Chapter 8

She entered so abruptly that the reporters were momentarily stunned.

Someone asked, "Student, are you here to testify that Anya Sterling bullied Seraphina Finch?"

After all, judging by her appearance, Hazel was clearly not from a wealthy family. At a glance, she seemed more like Seraphina.

Hazel looked at the person who asked the question and shook her head.

She said, "I'm here to testify *for* Anya Sterling."

I looked at Hazel in surprise.

To be honest, I had prepared a lot for today's confrontation.

But Hazel was not a witness I had planned for.

After all, we weren't really that close.

The last time I gave her money, she looked up the current market rates for tutoring, calculated it based on an hour a day, and then returned all the excess money to me.

She taught me math for one hour every day, then promptly packed her bag and left, like some perfectly programmed AI robot.

In my previous life, Hazel had jumped from a building right before college entrance exams.

All her hopes were pinned on getting into a good university and earning money quickly to treat her grandmother's illness.

But a month before the exams, her father lost money gambling, drank a few bottles of rotgut alcohol, came home, and gave Hazel the worst beating of her life.

Hazel's right hand was broken.

It was her writing hand.

No one knew what else Hazel's father did that day, or what else the bruised and battered Hazel endured.

When people found her again, this perpetually silent girl had already jumped from the rooftop.

In this life, even though Hazel and I hadn't become close friends, I still wanted to save her.

So, I paid two thugs to beat Hazel's father into the hospital.

That way, at least until the college entrance exams were over, that man wouldn't be able to abuse her.

To meticulously plan this, I had, for the first time, missed an evening study session.

When I returned, Hazel, who was in charge of attendance records, caught me red-handed.

She asked me, "Why did you skip evening study?"

I scratched my head, desperately trying to think of an excuse.

After all, I looked perfectly healthy, no sickness or injury, so I couldn't exactly tell her, "Skipped class to beat up your dad."

Just then, Hazel was called out by the reception teacher: "Hazel, you have a call."

It was news about Hazel's father.

Five minutes later, Hazel returned, her face still bland and expressionless.

She picked up the attendance sheet again, then put it down.

"I won't mark it this time," she said calmly. "Don't be absent again."

At that time, I breathed a sigh of relief and scurried back to my seat to study.

Now, as Hazel used that same calm tone to say, "I'm here to testify for Anya Sterling."

It was then I realized that perhaps she knew.

Facing the gazes of everyone in the room, Hazel pulled out a stack of forms and placed them on the table.

Seraphina's face instantly turned ashen.

To enter the dance studio for rehearsal, according to school regulations, one had to fill out a form: what time the room was borrowed, who used it—everything was on the form.

But this rule wasn't strictly enforced, and filling it out was a hassle, so later, almost no one bothered; they just notified the dance teacher and went.

No one expected that Hazel meticulously filled out the form every single time and kept all the records.

So, under everyone's watchful eyes, they could clearly see that out of over thirty forms, Seraphina's name appeared in the "Users of the Classroom" section on only two.

Meaning, out of more than thirty rehearsals, she had only attended twice.

Hazel saw that everyone had clearly seen the forms, and then she slowly began to speak:

"Seraphina said that Anya Sterling mocked her for not being able to afford a costume, and that's why she wouldn't let her on stage."

"But when I told Anya Sterling I couldn't afford a costume and didn't want to participate, she told me to continue rehearsing."

"The next day, I found out she had bought costumes for everyone."

"Seraphina also said that Anya Sterling bullied her because her father is a janitor and her mother is a cleaner."

"But my father doesn't even have a proper job. My whole family relies on my grandmother's meager pension."

Hazel looked at me: "If you bully poor people, why didn't you bully me?"

This kind of self-deprecating confession stunned everyone present.

In the silence, I sighed, took out my phone, and played a video on speaker.

In this video, everyone could see Seraphina missing beats, forgetting moves, and falling behind.

Among everyone, she was clearly the worst.

Well, after all, during previous rehearsals, she had been out stargazing with Julian.

Actually, Seraphina hadn't really wanted to participate in this showcase, but seeing that I had dropped her, she went to Julian to twist the truth and play the victim, making Julian like her more and hate me more.

She hadn't expected the matter to escalate so much, nor that I would have such complete human and material evidence.

"Originally, I shouldn't have taken the liberty of dropping Seraphina."

"However, this dance showcase offers special admission points, and two girls in our group are specialty students who are relying on these points for college admission."

"If I still let Seraphina participate, it would jeopardize the future of those two girls. Therefore, I had no choice but to make this decision."