Chapter 461

Claire had no clue that Octavia was heading to the James family house. The next day at school, she ran into Cindy.

“Do you want my early admission spot?” Claire blurted out, making no effort to keep her voice down.

Cindy turned bright red as a bunch of classmates glanced her way.

“I don’t,” she said quickly, shaking her head as she felt everyone’s eyes on her.

“Then why did Octavia ask me to give you my spot if you don’t want it?” Claire pressed, not even trying to spare Cindy’s pride.

Cindy looked totally flustered. She stammered, “I really don’t know p>

Their homeroom teacher walked up behind Cindy, overhearing everything and looking instantly irritated.

“Cindy, early admission isn’t some game. Claire earned that spot in a competition. She can’t just hand it over,” the teacher said.

“And with your grades, even if she could give it to you, Cabinda University wouldn’t take you. It doesn’t work that way p>

She looked at Cindy, clearly annoyed by the whole idea. It didn’t matter if this was Cindy’s plan or someone else’s. Just wanting to take someone else’s admission spot was way out of line.

What was going through the James family’s minds? Claire might be their adopted daughter, but that didn’t mean she was some kind of property. That spot belonged to her. It wasn’t something you could just pass around.

“This must be a misunderstanding,” Cindy said, desperate to explain.

But the teacher was skeptical.

“I hope it is. If not, you should put a stop to your mother’s crazy ideas. If Claire gave you her spot, you still wouldn’t get in, and she’d get dragged down too p>

Cindy promised again and again that she would never ask for something so unfair, and that if her mom tried, she’d say no. The teacher finally dropped the subject.

Before leaving, though, she called Claire aside for a private word. Cindy watched Claire go with the teacher and felt more nervous by the minute. She wanted to call Octavia, but class was about to start.

In the office, the teacher turned serious.

“Claire, if the James family starts expecting unreasonable things from you, you need to say no,” she warned. “If you don’t stand up for yourself, they’ll just keep asking for more and think you’re a pushover p>

“I know they raised you, but there are a lot of ways to be grateful. Sacrificing your whole future for them is not the answer p>

Claire was touched by how much the teacher cared, but she couldn’t help feeling a little amused. Did she really seem that easy to take advantage of? She’d just confronted Cindy in front of everyone. There was no way she actually give her spot.

“I get it. I never planned on saying yes,” Claire reassured her. “Honestly, I don’t even get what they want with my admission spot. They have to know that even if I gave it up for Cindy, it wouldn’t help her. Sowhy even bring it up p>

The teacher paused, realizing Claire was right. What was the point if Cindy wasn’t going to get into Cabinda University anyway?

“Octavia keeps telling me to take the college entrance exams, so maybe she thinks my early admission isn’t that important,” Claire added.

“But you’ve already secured a spot at Cabinda University. Why bother with another exam p>

The administration probably did want Claire to take the

exam-imagine the attention if she was valedictorian-but the teacher knew better. Claire should be able to make her own choice. She’d already put in so much work for competitions. There was no real reason to waste even more time

cramming just to take one more exam.