「故事·听力」I Cheated To Enter The Genius Class. But They Caught Me!

I Cheated To Enter The Genius Class. But They Caught Me!

Hello, everyone. My name's Steven. And if I know what it's like to have a dream and to overcome every possible and impossible difficulty on your way... Just sit and listen.

As long as I can remember myself, I've always loved science. But my main passion is space. It started a long time ago when I got my first astronomy book for my birthday.  It's like it had been leading me to the very day when I was standing in front of the school bulletin board and staring at a note that read: " For high school kids...extra aerospace engineering class...pass the test and join..."

Basically my whole life I knew what I wanted to be - an aerospace engineer. And a place in this class was the key to my dream. Everything was just perfect – my grades were high, my desire was strong. Only one tiny detail stood in my way, I was too young. I was only 13 and all the other students were at least 16. I was stunned. I couldn't believe that those 3 years of difference could prevent me from reaching my goal. But rules are rules! Nobody would let me take the test and just thinking about that was so frustrating! What could I do? I thought: "My brother is so lucky to be 16. He can would be accepted to take the exam. Ugh, why can't I just switch places with Sam." I came up with a tricky idea right away and because I had nothing to lose. 

On the examination day I went into the classroom, took the test and signed my worksheet as 'Sam Clark'. My cover wasn't  blown, and you know what? Sam Clark got the highest score. Can you imagine my brother's surprise when we got a call from school saying that he’d had gotten a place in the class? 

My mother was shocked by all this. My dad seemed to be on my side though, but not my brother Sam. He was furious! Sure, he was. I realized that I had framed him, but I was ready to pay the consequences for that. Sam insisted that I had to go confess. And I did, which led to a big scandal with my parents having to go in to the principal's office.

But fortune favors the brave... and the fools. Against all the odds it was decided that they would give me a chance and let me attend the aerospace engineering classes.

On wings of happiness I arrived at that sacred door on the appointed date. I was sure the worst was over, but...never have I been so wrong. 

I found myself among some really bright-minded students, who were both older and more experienced than me. And they all knew that I had gotten my spot in this class by fraud.

The work was very difficult, much more difficult than I had expected and the teacher pretended to not even acknowledge my existence. It seemed that everybody was discriminating against me. 

I was so embarrassed that I just couldn't concentrate on the lecture and when it came to the practice task, I failed... spectacularly! I became the laughing-stock on what I thought was the most important day of my life! I didn't even want to go home after the lesson to and see the look on my parents' faces. I found a quiet place on a bench in the schoolyard where I could be alone and drown in my own sorrows. 

Suddenly I heard a light-hearted giggle behind my back. “There we go..." I thought, "Steven is going to be mocked in 3, 2, 1...” "Hey, mastermind, having a bad day, hah?” That was Angela, a girl from my new class. She was actually smiling and being really nice. I have no idea why she decided to check on me, but she did. She told me to get myself together, that it was my choice to get the ball rolling and that I had to be responsible for it.

Angela offered to help me with my studies for the first couple of weeks. and We became really good friends! We spent all our breaks in the library and it turned out that it was even more exciting to study with a friend, rather than on your own.

Now everything was going like clockwork. I was getting fewer and fewer nasty looks from my classmates, I'd managed to get an excellent grade on the project I had failed on that first day, and I even took part in an interstate math competition together with the other five best students in my class. But... for some reason, Angela wasn't among them, though she seemed to be one of the brightest minds in class. 

And then I started noticing that she was really exhausted all the time. She'd often arrive late for classes and she was rarely ready with her homework. When I tried to ask her what was going on, she just waved it away with a joke.

But one Saturday I was in the mall shopping with my family. We were at the checkout when I saw... Angela? Packing and wrapping pasta, milk, and salad for us? She didn't see me, because she was too busy working.