Chapter 26
Phoebe was silent for a moment.
Then, she said, “Tianna, let’s not bring this up again. I don’t think Rosalie wants the attention. Besides, nothing happened last night. She came home shortly after my mother called you. Don’t bother her with this matter. We don’t want to upset her again.”
Phoebe’s tone sounded earnest, but Tianna parsed hidden meanings.
She thought, ‘So Rosalie did sneak out to fool around and didn’t come home. She must have had a huge row with Karen after returning. This country bumpkin really has no decorum.‘
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“Phoebe, stop defending that brat,” Tianna said with disdain. “Look at her, how long has she been in your home? Only a week! Sneaking out at night and going missing? If she keeps this up, the Spencer family’s reputation will be completely destroyed.”
Tianna had planned to find ways to drive Rosalie out, but now she believed Rosalie was self–destructing.
“No, Rosalie didn’t.” Phoebe bit her lower lip, flustered. After a pause, she lowered her voice and leaned close to Tianna’s ear. “Tianna, you’d better drop this… Mr. Merritt drove Rosalie home last night, and she…
When Tianna heard “Mr. Merritt“, she froze as if struck by lightning, unable to snap out of her daze. For a moment, she almost thought she had fallen back into the nightmare from a week ago.
After a long pause, she came to her senses like a dreamer. “Phoebe, are you and Karen being tricked?”
Tianna thought, ‘Hell yeah. That country bumpkin must have known she’d get scolded for sneaking out, so she found a backer. Does she really think she can casually invoke Mr. Merritt’s name? Who did she think she was?
‘Not even a Coranburg socialite would dare invoke Mr. Merritt’s name for clout, let alone a country girl like her. How dare she claim Mr. Merritt sent her home? Does she honestly think he’d remember a country girl after one good deed? Ridiculous!‘
“No, Rosalie didn’t lie to us….“Phoebe pursed her lips. “My mother and I both saw it with our own eyes.”
Tianna could hardly believe her ears, her lips trembling. “You… saw it with your own eyes?”
“Yes, so… Anyway, don’t ask her about it anymore, and don’t upset her. Let’s get ready for class.”
Phoebe lowered her eyes, took out her book, and opened it, ready to study.
Tianna was overwhelmed by this news. It wasn’t until the class bell rang that she gritted her teeth and returned to reality.
She thought, ‘I will never let that country bumpkin latch onto Mr. Merritt’s coattails.
Tianna shot a fierce glare at Rosalie, then began plotting how to drag her back into the mud, permanently.
The first morning class was Savenese, taught by Haylee Melville, a serious lady in her thirties.
Hodgeson High had already covered the curriculum, so most classes focused on tackling difficult exam questions.
Savenese was no exception. Today’s lesson would review the summer homework packet.
The packet was the same one Connor had given Rosalie, though she hadn’t completed it.
At Krista’s prompting, she took out the packet and began writing slowly.
The material wasn’t challenging. The first page was all multiple–choice, which Rosalie sailed through intently.
Haylee didn’t rush through the content. She always explained key points and tricky sections in detail.
But students disliked her habit of calling on students by name to answer questions, especially targeting those weaker in Savenese. Even students in the Advanced Class stayed alert during her lectures.
The third question in reading comprehension is rather tricky. Many of you got it wrong… First, I’ll invite someone to read the paragraph containing the answer to the first question.”
Haylee set down her papers and scanned the classroom.
Students weak in Savenese and who’d botched the question felt their hearts race.
Just then, a hand shot up.
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Chapter 26
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Haylee brightened, “Tianna.”
“Ms. Melville, I nominate Rosalie as a volunteer, Tianna proposed. “Mr. Wade said she aced the placement test, but we’ve yet to see her actual ability.”
Her words were met with murmurs of agreement,
“Yeah, Ms. Melville, we want to know how’s Rosalie holding up in class.”
Haylee frowned slightly, casting an involuntary glance at Rosalie.
Rumors about the Spencer family had been circulating, and she’d caught wind of them.
Rosalie was young, with no say in her family circumstances. Haylee didn’t want to embarrass this quiet, pretty student.
Just as the class chatter grew louder, Rosalie rose slowly.
“Sorry, I was catching up on the packet and didn’t hear. Which question was it?”
Rosalie had transferred in just the day before, so it was natural she hadn’t finished summer homework. Haylee waved off the excuse.
“The third reading comprehension. Can you try reading the second paragraph?”
Rosalie nodded, lifted the paper, and located the question.
Tianna, poised to watch her flounder, went rigid as Rosalie’s voice filled the room, clear, fluent Savenese, each syllable precise.
Tianna couldn’t even speak that smoothly.
She thought, ‘How does this country bumpkin know Savenese?‘
Phoebe kept her head down, but her fingers clenched the edge of her test paper.
Haylee’s brows shot up. “Your pronunciation is excellent. Have you had formal training?”
“My family hired a Savenese tutor.”
No one questioned this, after all, the Spencer family could easily afford tutors.
But resentment towards her simmered, ‘See? With resources, even a country girl could pretend to be elite.
Many felt increasingly sympathetic toward Phoebe. After all, family resources were finite.
ཟ ཤ རྫ་ ཝ ཋ F ཕོ མཻ ཇ ཞ ༴
The forty–five–minute class ended swiftly.
After the bell, Tianna whirled around in disbelief. “Phoebe, did the Spencer family really hire a tutor for that country bumpkin?”
‘No wonder she got into the Advanced Class, Tianna seethed.
In the week Tianna had lived with the Spencer family, she hadn’t noticed a tutor.
She’d intended to humiliate Rosalie, to force her to accept her lowly place, but instead, Rosalie had stolen the show.
Tianna had just noticed several boys in class eyeing Rosalie differently.
“Yeah,” Phoebe mumbled evasively.
Her inner shock dwarfed everyone else’s.
Dominik had mentioned hiring a tutor for Rosalie, but the topic had been dropped.
Phoebe thought, Wait, could the “family” Rosalie mentioned be the Hudson family from the countryside?‘
‘Hell no, Phoebe dismissed the thought at once.
When Karen went to pick up Rosalie, Phoebe had tagged along. The village’s squalor was so appalling that she vowed never to set foot there again.
That was partly why she clung so tenaciously to her identity as a Spencer.
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3:07 PM
