A Warm Marriage After Rebirth

Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Black-Bellied Seraphina

”The good news?” Seraphina Sterling’s smile grew even more brilliant, her bright eyes looking utterly innocent. ”My application to skip a grade was approved! When school starts again, I’ll be a senior!”

Aria Cheney’s feelings at this moment were incredibly complex, and even the way she looked at Seraphina Sterling changed. Her vicious gaze looked like it wanted to swallow Seraphina whole! It was because she had refused to let Kimberly Jennings move in and had rejected the application to skip a grade that Seraphina had made her lose the vice principal position!

The calmest one there was the Jennings family’s third son, Zeke Jennings. He had personally experienced just how terrifying his niece was. Aria Cheney was lucky; all that happened was that she didn’t become vice principal. He, on the other hand, had spent three days in a police station!

”Seraphina Sterling! Get out! Get the hell out right now!” Aria Cheney shrieked, pointing a finger at her, her body trembling with rage.

”Auntie, I’d advise you to calm down. You may not have become vice principal, but at least you’re still the Dean of Students. If you’d like to leave the school for good, then by all means, keep throwing a fit.”

Aria Cheney was instantly silenced. It was only then that she truly understood how terrifying Seraphina Sterling was! ’Just because of a few complaints about Kimberly Jennings, just because I blocked her application to skip a grade, I lost my chance at becoming vice principal! If I lose my position as Dean of Students too... ’ She didn’t even dare to imagine it.

In reality, Seraphina Sterling had orchestrated the entire affair from beginning to end. Her planning had begun the moment she’d heard the school was going to appoint a new vice principal.

Although Aria Cheney met the criteria for consideration, she was nowhere near outstanding enough to beat out all her competitors. It was Seraphina who had spread the rumor at school that the vice principal position had been internally decided for Aria Cheney, and that the selection process was just a formality.

At any point in time, rumors are terrifying things, especially in a crowded place. With everyone adding their own two cents, the story eventually became that Aria Cheney was definitely being promoted to vice principal.

The rumor spread like wildfire. Students were saying it, teachers were saying it, and in the end, even Aria Cheney herself believed she would definitely become the vice principal. Little did she know, her chances had been slim from the very beginning.

This was all just a beautiful dream that Seraphina had woven for her.

The higher you stand, the harder you fall. First, let her experience the ultimate pleasure of being on top of the world, and then let all her hopes come crashing down. For Aria Cheney, there could be no punishment more severe.

’If I’d known it would end up like this, I’d rather have never run for vice principal in the first place. Now that this whole scene has played out, I don’t even have to imagine how the entire school, students and teachers alike, must see me! Or what they’re saying behind my back!’

’And my new superior, the incoming vice principal—will they think I’m overly ambitious and try to make my life difficult? How am I supposed to carry on with my work from now on!’

Aria Cheney would get to slowly experience and savor all of this in her work in the days to come.

”Oh, right, Mom. Starting tomorrow, for the month before the Spring Festival, I’ll be in the city for the all-city high school winter camp. I won’t be back until it’s over. If the police find out the cause of the fire, you have to contact me immediately.” This was the one thing Seraphina was truly worried about.

”Don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of it,” Kimberly Jennings said, feeling she needed to take a good, hard look at herself. ’How is it that compared to Seraphina, I’m the mother, but I’m always the one being worried about?’

”Don’t worry, Seraphina. If those two families come back to cause trouble, I’ll protect Kimberly!” Zeke Jennings immediately declared his stance. He had learned his lesson from the last incident. This niece of his was formidable; you absolutely could not cross her.

Zeke Jennings’s complete turnaround shocked everyone. ’Since when is the third brother on such good terms with Kimberly?’

”Don’t worry. This is the Jennings family home. I won’t let those people get away with anything,” the usually quiet Zachary Jennings finally spoke.

Although the two elders didn’t know exactly what had happened, they were overjoyed to see their three children supporting one another. The birthday banquet, despite its ups and downs, had turned out quite well overall.

For some, winter break was a heavenly paradise, an escape from the student grind. But for Seraphina Sterling, it was merely the beginning of an even busier period.

Her application to skip a grade had been approved, but it came with a condition.

As the representative for Tollan High at this winter camp, she had to bring back a first-place win for the school. Ever since Tollan High had started participating in this event, their scores in every subject had been rock bottom. Their performance was so consistently poor, it was heartbreaking.

Now that the school had finally produced a top student like Seraphina, the school’s leaders were pinning all their hopes on her—so much so that they had made it a condition for her skipping a grade. This just went to show how desperate they were for a first-place victory.

Seraphina had originally planned to go to Sanford during the winter break. Although Joel Xavier was running the antique shop well, the pace was still too slow; she had to speed things up. The Hale Family had a hundred-year history. If she wanted to go up against them, she still had a long, long way to go.

She had been worrying about how to explain to her mom that she needed to stay in the city for an extended period, and the winter camp provided the perfect excuse. As for this ”first place” requirement, however, she really needed to give it some thought. ’Besides, what the hell is a winter camp, anyway?’ She had never attended one before.