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Chapter_58
In the broadcasting room, the announcement blared through the speakers again, and again, each repetition causing Arabella and Coral to shrink with embarrassment.
It was unusual for the school to broadcast reprimands this way. Normally, critiques were brief, delivered during assemblies, but today, the announcement looped on endlessly, filling the air with harsh words.
What made it worse was that Vivienne hadn’t just asked the principal to criticize them. No, she had gone a step further—he had marked a demerit on their records. With the college entrance exams fast approaching, a demerit could spell disaster for their futures.
Arabella’s hand clenched into a fist, her sharp nails biting into her palm, but she barely felt the pain. Her face twisted in fury, her anger barely contained. After several shaky breaths, she managed to force a smile, though it was tight, brittle.
“Sis, we’re family. You’re really going to treat me like this?” she said, her voice trembling with the weight of her words. “I know you don’t like me—because Dad adopted me, and you think I’ve stolen your happiness. But I never meant to compete with you. Ever since you came back, I’ve stepped aside, but why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Her tears streamed down her face, raw and uncontrollable. Her sobs were heart-wrenching, the kind of crying that tore at anyone’s heart.
Vivienne didn’t even glance at her. “Please, call me Ms. Vivienne,” she said flatly. “If you’d prefer, I can have another announcement made.”
She didn’t care for Arabella’s dramatics. In fact, Vivienne thought Arabella had a real talent for acting—if she ever decided to leave school behind, the entertainment industry would be waiting for her. But this act? It felt cheap. Too rehearsed. Too fake.
Vivienne turned her back on her half-sister, walking away with Charlotte at her side. After a few steps, she paused. The coldness in her voice was unmistakable.
“Arabella,” she called, her words like ice, “I don’t care what you’re planning with the Hawthorn family, but if you try to pull anything on Mr. Hawthorn or anyone else, you’ll regret it. You won’t know who you’re messing with.”
And without another word, she left.
Logan, Oberon, and the rest of Class Eighteen quickly followed her out.
“Ms. Vivienne,” Logan said, sounding apologetic, “aren’t you going to eat? There were so many people in line, and we’ve been waiting forever, but we still haven’t gotten our food.”
Vivienne’s thoughts, however, were elsewhere—on the cake Charlotte had mentioned at the buffet earlier.
“I’ll take you guys out for a meal,” she said, already anticipating the taste of something sweet.
The students from Class Eighteen lit up at the suggestion.
Once they were gone, the cafeteria was left in stunned silence. No one had expected the head teacher of Class Eighteen to be so young. What was even more shocking was that she had handled those students with an authority that no one had seen before.
They’d also never heard the broadcast.
A few students began whispering in awe. “Wait—did you hear that? Vivienne’s the head teacher of Class Eighteen? She’s practically our age!”
“Yeah, I saw Logan in line earlier and thought I was imagining things. I can’t believe it.”
“She’s incredible, isn’t she? How did she manage to keep those students in check?”
Arabella could barely hold her composure as the students around her buzzed with admiration for Vivienne. She could feel the eyes on her, could hear the praises being heaped upon Vivienne, and it stung.
In the past, when she had been in trouble, these same students would have rallied behind her. But today, they stood in awe of Vivienne, the girl they had once looked down on.
“I think Ms. Vivienne is something special,” one student remarked. “Not only did she tame Class Eighteen, but she even got the principal to back her up. I heard the principal was supposed to just criticize Arabella and Coral, but instead, they both got a demerit.”
“Yeah, I heard the conversation between them. Ms. Vivienne is the real daughter of the Hawthorn family. I remember my mom mentioning it. She’d been missing for ten years, but now she’s back—and she’s even more beautiful than Arabella.”
Another voice added, “Arabella said Vivienne was targeting her, but honestly, it was Arabella who started it. Vivienne’s just reacting.”
Arabella’s face paled as the voices grew louder. The students’ opinions were shifting, and fast.
She could feel the sting of their disloyalty, the same students who had once flattered her when they needed help, now turning on her in favor of Vivienne.
She glanced at Coral, who looked just as resentful. “Coral, I didn’t know it would come to this. I just saw Vivienne here and wanted to say hello… I think she’s just jealous of me.”
Coral, still furious over the unfair demerit, couldn’t let it slide. “What do you guys know?” she snapped, her voice rising. “Vivienne’s the one who’s been making trouble for Arabella since she came back. She’s just jealous because Arabella’s better than her!”
The surrounding students fell into a stunned silence.
Coral pressed on. “Vivienne only became a teacher through special connections. She was living in the countryside for years—did she even go to school? Don’t you think it’s strange? She comes from nowhere, and now she’s teaching? If she can control Class Eighteen, what does that say about her? She’s not someone who should be a teacher here!”
A few students began to waver, their skepticism creeping in.
“Yeah, Vivienne never went to school, but somehow she’s teaching now…,” one muttered.
Another agreed. “It’s wrong. This place is supposed to be about learning, not about letting someone like her play teacher.”
Arabella joined in, her voice cutting through the murmurs. “Just wait,” she said with a cold smile. “My sister will lose interest soon. Teaching isn’t her thing. Give it a few days, and she’ll quit.”
Some of the students began to grow agitated. “Does she think this is a joke? What kind of person treats teaching like it’s just a game?”
“Exactly! We’re about to take the college entrance exams. We can’t afford to have someone like her messing up the system.”
“I’m telling my parents. They’ll talk to the principal. This is ridiculous. We can’t let someone like her teach here.”
Arabella’s smile grew wider, knowing that the pressure from the parents would soon be unbearable.
Just then, a student burst into the cafeteria, breathless. “Guys! You have to see this! Check Twitter—Mr. James from Elite University’s physics department just posted that he and his team are coming to teach here!”
“What?” Students gasped, their disbelief palpable. “Mr. James is the most respected professor in the department! And he’s bringing his team!”
“What are we waiting for then? We need to call our parents—get them to talk to the principal. We can’t let someone like Vivienne ruin our chances now!”
The students scrambled into action, their plan forming quickly. Arabella, watching the chaos unfold, felt a sly satisfaction creeping across her face.
She thought, Vivienne, you were never even in my league. Let’s see how your precious Ellington family holds up under this kind of pressure.
