<b>Chapter </b><b>79 </b>
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ELB5 vadaliord
Tiffany fixed Sienna with an icy, hostile stare. She’d barely dodged disaster this time, all thanks <b>to </b><b>Sienna</b>. <b>‘</b><b>Just </b>you wait, Tiffany fumed to herself. ‘Sooner orter, I’ll make you regret crossing me.
Alicia felt a chill run down her spine when she caught Tiffany’s look. She realized it was all her fault <b>that </b>Sienna was in Tiffany’s crosshairs now. That petty grudge–holder was going to be after Sienna from now on. ‘I’ve got to protect Sienna from here on out, Alicia vowed.
The four of them crowded around the doorway, none making any effort to give way.
Nora puffed out her chest. “Hey, are you two blind or what? Can’t you see we’re trying to get out? Move aside and let us through first.”
Sienna nted her hands on her hips. “Why should we move? We got here first. You step aside.”
Alicia nced at Nora, thinking, ‘Hasn’t the school already figured it all out by now? Howe Nora’s still strutting around like she owns the ce? Did Hugh pull some strings to cover this up?‘
Nora caught Alicia’s look, smirked, then leaned in close to Alicia and said, “I’m the one who made that post. The photo of you and President Lee? Yeah, I put it out there. So what? See, nothing happened to me.”
Alicia’s suspicions were confirmed. ‘So Hugh really did smooth things over for her,‘ she thought. ‘But how did he pull it off?‘
Just as Alicia was still mulling it over, Tiffany put on her best weak act, pressing her hand to her forehead. “Alicia, you know I’ve never been all that healthy. I think my blood sugar’s dropping–my head’s all dizzy. How about letting us go eat breakfast first? If I don’t eat now, I’m seriously going to faint right here.”
Alicia shifted to the side with Sienna, and Nora linked arms with Tiffany, swaggering out together like they owned the ce.
Sienna was about ready to explode. “She’s so phony, like an Oscar–winning performance. And now this sudden ‘low blood sugar‘ fainting act? The timing is just too perfect. Sickening, really.”
Alicia took Sienna’s hand. “Come on, let’s head inside.”
Once they walked into ss and sat down, Alicia ced the breakfast she’d brought–her very homemade Ciabatta with beef filling–on the desk.
The second Sienna spotted the food, her whole face lit up, like her worries just disappeared. She grabbed a piece and took a huge bite, grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, Alicia! This is insanely delicious–beef and cheese, that’s totally my jam!”
Alicia chuckled. “Eat as much as you want. I brought a ton.”
Sienna stuffed more bread in her mouth as she mumbled, “When my mom makes this, it’s always a whole ordeal. She has to wait for the dough to rise–like two hours! Did you get up at the <b>crack </b>of <b>dawn </b>for this, Alicia? Next time, let’s not torture ourselves with such borate breakfasts<b>.</b><b>” </b>
Alicia lightly bonked her on the head. “Hey, I’m not dumb! I <b>made </b><b>thisst </b><b>night </b><b>and </b><b>just </b>reheated it this
morning.”
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“Oh, got it.” Sienna scarfed down another bite. “You’re a genius, Alicia!”
“Alright, hurry up and eat,” Alicia said with a gentle smile.
“Okay,” Sienna replied, taking another big bite of her bread.
She grabbed another piece and, grinning, pushed it into Alicia’s mouth.
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Alicia took a bite, pulled out her phone, and checked the school forum. All those drama–filled threads were wiped clean–now there were only boring posts about academics left.
It was like the whole thing had never happened. If Alicia hadn’t been the one caught in the middle, she might’ve thought she just dreamed it all up.
‘Is the school just trying to sweep this under the rug?‘ Alicia wondered. “They deleted every post, and now it’s just supposed to be over? Are they seriously just letting it slide?‘
Even before all this went down, Alicia knew there was nothing she could do about Tiffany right now. But that troublemaker Nora–the one who started it all–got off totally scot–free.
The price for spreading rumors was ridiculously low, but those lies could destroy a person’s whole life. I hat was exactly what they did to her in herst life–and there was no way she’d let it slide this time.
