Chapter 382
“Just because the answers are similar, why am I being accused of cheating?”
At that moment, Eloise was sitting in the principal’s office. The principal himself looked incredibly troubled. It would be one thing if it were anyone else, but the person sitting before him was Kieran’s sweetheart.
With patience, the principal began, “Ms. Harwood, I really don’t want to suspect you of cheating, but someone has posted what they claim to be evidence on the school’s forum. We have to take it seriously. However, this is just a formality. You’re the president of the student council, and I’m sure you wouldn’t do anything against the school’s code of conduct!”
The principal was blatantly favoring Eloise. What if she really cheated? Eloise’s status set her apart from the others. As long as there was no concrete evidence, Eloise could still graduate under his watch.
When the principal said that, Eloise could finally breathe a sigh of relief, feeling the weight of stress lift from her shoulders. All thanks to Kieran, the principal wouldn’t dare do anything to her.
Eloise responded, “Principal, someone’s clearly trying to frame me, causing damage to my reputation. I hope the school can find out who’s behind this soon. I’m innocent, and I’d like to see who would go to such lengths to slander me.”
“Absolutely, Ms. Harwood, we’ll investigate thoroughly and ensure you receive a satisfactory response,” the principal quickly agreed, then added with difficulty, “The only issue is that the post was made anonymously, and we can’t trace the IP address. It’s a bit challenging. Maybe Mr. Sutton could lend a hand?”
When the incident first came to light, the principal had already attempted to track down the perpetrator, to no avail. It was clear that the person behind this was a tech whiz.
And now, with the post gaining traction on the forum, despite efforts to remove it, the school’s attempts were no match for professional hackers, leaving many posts untouched. Now, with rumors of the school protecting Eloise circulating online, if the education department caught wind of this, they would definitely intervene.
Thus, the principal hoped to pass the buck to Kieran, letting him handle the matter and save the principal a headache. What the principal didn’t know was that Eloise dared not inform Kieran. Because Kieran was well aware of the cheating.
Kieran has never been a fan of those kinds of tricks, and the only reason he didn’t rat out Eloise before was because they go way back. But with the situation blowing up like this, Kieran would definitely not cover for her.
Taking a deep breath, Eloise said, “Do I really need to bother Kieran with such a trivial matter? Then what’s your role as principal? These are all baseless accusations, and no one has caught me cheating. You should know how to quell this storm, right?”
Hearing Eloise’s words, the principal felt embarrassed. Wasn’t this asking him to cover for her outright?
“Let’s leave it at that. I have other matters to attend to. I hope the school can handle this soon.”
Eloise stood and walked out.
The dean, witnessing this, felt a mix of frustration and anger. Cheating and yet so defiant. He approached the principal’s office, saying, “Principal, Eloise is taking things too far. Does she really think the school exists to serve her? If the education department leaders find out about this, we’re in trouble!”
“Do you think I’m not aware of that? But what can we do? She has Mr. Sutton backing her.”
The principal was internally vexed. The person who reported this couldn’t even provide solid evidence, and now, with such ambiguous proof, the situation had escalated, putting him in a bind between covering up and being accused of deliberate favoritism.