Chapter 14
Seeing that Tiffany wasn’t having the meltdown they’d expected, Mr. and Mrs. Kelley breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’re glad you’re not upset with us,” Thalia said
Sometimes reality was harsh. The Harpers were too powerful to cross, so they had to swallow this bitter pill.
Tiffany smiled softly. “How could I be?”
Far from being angry, she was actually looking forward to what might happen next.
It was the appearance of Kenneth’s dream girl that had originally led him to throw Tiffany under the bus. This time, she wouldn’t make the same mistake.
But how things would unfold now, even Tiffany couldn’t predict.
Lost in thought, she didn’t hear Thalia calling her name until Thalia waved a hand in front of her face.
“What’s got you so distracted? I’ve asked you twice now.”
“Oh, sorry. What did you say, Mom?” Tiffany responded, still a bit disoriented.
“I was asking if anyone from the Harper family gave you trouble in the garden earlier?” she clarified.
It would have been fine if her mom hadn’t brought it up, but the mention immediately reminded Tiffany of what had happened in the storage closet.
Richard’s strikingly handsome face, those deep, dark eyes, and the way he looked down at her with a hint of a smile.
‘Oh no. Why couldn’t I shake these images from my head?’ Tiffany was in a panic.
Tiffany pinched herself discreetly before answering her parents’ questioning looks. “No. trouble at all. Actually, I caught quite an interesting show…”
Thankfully, her parents weren’t the type to pry, so they let it drop.
The news of the Kelleys trying to break off the engagement should have blown over, but somehow it leaked.
Lovell City wasn’t big, and its high society was even smaller. The story spread like wildfire, twisting with each retellin
By the time it made the rounds, the truth-that the Kelleys wanted out and the Harpers were stalling-had morphed into a different tale entirely. Now people were saying the Harpers wanted to end things, but Tiffany was desperately clinging to the engagement!
The backlash was immediate and intense.
“That Tiffany Kelley is so shameless! The Harpers want to break it off, and she’s threatening to kill herself if they do!” someone groaned.
“I feel so bad for Kenneth. Getting stuck with a girl like that? Talk about the worst luck ever!” another commented.
When Tiffany went to school on Monday, these whispers followed her everywhere.
She’d always been an outsider in her class, but now she was Public Enemy Number One for every girl in school.
Yet Tiffany couldn’t care less. She went about her day as usual, seemingly unaffected by the drama swirling around her.
Upon hearing these rumors, Kenneth initially thought about setting the record straight. But remembering Tiffany’s cold shoulder, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
He was just as confused about why the engagement hadn’t been called off. The night before, his parents had even lectured him about being nicer to Tiffany, hinting that they were dead set on this marriage happening.
The more people talked, the more Kenneth resented being pushed into a corner. He wanted nothing more than to rebel against it all.
He decided he’d only step in to clear up the rumors when Tiffany came to him for help.
But three days passed, and Tiffany never came to him. His silence was taken as tacit approval.
With that, more people felt emboldened to make trouble for Tiffany, all claiming to defend Kenneth’s honor.
That day at lunch, Tiffany was about to return her tray when a long-haired girl deliberately bumped into her, spilling a bowl of greasy soup all over Tiffany’s legs.
Laughter erupted around them, and someone even gave the girl a thumbs-up.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the girl said, her voice dripping with mock sincerity.
She thought a simple apology would suffice and turned to leave, but Tiffany grabbed her arm.
“I already apologized. What more do you want?” the girl snapped, trying to pull away.
Tiffany chuckled, then firmly dragged the girl over to the trash bin, flipping her headfirst into it.
The bin was overflowing with a mix of rotting food scraps, greasy napkins, and discarded vegetable peels, emitting a nauseating stench far worse than a mere splash of spilled soup. Amidst the shocked silence, Tiffany offered an apologetic smile. “Oops, my hand slipped too.” With one challenger down, another soon stepped up. That afternoon, Tiffany returned from the restroom to find a snake in her desk, its tongue flicking menacingly.
Most people would have screamed or panicked at the sight, but Tiffany merely paused, then calmly reached in and plucked the snake’s fangs out with her bare hands.
She didn’t even flinch.
Everyone’s jaws dropped in horrified astonishment.
Before anyone could recover from the shock, Tiffany casually tossed the snake aside.
Chaos erupted as the classroom descended into screams and frantic attempts to escape.
Amidst the pandemonium, Tiffany sat quietly at her desk, as serene as if nothing had happened.
Once the snake was dealt with and the room settled down, Tiffany walked to the front of the class. Her eyes swept over her classmates, and she let out a disdainful laugh.
“Let me be clear,” she said, her voice steady and bold. “You’re all cowards. If anyone wants to play games,
I’m ready. But if you can’t handle it, remember to show some respect when you see me.”
The classroom fell
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Tiffany’s audacious words were beyond anything they’d ever heard, but no one dared to argue.
Despite their constant attempts to trip her up, Tiffany hadn’t faltered once. She had proven time and again that she could handle anything they threw at her, teaching them a lesson in the process.
No one else was foolish enough to challenge her Tiffany’s fierce resolve had put an end to all their petty schemes, and even the rumors began to die down.
Kenneth watched all of this unfold, expecting tears and pleas for help, but Tiffany hadn’t shed a single tear.
She’d handled everything on her own, leaving Kenneth at a loss as everything he thought he knew about her was being turned on its head.
Just as he was trying to make sense of it all, the dorm assignments were posted. When Kenneth saw the list, he was completely taken aback.
He was assigned to share a dorm with Tiffany.