Chapter 711

Grace felt her mind go totally blank, like something inside her just collapsed. “Mr. and Mrs. Norwood, that instructor is Lydia’s cousin?”
Cameron nodded. “Exactly. Last time we went to France, we all went to a car race together. He’s a great kid. He and Lydia have always gotten along really well, and we’re glad they have each other. But these people… I don’t know where they come up with this nonsense.”
Kylie’s face was tight with anger. “Seriously. What, girls aren’t allowed to have male friends now? Any time you talk to a boy, it’s automatically a date?”
Cameron’s voice turned sharp. “We need to get to the bottom of this. We have to find out who started these rumors and make them apologize to Lydia.”
“Yes, honey. Whoever spread these lies absolutely has to apologize to Lydia. If they don’t, we’ll take legal action.”
Grace’s face went pale with fear. She rushed to apologize. “I’m so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Norwood. I overreacted. I knew it had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Lydia would never do what they’re saying. Those people are horrible. They should really be held responsible for this.”
Kylie frowned. “Grace, you’ve been with our family for years. You know what Lydia is like. Next time you hear anything like this, don’t jump to conclusions.” For origınal chapters go to.net
Grace nodded quickly. “Yes, ma’am. I understand.”
As soon as she left, Grace pulled out her phone and messaged Lucinda:
[Lucinda, turns out that instructor already knew Lydia ages ago! Mr. and Mrs. Norwood have met him too. They don’t believe the rumors at all. They even want to hunt down whoever started them. I think our plan just failed again.]
Lucinda had been in a good mood, but when she saw Grace’s message, she nearly lost it.
Her parents were so hopelessly biased. The photos were right there and they still believed Lydia and Jay were innocent? Anyone with eyes could tell there was something going on between those two.
She thought for a second, then replied to Grace:
[They might be blind, but Connor isn’t. He’ll see that Lydia and Jay are definitely up to something.]
One day, Connor would dump her for good.
Meanwhile, Connor and Lydia were still wrapped up in their own little world, totally unaware that they were the hottest topic on the campus forums.
“Field training for ten days starting tomorrow?”
That news hit Connor like a punch to the gut. He’d just come back from abroad, finally able to see Lydia every day, and now she was leaving for field training?
That meant Jay would have another chance to hang around her.
Lydia saw Connor’s face getting darker and just nodded. “Yeah. Ten days. It’ll go by fast.”
Connor felt helpless. Fast? Was she serious?
He had to leave before eleven, when
the dorm gates closed. He’d brought a whole pile of gifts for Lydia but
since she was leaving so some
she
told him to take them back for now.
Lydia hugged her bouquet of flowers and walked back to her dorm with Connor by her side.
Inside, Monica and Fiona were
zooming in on a picture of Lydia and
Connor kissing when the door-
suddenly swung open. They both
jumped, staring at Lydia with frozen, faces.
Lydia raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
Monica tried to play it cool but just laughed nervously. “Oh, uh, nothing.”
Fiona couldn’t hold back. “Lydia, your boyfriend is seriously good-looking.”
Lydia lifted her eyebrow even higher. “You saw him?”
Monica coughed. “We, um, saw the photos on the forums.”
She immediately looked angry. “But the stuff people are saying on there is just ridiculous. It’s way out of line. Why doesn’t anyone stop them?”