Mia: "..." So hateful.
The classes begin.
4th lecture was an English class.
The English class began with a cold breeze as Mrs. Barlow entered the room.
She was tall and thin, with tight curls piled high on her head and glasses that always seed to be looking down on everyone—even when she wasn’t.
Her heels clicked loudly as she walked to the front of the class, and her sharp voice echoed through the room.
"Alright, class! Settle down," she said, eyeing the students like they were insects under a microscope.
Her eyes landed on Aurora, and her lips curled into a smirk.
"Miss Water. How surprising to see you in class today," she said in a dry tone. "Feeling better from your... sudden little illness?"
Aurora didn’t reply. She just nodded politely.
"Hmm," Mrs. Barlow muttered.
"Let’s hope your brain isn’t as feverish as your body. We wouldn’t want any silly mistakes today."
A few students snickered. Spencer narrowed his eyes, but Aurora just kept a calm face.
Mrs. Barlow walked up and down the rows like a queen inspecting her kingdom.
"Today we’re going to revise so grammar," she said.
"Let’s see who actually studies instead of staring at their phones or painting their nails."
She clapped her hands once.
"Miss Water! Since you’ve had so much rest, why don’t you tell the class... what’s the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb?"
Aurora blinked. She hadn’t expected such a direct question.
Still, she sat up straight and replied clearly,
"A transitive verb needs a direct object. Like, ’She kicked the ball.’ ’Kicked’ is the verb, and ’the ball’ is the object. But an intransitive verb doesn’t need an object. Like, ’He sleeps.’ It’s just complete on its own."
There was a pause.
Mrs. Barlow’s eyebrow twitched.
"Correct," she said tightly. "Let’s see if that was a lucky guess."
She clicked her tongue and then said, "Define a gerund, and give a sentence using it as a subject."
Aurora spoke again, without hesitation.
"A gerund is a verb that ends in ’-ing’ and works as a noun. Like in the sentence, ’Swimming is my favorite hobby.’ ’Swimming’ is the gerund and it’s the subject of the sentence."
This ti, so students murmured, impressed.
Mrs. Barlow narrowed her eyes, her voice sharper now. "Fine. Then explain the difference between who and whom in a sentence."
Aurora didn’t blink. "’Who’ is the subject of the sentence, and ’whom’ is the object. For example, ’Who called you?’ and ’To whom should I give this letter?’"
A hush fell over the class.
Even Mrs. Barlow seed slightly taken aback, though she quickly recovered with a sniff.
"Anyone can answer such basic questions."
Mia shook her head and said in a loud voice,
"I wouldn’t be able to."
" too," Spencer remarked. "I don’t understand why suddenly the curriculum has beco so difficult."
At Spencer’s words, other girls in the classroom also chid in,
"Yeah, even I would have difficulty answering such a question."
"Spencer is right. I feel the curriculum has beco difficult too."
"Mrs. Barlow is deliberately targetting Aurora."
"But Aurora is impressive too, huh! She could answer all of it with grace!"
Mrs. Barlow turned around sharply, her heels clicking like a warning.
"Silence!" she snapped. "This is a classroom, not a gossip club."
The students fell quiet, but their eyes were still on Aurora.
Mrs. Barlow gave her one last glare, then turned back to the board and started writing sothing with quick, sharp strokes.
Aurora lowered her eyes and opened her notebook quietly. She could feel everyone’s gaze on her, but she kept calm.
Mia leaned over and whispered, "You’re really smart, you know."
Aurora smiled a little. "My mother said the sa when I was born."
The rest of the class passed slowly, with Mrs. Barlow throwing out questions like darts. A few more students were called, but nobody answered as smoothly as Aurora had.
By the end of the class, even Mrs. Barlow seed a bit less confident in her sneers.
When the bell finally rang, students rushed out like they’d been set free.
Mia turned toward Aurora,
"Mrs. Barlow was being too salty toward you!"
Aurora shrugged,
"Maybe I have offended one of her relatives."
Mia’s eyes widened,
"You an..."
