Chapter 193

But Octavia just wouldn’t let it go.

She tried to soften her tone. “Claire, you’re so smart. You’re always at the top of your class, except maybe once or twice. Even if you don’t get the winter camp’s early admission, you’d still get into the best universities. Please, just do me a favor. Don’t put so much pressure on Cindy. Can you p>

Claire looked at her calmly. “You’ve got it all wrong p>

Octavia blinked, confused. “What do you mean p>

Claire’s voice was even. “Those times I didn’t come in first? It wasn’t because I couldn’t. I did it on purpose.” She’d wanted to see if the James family’s parents really only cared about her grades. Turns out, they were exactly those people. After that, she stopped expecting anything from them.

Octavia stared at her, a little unsettled. “You… really are a scary smart kid.” The kind of smart that makes people nervous.

“Thanks for the compliment.” Claire caught the cold, sharp look in Octavia’s eyes, but she didn’t flinch. Octavia didn’t scare her. She wasn’t a little kid anymore, easy to push around or make cry.

“You’re clever enough to get into any university you want. Do you really have to block Cindy’s path too?” Octavia’s voice dropped, almost like she was talking to herself.

Claire almost laughed. “Octavia, if you see it that way, maybe I shouldn’t even take the entrance exams. If I end up as the top scorer, wouldn’t that be even worse for her p>

Octavia actually thought, If you don’t take the exams, that’d be great for me.

Claire kept going. “If I can do anything well, does that mean I’m just taking opportunities from everyone else? If you really can’t stand me, maybe you should just kill me p>

She didn’t mean it seriously, but as she left the restaurant, she could feel Octavia’s glare burning into her back for a moment, she wondered Octavia actually wanted her gone Was it because Claire knew too much, or just because she was in Cindy’s way?

It couldn’t be about motherly love. If Octavia really cared about her daughter, she wouldn’t have let Cindy drift around for so many years. That left only one reason- she wanted to shut Claire up.

But Claire wasn’t bothered. Just because Octavia wanted her gone didn’t mean she could actually do anything about it. With that, Claire walked out, unbothered and confident.

Octavia watched her leave, then picked up her phone and dialed. “It’s me p>

Meanwhile, Claire was already packing to leave for Cabinda. Pandora wouldn’t be going with her—she was heading back to her hometown for the holidays. Claire promised she’d come back to spend New Year’s with her.

There were five students from Apex going to the Cabinda winter camp, and three of them were from

Silverpeak International College net

Two were from the honors class: Claire was one, and the other was a guy named Len. Len was cute in a slightly nerdy way. He was really good at some subjects and struggled with others so he’d put all his energy into competitions, hoping to get early admission through that route.

The last student was Leo. Claire hadn’t expected to see him on the list. No one had

ever mentioned that Leo was in the academic competition class too.

When Leo say Claire, he got a little awkward. It was his own fault, really, for the way things had gone between them. He hadn’t actually tried to date her-he just needed an excuse to get Vera off his back, since she wouldn’t stop pestering him. So, he thought, why not confess to the one girl who actually seemed decent? If Claire said yes, he could finally start a real relationship and get rid of Vera. If she turned him down, he could at he liked someone else and

least say

maybe Vera would finally give up. And it had to be Claire. She was the James family’s heiress, after all. Anyone else would have just ended up bullied by Vera.