Chapter 53

The viewers’ comments weren’t showing up, and the screen showed only one message: it was from SpringSlumber.

The viewers read the message and realized the moment they’d been waiting for had arrived: Shermaine was in the live stream for the match.

Worried that he’d miss any updates from Shermaine, Trevor had been closely watching the comment section. But he didn’t expect her to make such a special and attention-grabbing entrance.

Shermaine sent another message: [I am Shermaine. Invite me.]

There were no other comments beneath it. No one else could push her comment up. No one knew how she managed to pull this off.

Trevor thought for a moment but didn’t dwell on it. He quickly exited his chess game against the computer and replied, (What’s your chess ID?)

Shermaine answered, (Same as above.) Her chess ID was also “SpringSlumber.”

Trevor quickly added Shermaine as a friend and invited her to the game. He clicked “Start” right away.

The countdown began: three, two, one. Right after, the comments in the live stream started flooding in. Shermaine had lifted the restriction.

[Am I lagging?]

[Why aren’t my comments going through?]

[I kept hitting the comment button, but nothing showed up. I thought YouTube had crashed, but comments worked fine in other streams. I just couldn’t send comments in this one.]

[FYI, Shermaine’s comment went through just fine. So the only conclusion is–none of us, except her, could post comments here just now.]

They couldn’t help but wonder how Shermaine pulled that off and if she was some kind of tech genius, but for now, no one had any answers.

As soon as the match began, Trevor’s live stream viewership skyrocketed, instantly surpassing ten million and continuing to climb. As a world champion, he enjoyed immense popularity. Plus, he was now challenging an amateur. Naturally, everyone had been eagerly looking forward to the showdown.

Meanwhile, Clyde was bored watching Wendelyn’s stream, which was all about skincare tips. He was practically dozing off and thought that scrolling through his phone back home would have been far more entertaining.

Tonight, he was only here to spread a bit of gossip. He couldn’t wait to see Shermaine put in her place–and lose that smug attitude–once the school district staff showed up at school tomorrow.

Meanwhile, because of the rare, highly anticipated chess match between Trevor and Shermaine, Wendelyn’s stream’s viewership dropped by two million. She was deeply upset and had no desire to continue. With a forced smile, she announced she was ending the stream and shut it down immediately.

Once the stream ended, her face darkened. The frustration she’d been holding in all day finally burst. Without thinking, she swept the chessboard off the table, sending black and white pieces scattering everywhere.

Ruth was taken aback, but she soon realized that Wendelyn’s outburst made perfect sense. First, Wendelyn, who had underestimated Shermaine’s chess skills and expected an easy victory, was defeated in front of everyone.

Then, Trevor, the world champion, offered to challenge Shermaine after witnessing her impressive performance, which had brought much more attention to her.

It wasn’t just Wendelyn who couldn’t accept it–Ruth herself was still reeling. She thought, ‘Shermaine’s even better at chess than Wendelyn? Does that mean she’s as good as a professional chess player?!

She had always dismissed Shermaine as just another pretty face and a useless nobody, so she couldn’t accept the reality that Shermaine was far from useless. She then comforted herself by thinking, ‘Sure, she’s good at chess, but she only got straight A’s because she cheated.’

Turning to Wendelyn, Ruth tried to comfort her. “Sure, Shermaine’s having her moment now, but it won’t last long. The more famous she gets, the worse the backlash will be when people find out about her cheating.” That was the price of fame.

Wendelyn knew that, too. After being humiliated by Shermaine in front of so many people today, there was no way she’d let Shermaine continue basking in the spotlight.

Wendelyn was also furious with Janice, who had treated her unfairly today. She thought, ‘Ever since this old woman came back, she’s been making things difficult for me. I used to be the spoiled princess of this family, but she and Shermaine are ruining my perfect life. Why can’t they just disappear?’

Once a wicked thought takes root, it often grows more intense and can eventually affect many aspects of life.

Shermaine couldn’t care less about what Wendelyn was thinking. She was confident that Wendelyn wouldn’t gain the upper hand, no matter what she was plotting.

At that moment, she was engrossed in the chess game. Playing chess against the world champion was undeniably stressful, but the greater the pressure, the more excited she became.

The game was getting more intense and seemed to have reached a critical deadlock. The player who made the first wrong move was likely to lose.

Trevor, who rarely encountered opponents of this caliber, was feeling the heat. ‘She’s no joke,’ he thought.

[Whoa! Trevor’s been thinking for a whole minute! This is rare and unreal!]

[Trevor’s finally met a worthy opponent. It looks like he’s at a disadvantage.]

Just as Trevor was deep in thought, his phone rang, disrupting his focus. He looked at the screen–his teacher was calling, so he had no choice but to answer. He slowly pressed the answer button and asked, “Mr. Williams, what’s up?”

Robert’s booming voice came through. “I’m watching your stream. Could you ask Shermaine if she’s interested in becoming a professional chess player?”

Trevor thought in shock, ‘Is he serious? He’s already trained a world champion, and that’s not enough for him?’

At the same time, Shermaine’s phone buzzed with a notification. Three million dollars had just been deposited into her account.