Chapter 74: The Homeroom Teacher Wants to Apologize?
Based on that statement, Jordan Walton was now certain that the homeroom teacher was the one who had posted the content online.
"Mr. Hale, how could you be so foolish?" Jordan Walton said, his voice tinged with exasperation. "Don’t you realize that what you’ve done has completely destroyed your career?"
Hearing Jordan Walton’s words and tone, Mr. Hale’s heart sank.
"Principal, haven’t you already ruined my career? This just makes things a little worse. What more can be done?"
Seeing that Mr. Hale was completely intractable, Jordan Walton stood up. "Mr. Hale, I swear on my position as principal, I did not help Chloe York cheat. If I did, may my school go bankrupt!"
At these words, Mr. Hale involuntarily took two steps back. He knew how much Jordan Walton cared about his school.
He also knew the lengths the principal would go to for his school.
But now that he had sworn on his position and his school, it had to be true. He really hadn’t helped Chloe York cheat.
"Mr. Hale, let me be clear. Originally, if you had just apologized, my school wouldn’t have kept you, but I had already arranged with other schools to write you a letter of recommendation. There were schools that were willing to hire you."
"But now, if this gets out, none of them will want you."
After all, this homeroom teacher was a veteran at the school—one Jordan had hired himself, who had been with him for years. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been assigned to teach a third-year senior class. But this time, he had been a profound disappointment.
"Principal, I... I just wasn’t thinking clearly," Mr. Hale pleaded. "Principal, please, can you help me?"
"Mr. Hale, no one can help you now. I thought I knew you after all these years—I was the one who interviewed you, after all. You shouldn’t have been so reckless!"
The principal’s words were a wake-up call for Mr. Hale. ’I’m not the foolish one,’ he realized. ’I’ve been used as a pawn! To think that I, a respected high school teacher, was completely played by a student—manipulated by her!’
Mr. Hale said nothing more, simply turning and leaving the principal’s office. As he left, however, there was a new, fierce energy about him, as if he were off to settle a score.
Jordan Walton didn’t concern himself with it. In any case, whoever Mr. Hale was going to confront had nothing to do with him.
He suspected it was probably one of Mr. Hale’s family members who had given him the idea. Mr. Hale wasn’t close with any of his colleagues, let alone close enough for them to scheme with him.
After leaving the principal’s office, Mr. Hale went straight to find Brooke York, who was in her classroom.
"Brooke York!" Mr. Hale’s roar made the entire class turn to look at him standing in the doorway.
They were all startled by the raw fury on his face. Mr. Hale could be strict, but he had never looked this menacing. His eyes burned as if he were staring down a bitter enemy.
’Isn’t Brooke York his favorite student? Why would he be so furious with her?’
Being yelled at so suddenly by Mr. Hale, Brooke York froze, unable to process what was happening.
’Why is Mr. Hale so angry with me?’ she wondered. ’Everyone online is trashing Chloe York. We should be celebrating!’
Mr. Hale strode up to Brooke York’s desk. "Brooke York, this is all your fault! You made me lose my job, and now my reputation is ruined because of you!"
The entire class was stunned. Even students in the hallway couldn’t help but crowd around the windows, eager to watch the drama unfold.
’What did we just hear???’
"Chloe, look! Drama!" Stella Winters said, nudging Chloe York, who was absorbed in her studies.
Chloe York had been so focused that she hadn’t heard Mr. Hale at all. Only when Stella nudged her did she realize their teacher was in the classroom, facing off against Brooke York.
"Mr. Hale, what are you talking about? I don’t understand!" Though Brooke York was panicking internally, her expression remained placid.
She hadn’t expected Mr. Hale to turn on her so suddenly.
Mr. Hale sneered, looking at Brooke York’s innocent act. ’Have I really been alive this long,’ he thought, ’and couldn’t see that this girl is a sly fox?’
"You don’t understand?" Mr. Hale shot back. "Brooke York, you’re the one who told me the principal helped Chloe York cheat."
The classroom erupted. They hadn’t expected such a twist.
Still, they were inclined to believe Mr. Hale. He was a teacher, after all. Besides, considering Brooke York and Chloe York had similar scores this time, and with the whole "real vs. fake daughter" drama, it seemed entirely possible that Brooke would do something like this to get back at Chloe.
"So Brooke York was probably the one who posted all that stuff online!"
"That’s plausible. Only young people really know how to weaponize the internet like that. Mr. Hale is in his forties; he probably wouldn’t know how."
Seeing her classmates’ suspicion, Brooke York quickly retorted, "Mr. Hale, how can you blame me? You’re the one who refused to apologize, so you slandered Chloe York. How can you shift the blame to me now? You can’t just pin this on me because you’re the teacher! Do you have any proof?"
Brooke York put on an innocent face, determined not to admit anything. ’He probably doesn’t have any evidence to back up his claim,’ she thought.
And just as Brooke York guessed, Mr. Hale had no proof.
"Fine. You’re a real piece of work," Mr. Hale said, then turned and stalked out of the classroom.
"Chloe, please don’t misunderstand," Brooke said, turning to her. "I never said those things to him. He’s just trying to drive a wedge between us."
"Whether you did or didn’t, you know the truth. You don’t need to explain yourself to me, do you?"
A flash of hatred crossed Brooke York’s eyes.
"There are rumors online that I cheated on the second mock exam—that I leveraged the fact that I saved someone’s life to win a bet. I want to make one thing clear: I did not cheat!"
"I earned every single point myself. The exam hall has surveillance footage. You can check it. And if you think that can be faked, then just wait for the college entrance exams."
As soon as Chloe York’s video statement was posted, the comments section exploded.
Major influencers and content farms quickly started reposting it.
The comments were a mixed bag.
[This girl radiates integrity. I believe her!]
[She’s so young and already knows how to manipulate public opinion. If you ask me, she’s a schemer. Maybe the original rumors were true!]
[Look, true or not, we’ll find out when the college entrance exam scores are released. It’s impossible to cheat on that, right?!]
"Principal, I’m going to apologize!" Mr. Hale announced, having gone to the principal’s office on his own initiative to speak with Jordan Walton.
"Mr. Hale, if only you’d done this from the start," Jordan Walton said, trailing off. "Why did you have to wait until now? You..." His voice was filled with the frustration of disappointed hopes.
"I know I handled everything wrong," Mr. Hale said. "Now, I just hope Chloe York can forgive me so we can put this all behind us." He never imagined his quiet life would be thrown into such chaos by the very student he had once been most proud of.
He even had to apologize to the student he’d disliked the most. Only now did he understand his mistake. A teacher should never harbor a personal dislike for a student; his job was to trust them and dedicate himself to their education.