“Huh?” Shirley blinked, caught off guard.
Charlotte didn’t say anything else. She walked straight over to a cafe nearby, nudged a chair out with her foot, and dropped into it. “Hand me the worksheets.”
“It’s way too noisy here... I, um, I don’t think I can focus. Let’s go outside to work on them.” Shirley hurried over, crouched down next to Charlotte, and rested her chin on the table, her cheeks scrunching up.
“It’s all the same to me.”
Charlotte lounged back in her chair, eyes lowered as she spun a pencil between her fingers. “I’ll do them for now. You can check my answers later.”
“Okay.” Shirley’s face lit up as she pulled out the worksheets, smoothing them carefully onto the table. She lowered her voice, almost whispering. “I’ll wait by the entrance, just in case. If you need anything, call me and I’ll come right back.”
Charlotte waved her away. When Shirley bounced off, Charlotte tossed the pencil aside and let her head fall back, bored.
Half an hour later, the host’s voice came over the speakers, announcing the event was about to wrap up.
Shirley came running back, arms full of gifts. That finally made Charlotte look up. She glanced over the worksheet, skimming through the answers, then grabbed a pencil and marked them without much thought.
“Charlotte, you’re killing it!” Shirley leaned in, eyes shining as she peered at the multiple-choice section. “You only did ten questions... but you got all ten right.”
Charlotte just pressed her lips together, a bit of tiredness in her eyes.
Honestly, she’d been so bored she nearly dozed off. If she’d had a little more time, she could have finished even more.
“See? My tutoring money isn’t going to waste.”
Was that really her doing?
Shirley’s cheeks flushed. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a thick stack of handwritten notes. “Guess I need to step up my game. Charlotte, you... you should probably memorize all of these.”
Charlotte quickly pulled her hand back, chin tilting toward the stage. “Isn’t your idol about to leave? Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”
“Oh!” Shirley hugged her notes to her chest and dashed off. “Charlotte, wait for me. I’ll be right back!”
At the mall entrance, a black van waited with its doors open. Security guards kept the crowd of fans on either side.

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