Chapter 5

"Before that happens, you might just meet your end first."

…

By the time the second monthly exam results were released, the entire school was in an uproar.

Class Thirteen, the so-called worst class in the grade, had skyrocketed to third place in average scores.

What even more shocking was that the two spots in the top ten rankings now belonged to students from Class Thirteen.

It didn’t take long for the school administrators to take notice.

They showed up at Class Thirteen’s classroom, wanting to understand what caused such a drastic change.

Sophie gave them a straightforward answer.

"It’s all thanks to our class rep, Lucy Lowe. She’s been tutoring all of us in private."

"Lucy Lowe? The girl the Lowe family adopted? If I remember correctly, she placed second on the entrance exam, didn’t she?"

"She ranked first this time."

"Who transferred her to Class Thirteen?"

Some of the school leaders still remembered me and exchanged looks before asking Sophie, "Where is she now?"

…

That same day, the chaos within the Scott family had finally settled, and Nicholas returned to school.

Naturally, the first thing he did was block my way on my walk to school.

In the shadowy alley just outside the campus gates, he kicked over a trash can and sneered darkly at me.

"Lucy Lowe, didn’t I tell you? The moment I get back, you are finished."

Stacy stood to the side, making a half-hearted attempt at persuasion.

"Don’t take it too far. If things get out of hand, it’ll be hard to clean up."

"Relax."

Nicholas let out a low chuckle. "This time, my sister won’t be coming to save her."

The lackeys I had beaten before stepped forward, closing in.

"I heard you ranked first in the grade this time?"

"Smart, talented, and a violinist too—bet you’ll cry like hell once those hands of yours are ruined."

They grabbed my wrist, yanking me toward the rough brick wall, ready to slam it against the surface.

At that very moment, the school administrators arrived with Sophie.

"Stop!"

The discipline director’s sharp reprimand rang through the alley.

Nicholas’ lackeys flinched instinctively, their grip on my wrist loosening.

"This is school hours! What do you think you’re doing here?"

Before Nicholas could speak, I beat him to it.

"Teacher, they said they were going to break my hands!"

…

In the large conference room of the administration building, Nicholas and his gang stood lazily in front of the school board, looking completely unbothered.

The principal cleared his throat. "We’ve already looked into the situation."

"It’s true that Nicholas and his friends were in the wrong, but since we intervened in time and no real harm was done, let’s not make this bigger than it needs to be.

"Let’s all take a step back and put this matter to rest."

A classic move—sweeping everything under the rug.

I smiled. "Is that so? Then I’d like Nicholas Scott to apologize to me. That’s not too much to ask, is it?"

"Apologize? To you?"

Nicholas let out a laugh, as if I’d just told the funniest joke in the world.

"You think you deserve that?"

I leaned back casually. "Well, I do have the security footage. If that’s the case, let’s just call the police and let them handle it."

The tension in the room spiked.

Neither of us backed down.

On one side was Nicholas, the so-called golden boy of the elite circle, backed by wealth and power.

On the other was me, the top-ranked student in the grade, someone who not only excelled but had also helped lift an entire class of underachievers.

If this incident escalated into a full-blown police case, it would be a disaster for the school’s reputation.

The principal couldn’t afford to openly offend either side, so he signaled for a teacher to pull me aside for a private talk.

"Lucy, we understand that you’ve been wronged. It was our oversight not to step in earlier.

"As compensation, the school will award you this year’s highest academic scholarship.

“Additionally, we’ll be implementing stricter policies to ensure that no student in Class Thirteen will get mistreated again. Would that be acceptable?"