Chapter 4Spring Breeze Caresses the Wild Grass

When I returned to the classroom, no one threw trash at me or laughed, which I had expected. Logically, after learning my story, no one should want anything to do with me.

I went back to my seat in the last row. The girl next to me was beautiful, with cool, distant eyes. Her uniform was so clean it seemed to smell like sunshine.

When I sat down, she didn't cover her nose and complain about the smell like my old deskmates used to. She did, however, frown slightly and shift her books a half-inch away from me.

"What are you looking at? Turn to page 28."

Her voice was so pleasant that I just stared at her for a moment.

"Are you still daydreaming? If you fail the exam and drag down our class average, you'll have to answer to me."

I quickly flipped to page 28, a strange feeling twisting in my gut. They must have something else planned for me. I’d heard that the rich kids at these elite schools had all sorts of creative ways to torture people.

But for the rest of the class, no one bothered me. When the teacher came in, everything was normal.

I later learned that she was Sloane, the class academic officer, and the class average was the most important thing in the world to her.

From then on, things started appearing on my desk. Sometimes it was a photocopied set of her neatly written notes, other times it was an old workbook with key problems highlighted.

My math was terrible. During lunch break, when the classroom was mostly empty, she would tap my desk with her pen. "This problem. Look at the construction line first."

Her tone was flat, but she explained each step incredibly slowly, pausing until she saw the confusion clear from my eyes before moving on.

My English was a complete blank slate. I barely knew the alphabet. She wordlessly tossed me an old Walkman. "Study this. I'm quizzing you tomorrow."

She always had a scowl on her face, but her voice was so nice to listen to. As she was teaching me how to pronounce a word, I zoned out again.

"Has your voice always been this beautiful?" I blurted out.

She froze, her face flushing bright red. She jabbed my test paper with her pen. "If you don't start paying attention, I really will have to answer to you. Look at this, you only got a 38 on the quiz."

I didn't dare let my mind wander again. I started waking up before dawn every day to practice my English. Back in my old school, everyone ignored me, which gave me a lot of time to study. I was always at the top of my class. But now I was in last place, dragging down our average. I couldn't let Sloane's efforts go to waste.