Chapter 35
Knowing that Shermaine would help, Lily was full of confidence and hope for the upcoming business venture. She knew Shermaine had been investing money into developing Maple Leaf Ville and hoped to play her part by ensuring the venture thrived.
As Lily shared her plans for the future company, Shermaine started to eat an orange slice by slice. Once she finished, she told Lily to get some rest, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and headed out.
Right at the door, she bumped into the two girls who had come to visit Sheila. The moment the two girls saw her, they pressed themselves against the wall in fear, looking utterly ridiculous.
They swallowed nervously and stammered, “S–Shermaine, what a coincidence.” Their forced smiles were so awkward that they looked more like grimaces.
“It sure is,” Shermaine said with a faint smile, brushing past them.
Once she left, the two girls finally let out a sigh of relief. They rushed into the adjacent hospital room, where Sheila lay, and wailed, “Sheila, we just ran into Shermaine outside. Damn, she scared the life out of us.”
“You’re such cowards.” Sheila’s face darkened.
“We sure are. She’s just too scary,” one of the girls replied.
“Yeah, having guts won’t do us any good,” the other girl chimed in.
Sheila rolled her eyes, thinking, ‘Shermaine is such a walking contradiction. She’s beaten me senseless, yet she’s also the one who pulled me back from the brink of disaster. I don’t blame her for getting my brother into such a miserable state. Actually, it’s deeply satisfying!’
Sheila was deeply disappointed with her extremely biased mother. It wasn’t just her mother–her whole family valued sons over daughters.
She was in the hospital now, but neither her father nor her grandmother came to visit–they were running around in a panic because Ronnie had been thrown into detention.
Sheila had already given up on expecting any kind of care from her family. She knew if she wanted a place in the family in the future, she’d have to fight for it on her own. But she wasn’t sure if she could do it.
It was just another ordinary day. As usual, plenty of students came to Shermaine with questions, not just in math, physics, and chemistry, but also in other subjects.
Shermaine would gather the types of questions her classmates couldn’t solve during the day, organize them, and then spend an hour each evening doing a live stream to explain them. The exact time for the live stream would be sent to the group chat in advance every night.
Most underachieving students wanted to improve their grades. They longed for growth, hoping to get good scores on the SAT.
But reality hit them hard. They were stuck in the worst class, with weak foundations, and their teachers had already written them off. There was no way they could have high hopes for themselves.
But Shermaine suddenly showed up in their lives, and somehow, her presence made them feel like there was a glimmer of hope. She was willing to help them in her own way, and if they didn’t seize the chance, they’d be fools.
Summer bought a bunch of snacks for Shermaine from the convenience store, almost filling up Shermaine’s backpack. It was Friday, and the boarding students were planning to head home for the weekend. Summer hooked her arm through Shermaine’s, and they went down the stairs together.
Muttering formulas under her breath, Summer didn’t see someone in her way when she turned a corner and bumped into them.
The person cried out, landing on the ground with books scattered everywhere.
“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention. Are you okay?” Summer said, quickly bending down to help, but the girl swatted her hand away, her pretty face twisted in anger.
Summer recognized her; it was Alice, who took AP courses and was friends with Summer’s petty and mean roommate, Hannah. Alice was a big name around school. Not only was she stunningly beautiful, recognized as the school’s prettiest girl, but her academic performance was top notch.
However, with Shermaine here, Alice might lose her title as “the school’s prettiest girl.” Shermaine was just too pretty, and the school had been buzzing about it. Lately, there had been so many boys hanging around outside Class 9, all just to see Shermaine.
Alice snapped, “Don’t touch me. Ugh, just my luck to run into someone from Class 9.” She picked up her books and then sneered, “Typical underachievers. Cramming a few formulas and expecting to be top students? Don’t kid yourselves–it’s pathetic.”
‘Just because my grades aren’t great, you think you can insult me? No wonder you’re Hannah’s bestie–you’re both awful!’ Summer bellowed inwardly, her face darkening.
Then she said, “Doing well in school doesn’t give you the right to treat people like dirt. I apologized already, but you wouldn’t accept it. Why take it to a personal level?”
“Did I say anything wrong? Every single one of you in Class 9 is useless,” Alice shot back before she started to insult Shermaine. “Especially her–she’s beyond hopeless. She’s a disgrace to all the girls.”
Shermaine was speechless.
Summer was fuming. “Have you got any manners? What gives you the right to insult Shermaine? What did she ever do to you?”
Alice snorted, “I just don’t like her. So what if she’s good at fighting? To us top students, she’s just a troublemaker.”
Although Summer didn’t do well in school, she was good at arguing. “Oh, please. You’re just jealous that Shermaine is prettier than you and outshone you. So you’re using this pathetic excuse to insult her. How shameless of you. Who would’ve thought you could stoop so low?”
Then she shouted, “Hey, everyone! Come see for yourselves! Alice, the prettiest girl in our school, is throwing insults left and right for no reason. This is just too much.”
More and more students turned to watch. Alice’s face flushed red as she retorted, “You’re spouting nonsense. Time will prove everything.”
Seeing the argument escalating, Shermaine tugged on Summer’s arm. “Let’s go. Don’t waste your breath on her. You’re better off memorizing another formula. Like she said, time will prove everything.”
As Shermaine reached the school gates, her phone suddenly rang. It was Ruth, asking her to come back for family dinner tonight and to bring Joshua if possible. Shermaine said she’d ask Joshua and hung up. Then she called him right away.
Joshua was in a meeting when he received the call.
Around the oval-shaped conference table, dozens of senior executives were seated. As Joshua glanced at the caller ID, the executives kept their gazes fixed straight ahead.
Joshua hated being interrupted during meetings, so everyone’s phones were set to silent, including his own. Even if a call came through, he wouldn’t answer it–he never did.
But this time, Joshua raised his hand, signaling the meeting to pause.
The executives were stunned and couldn’t help but wonder if he was making an exception because something serious had happened to Owen. But they guessed wrong.
Joshua brought the phone to his ear and asked, “What’s up?”
Shermaine got straight to the point. “The Jean family is hosting a dinner tonight. Ruth asked me to bring you along. Are you free?”
Joshua replied, “I am, but I’ll be a little late. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine,” Shermaine said casually. As long as he could make it, that was enough.
The executives were left speechless. They now realized that it wasn’t that Joshua never bent the rules–it was just that no one had been important enough to make him do so.
As for the family dinner, it was supposed to happen as soon as Shermaine got back. But the Jean family had been putting it off. And some of them didn’t even show up for the last party.
For example, Shermaine’s grandmother, Janice, who lived in the suburbs, reportedly fell ill when Shermaine returned, so she couldn’t make it back. Then there was Shermaine’s uncle Brandon and his family, who had settled in Neclen and were in charge of the Jean family’s subsidiary there.
Shermaine had met her other uncle, Andrew, and his family a few times. They were sharp-tongued and unpleasant, not worth talking to. She was curious about how her grandmother and her uncle Brandon would treat her.