The sight of the group strutting into the control room made the security guy inside jump up from his sea
t.
âWâWhatâs going on, Mr. Brown?â
Why would so many lecturers be here if it wasnât something major?
The thought of that had him all tensed up.
âRelax. Itâs not that big of a deal. We just want to review the security footage to ascertain some facts, th
atâs all.â
âThe security footageâ¦â answered the security guard between stutters. âBut the
schoolâs surveillance system underwent an upgrading these past few days. Iâm afraid a review wonât be
possible as we donât have the footage from last week anymore.â
âWhat? A systems upgrade?â Donovanâs inflection raised a notch.
This matter also slipped Marcusâ mind until he had been reminded of it just then.
âIt would seem that weâve hit a deadâ
end,â Marcus said. âIn that case, you can all have her resit the papers after the charity event has conclu
ded.â
âHow could that do?â Donovan protested. âHaving already done them once, with a good memory, it wou
ld not be difficult for her to ace the papers again. Iâd say that Arielle must have known about the upgradi
ng
works for the surveillance system during this period and had thus taken the
opportunity to cheat, so why donât you just expel her outrightâ¦â
âNo way!â replied Marcus, cutting him off. âThereâs no way that
Iâd expel any student on a whim, especially given the lack of proof. What
would people think of Jadeborough University if we handle things so irresponsibly?â
Arthur nodded profusely as he concurred. âIn my esteem, Arielle was not guilty of cheating, to begin
with. Didnât you also help with the invigilation yourself during the exams back then, Mr.
Brown? With two lecturers supervising the examination proceedings, even cheating
just a little couldnât possibly lead to full marks.â
Marcusâ eyes suddenly lit up. âSpeaking of the invigilation, it actually reminded me
of something. Didnât you say that the paper for advanced mathematics
was exceedingly difficult? I didnât get the sense that Arielle felt that way when I watched her work
on it. That goes to show that she was indeed quite gifted.â
âNo,â Donovan dismissed it flatly. âThat actually proved that she did cheat. For something
that challenging, even I could not have scored maximum points in my first attempt. Unless you mean to
suggest that a student could be more learned than a teacher like me? Somethingâs definitely off about
this!â
That drew a taut frown from Marcus. âThen, what do you suggest should be done? We canât review the
footage now, and I cannot approve of an immediate expulsion either.â
Donovanâs chin perked up slightly. âAt the charity event tonight, I shall issue an apology to Arielle for th
e two prior incidents. However, we must have a resolution pertaining to the matter of cheating at hand.â
âPerhaps you should go ahead and share your thoughts about it.â
Donovan took in a deep drawl. âIâve decided that
Iâd publicly question Arielle in full witness of everyone present at the charity event.â
âQuestion her?â Arthur asked in skepticism. âWhatever do you mean to say by that?â
âItâs quite elementary. In order to increase the level of difficulty of the papers, I
had purposefully added some content related to quantum mechanics when I
was formulating the examination questions. The fact that Arielle was able to score full marks meant that
Arthur frowned in disapproval. âBut
thatâd become obvious to both the students and their parents that weâre suspecting her of cheating.â
âHehe,â Donovan laughed. âArenât you positive that she did not, Professor Sleight, so why are you so wo
now? If you didnât have your own suspicions, you neednât be at all concerned for her. Besides, she woul