Chapter 199

“What? Cheating? No way!” Lemuel’s face went pale, his shock clear as day. The other students looked just as stunned, eyes wide and mouths slightly open. Len, who sat next to Claire in class, spoke up right away. “Are you sure there’s not some mistake?” he asked. “Even if someone in our group cheated, it wouldn’t be Claire. She’s at the top of her game p>

The rest of the students nodded, still processing what they’d just heard. Most of them didn’t know Claire personally, but her reputation for being smart and hardworking was basically legendary. No one could believe she’d do something like

this.

Mr. Fletcher, the administrator, had been running these competitions for years. He looked a bit flustered himself. “Let’s all stay calm,” he said. “We only received a report. There’s going to be an investigation. If it turns out Claire didn’t cheat, we’ll clear her name, I promise.” He was just giving everyone a heads-up so they wouldn’t be caught off guard later.

Everyone’s eyes shifted to Claire. She hadn’t said a word, just sat there calm as ever. Most people-even if they were innocent-would be freaking out or at least upset about being accused. But Claire looked like she was handling it just fine, no panic, no anger, just kind of quiet and steady.

Len tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Claire. This has to be some kind of misunderstanding. I don’t know who would report you for something like this.” Everyone knew Claire’s grades were legit-her only “flaw” was that whole fake heiress thing, and even that didn’t affect how hard she worked. Len was one of the few classmates who never turned on her after the news about her background, always treating her the same.

A few others chimed in too. “Yeah, if there’s an investigation, it means they don’t have any real proof,” someone said. “We’ve all seen Claire’s grades. There’s no way she’d cheat p>

Even Wendy, who was usually shy and quiet, looked up and said, “I believe you, Claire p>

Claire smiled a little, surprised by how much support she was getting. “Thanks, everyone.” Oddly enough, hearing about someone reporting her for cheating made her feel almost relieved. She’d known something like this was coming. Molly had teamed up with Octavia, and they’d been looking for ways to keep her out of the winter camp. If they hadn’t tried anything by now, that would’ve been the real surprise.

who did it,” Claire said

“I think I know w

softly. She wasn’t about to protect Octavia or Molly. Getting into winter camp was more important than saving face for people who clearly didn’t care about her feelings In

the more Octavia tried to stop. her, the more determined Claire was to go-just to prove she could.

Mr. Fletcher and Lemuel both turned to her, waiting. Lemuel’s brows pulled together in worry. “Who was it?” he asked. Was this just a mean-spirited accusation, or was there actually something to it? Lemuel taught at Silverpeak International College, handled the Competition prep, and knew Claire well. He’d always said if anyone from Silverpeak deserved to go to winter camp, it was her. Not even the whole drama about the James family’s real and fake daughters had hurt her performance. Why would she risk everything now?

“It was my adoptive mother, Octavia,” Claire said.

The room went silent. It was like someone had dropped a stone in the middle of a pond-no one knew what to say.

?” Den blurted out, eyes

“Your mom p>

wide. He’d met Octavia before. She always acted so kind and proper around Claire’s classmates, the

pictureof a caring mom. Len couldn’t wrap his head around it. Octavia never seemed like a bad person.

“Could this… maybe be a misunderstanding?” Mr. Fletcher asked gently. He didn’t know what kind of family drama was going on, but his first instinct was that no mother would hurt her own child.

Everyone else looked confused too. Why would Claire’s adoptive mom go this far?

“There’s no misunderstanding,” Claire said quietly. “She talked to me before I left and told me not to go to winter camp p>