs The Written Petition

74

“The rule remains in the handbook,” I pressed. “If I pass the tribunal, the public score replaces the written grade. I reclaim my grade point average. I take the rank back. I prove Chloe manipulated the system, and I prove my worth to the premed scholarship committee.”

“The petition requires a senior faculty sponsor,’ he said. He met my gaze. The reality of the risk settled over his features.

‘I need your signature.”

Mr. Harrison looked away. He stared at the massive brick science wing in the distance.

I cannot sign that document, Raisa,” he said. His voice held a quiet, genuine regret. ‘Arthur Steinmann controls the school board. Chloe Vance’s mother controls the parent committee. If I sponsor a suspended student, I paint a target on my own back. The administration will terminate my contract. I possess a mortgage. I possess a family. I cannot risk my tenure for a high school dispute.”

The rejection hit my chest like a physical blow. The hope drained from my veins, leaving a hollow, freezing void.

He was my last chance.

“It is not a high school dispute, I pleaded. I stepped into his personal space. I forced him to look at the paper. “It is a fight for the truth. You stood in that classroom on the first day of my freshman year. You told us that science does not care about wealth. You said the scientific method relies on objective facts, not social influence. You promised us a fair assessment.”

He tightened his grip on his briefcase handle.

“The affluent elite rigged the game, Mr. Harrison, I continued. The desperation clawed at my throat. ‘They use their money to crush the working class. They use blackmail to steal the achievements they cannot earn. If you walk away from this, you let them win. You prove that the Crestview Prep science department is just another commodity bought and paid for by the billionaires.”

“That is enough, Miss Petrova.”

“It is the truth!” I raised my voice. The sound echoed across the empty parking lot. “I possess the brilliant mind you claim to value. I possess the raw intellect. I just need a chance to stand on a stage and speak the answers. I have nothing else. This is my only way out of

the dark.”

I held the paper suspended in the space between us. My hand shook. The cold wind bit through my clothes, but I refused to lower the

petition.

Mr. Harrison stared at the blank line at the bottom of the page.

He weighed the massive political risk against his core beliefs. He spent twenty years teaching teenagers how to find the truth in complex data. He hated the toxic politics of the administration. He hated the unearned arrogance of the wealthy students. He recognized the profound injustice of the morning.

He looked at my face He saw the exhausted, terrified girl from the East Side. He saw the genius who balanced chemical equations with

flawless precisION

2/3

13:56 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 197 He Signs The Written Petition

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify