Free Web NovelChapter 33: Chapter 32: Back to School
As the start of school drew near, Simon Lockwood noticed that Joanna Kennedy seemed a little off.
She was distracted every day and wasn’t properly doing the practice problems he assigned her.
One evening, while going over her work after dinner, Simon had to ask her the same question several times, but Joanna just stared at the paper without responding. Suddenly, Simon placed his pen on the wooden table with a dull thud.
Joanna snapped out of it and said loudly, "I wasn’t zoning out."
Under Simon’s silent gaze, she lost her nerve and lowered her head. "I’m... a little tired today. Can we study tomorrow instead...?"
"What’s really going on?" Simon didn’t buy her excuse.
"It’s nothing..." Joanna mumbled.
The one thing Simon couldn’t stand was being lied to. His expression turned cold. "Tell me the truth."
He looked ready to question her until he got to the bottom of it.
"I... I..." Joanna squeezed her eyes shut, steeled herself, and finally blurted it out. "I don’t want to go to school anymore."
Joanna was speaking from the heart; she wasn’t just trying to play a part.
She truly didn’t want to go to school. She had been brought to this world to complete a mission, after all. She had only gone to school to get closer to Simon, but now that she was living in his house and the plot had already gone off the rails, there was no longer any need for it.
Besides, school meant tuition and living expenses. Even food was an issue. Simon was barely scraping by on his own, so to have to support her as well...
Joanna lowered her eyes. Her long lashes hid her true thoughts from Simon, who could only assume she was falling back into her old, unambitious, pleasure-seeking habits.
"If you don’t go to school, what will you do with your life?" Simon asked.
Joanna detected the suppressed anger in his voice and decided to add fuel to the fire, figuring she might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. "You can support me, just like you are now."
"..."
Given Simon’s financial situation, this was the first time anyone had ever told him to support them. If anyone else had heard her, any normal person would have advised Simon to kick her out immediately.
She demanded things so matter-of-factly, completely blind to how much he was struggling. She was like a leech.
’How could a "love" like that be genuine?’
The silence in the air was suffocating, tightening around the heart. After a long moment, Simon finally spoke. "No."
With that, he turned and walked out, ignoring the girl’s astonished expression.
’He’d never been an impulsive person; he always thought through the consequences before acting. The moment he’d let Joanna move in, he had already resolved to support her for the rest of her life.’
’But his idea of "support" and hers were two completely different things.’
’He wanted Joanna to be like any other kid from a normal family—to study, get into college, and find a job she enjoyed. She didn’t have to be a genius, but she at least needed the ability to stand on her own two feet, to live a good life even if he wasn’t around.’
’A lifetime is long, and no one could guarantee he’d always be by her side. He hoped that even without him, Joanna could still be happy.’
’Simon had his own selfish desires, too. Part of him thought it would be nice to have Joanna as his helpless dependent for the rest of her life. But more than that, he wanted her to stay by his side because she liked him, not just because he could offer her a safe haven.’
Simon made up his mind. For the next few days, no matter how Joanna tried to wheedle, act shamelessly, or even throw tantrums, Simon wouldn’t budge.
On the first day of school, Joanna ended up going with him after all.
She sat on the back of Simon’s bicycle, so annoyed that she refused to hold onto his waist. As the bike bounced along, her head kept bumping against his back.
A few hundred meters from the school, Simon stopped and told Joanna to get off and walk the rest of the way.
’What would be the harm in taking me a little farther? Does he have to be so petty!’
Joanna was exasperated. "Why!"
Simon just glanced at her, said nothing, and rode off on his bike.
Joanna, left behind: "..."
ARGH! Joanna silently threw a flurry of messy punches at the air.
’Some "love"! Hah! Both she and 166 had been wrong. Simon didn’t like her that much at all!’
Joanna clutched her backpack straps and walked toward the school, her head hung in dejection. From a distance, she heard someone calling her name, accompanied by the heavy panting of someone running.
"Joanna Kennedy! You brat, where the hell have you been for the past month? Do you have any idea how many times I called you? How could you be so heartless!"
The girl rattled on like a machine gun, but if you listened closely, you could hear a sob in her voice.
A rare wave of guilt washed over Joanna. She fumbled with Anna Yates’s school uniform. "Hey, hey, don’t cry."
"Who’s crying!"
"Okay, okay, you’re not crying. I’m crying, how about that?"
Joanna was very patient when it came to placating other girls; after all, most of her fans in her past life had been female.
Anna Yates didn’t want to look sad in front of this heartless person. She blinked back her tears. "What do you have to cry about? You’re not the one who got ghosted."
’Wait, when did I ever say I was ending our friendship?’ Joanna’s head ached. "Anna, that’s not what I meant..."
"Then why didn’t you answer my calls or texts?" Girls’ feelings are sensitive. Anna Yates took a deep breath. "Did you think that just because you’re not the heiress of the Kennedy family anymore, I’d stop being your friend?"
"Is that the kind of snob you think I am, Anna Yates?"
Joanna truly hadn’t expected her to think of that. In that moment, her understanding of Anna Yates as a person was no longer just surface-level.
She felt like she could now understand why, in the original story, Anna Yates had helped "Joanna" so loyally.
To everyone else, "Joanna" was the villainess, the arrogant and domineering heiress. But to Anna Yates, "Joanna" was simply her best friend.
Joanna was filled with a mix of emotions. By coaxing and placating her, she finally managed to soothe Anna’s anger, and the two walked to their classroom together.
Anna was still pouting, but she suddenly thought of something and frowned. "Where have you been staying all this time? Do you have any money left?"
"I’m staying at—" Joanna’s voice cut off abruptly as she realized something. Meeting Anna’s questioning gaze, she forced herself to change her answer. "At a hotel."
"Oh, okay." Anna didn’t suspect a thing. "Well, do you have enough money? I have a little on me. I’ll transfer it to you in a bit, you can use that for now."
Joanna shook her head, feeling guilty. "No, it’s fine. I have enough. If I run out, I promise I won’t stand on ceremony with you."
Only then did Anna’s expression soften.
Joanna let out a sigh of relief, but at the same time, an indescribable, bittersweet feeling washed over her.
’And here she was, thinking Simon was being petty. In reality, he was doing it for her sake.’
’The news about the Kennedy family had spread everywhere, turning her into a poor, homeless thing. If people saw her arriving at school with Simon, rumors would surely start that they were living together.’
’And the gossip wouldn’t stop there; people would say even nastier things.’
’Even though nothing had happened between her and Simon, no one would believe that. A single man and woman living together? ’How could nothing happen?’ they’d think.’
’If word got out, she would be the one most affected, simply because she’s a girl.’
’Sigh...’ fгeewebnovёl.com
’That infuriatingly tight-lipped guy. Couldn’t he have just said so directly?’
’If she hadn’t been smart enough to figure it out, that man of few words would have had to take all the blame himself!’
