Chapter 5

After leisurely taking care of all that, I arrived at Ms. Davison's office about an hour and a half later.

As soon as I stepped into the office, Skylar and the teacher's eyes both turned to me.

I casually placed the items I was holding on a nearby shelf before walking over.

"Sorry, Ms. Davison, I'm a little late. Is there something wrong?"

Perhaps because I was so slow, Ms. Davison seemed a bit impatient, and even though she maintained a polite facade, her tone was quite cold.

"It's like this, Skylar's guardian. Classes officially started today, but we haven't received the child's tuition yet. Did you perhaps get too busy with work and forget to pay it?"

"Oh?"

I covered my mouth with both hands, feigning great surprise.

My gasp made the other teachers in the office turn their heads to look at us.

"Skylar hasn't paid tuition?"

"That's right, Skylar's guardian. This isn't good for the school or for the child."

"Oh, Ms. Davison, I'm really not too clear about this. Her parents just dropped her off at my doorstep and then took off for out of state. They only gave me $100 for her living expenses; they didn't transfer any other money, so I had no idea about this tuition. By the way, Ms. Davison, I'm not Skylar's guardian, I'm just her aunt. My daughter is actually in your first-period class."

This school assigned classes based on entrance exam scores.

My daughter, Mia, who I'd raised since she was little, ranked among the top ten in the entire city on her entrance exams, so she naturally got into the top class.

Her grades had always been consistently excellent, never dropping out of the top tier, even by her senior year.

Skylar, while not terrible, was in the fifth class, certainly not considered top-tier.

In my last life, to improve her grades, watching her slowly climb from the fifth class to the first, I put in so much effort.

I even often asked Mia to sacrifice her own study time to explain problems to Skylar.

When Ms. Davison heard I was just a relative, not the parent,

and that my own child was in their top class, her tone immediately softened considerably.

"Is that so? I saw your contact information filled out in the child's guardian section, so I naturally called you."

"Alright, Ms. Davison, I'll call her parents right now."

I had just taken out my phone.

Skylar suddenly tugged at my sleeve.

"Auntie, did my parents not transfer my tuition to you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, child? Didn't you see my SnapChat conversation with your dad yesterday? He only transferred $100, which isn't even enough for food. How could it possibly cover tuition?"

Perhaps the gazes of the surrounding teachers and the occasional student walking in were too intense.

My niece's face turned completely red.

"How about you pay it for me first, Auntie? I'll have my parents pay you back when I get home."

"Skylar, what are you saying? Tuition for the year is twelve thousand dollars! I just paid Mia's tuition, plus rent and utilities. Rent alone is thirty-six thousand a year! I'm completely broke right now; all I have left is the $100 your parents transferred yesterday. How about I just give this $100 to Ms. Davison?"

Ms. Davison saw what was happening.

She pushed up her glasses and said to me,

"How about you give her parents a call?"

"Alright, Ms. Davison, I was just about to."

With that, I gently pulled Skylar's hand away from mine, called David, and put him on speakerphone.

"Hello, Eleanor."

"David, did you and Brenda get too busy and forget to pay Skylar's tuition?"

"Huh? Eleanor, isn't Skylar living with you now?"

Hearing that, I really wanted to peel off his face and see how thick his skin was.

"Yes, she is! You two just drop her off without a word, and then expect me to cover everything. I'm her aunt, so I won't charge for rent and utilities, but $100 a month? What kind of food can a child eat on that? I won't even mention all that, but how could you forget something as important as tuition? I'm in the teacher's office right now; you can explain it to her yourself."

He clearly hadn't expected me to directly confront him and even bring up the $100.

Ms. Davison greeted him several times with "Hello, parent," before he finally reacted.

"Oh, oh, hello, Ms. Davison. Um, well, my wife and I are out of state right now. We've entrusted Skylar's care to her aunt. So, maybe..."

Hearing that, I interjected.

"David, even though Skylar isn't my biological child, she's family, I watched her grow up. I'd love to pay her tuition, but I just paid Mia's tuition, and with rent and utilities, I've already spent over fifty thousand dollars. I genuinely don't have any money left.

"If you two can't come up with it, maybe you should try borrowing from other relatives?"

Ms. Davison also spoke up sternly.

"Parent, according to school regulations, if tuition isn't paid, the child may need to go home for self-study until the tuition is settled before returning to school."

"Alright, alright, I'll transfer the tuition to her aunt right away, okay? Ms. Davison, please let Skylar take the phone."

Skylar tremblingly took the phone from Ms. Davison's hand and carefully called out, "Dad."

"You little brat, always spending my money! You've cost me so much since you were little! I'm telling you, you better get into a good university after graduation, or you won't be worthy of me or your mom."

After cursing her out, he hung up.

And as soon as I received the tuition transfer from David, I didn't waste a single second, immediately transferring it to Ms. Davison.