Chapter 25
Rosalie returned to her room, took out her phone, and made a call.
*
The line picked up after the first ring, an anxious voice bursting through, “Rosa, what the hell happened? Why’d you hang up on me mid–call?”
Rosalie smiled, voice gentle, “Something came up, but it’s handled. Don’t worry.”
“Thank goodness. I was seconds from booking a ticket to Webston and came for you.”
The woman exhaled, then launched into a familiar rant, insisting Rosalie must never tolerate being bullied and must speak up.
Listening quietly, Rosalie felt her lips twitch upward.
When the tirade finally ended, she asked, “Lucia, why’d you call me?”
Lucia Taylor finally seemed to recall the purpose.
“Oh right! I’m coming to Webston for a competition this weekend, let’s meet up. You can fill me in on how the Spencer family is treating you.”
Rosalie paused. “A competition?”
“Yep. Just the one I signed up for fun. I asked the committee to transfer my competition entry to the Webston division.” Lucia’s voice turned smug.
“Grandma said not to disturb you, but I had to see you with my own eyes to set my mind at ease. Now that I’ve got an excuse to be in Webston, what can she say?”
Rosalie listened to Lucia rattle off her plans while pouring herself a glass of water. She took a sip, leaned back against the desk, and ran her tongue over her lips..
There were things she chose not to bother with, but that didn’t mean others could take advantage.
Rosalie said slowly, “Lucia, have you decided your piece yet?”
Lucia went silent for a beat. “Rosa… you only use that tone when you’re plotting something. Don’t scare me. My heart is fragile.”
Rosalie stood, a smile curving her lips. “Let me write you a song.”
Lucia swallowed hard, an image forming in her mind: a prodigy obliterating the competition, leaving rivals in the dust.
It was brutal but undeniably thrilling.
The next morning, Rosalie and Phoebe stepped into the classroom one after another.
The originally clamorous room fell silent in an instant, with everyone’s eyes glued to the two of them.
Rosalie made her way to her seat and found a huge cardboard box resting on the desk.
She paused, recalling Hayden’s words from the previous night, “I bought you something useful. I’ll have it delivered to Hodgeson High tomorrow. Keep an eye out for it.”
Rosalie wondered. ‘Is this it?‘
A faint sense of foreboding welled up as she took a deep breath.
After verifying the package bore her name, she kept her composure, took out a utility knife, and sliced through the sealing tape.
“Hey! That’s Krista’s stuff. How can you just tear into someone else’s package?” A girl sitting two rows ahead of Rosalie saw her move. She jumped up, shouting at Rosalic.
The classroom erupted into whispers, “That’s it. Just because it’s on your desk doesn’t mean it’s yours. Shame on you.”
“How dare you open Krista’s package?”
“The box is plastered with the Elliott family crest. Don’t you see that?”
“She’s from the countryside anyway, you know.”
“Why do you care? Isn’t it more fun to just watch?”
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3:07 PM
Chapter 25
They kept chattering.
Rosalie shot them a calm glance, then resumed her movements, leaving everyone stunned.
They wondered if the Spencer family’s adopted daughter was out of her mind.
Phoebe bit her lip and turned to borrow packing tape from a classmate.
Just as she was about to hand it to Rosalie, someone by the door called out triumphantly, “Krista, your package got opened!”
All heads swiveled to see Krista entering with her schoolbag, looking confused. “My package?”
Following her classmates‘ pointed stares, she saw Rosalie, her deskmate, unboxing a package emblazoned with the Elliott family crest.
Krista immediately realized what was happening.
She was too speechless to say anything.
*
Rosalie had only been here two days, but she’d already noticed how impressionable her classmates were. Like fools, they charged headlong wherever others led.
“How did you decide it was my package? Did it have my name on it?”
The class went mute at the question.
Someone pointed to the box, “But that’s your family crest printed there.”
Most people were never qualified to use such a family crest, let alone a country–raised adopted girl.
+15
Krista fired back, “So if you buy a product from the Elliott Group and I see my company logo, shall I claim it’s mine? If I tried to take it back, would you stop me?”
The classroom fell dead silent.
Krista shrugged and returned to her seat. As she walked past Phoebe, she let out a chuckle at the sight of the tape in Phoebe’s hand.
Phoebe’s face paled, her grip tightening on the tape.
Krista ignored Phoebe. She dropped her backpack, took her seat, and greeted Rosalie, “Morning, Rosalie.”
Rosalie looked up. “Morning, Krista.”
“What’d you buy?” Krista’s curiosity was piqued, but she resisted craning her neck to peek.
འོ ཇ ཋ ྋ ྃ་ ཕོ་ཇ་༸རྗེ་ཚེ་ཚོ
Expressionless, Rosalie opened the box and gestured for her to look.
At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to shove this box of “gifts” into the face of that so–called cold–faced Mr. Merritt.
“Barron’s SAT Study Guide,” “Kaplan’s SAT Prep Plus,” “The Complete SAT Reading Guide“, and the large box overflowed with SAT learning materials.
“Rosalie, you’re so studious,” Krista said, her mouth twitching.
She thought, I’d break my hand before finishing all these. What’s wrong with my new deskmate?‘
Rosalie pressed her temples. “It’s from someone else.”
Krista was silent, then spoke, slowly, “Who’d you offend? Maybe I can help if you tell me.”
4
Rosalie picked up the top card, on which was written, “Do your best.” The handwriting was clear and forceful, each stroke brimming with energy
After a moment, she slowly took out the teaching materials and arranged them on the table in order of her classes.
This was Hayden’s “kindness,” after all.
“Aren’t you going to throw them out?”
Rosalie shook her head. “I may as well do my best and make good use of them.
As someone who’d crammed summer homework until the first day of school, Krista felt the urge to adore Rosalie,
Others gaped at the growing pile of learning materials on the Spencer family’s adopted girl’s desk, their jaws twitching in disbelief.
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3:07 PM
Chapter 25
Tianna arrived late but quickly pieced together the story from her classmates‘ whispers.
“Funny. Who is she pretending for?” she muttered under her breath, then turned to Phoebe behind her. “Phoebe, Karen called me last night asking if I’d seen Rosalie. What happened? Didn’t she come home?”
Karen had phoned in a panic, hanging up before Tianna could ask more after hearing she hadn’t seen Rosalie.
Tianna thought, Who knows where that country bumpkin sneaked off to last night? The Spencer family asked around to find her. There’s definitely something dramatic going on.‘
Tianna had been biting her tongue all night, itching to grill Phoebe for details at school.
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