The Billionaire's True Heiress From Fake Jewel to Real Crown novel Chapter 183

Molly had no clue her words were about to stir up so much trouble.

“Cindy, please, don’t cry. I wasn’t saying your grades are bad. What I meant was, if you repeated a year, you’d get into the competition class too, and you could go to the winter camp just like Claire.”

“I know you’ve been upset lately because Claire got picked for winter camp. You feel like you can’t catch up to her.”

“But that’s just not true. You just started later than she did.”

“You’re actually really smart.”

Molly glanced at Claire, then turned back to Cindy with a soft voice. “Just give it one year. I know you can catch up to Claire.”

One year? How was she supposed to make up for eighteen years in just one? It felt impossible. Now, nothing anyone said could change that. Cindy just buried her face in her arms and cried quietly.

Claire watched her, thinking Cindy must be under a lot of stress at home. Octavia could be really harsh sometimes, and Cindy had never seemed this down before. Her grades had always been a struggle, and Octavia wasn’t exactly known for her patience.

Molly grabbed Cindy’s phone and called Lance.

“Lance, can you come to school for a bit?”

Lance recognized who it was right away. Since he’d met Molly through Cindy, he was quick to ask if something had happened.

“Cindy’s really stressed out. I think it’s because Claire got into winter camp. She’s kind of falling apart and she hasn’t stopped crying.”

Molly looked back at Claire and lowered her voice.

Lance sounded confused. “What does Claire going to winter camp have to do with Cindy?”

Molly was happy to hear that. “Of course. I’m Cindy’s best friend. I’ve noticed she’s been down lately. Honestly, Cindy was always one of the top students at her old school.”

Octavia couldn’t help but sneer to herself. There was no way her old school’s teaching could compare to this one. Sure, Cindy had done well there, even won scholarships, but here at Silverpeak International College, her grades were barely average. Just making it into the top hundred was considered an achievement for her.

Still, Cindy wasn’t hopeless. If she could catch up with the lessons and really focus during tutoring, she could probably make it into the top fifty. With more effort, maybe even the top twenty, or top ten next semester. That was the plan Octavia had set for her.

Too bad Cindy just couldn’t seem to get it together. She struggled with the weekly quizzes, and the finals were even worse. Octavia had already guessed the results wouldn’t be good, and Cindy had been quieter and quieter at home ever since.

But even so, Octavia had only encouraged her to keep working harder. She hadn’t yelled at her, much less hit her.

“I really think the reason Cindy isn’t improving, or is even falling behind, isn’t because she’s not smart or can’t learn. It’s because of Claire.”