Aurora smirked but didn’t answer. She had read the chats between Mandy and Caroline and knew they had the authorities of the school backing them up.
The chances of Mrs. Barlow being a relative of one them was high.
Mrs. Barlow gave a look to Aurora before leaving.
During the last class, the science teacher asked everyone to form a group of six, pick a topic, and make a PowerPoint on it.
Mia imdiately turned toward Aurora,
"You will be my partner, right?"
"Sure." Aurora agreed.
"But we would still need four more people."
Spencer on the side said with a chuckle,
"Can I join too?"
Aurora rolled her eyes,
"No need."
But Mia agreed with a happy smile on her face,
"Sure! Sure!"
To make sure Aurora doesn’t protest, Mia said to her,
"He is the top ranker."
Aurora’s eyes involuntarily fell on Spencer, who had a smirk on his face.
With a handso face, good grades, and a rich background, why was Spencer even showing signs that he liked her?
"Alright," she said, turning her attention back to Mia, trying to ignore Spencer for a mont.
"We still need three more people. Who else should we ask?"
Mia glanced around the room
Spencer tapped on Aurora’s desk and said,
"If you want, I can do the entire project, and you will just need to add your na."
Aurora rolled her eyes,
"And why would you do that?"
"In return for sothing." Spencer leaned toward her.
"What do you an by that?" Aurora asked, trying to sound more curious than suspicious, even though she was pretty sure she already knew where this was going.
Spencer chuckled softly, and there was sothing about his laugh that made it sound more like a challenge than anything else.
"Just a little favor," he said, his eyes never leaving hers.
"You know, you could give a little bit of your ti after school. A quick chat, maybe?"
Aurora narrowed her eyes slightly, her fingers tapping on her notebook.
"You think that’s a fair deal?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Spencer’s smirk grew, and his voice dropped just a little lower. "I think you might enjoy it."
There it was again. The way he looked at her, as if there was more behind his words than he was letting on.
Mia, sensing Aurora’s hesitation, jumped in to help.
"If you’re really gonna be that generous, Spencer," she said, teasing him lightly, "how about you also bring so snacks for our study session later? I’m sure Aurora would appreciate it, right?"
"I can bring it for you, as long as you lend your friend to ," Spencer said with a chuckle.
Aurora couldn’t help but roll her eyes at how smoothly he was pulling off this little charade.
"You have contacted the wrong owner. My owner is my mother and father."
"Oh? Then I will talk with Mom and Dad." Spencer said with a serious expression, but the smirk on his face told a completely different story.
Aurora: "..."
"What, mom and dad? They are my mom and dad, not yours!" Aurora retorted.
"After marriage, I will have to call them mom and dad too," Spencer replied.
Aurora was so furious hearing his words that she threw an eraser at him.
Spencer caught it and hugged it,
"Is it our love token?"
"No, it is a bomb. It will explode and shred you into pieces." Aurora remarked sarcastically.
"Why do you want to beco a widow?" Spencer asked with a genuinely sad expression.
Aurora laughed coldly,
"You are a widow! Your entire family is a widow!"
Spencer shook his head and said in tone as if he was coaxing a child,
"Little Aurora, you shouldn’t curse your elders like this."
Aurora gritted her teeth and got out of her desk. She intended to attack Spencer but missed a step and stumbled forward, nearly falling face-first.
Before she could hit the ground, Spencer quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist, steadying her.
In the process, Spencer’s hand wrapped around Aurora, and he pulled her toward him.
Their eyes clashed and for a mont, everything felt super quiet.
Like, weirdly quiet.
Aurora’s heart skipped a beat. She could feel Spencer’s hand on her wrist and his other arm around her back, holding her like so kind of drama scene.
"Careful," he whispered, his voice softer now. "Don’t fall for too fast."
Aurora’s face turned red in an instant.
She quickly pushed him away and took a step back. "Don’t flatter yourself!"
Spencer just laughed, not even a little embarrassed. "Too late. I already did."
Aurora sat at her desk.
Just as she was imrsed in her thoughts, she heard an excited female voice,
"Hey, can we join the group?"
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