Instead, he tightened his grip on the form and asked, "Serena, since you're still a part of the Vanguard Honors Program... it's your call. Do you want to enter?"
Muffled beneath her jacket, the girl's voice was crisp and cold. "No."
She didn't even bother opening her eyes.
Every single day, Mr. Harrison was ruthlessly hounding her, dragging her through the exhaustive research for the human brain chip project just to deal with the so-called Global Ivy Syndicate challenge.
She had zero interest and even less energy for this kind of child's play.
To her, the whole thing was just a massive, time-consuming nuisance.
But Caleb refused to give up completely. "Serena, this is a collective challenge for the entire Vanguard class. Are you sure you don't want to think about it? If you do decide to join, my team..."
"Caleb Sommers!" Bianca snapped, her brow furrowing heavily, her tone dripping with displeasure and a sharp threat.
Caleb stiffened, turning his head to look at her.
Bianca's face was terrifyingly dark as she glared at him with pure ice. "Why are you wasting your breath on a slacker who barely even shows up to class? What? Are you actually trying to recruit her? Caleb, don't forget your place. You are a dog for the Doyle family."
The deeply humiliating insult made Caleb's face burn crimson.
He gripped the registration form tightly, a violent storm of emotion surging behind the lenses of his glasses.
But in the end, he swallowed his anger, suppressing everything.
The girl slumped on the desk hadn't moved an inch through the entire exchange.
She clearly didn't have a shred of interest in his invitation.
He took a deep breath, pulled the form back, and silently retreated to his seat.
Bianca sneered in triumph.
Mr. Ashwell cleared his throat. "Since Serena doesn't wish to participate, she doesn't have to. We will respect her decision."
He then addressed the rest of the room. "The rest of you, finalize your teams quickly. But think carefully about who you align with. This competition directly impacts Marington College's reputation in the global academic community. I expect you all to give it everything you have!"
Clutching their registration forms, the students' eyes burned with fanatical devotion as they shouted in unison, "We will!"

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