Noreen scratched her head, feeling a bit awkward in the role of a student again. "I checked it three times."
Halley snorted. "And I suppose I should praise you for that?"
Noreen fell silent, not daring to respond. She'd said that because, in the past, she used to turn in her exams after checking them only once, and she always finished early. After Halley had caught her several times, he'd given her a strict rule: she had to check her work three times from beginning to end and was not allowed to submit it more than forty minutes early. Today, she had pushed it right to the limit.
If it weren't for her afternoon exam, Halley would have given her a proper lecture. He let her off with a warning this time. "You are not to finish early this afternoon!"
"Understood."
With that, Halley continued on his rounds, his hands clasped behind his back. As Henry followed, he passed by Noreen and shot her a disdainful look, a cold, mocking smile playing on his lips.
In terms of academic credentials and knowledge, Bianca completely outclassed Noreen. He had read Bianca's papers during her time at the business school. Her work was of an exceptionally high professional standard, often used by his own professors as case studies. This time, Noreen was bound to fail spectacularly.
Noreen hadn't even left the university grounds when she saw Dylan. He had come inside after all and hadn't left. He had even anticipated she would finish early and was waiting for her outside the exam hall.
"I've booked a restaurant. Let's go get some lunch."
"Okay," Noreen agreed readily. They walked out together, chatting and laughing.
As they crossed the small quad outside the examination building, they ran into Seth's group, who were presumably there to wait for Bianca. It was quite a large, imposing entourage. Noreen and Dylan paid them no attention; Dylan didn't even bother to greet them as they walked past.
Only Lillian glared at Noreen as she passed, but Noreen didn't even look her way. Lillian could have stared until her eyes popped out, and no one would have noticed.
Jude, remembering a piece of gossip he'd just heard, decided to share it with the group. "I just ran into a friend who's a teaching assistant here at Rivercrest. He's a couple of years older than Noreen. He told me something interesting. Want to hear it?"


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