Chapter 85 Boasting Until Becoming Arrogant
"Give it your all? Seriously?"
Rachel felt like screaming.
What was up with Amelia? Was she some kind of ghost? Why wouldn't she just disappear already!
Rachel had tried to get rid of her twice now, but Amelia was still standing there, completely unfazed. How was this even possible?
Rachel was boiling with anger and couldn't make sense of it. It was totally baffling.
But she couldn't let it show.
Kevin and Tobias had no idea that Amelia had been locked in the basement last night. Obviously, Amelia hadn't told them.
So she definitely couldn't let them find out.
"Okay, Amelia," Rachel forced a smile, "let's both give it our best shot tonight. If we both place, it'll be a big deal for the Martinez family."
"Rachel's right."
Amelia's lips curled into a smile, but there was a hint of mockery in her eyes.
A photo of Amelia with some old guy at a hotel had gone viral on Instagram yesterday, and the internet was buzzing.
As soon as Amelia walked into the classroom today, she was met with countless disdainful and mocking looks. Everyone was whispering about her behind her back.
In contrast, when Rachel walked in, she was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm. Almost everyone rushed to surround her.
The reason was simple.
Yesterday, Rachel had announced in the class group chat that she had gotten fifty tickets to the piano competition from Saul and was giving them to her classmates, so everyone had a chance to see the maestro Osborne in person.
The group chat exploded.
Ever since it was announced that Osborne would be a judge, the tickets had sold out within an hour.
The front-row seats were going for thousands of dollars, reaching astronomical prices.
The students at Prestige High School were all from wealthy families, but even with money, the tickets were hard to come by.
But now, Rachel was giving everyone tickets to the piano competition, and they were VIP front-row seats!
It was incredible.
Everyone knew that Saul was a top professor at Aurora College, highly respected and well-connected.
And now it was clear just how influential he was.
Seeing everyone in the group thanking Saul, Rachel's sidekick Fallon quickly chimed in.
"Rachel's Saul isn't just familiar with the organizers, he's also close friends with Mr. Stevens himself!"
"Mr. Jenkins said Mr. Stevens even watched Rachel's previous performance videos and called her a genius."
Osborne called Rachel a genius?
For anyone studying piano, that was the highest praise imaginable.
Even Donny joined in, praising Rachel in the group chat.
Rachel looked at the messages on the screen, her vanity greatly satisfied, though she kept a modest expression.
"No, Mr. Stevens just said he was looking forward to my performance. I'm really worried I won't do well and disappoint him."
"How could you not do well? Your piano skills are amazing." "Exactly, you have nothing to worry about. You'll definitely wow everyone." "Not just wow everyone, you'll bring honor to our country."
Everyone chimed in.
Then someone said, "There's a big difference between a true aristocrat and a country bumpkin. Rachel got invited to compete based on her talent and was called a genius by Mr. Stevens. Someone else had to sleep with an old man to get in. Gross."
The message was quickly deleted by the admin.
Not because they were worried about Amelia seeing it—she wasn't even in the group.
But Donny had seen the message and frowned, so he had the admin delete it.
He had seen the photo and the rumors online about Amelia, but when he thought of her calm demeanor, he couldn't believe she would sell herself for a competition spot.
This piano competition was a major event in River City and nationally, with high online attention.
Celestria had seen rapid economic growth in recent decades and heavily promoted cultural and artistic industries. Piano, as a universally appreciated art form, was highly esteemed.
Prestige High School ended at 5:30 PM, but Rachel left around 4:00 PM, excused to go to Crystal for makeup and styling with Jenny.
Of course, Rachel and Jenny didn't invite Amelia.
They had already suffered a setback at the Williams family banquet. Just thinking about how Amelia had stunned everyone at the banquet made them seethe with anger.
But Amelia had no intention of spending much effort on her makeup and styling.
In the last class, Amelia woke up from a nap and found she had received a text an hour ago.
It was from Ellison.
[Amelia, right? This is Ellison.]
[I saw that you're going to the convention center tonight for the piano competition. If you need makeup and styling for the performance, you can come to Crystal and find me.]
An hour ago, at Crystal.
Ellison stared at the text he sent to Amelia and took a deep breath, still feeling nervous.
It had been many days since he last saw Amelia, but for some reason, her face kept appearing in his mind.
What bothered him more was that he couldn't stop looking at the note Amelia had someone pass to him that day.
The line from the poem, [In me the tiger sniffs the rose.], he had read it over and over.
The more he looked at it, the more he felt the handwriting was just like Rosie's.
Amelia's handwriting was free-spirited, much like her own carefree and independent personality.
He had once kept a handwritten poetry collection by Rosie by his bedside. During the days without Rosie, he would read it every night and fall asleep holding it.
He was so familiar with Rosie's handwriting.
He felt he might know Rosie's handwriting better than Rosie herself.
So the more he looked at the English on this note, the more he felt it was written by Rosie. Though not identical, the writing style was highly similar.
How could this be?
Did Rosie teach Amelia to write while they were together?
Ellison had many wild guesses and thoughts, but regardless, he wanted to see Amelia again.
But an hour had passed, and he had locked and unlocked his phone multiple times, still with no reply from Amelia.
Had she not seen the message?
Ellison's handsome brows furrowed slightly.
Just then, there was a knock on the studio door: "Mr. Bennett, there's a Miss Martinez outside who wants to see you. Would you like to meet her?"