Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rebirth: Let the Spoiled Teacher Ruin Everything: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

"Look, everyone. I printed your exam admission tickets on pink paper. Isn't it cute?"Our homeroom teacher, Pauline Ashby, stood at the podium, proudly holding up a stack of pink sheets with both hands. Gasps rippled through the classroom."That's so adorable, Ms. Ashby!""Pink is so soothing. It already puts me in a better mood."A few girls in the front row were the first to say something, their eyes sparkling with excitement. The boys didn't say much, but none of them objected either.Ever since Ms. Ashby got pregnant, she had gone full-on "baby mode", and there was no turning back. The classroom was decorated in pink, the class T-shirts were printed with cartoon characters, and she herself showed up every day looking like she was heading to a preschool recital.At this point, everyone had gotten used to it.I looked at the stack of pink admission tickets and felt a wave of nausea churn in my stomach. In my past life, it was this exact pink admission ticket that nearly kept o

"Last semester, during midterms, the proctor was already at the door when she realized she forgot to pick up the test packets. I was the one who sprinted to the administrative office to grab them and hand them out myself."With every word I said, the atmosphere on the bus grew heavier."Every time you praised this class for being so great, I was the one holding everything together behind the scenes. Every time you thought Ms. Ashby was being so 'thoughtful,' I was the one cleaning up her messes."I stared at Ms. Ashby. The tears were still on her face, but her eyes had started darting around in panic."She started resenting me because of all of it. If finals weren't two months away, she would've stripped me of my class rep title a long time ago."The bus fell completely silent. Caelum said nothing for a few seconds, then suddenly let out a laugh. "Are you done?"He walked over, took my admission ticket, and looked up at me. "Dragging up all this old stuff is honestly pathetic. Yo

"You were right there when he said it, and you agreed and said, 'Got it, understood.' Then you turned around and printed them in pink anyway."Ms. Ashby's face cycled between red and white. Caelum saw her floundering and shot me a vicious glare. "Everyone, calm down! The principal is already on his way, remember? He went back to the school to reprint the tickets. He'll be here any minute!""Oh right, the principal went to get them reprinted.""But… Will he make it in time?" someone asked in a small, trembling voice that was close to tears.Caelum clenched his jaw. "He'll make it! You're still allowed into the exam hall up to 15 minutes after it starts. We have time. Don't panic!"He sounded absolutely certain, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing out the window every few seconds.The minutes crawled by. The crowd of parents and well-wishers outside the exam hall gradually thinned out as students from every other school filed inside. A suffocating tension filled the bus.

Our exam hall was the most unusual one in the entire building. There were 39 seats, and I was the only one sitting in any of them. Two proctors watched over 38 empty desks, their expressions somewhere between disbelief and pity.When the final bell rang, I set down my pen and let out a long breath. It was over.I walked out of the exam hall, and Principal Jones was standing by the door waiting for me. He saw me come out and gave me a nod. "How did it go?""About what I expected."He was quiet for a moment, his gaze drifting to the building behind him, which had already fallen silent. "39 seats and only one student. I've been a principal for 12 years, and I've never seen anything like it."I didn't respond."Pauline has been taken away." He paused. "When the people from the education board arrived, she was still crying by the fountain, saying she was going to stage a sit-in protest at their office."Her husband drove over from work and told her on the spot that he wanted a divorc

Something twisted in my chest, but I kept my expression still."I don't think the way they classified the incident was fair." Ms. Ashby tucked the envelope back into her bag and spoke slowly, choosing each word with care. "Yes, I printed the tickets in pink. I'll own that. But the person who got the entire class to tear their tickets was Caelum Thornley."She took a step closer. Her voice was low, but every word landed with deliberate weight. "38 students missed the exam, and I shouldn't be the only one held responsible. But every last consequence fell on me."They revoked my license and banned me for life. Meanwhile, the students who led the whole thing didn't even get a warning, especially Caelum." She smiled when she said his name. "I did some digging. He repeated senior year, got into Bowman, and he's doing just fine. How is that fair?""If you're here to settle scores, you should be talking to Caelum, not me." I closed my book. "I didn't report you. I didn't file anything agai