James rode an electric scooter, getting ready to head home.
But at that moment, his phone suddenly rang.
"James, where are you? Don't you know we have a class this afternoon?"
On the other end of the phone, his roommate Paul urgently shouted.
Paul was James's roommate in the dormitory and one of his few friends at school.
"I almost forgot about this!"
James exclaimed, then quickly said, "I'm heading to the classroom now."
"Hurry up!"
Paul replied in a low voice and then hung up the phone.
James rode his electric scooter to the University of Lumina campus as fast as he could.
The first class in the afternoon was Finance, taught by a sharp-tongued man named Hilip Murphy.
What he disliked the most was students arriving late.
If anyone dared to be late to his class more than twice, they could expect to retake the course next semester.
So James didn't dally. After arriving at the University of Lumina, he went straight to the classroom carrying a food delivery box.
Five minutes later, James finally arrived at the classroom.
Alas, he was late.
As he reached the classroom door, he felt like all his classmates were staring at him.
For a full minute, Philip didn't even glance at James and continued lecturing as if nothing had happened.
"Sir!"
James stood at the door and said loudly.
Finally, Hilip set down his teaching stick, turned to James, and asked coldly, "James, did you lose track of time while delivering food?"
"Do you even know what time it is now? Are you here for class or for food delivery?"
Clearly, Hilip's questions were not meant to be answered by James.
He just wanted to humiliate James severely.
Upon hearing Hilip's words, the students in the class burst into laughter.
At this moment, James, clad in a yellow uniform and still clutching the food delivery box, resembled a food delivery person.
"Come on, open the food delivery box in your hand and let everyone see what delicious food you're delivering today."
Hilip continued to mock.
Loud laughter filled the classroom once more.
And the loudest laughter came from Jennifer and Michael.
At this moment, they were sitting in the back row of the classroom, whispering sweet nothings to each other.
Seeing the scene, James felt bad.
When Jennifer was James's girlfriend, she'd never sit next to him.
Obviously, the classmates already knew that Jennifer had dumped him.
"It's unnecessary," James said lightly.
Although Hilip was a teacher at the University of Lumina, he didn't really care about the students.
Instead, he looked down on the poor students. In previous classes, he had made things difficult for James.
However, for the wealthy students, Hilip always tried to please them like a lapdog.
"Take your food delivery box and go to your seat immediately!"
"Remember, if you dare to be late again, don't bother coming to my class. Your poverty truly reflects your worthlessness.
Seeing James's reaction, Hilip found it boring and coldly commented on him.
James could only obediently comply with him and walked into the classroom carrying the food delivery box.
Many classmates were looking at the food delivery box in his hand, whispering to each other and giggling, probably talking about him delivering food.
Back at his seat, James didn't pay attention to the class.
Instead, he looked at the back row where Michael and Jennifer were, feeling uneasy.
"James, are you okay?"
Beside his desk, roommate Tyler William asked James softly.
"I'm fine." James replied to him lightly.
"Why are you still late? By the way, I heard that you and Jennifer had broken up. "
"Tyler, don't mention his sad story!" Paul punched Tyler's shoulder and said unhappily.
Back in school, Paul and Tyler had helped James a lot, and James always remembered their kindness.
"I'm really fine."
James smiled at them and placed the food delivery box at his feet.
Sensing that James was in a bad mood, Paul and Tyler decided not to disturb him further.
The class quickly passed by.
After Hilip left, a beautiful girl stood up, and invited the class to a gathering with a bright smile, "Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Let's go out for dinner tonight!"
The girl was stunningly beautiful, with a graceful figure that belied her young age of just twenty. She wore a blue mini dress that accentuated her long, fair legs, paired with sporty shoes, radiating a vibrant aura of youthfulness.
This girl was Donna Howard, the class monitor of the Finance department.
Donna was kind-hearted and innocent. She never looked down on James because of his poverty. On the contrary, she had helped James many times.
"Great! We can have a meal together!"
"Donna has spoken, so we must go along!"
The students in the class immediately became excited.
At this moment, Paul ran to James and put his arm around him, saying, "James, come with us today! It's been a while since our class had a meal together."
"Paul, why are you calling that poor guy? He too poor to join the gathering."
Just then, a girl in a short skirt proudly shouted at Paul.
James couldn't help but look up. This girl was Ashley Martinez, Jennifer's best friend and roommate.
Ashley looked down on James and often bullied him, humiliated him.
One of the main reasons Jennifer had abandoned James for Michael was because of Ashley's influence.
"Yeah! How could a poor guy like James afford to join us for a meal?" Jennifer's another roommate, Sandra Thomas, joined in the mockery.