The Queen Back From Hell - Chapter 88: Chapter 88

Emma nudged her under the table and complained, "Seriously, hurry up! I hate it when you drag things out like this."
Rachel was also curious, but unlike the others, she didn't press. She figured there was no need to push. Sophia was never one to keep secrets for long and would spill the details without prompting.
Sure enough, the very next second, Sophia gloated, "She only scored 150! That's hilarious, I can't even!"
She sneered, "I thought someone who acted so cocky would at least have decent grades. Sure, I knew she was from the slums, so I didn't expect much, but this bad? Seriously, you could've guessed your way to a higher score with your eyes closed!"
"Are you serious?" a student burst out laughing.
"Dead serious! I triple-checked, right there next to her name: 150 points total!"
"Now she's officially bottom of the school!"
The two front tables erupted into raucous laughter, making heads turn across the classroom.
Curious students leaned in to ask.
Soon, mocking laughter swelled through the classroom.
An object slammed onto the desk.
Then, the sound of a chair scraping across the floor came.
The two sharp noises instantly drowned out the laughter.
Every head in the room whipped toward the back row.
James sat there, his face as dark as thunder, downright terrifying.
With a cold glare, he snapped, "Shut up!"
His icy words cut through the noise, and the classroom fell silent in an instant.
Sophia and the others quickly turned away, fear flashing in their eyes.
Their laughter died instantly. No one dared make another sound.
Arielle kept solving practice problems, her expression unreadable.
In her world, it was as if she were inside a soundproof bubble.
The people and events around her simply didn't exist.
She didn't care why her classmates were laughing, nor did she care about James's sudden outburst beside her.
The sun still shone, and nothing seemed to have changed.
James lounged lazily in his chair, his peripheral vision falling on Arielle.
She sat quietly, head slightly bowed, flipping through her book. Occasionally, she jotted down answers on her test paper or circled key points in the text.
Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating her delicate features and making her even more radiant.
Her eyes, glimpsed in profile, sparkled like stars.
Her skin was as smooth as silk.
Compelled by an impulse, James pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, capturing the beautiful moment.
The soft click of the shutter echoed in the quiet room.
Her lashes fluttered ever so slightly, yet she never once glanced his way.
He found it boring. Propping his head up with one hand, he tilted his head and stared at her openly.
He thought, 'Come on! I'm James. Why would I ever need to sneak a look at someone? Seriously?
'Those guys were so loud, she must have heard that. But even with everyone laughing at her, she didn't react at all. Does she really not care about gossip? Or maybe her grades have always been bad, so this was expected, and she's just accepting the ridicule?
'She always pays close attention in class, takes notes, and keeps studying after school, the picture-perfect model student. There's no way she should be scoring this low! And with her personality, she's definitely not the type to put on an act.'
Homer Haynes noticed James staring outside and followed his gaze.
He wondered, 'Isn't that Arielle?
'Why is James watching her?'
"James, are you thinking about how to tame her?" Homer muttered quietly.
Lance Santiago, grinning from the sidelines, scoffed, "Tame her? Why bother? She's just spineless! At first, she didn't get the class dynamics, but now she does. She hears them trash-talking her and won't even squeak!"
James turned his head slowly, and with just one icy glare, the two instantly fell silent.