Chapter 70: Must Apologize to the Whole School
With that, the homeroom teacher left the classroom first.
Chloe York didn’t know why her homeroom teacher had called for her, but she stood up and walked outside anyway.
As the two of them stood in the hallway, the students inside the classroom erupted. Some stood up, while others ran over to their friends’ desks.
"I wonder what the homeroom teacher is going to say to Chloe York!"
"I don’t know! Maybe it’s about the apology!"
"Is the homeroom teacher really going to apologize to Chloe York in front of the whole school?"
"If that’s true, our class is going to be famous."
"Jeez, our class just keeps feeding the gossip mill for the other classes!"
The students all started talking at once, and it wasn’t hard to see their excitement.
Henry Ford watched the two of them in the hallway outside the window, his eyes narrowing slightly.
He pulled his gaze back to his own test. He’d scored a 93 in Chinese, the highest in the class. On the first mock exam, Brooke York had gotten a 92 while he’d only managed an 89. This meant he had likely surpassed Brooke York.
But if Chloe York really managed to climb another level on the third mock exam, then he wouldn’t be first in Chinese anymore. He was always being pushed into second place by a female classmate, and he hated the feeling.
"Brooke," Clara Bell said, leaning close to Brooke York to join the discussion. "You don’t think the homeroom teacher is actually planning to apologize to Chloe York, do you? If she does, that would give Chloe way too much clout."
"No way. The homeroom teacher will absolutely not apologize," Brooke York said firmly, her eyes fixed on the two in the hallway.
"Why?" Clara asked, curious about Brooke’s certainty.
"It would be too humiliating for her as a teacher. No student would ever respect her again. Right now, she’s probably just trying to figure out how to get out of this."
Just as Brooke York predicted, the homeroom teacher indeed had no intention of apologizing to Chloe York in front of the entire school.
Instead, she was apologizing privately, hoping Chloe York would forgive her so she wouldn’t have to do it in front of everyone.
"Chloe, I’m so sorry. Can you please forgive me?" the homeroom teacher pleaded. Her tone was so subservient, she seemed like a completely different person from the one who had so aggressively made the bet.
"Ma’am, it’s a bit early for an apology. Didn’t we agree you’d be apologizing to me in front of the whole school?"
Hearing Chloe York’s refusal, the homeroom teacher felt a flash of anger. ’I’m her teacher, after all! I already apologized, what more does she want? Does she really have to make me do it in front of the whole school? Why is she being so difficult about this!’
But the principal’s words echoed in her mind, and she swallowed her anger. "I was wrong, Chloe. I have elders to support and children to raise... I can’t lose this job. Please, be the bigger person and forgive my mistake. Don’t make me apologize in front of the whole school, okay?"
"You were the one who wanted to make the bet. You started it."
Chloe York’s words made it very clear that she would not agree to a private apology; it had to be in front of the entire school.
"Chloe York! I am your teacher—your homeroom teacher! You scored in the eighties on this exam, don’t I get even a little credit for that? You’re being completely ungrateful!" The homeroom teacher’s tone turned aggressive, clearly trying to use her authority to guilt-trip Chloe.
She had hoped to intimidate and guilt-trip Chloe York, but to her surprise, Chloe was completely unfazed. Instead, she just let out a cold laugh.
"Oh, really? Then let me ask you: what exactly have you taught me? You’ve had private talks with practically every other student, asking if they had questions and telling them to come to you for help. But me? You never spoke to me. Not once."
"There were even times I tried to study and asked you questions, but you wouldn’t answer. You’d just pretend you didn’t hear me."
"That’s why I kept scoring a zero in Chinese. I wouldn’t even stoop to writing an essay title for a single point."
Chloe York’s verbal assault left the homeroom teacher speechless. She couldn’t refute a single word, because it was all true. She had always seen Chloe as a disgrace who was dragging down her class’s university admission rates.
Most students who make it to high school are on a similar level. Even the one at the bottom of the class can usually score a few dozen points and not drag down the class average by much.
But Chloe York was different. She always scored in the teens, rarely breaking twenty, which dragged the class average down way too far. So the teacher had gradually started to ignore Chloe completely, subjecting her to cold neglect.
Chloe York spoke these words on behalf of the body’s original owner. Now that she was using her body, she could naturally feel the girl’s grievances and understand what she had suffered.
After a moment, the homeroom teacher, as if having carefully chosen her words, spoke again. "Chloe, I was wrong in the past. I promise, from now on, I’ll tutor you personally and help you take your grades to the next level. Getting over ninety will be no problem at all."
"No thanks. I don’t need that anymore. You just figure out what day you’re going to the main field to apologize to me in front of the whole school. You have one week, at the latest. I want that apology within a week!"
Having given her an ultimatum, Chloe York ignored the look on her homeroom teacher’s face and returned to the classroom.
The homeroom teacher watched Chloe return to the classroom, fuming internally. ’It seems I’ve really underestimated Chloe York.’
’She’s just a fake heiress, and it serves her right. If she were a real one with this attitude, she’d be truly unbearable.’
As Chloe stepped into the classroom, the students all fell silent. Those who had left their desks scrambled back to their seats. After all, if Chloe was back, the homeroom teacher couldn’t be far behind.
"What did that old witch call you out here to say?" Stella Winters leaned over and asked as soon as Chloe reached her seat.
"She apologized and tried to get me to drop the public apology," Chloe summed it up for Stella.
Hearing this, Stella got really worked up. "What the hell? In her dreams! She was the one who made the bet, and now she’s trying to back out? I’m telling you, if you had been the one to lose, she would never have let you off the hook."
"I know. That’s why I said no."
"Good, you definitely shouldn’t have agreed! A person like her doesn’t deserve to be a teacher at all!"
The nearby students who overheard a little of the conversation were all surprised. They couldn’t believe the homeroom teacher was trying to get out of the public apology and had tried to do it privately just now!
They wanted to gossip about it, but the homeroom teacher had already returned, so everyone had no choice but to be quiet.
Sure enough, the homeroom teacher returned a moment later. Her expression was sour, and her gaze, when it landed on Chloe York, was filled with obvious resentment.
None of the students dared to look at the homeroom teacher. They just lowered their heads and tried to make themselves invisible.
The homeroom teacher picked up the exam papers and began going over the questions. Her tone was awful for the entire class, and she even yelled at them several times.
Seeing the homeroom teacher in this state, a new plan formed in Brooke York’s mind. ’With this plan,’ she thought, ’Chloe York will never be able to recover.’
Because she had thought of a plan—and a rather good one at that—a smile lingered on Brooke York’s lips. Seeing her like that, Clara Bell felt a chill run down her spine!