Chapter 3

After that, Mia glared at me throughout my entire class.

Her gaze was so intense that it felt like she was trying to slice me into pieces with her eyes.

She crumpled up the test paper I handed her and tossed it into the trash bin.

Her little posse laughed.

I leaned against the podium, giving Mia a sympathetic look until the room went quiet.

Then I said firmly, "Mia's poor academic performance is no reason for you to mock her."

Mia was stunned, and so was the whole class.

I never handed Mia another test paper.

Mia's posse tried to bail her out by handing over their own papers, but I stopped them.

I said, "You aren't even in the same league. Just because you can solve these problems doesn't mean Mia can."

Then I added, "Mia had stopped learning since middle school. Are you saying you're stuck at a middle school level too?"

Mia suddenly snapped, shredding her lackey's test paper in a fit of rage.

From then on, her little posse began to fall apart.

*****

A day later, Mia switched tactics.

She started pulling off stunts in class, causing pure chaos.

She grew mold water in jars and let them explode in the classroom.

She brought in half-dead eels, splattering their blood everywhere.

She was not just vicious, but downright trashy.

She thought she could scare me.

However, I just pulled up a parasite documentary for the class. Then, with gloves on, I shoved the dead eel right into her mouth.

Mia spent the entire noon puking her guts out.

During the next exam, Mia started bothering the student in front of her.

I threw the answer sheet on her desk.

She thought I was giving in, and a smug grin started to form on her face.

I shot her a disdainful look and said, "While everyone else is solving functions, you can start practicing how to write the alphabet.

"Don't tell me you can't even read the letters on the answer sheet."

At lunch, I saw her dumping her barely-touched food.

I grabbed her lunchbox and threw it into the slop bucket.

I said, "Your mom always said you're not born to enjoy good food. Skip a few meals' no big deal for you."

I told her I was her reckoning.

This was just the beginning. And she was already falling apart.

As I walked off, Mia exploded in rage, shouting at me, "Do you even know what day Friday is?

"The old principal has been reassigned, and the new one is my brother!"

I stopped walking.

That leech not only had a secret daughter, but now a secret son too?

And they were going after the Lawrence fortune, starting with this very school.

There were only two days left before Friday. I was planning to use the event to expose all the dirty secrets of Mia's family. But then out of nowhere, this secret son popped up to steal my seat.

Of course I had to ask, "How do you even know about this, Mia? You're just a student."

The past few days, I'd been stepping on her neck.

Spoiled and undisciplined since childhood, she'd never had to swallow her pride like this.

Now she thought she finally had the upper hand. She was all smug and full of herself.

Mia smirked, "Most of the school board are my relatives. Not just my brother, there's my uncle, aunt, cousins—they all work here.

"This school was basically built for me. Now you see why I can do whatever I want around here.

"I know it's out of fashion to say it, but around here, I'm the real princess, you know."

It was absurd enough knowing the illegitimate son was going to be the principal. Now I discovered Tracy's family had infiltrated my family's business.

Of course I was mad.

But what really got me thinking was, how on earth did this parasite wriggle its way in and set itself up as the princess of my own turf?

In the dim hallway light, I said, "You've got quite the imagination, Mia Shaw."

She didn't understand my sarcasm.

She thought she'd just played the winning card and finally regained her dignity.

Even after getting removed from the performance list, Mia strutted into the dance studio for rehearsals like she owned the place.

She doubled down on threats, forcing others to do her homework, and flirted with Logan in class openly.

The literature teacher gave her cheesy love letter full marks—and had her read it aloud in class.

Word must have spread that her brother was becoming principal.

The other students, scared of her influence, went right back to kissing her feet.

Mia held her head high, acting like she was back on top.

I was more than happy to watch her puff herself up with pride—the higher she soared, the harder she'd crash.