Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 394

But the moment the other students spotted Mira, they swarmed her.

"Oh my god, Mira, we finally get to meet you in person!"

"I'm a massive fan, can I get your autograph?"

"Can we take a selfie?"

...

Mira smiled warmly. "We're all representing Auremont District, so I guess that makes us classmates."

She signed their notebooks and posed for group photos.

The only ones excluded from the photos were the three students from the Academy. Who did they think they were, acting so arrogant?

"Mira, we're going to set up an official fan club group chat to support you!"

"Thank you."

Having a fan club wasn't a bad idea. They could chat in their free time and build a rapport. In the future, if a PR crisis hit, these people would be her vocal advocates. If her company ever needed grassroots marketing or promotions, her fans would be the first to rally behind her.

For a while, everyone revolved around Mira, leaving the three Academy students completely isolated.

"So she has a few artistic talents, big deal. It's not like we're applying to art school. This is an academic competition. Acing the college entrance exams is what actually matters," Zander May scoffed to his two classmates.

"But her academic grades are insane, too," Logan Gentry pointed out, glancing over at Mira's lively crowd.

She dominated both academics and the arts, outperforming them on every front. Did they really have any right to act superior?

"We can be rivals with Melvion Central, but we should at least acknowledge when someone is genuinely talented," Logan added.

Zander rolled his eyes. "Why are you kissing her ass and putting us down? Even if we lose today, the final battle is the college entrance exams."

By highlighting their strengths, she made it clear she didn't view herself as an untouchable celebrity.

"We can learn from each other," Dyson said smoothly.

The truth was, these two were incredibly gifted at English—especially in spoken fluency, listening comprehension, and pronunciation. It made Mira, who was a product of a rigid, test-oriented education system, feel genuinely outclassed.

The two boys joined the group chat and added Mira as a friend.

By then, it was time to enter the testing center.

The five-subject decathlon was split over two days. During the breaks, Mira huddled with the others to compare answers.

Sometimes, they would just debate the questions directly in the new fan group chat. The roster of that chat was incredibly elite, consisting entirely of the top three district champions and the sharpest minds from every school.

Mira was in high spirits after the exams, but on the drive back to Melvion Central, a massive freight truck suddenly veered across the median, barreling directly toward their van...