Alicia logged out of the forum and messaged Hank: [Hank, looks like all those threads on the school forum just got wiped. Any chance you can recover them?]
Hank took a while to respond: [Yeah, I can.]
Alicia: [Go ahead and bring them back.]
Hank didn’t reply right away. It wasn’t until after Alicia’s first big lecture that she finally got a message from him: [Got it.]
Alicia: [What are you busy with? Is everything okay with your sister?]
Hank: [No, it’s nothing serious. Doctor Johnson just let us know the surgery’s scheduled for next week. He managed to get us a discount, but we still need more than 100 thousand dors. I’m trying to pull the money together.]
Alicia: [I told you already, I’ll handle the cost for the surgery. You don’t have to worry about scraping the money together.]
Right now, Hank was at a clinic, trading his blood for cash. He’d wracked his brains for ways to make money fast, but nothing seemed to work quickly enough.
Deep down, he felt he’d let Alicia down once already. She never med him; instead, she even helped Sasha find a kidney donor. After all she’d done for them, he didn’t want to ask her to take care of the surgery costs,
too.
<b>19:12 </b>Thu, <b>Oct </b>2
When the blood draw was finished, Hank felt light–headed and had to sit in a waiting chair for <i>a </i>while before he was steady enough to reply to Alicia: [I’ll scrape up the money myself for the surgery. Where would you get that kind of money anyway? Don’t worry about it. And I’ll help you with your thing)
After sending the message, Hank struggled to his feet. Just as he was about to leave, his legs gave out and he hit the floor, totally blindsided by a wave of dizziness.
Someone hurried over and helped him sit up. Luckily, Hank didn’t ck outpletely. He fumbled in his pocket for a carton of milk and chugged it, waiting for the fuzziness to clear. After a couple of <b>minutes</b>, he dragged himself back toward the hospital.
Alicia didn’t care what Hank said. When she gives her word, she’ll see it through–no matter what.
She checked her ount: just a little over 15 thousand dors left. She’d have to leave some set aside for basic expenses, and the 30 thousand dors she’d get for those threemissioned paintings. That still left her short about 60 thousand dors.
“That’s a lot of money, she thought, feeling the weight of it on her shoulders, but she refused to back down. I promised, so I have to make it work somehow.
A sudden thought popped into Alicia’s mind. Back when she was selling her paintings on that international website, she’d identally included something else in the shot<b>–</b>a small scrap of cloth beside her artwork. <fneea6> Updates are released by Find[?]ovel</fneea6>
Once the pictures went up<i>, </i>someone DM’d her, asking if they could buy that bit of cloth, offering 60 thousand dors.
Back then, she didn’t really need the cash, so selling it never crossed her mind. That scrap was possibly her only lead <i>to </i>tracking down her birth parents, so she’d hung onto it, <b>just </b>in <b>case</b>.
Richard had told her that this scrap of cloth was the swaddling cloth she’d been wrapped <i>in </i>as a newborn.
Alicia was three years old when Richard finally took her in. Before that, she’d been stuck in a filthy beggar’s den, raised by a bunch of street people. But they weren’t looking out for her–they just wanted to keep her around until she was old enough to be traded for money.
When she was three<b>, </b>some of the older beggars started getting handsy with her, and she was too little to understand what was happening. That was when Richard saw what <b>was </b>going on and decided to take her away. <b>He </b>even paid off the whole gang of beggars to let her go.
For Richard, who lived off scavenging<b>, </b>that money was everything he had.
As Richard was leading her away, an old beggar chased after them and pressed the scrap <b>of </b>cloth into his hands. “This was the nket the girl was wrapped in when she was a baby,” the old man said. <b>“</b>Keep <b>it </b><b>for </b>her. It might be <b>the </b>only clue she has to find her real parents someday.”
So Richard kept <b>the </b><b>scrap </b>safe for her all those years. It wasn’t until Alicia turned <b>eight </b>that he <b>finally </b>handed it over and told her the whole story.
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