Chapter 64: The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend
"Grandma, it’s getting late. I should be heading back." She had been studying late into the night for the past few days because of the second mock exam, and now she wanted to go home and catch up on sleep.
"Alright! Grandma will see you out!" Miss Prescott stood up.
Chloe York didn’t refuse and walked to the door with Miss Prescott. The driver was already waiting.
"Grandma will be waiting for you to come visit!" Miss Prescott said to Chloe, afraid that she would forget to come see her.
"Okay, Grandma. I’ll come whenever I have time."
While the two were talking, Ethan Prescott had already gotten into the car. He didn’t actually have to accompany Chloe York home, but he didn’t want to part with her just yet. He wanted to see her home.
"Take me back to school!" Chloe said as soon as she got in the car, then immediately turned to look out the window.
Ethan didn’t react for a moment. He had just told the driver to go to the York residence.
He suddenly realized Chloe must have moved out of the York residence. A pang of sadness hit him. ’We grew up together,’ he thought. ’How could I not feel upset seeing her like this?’
"To the school!" Ethan instructed the driver.
"Yes, Young Master!"
The driver started the car. As the scenery outside the window blurred past, the inside of the car was dead silent.
"Chloe, I want to apologize for the things I’ve said and done," Ethan said, his voice sincere yet apprehensive.
He now truly felt he had been terribly wrong. ’Because I disliked Chloe, I never made an effort to understand her on a deeper level.’
’Actually, I liked Chloe a lot when we were kids. I can’t even remember when I started to dislike her. All I knew was that the older Chloe got, the more clingy she became. Other than that, I had no real impression of her.’
He could also sense that Chloe genuinely disliked him now. ’And it’s all my own fault.’
Chloe didn’t answer Ethan. She pretended not to hear, her gaze remaining fixed on the view outside the window.
Ethan pressed his lips together and didn’t say anything else.
The rest of the drive was silent until the car stopped at the school gate.
"Thank you!" Chloe said politely to the driver. She then opened the door and got out, completely ignoring Ethan the entire time.
Ethan had wanted to say something to Chloe, but she got out so quickly he never had the chance.
The driver had witnessed Ethan being ignored the entire time. ’The young master really deserves this,’ he thought.
’I saw with my own eyes how much this girl used to care about Ethan, and how well she treated him. If my young master had acted like this back then, their roles wouldn’t be completely reversed now!’
Only after Chloe’s back had completely disappeared from sight did Ethan instruct the driver to head back.
Back at her apartment, Chloe had planned to get some rest, but her mind suddenly felt energized, filled with motivation. Based on the second mock exam, she could still pinpoint areas where she was having trouble.
She listed her weaknesses one by one, intending to tackle them.
Back at the Prescott residence, Ethan was about to head upstairs when Miss Prescott let out a cough. He stopped in his tracks and looked over at her.
"My, my. Some people are just awful. When someone is good to them, they look down on them. But when that person stops caring and isn’t good to them anymore, they shamelessly pester them. Such people have no shame at all!"
Miss Prescott was making a pointedly indirect remark, and Ethan knew at once his grandmother was talking about him.
"Grandma, you don’t have to beat around the bush. You can just say it to my face," Ethan said with a resigned sigh, sitting down beside her.
"So you’re aware I’m talking about you!" Miss Prescott said, looking at Ethan with disdain.
"Yes. I was blind before. I know I was wrong now, and I want to make up for it."
But he didn’t know how to make it up to her—what he could do that would make Chloe forgive him and lessen the pain he had caused.
"If you want to make amends, you need to act fast, not just pay lip service. Chloe’s a young woman, and a young woman’s pride is fragile. This whole ’fake heiress’ business was already humiliating enough for her, and then you publicly broke off your engagement to get engaged to the ’real heiress.’ You grew up together, child. You can’t be so heartless," Miss Prescott lectured Ethan in a level tone.
Ethan nodded. "I understand."
「The next day.」
When Chloe arrived in the classroom, her classmates were all chatting happily. Only Brooke York was diligently reading a book.
’In the world I came from, no one would be this relaxed, even after the second mock exam,’ Chloe thought. ’They’d all be rushing to review their mistakes, using the test to see where they were still weak and what problems they hadn’t understood.’
She sat down at her desk, and Stella Winters immediately leaned over.
"Chloe, are you nervous?"
"I’m okay. I’m confident." ’Although I’m not sure what my exact score will be, I’m certain it’s at least over fifty. It might even be as high as eighty.’
"That’s good. I’m nervous for you. We might get the results this afternoon or tomorrow."
"Don’t be nervous. It’ll be fine."
Stella Winters nodded. "Mhm!" Then she pulled some snacks out of her desk and started eating them contentedly.
"Chloe, the teachers have started grading the exams. I believe in you. I’m sure you did great," Brooke York said, suddenly approaching Chloe with a show of goodwill.
"Like she needs you to tell her that. Of course Chloe did great!" Stella shot back before Chloe could even answer, her tone sharp and impolite.
Brooke York suppressed her anger. ’This Stella Winters... Sooner or later, I’ll make her shut her mouth the moment she sees me. She won’t dare to go against me again.’
"Right, that’s what I meant too. Chloe will definitely do great."
"Whether I do well or not has nothing to do with your opinion. It depends on my actual ability," Chloe said, then pulled out a practice test and began working on it.
’Right now, the only way for me to improve my scores is to grind through practice problems and review the concepts I haven’t mastered.’
Brooke watched Chloe’s diligent act with utter contempt.
’I can’t wait for the scores to be released. If she gets another one on this exam, all this hard work will just make her a bigger joke.’
Brooke said no more and turned to go back to her own seat.
Clara Bell glanced over as Brooke returned to her seat but said nothing. ’I haven’t made up with Brooke yet, but I actually want to.’
’After all, she’s still a York. There are definitely benefits to being on her good side. But I’m still holding a grudge over what happened last time.’
’I even thought that if Brooke came to talk to me first, I’d just let it go. I’d be the bigger person and forgive her. But she never did.’
’But I have a plan. When the mock exam results come out and Chloe is humiliated, I’ll use it as an excuse to make up with Brooke. We can deal with Chloe together. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?’