After her rebirth
Chapter 50

After what felt like forever, Elodie finally blurted out, "I've always had her back, but she's just bad news, even harming her own family!"

Eli wanted to chime in, but Elodie cut him off, "Alright, since this mess has nothing to do with my son, I'm out. As for Katniss, she can be anyone's kid but ours. If she gets into trouble at school, call that Maximilian guy, not us." With that, she grabbed a still-stunned Simon and stormed out.

Eli watched them leave, thinking that woman was far from a good mother. Then he quickly shifted gears to figure out who this Mr. Hamilton was.

And if Ruby got kicked out, how was Calvin gonna donate that building? No way Maximilian was handling this!

What a total disaster!

Unaware that Eli was cursing her out, Elodie marched out of the office and muttered, "I wonder if Clara's done with her competition. If Katniss messed up Clara's performance, she's gonna pay!"

Simon, trailing behind her for a while, suddenly asked, "Mom, did we ever really support Katniss?"

Elodie frowned, thinking back. In all the years they raised Katniss, she couldn't recall any standout memories.

Finally, she shrugged it off. "I don't know. Katniss never caused trouble before, and she was so quiet. Probably not. Why are you bringing her up now?"

Simon stayed quiet for a bit, then shook his head, "It's nothing, let's go find Clara."

As they walked through the school, Simon kept his eyes on the fallen leaves, one after another.

He never really noticed fallen leaves before.

They were just leaves, nothing special.

But today, he realized the ginkgo leaves covering the ground were actually pretty beautiful. They just didn't make a sound, so he never noticed them. The beauty of falling leaves doesn't stem from his gaze; they were always beautiful.

Simon looked up and saw Clara running towards them, but he couldn't help but think of Katniss from earlier.

She was probably gonna block Ruby's slap, but after hearing Elodie mention Wesley, she put her hand down.

Elodie didn't give Katniss a safe place and even tore down the little world Katniss had built for herself, leaving her to face the storm alone. Clara arrived and stepped on a leaf, the crunch snapping Simon back to reality.

But the leaves on the ground were crushed to pieces.

"Simon, what's up?" Clara asked, concerned.

Seeing Clara, Simon's heart softened, and he shook his head, saying he was fine. But looking down at the crushed leaf, he felt a pang of loss.

Elodie took Clara's hand and asked, "Clara, how'd the competition go?"

Clara's eyes flickered, and she hesitated before saying, "Mom, I didn't do well. It's my fault for wasting the money Lucas gave me. There's a better contestant in our department named Juniper. She's Katniss's friend and the one Katniss gave the spot to."

Elodie was ticked off, "If that's the case, tell Katniss to get her friend to back out. That spot was yours to begin with, and Katniss agreed to give it to you. You didn't sign off on passing it to someone else, so it doesn't count." Simon frowned a bit, listening.

"Mom, Katniss definitely won't go for that. She wants Juniper to snag first place," Clara sighed. "Before the competition, Katniss even dragged Juniper to find me and Ruby, accusing us of spiking Juniper's water. I don't know what she got twisted, but she definitely hates me more now."

Elodie was fuming, "Clara, I already know about this. It was Ruby who spiked the water, and Katniss tried to pin it on you! But it has nothing to do with you. Ruby's been expelled, so cut ties with her."

"Ruby got expelled?" Clara was floored.

"Yeah, and it's all because Maximilian helped Katniss. I don't know what he's thinking, always bailing her out. Don't sweat it. If you can't get first place, second place is fine. The family's ready to throw you a party, the food's already bought." Before Elodie could finish, Simon caught something and asked Clara, "Clara, why aren't you surprised that Ruby really spiked the water?"

Clara blinked, looking confused and a bit hurt, "Oh, I forgot. I was too upset when I heard Ruby got expelled. Simon, what's up?"

Elodie also found Simon's reaction odd and snapped, "Simon, why are you grilling Clara like that?"

"Nothing," Simon shook his head, pushing down the weird feeling in his gut.

Clara didn't seem shocked that Ruby had spiked the water, just that she got expelled.

Thinking about what Katniss had said, Simon couldn't shake the suspicion. When the banner fell, both Ruby and Clara were there, and the rope looked like it had been tampered with. Why did Katniss stop questioning after grilling Ruby?

Why didn't she ask if Clara had messed with the rope?

Didn't she hate Clara? With such a golden opportunity, why didn't she go for it?

Simon felt like he was tangled in a web of mysteries, so close to the truth but just out of reach.

Seeing he wasn't asking more questions, they quickly switched topics.

Soon, they arrived at the speech competition venue. All the contestants had wrapped up their speeches, and it was time to announce the results.

A guy went up on stage, talking with a lot of energy.

After he finished, the crowd went wild.

"He said the first-place winner gets to go to Skylandia as an exchange student! And all tuition fees are covered!" someone shouted excitedly.

Going abroad as an exchange student was a huge deal, and most people never got the chance. The school might only have one or two spots a year, and the tuition was crazy expensive. But now, with a spot and tuition covered, who wouldn't want in on that sweet deal!