Jepherson's expression was of total indifference. He turned back to see what was being displayed on the screen without a word.
"Scarlette." Raeleigh turned to look at her friend. Scarlet yanked her hand out from under Raeleigh's, stood up, and nudged her to go forward. Everybody noticed this little incident and all eyes turned to look at Scarlette.
At that time, Raeleigh could only sit back quietly. No matter what she did then, it would only make people assume that she had a part to play in this whole video incident. So, she could only sit still and do nothing to avoid being further talked about.
Raeleigh did not move, but just watched as Scarlette walked onto the stage.
Seeing Jepherson, she bowed politely. "I'm sorry for disturbing the last part of the award announcement, but this is the only way. My friend there is too cowardly. She would rather be bullied than to stand up and accuse someone."
Jepherson looked at Scarlette and said, "Tell us then what it is that you have to say, but I hope that you're not trying to make a fool out of us."
"Thank you." After saying that, she walked to the principal with the remote in her hand and bowed. "I'm sorry, for swapping your advertisement video."
The principal neither replied, nor did he say anything.
Scarlette stepped up to the microphone and said," I apologize to all of you for taking up your precious time. I am Scarlette of Room 302 and my roommate is Raeleigh. I am furious over her blueprint for this competition that went mysteriously missing. If I say anything today that upsets you all, then I hope that you can look at how I am trying to stand up for my friend and find the compassion within yourselves to forgive me and not have me expelled from Elkton University."
"When Raeleigh had been drawing her car design blueprint, as a joke, I had taken a video of her. She had refused to be filmed, so I did it secretly. As you all have seen just now, that video features Raeleigh clearly making that drawing, and her drawn blueprint was also clearly captured in that video. I am the eye witness, and here is the physical evidence of the claims I just made. But then, just a day before submissions of the blueprint were open, her work mysteriously went missing."
Everyone present was in an uproar, but Raeleigh sat still and didn't move.
Zorion looked back at Raeleigh casually. Raeleigh had lowered her head and said nothing.
"The strange thing was, if we had accidentally misplaced our work, then the missing piece would not only have been hers, but mine too. However, mine was still intact. We had stored our work together in the desk, but in the end, only Raeleigh's went missing."
"I think it's probably because mine was not good enough, or maybe it was because I had written my name down."
"Perhaps, maybe whoever took it was in such a hurry that they didn't manage to take everything."
"Raeleigh was unable to produce her work, so she forfeited in the end, but I believe that the person who took her blueprint wouldn't have just thrown it away. Instead, I suspect that the person must have used it as a submission piece for the competition."
"So, I came here because I wanted to know if there is any one among all these drawings that belongs to Raeleigh."
"You see, the top nine blueprints are on the big screen, and now there is only one left. I want to confirm if this drawing that won the grand prize is in any way related to Raeleigh's missing blueprint."
As soon as Scarlette said these words, Quirina suddenly stood up and pointed at Scarlette, and said, "You're full of sh*t. The blueprint is obviously mine."
Meica's face turned pale all of a sudden. She had been pulling on her daughter's arm, trying to hold her in place but she failed. Right then, it was so embarrassing.
"Quirina," Meica called out to her daughter. Quirina did not listen. Instead, she was staring angrily at Scarlette, wanting to tear her mouth apart. Scarlette looked at Quirina and narrowed her eyes with disdain. She looked at Jepherson and said, "Mr. Richards, please announce the name of the winner of the first prize. Otherwise, this is not enough to convince the public."
Jepherson pondered a bit, looked at other people, took a look at the card in his hand, picked it up, and said, "The first prize winner is Quirina."
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