Chapter 3

Stewart couldn't hold his expression, so he changed the subject.

"Bottom line, I'm telling you, this award belongs to Eva. Watch your mouth."

"Gertrude took care of me for twenty years. She's practically my second mother. Once you marry me, you'll be honoring her too."

"Just think of this invention as you getting a head start on being a good daughter-in-law."

I brought my hand up and slapped him across the face.

"If you can't talk like a decent human being, shut up."

"Stewart, if you don't set today's story straight, you can start getting ready for prison."

I turned to leave, and he yanked me back, pulling my phone out of my bag.

"So you were recording. I knew it."

He gave a contemptuous little laugh, deleted the recording, then checked my cloud drive too, just to be sure.

"Now you've got no evidence left. If you go around running your mouth, you're the one going to prison."

He tossed the phone back at me and walked off.

I watched his back and quietly pressed the button on my glasses.

I really had been recording.

Just not audio. Video.

These glasses were my invention too, made to help students in class, with a built-in recording function.

The phone recording was only a smokescreen for Stewart, thrown out so he wouldn't dig through my other things.

What had just happened in the classroom was already all over the school forum.

The whole board was mocking me.

【Getting her boyfriend to help steal the housekeeper's daughter's invention. The nerve of her, thinking that up.】

【Good thing Stewart's an honest guy, or who'd stand up for the underdog?】

【Best episode ever of a poor kid coming out on top! I feel refreshed just reading it!】

【Heard the award committee's coming to our school in person next week to hand out the prize. Think Eve's going to lose her mind?】

Coming to the school next week for the ceremony?

I opened the official site, and sure enough, there it was: the award committee, amazed that someone like Eva with no training at all could invent a robot, was coming to the school to present her with a special award.

I put the glasses away and dropped the idea of sending the video evidence to the committee. Instead, I left an anonymous comment in the comment section.

【Could they demo the robot on the day of the ceremony? We'd all love to see it.】

I gave it a few likes from a burner account, then forwarded the comment to a couple of tech enthusiast groups.

By the next day, the comment had shot to the top, and the award committee had replied to it themselves:

【We've received the students' request. Consider it arranged!】

I smiled, satisfied.

Since Eva loved the spotlight so much, I'd let her have a big one.

It would also keep anyone from claiming, if I quietly took the award back myself, that I'd used some dirty trick to steal it from her.

Soon the day of the ceremony arrived.

The whole school, teachers and students, had gathered on the field, waiting to watch the poor girl made good receive her honor.

"Eve spent over a hundred grand on robotics classes and still didn't win. Eva did it all on her own. That's what you call earning it."

"She's really made ordinary people proud. I'm so moved I could cry."

"Eve actually showed up. Some nerve. If I were her, I'd be too ashamed to be seen."

I tilted my head and looked over.

"Why would I have no face to be here?"