It had not killed her, but she had developed a high fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. If the maid had not found her, Hayden might not even have called a doctor to look at her.After that, Madelyn had trouble breathing. She had to take a lot of yucky medicine every day. Too much medicine can be bad for you, especially if you are sick for a long time. So, Madelyn started to feel weaker and weaker.'Maybe I'm not alone after all. There really are people who care about me,' she thought.The next day, she slept in. 'If I keep missing morning classes, Ms. Hann will probably talk to me about it. I can't be late again tomorrow.'"Miss Jent, didn't Mr. Arnold come down with you?" a maid asked.Madelyn was taking some medicine sweetened with honey, so it was not too bitter. "Hasn't he gotten up yet?""No, I haven't seen him yet.""I'll go get him."Madelyn finished eating and headed upstairs. When she arrived at the room, she noticed the door was slightly open. She gave a gentle knock, an
Jadie pressed her lips together as she looked at the neatly bound notebook. She felt a mix of emotions that she could not quite describe. "Madelyn, I gave you those notes. Why did you give them to Forrest? Everyone at school is saying that I..."'Ah, so that's why!' Madelyn thought. She quickly replied, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have given your notes to Forrest. I thought he would just make a copy, not tear them out."Jadie sighed and said, "I didn't want to tell you this, Madelyn, but I'm worried. If Zach hears about this, he might get the wrong idea. You know how we just got together. I don't want anything like this to upset him.""I get it," Madelyn said reassuringly. "If my brother gets the wrong idea, I'll explain it to him."Jadie noticed the workbook on Madelyn's desk. She picked it up and checked it out. "Did you buy this workbook?""Mr. Newton gave it to me," Madelyn replied."Really? I think it's the latest one," Jadie said."Is it? I didn't know," Madelyn admitted. "But
Forrest had one arm wrapped around Kayla's waist and a pen in his other hand. He glanced at a sheet of paper with a question on it, looking bored. In a careless tone, he said, "Well, make her kneel down and clean it up then." The people around him watched with amusement and laughed. Kayla, her face twisted in a mocking smile, lifted her foot that had been stepped on. "What are you looking at?" she snapped. "Kneel down and clean it up. Don't you understand?""I... I understand," Mya responded hesitantly.Kayla was originally not from Ventropolis; she moved here from a small town. Her family had become wealthy by selling pork, and that was why they could afford to move to the big city. She had transferred to the new school in her junior year, hoping it would be a friendly place. Instead, her classmates pushed her aside just because her family sold pork. She tried telling them that her family sold other stuff, like organic produce and farm-fresh eggs, too, but nobody listened. They even
Madelyn could not understand why Forrest was acting so wild and crazy lately. He was always a nice guy, but now he always seemed mad. She felt bad because she could not help him as they were not close. She worried that he might get in trouble if he did not calm down. As the Math Olympiad got closer, that was all she could think about.After school, Madelyn went to the special math class. She learned that the test they took last night was to pick who could stay in the class. There were twenty students at first, but now only ten were left. Being the best in the class was really hard.The scores from last night's test were up on the blackboard. Just like everyone thought, Madelyn's score was the best."It's easy when you have connections," a student said, sounding grumpy. "She wasn't here for two weeks but still got the best score. Why are we even here? We took a long train ride for hours, and now we have to go back tomorrow.""Quit whining," another student chimed in. "If you had a s
"Too bad your boyfriend isn't the CEO of Arnold Corporation."As Jadie and her friend walked, they could hear the girls behind them chatting. 'So Madelyn stayed late last night because she was in the special class. Is she still coming back to the Math Olympiad class?'Madelyn was stapling some papers when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her fingertip. She looked down and saw a drop of blood on her pale finger. At the same time, her eyelid twitched, and she had a bad feeling. Thankfully, the staple was not rusty, so she did not need a shot.Classes did not end until 9:30 p.m. Madelyn went to the restroom, and when she came out, she looked in the mirror at the spot behind her. All she saw was darkness. 'Am I too stressed from all the studying? I keep feeling like someone's watching me,' she thought. She shook the water off her hands and headed back to the classroom to grab her backpack.As she got near the elevator, a hand suddenly grabbed her from behind and pulled her into a stai
Madelyn had a hard time holding up Forrest as they left the school.The Arnold family's driver quickly drove up. Seeing Forrest in Madelyn's arms, he got out of the car right away and helped her get Forrest inside."Why are you with him, Ms. Jent?" the driver asked.Madelyn frowned. "It's a long story. Let's just go home.""I'm sorry, but Mrs. Arnold said that he can't come to the Arnold residence without permission."Madelyn remembered that rule and said, "Okay, let's go to my place then."She put Forrest in the back seat and buckled him up. Then she got in the front and told the driver where to go. They pulled up to a small alley where she used to live, a building without an elevator. Madelyn and the driver helped Forrest up the stairs. She found a key under the flowerpot, opened the door, and turned on the light. The house was surprisingly clean, and looked like someone had been staying there. There was even some half-eaten food on the table, covered with plastic wrap.'Could
Madelyn thought, 'If a person cheats once, they'll cheat again! I've learned this from Zach.'Madelyn walked out of the bathroom. She switched on her phone and saw that Ethan had called her several times. She then walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. She wore a tie belt sleeping gown, and her hair was still a little wet.Madelyn returned the call, which Ethan picked up within a few seconds.A familiar, deep, pleasant voice could be heard, "You're still awake?"Madelyn looked at the moon. It was a crescent moon, just like the pendant on her neck.She responded, "When'll you be back?"Ethan gently chuckled, "Madelyn, it's only been one day. To be precise, it's only been fifteen hours and twelve minutes. What's wrong? Did something happen at school?"Madelyn nervously clutched her gown. She could even hear her own heartbeat, "I-I miss you!"She had to gather a lot of courage in order to say those three words.She could not help but remember that she had said the same words to Z
Madelyn was distracted in the morning. She constantly recalled the incident at the safe passage last night and what Forrest said to her.She did not want to continue imagining things. She thought, 'It's meaningless to ponder about certain things.'When she set aside those distracting thoughts and listened to the teacher, she realized she had already lost track of the lesson...She dreamily got through the first class.Madelyn, sitting in the first row by the window, heard voices behind her. It was Yvonne and Jadie!Yvonne handed a gold invitation card to Jadie, "I'm handing this invitation card as the apparent heir of the Young family for you and Zach. YTCorp will be hosting a gala dinner this weekend. We hope both of you can attend it on time."Jadie had never received such a valuable invitation. She glanced at it before lifting her head to smile slightly at Yvonne, "I'm sorry! I don't know anything about the company's matters, but I'll pass this on to Zach. If he decides to go,