Chapter 2

In this house, my room had no lock because I wasn’t allowed any privacy.

Stacy stood by my bed, her icy, resentful gaze sweeping over me inch by inch.

Then, suddenly, she laughed.

"Sis, this time, it’s your turn to get bullied by him. To fall into a twisted love-hate relationship with him."

I wasn’t sure if she arranged something in advance, but the next morning, the moment I stepped into Class Thirteen with my backpack, a book came flying straight at me.

I tilted my head slightly and dodged it.

A lazy voice sounded from up ahead.

"Who said you could dodge?"

Nicholas lounged in his chair, legs crossed and propped up on the desk, looking at me with an air of arrogance.

"Forget it, I’ll give you a chance.

"Pick up the book, hand it to me respectfully, and let me throw it again. Then I’ll let you off for the morning."

Hearing his words, my eyelashes fluttered slightly.

I bent down, picked up the book from the floor, and walked toward him, step by step.

The guys standing beside him smirked, their eyes filled with disdain and undisguised malice.

I smiled. "Like this—?"

Without warning, I swung the book, its hard spine slamming viciously into his nose.

"Ahh!!—"

Nicholas shot up from his chair, yelling in pain.

He clutched his nose, blood streaming down his fingers.

Then, suddenly, he flashed me a cold, sinister smile.

"You shameless woman. You dared to hit me? You’re done for."

The guys around him looked furious, ready to close in on me.

Fortunately, at that moment, the teacher walked into the classroom.

"This is our new transfer student, Lucy Lowe. She placed second in the entrance exam. I hope everyone gets along well and learns from her."

"Oh, an honor student."

Nicholas let out a slow, mocking laugh. "Don’t worry, teacher. We’ll make sure Lucy feels right at home."

…

His methods of bullying were nothing new.

The same tired clichés straight out of those overused school drama plots.

Planting thumbtacks on my chair.

Tossing dead snakes and rats into my desk drawer.

I simply removed the tacks.

And when I found the dead snake and rat, I grabbed them without a hint of emotion and threw them right into Nicholas’ lap.

He turned pale with fright.

When he realized these tricks didn’t work on me, he resorted to the most straightforward method—violence.

That afternoon, as school was letting out, I flipped open my math workbook and found a small slip of paper inside.

"They’re planning to take you to the equipment room."

I stared at the note for a few seconds, then crumpled it and tossed it into the trash.

Who wrote it?

In my past life, I heard that Class Thirteen was full of hopeless students who gave up on their studies.

But after transferring here in this life, I realized that wasn’t entirely true.

The students in Class Thirteen were split into two factions.

Aside from Nicholas and his gang of bullies, most of the remaining students were just ordinary kids struggling with poverty or personal hardships.

Their space to study and even exist were nearly crushed under the weight of Nicholas and his followers.

I scanned the sparsely occupied classroom.

Eventually, my gaze landed on a girl sitting diagonally behind Nicholas—Sophie Reed.

The moment our eyes met, she panicked and quickly looked away.

I understood immediately.

Acting as if I hadn’t noticed, I picked up my backpack and stood up.

"Hey… Lucy."

She hesitated for a long time before finally calling out to me.

"We’ll walk home with you after school."

The girls sitting beside her mustered their courage and looked at me, determination flickering beneath their nervous expressions.

I met their gaze in silence for a moment.