Chapter 23
Violet's POV
I didn't understand why they could pass such vicious judgment on me based solely on a photo, but I didn't want to ask, nor did I deign to explain.
The innocent are naturally innocent. I'd done nothing wrong. I didn't need to bow to anyone.
The morning's classes ended in an extremely oppressive atmosphere.
At noon, I took my meal card and entered the academy cafeteria.
I just wanted to grab a sandwich and head to the practice room.
The orchestra would begin rehearsals next week. I had to thoroughly master that complex symphonic poem.
I carried my tray, just reaching the salad section, when my path was suddenly blocked completely by several people.
Pungent perfume assaulted me.
Sienna wore an extremely eye-catching red knit sweater, arms crossed, standing in stilettos right in the middle of the aisle.
Her three followers stood behind her like bodyguards, blocking the already narrow passageway completely.
The cafeteria was crowded. Seeing this scene, surrounding students stopped in their tracks, assuming spectator postures.
I looked at Sienna's face with its delicate makeup, nausea rising in my stomach.
I didn't want to deal with her. Didn't want to say a single word. I carried my tray, expressionless, stepping left to go around her.
Sienna sneered coldly. Her heels turned. She blocked me again seamlessly.
"Move." I raised my head, eyes coldly watching her, voice without a trace of warmth.
"What's the rush, Violet?" Sienna's lips curved into an extremely vicious arc. Her gaze brazenly swept me from head to toe, finally stopping on my face. "What? Rushing to call your unseemly old man to report your schedule?"
Her voice was loud enough for all the spectating students around to hear clearly.
"I'll say it one more time. Move." My fingers gripping the tray edge whitened slightly, forcibly suppressing the fury in my chest.
"What are you so arrogant about?" Sienna suddenly leaned close to me, eyes flashing with jealous, vindictive pleasure. Her lowered voice was like a venomous snake's hiss: "You think deleting that forum post and issuing a hypocritical statement means everyone will believe you? Elder? Thank-you dinner? Violet, you can fool others, but you can't fool me!"
She stepped back half a pace, suddenly raising her volume, pointing at my nose. Her shrill voice echoed through the cafeteria:
"You're nothing but a bitch who seduces men! Behind Ethan's back finding a sugar daddy outside, using your charms to get that high-end violin, even sleeping your way into the orchestra position! Trash like you doesn't deserve to stay at the music academy!"
The cafeteria's noise seemed to hit pause in an instant. Hundreds of gazes like spotlights nailed uniformly onto me.
Sienna's voice was shrill and highly penetrating. Every word was like a poison-laced blade, precisely stabbing into my spine. She wanted to publicly step on me into the mud in front of everyone, ensuring I'd never rise again.
"You're spouting nonsense!" I trembled all over with anger. My knuckles turned deathly pale from gripping the tray edge.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to meet the spectating gazes around me, explaining loudly: "The person in that photo is an elder! That was a formal thank-you dinner! I got into the City Symphony Orchestra based on a supplementary audition personally supervised by Mr. Owen Sheldon. It's not the filth you're imagining!"
"Elder?" Sienna exaggeratedly rolled her eyes, letting out an extremely grating sneer. "Violet, you think everyone's a fool? What proper elder wears a multi-million dollar Patek Philippe to have a 'heart-to-heart' with you in that greasy Brooklyn fast-food joint? Making you so moved your eyes turned red?"
She pressed forward another step. Bright red nails almost touching my nose. Her lowered voice was full of vicious pleasure: "Stop making excuses. Owen Sheldon is famously strict. How could he suddenly have an extra supplementary position? And it just happens to fall on you, this poor wretch who just had her violin smashed? You dare say it's not your sugar daddy using money to open doors behind the scenes?"
Low laughter and whispering immediately erupted around us.
"I knew it. She usually acts like a saint, but plays it so wild behind the scenes."
"That new Bosnian maple violin costs at least hundreds of thousands. She couldn't afford it in a lifetime of part-time jobs. If she didn't sleep for it, how else did she get it?"
"Truly disgusting. She's completely disgraced the music academy..."
Those malicious speculations drowned me like a tide.
I stood in the crowd's center, looking at Sienna's face extremely twisted from jealousy and vindictive triumph. I felt the air in my chest being sucked dry.
No matter how I explained, they only wanted to believe the filthy scenarios they'd fabricated.
In this campus like a vanity fair, no one cared about truth. They just needed a target to trample freely.
"Cat got your tongue?" Seeing my silence, Sienna became even more unbridled.
She reached out and shoved my shoulder harshly.
“That old man you’re with is old enough to be your grandfather, isn’t he? Is he even any good in bed at his age? Is that why you’re fawning all over him? If your grandma knew her own granddaughter was nothing but a whore selling her body for a better future, she’d be rolling in her grave in disgust!”
The moment she mentioned my grandmother, that last taut string in my head snapped with a "crack."
"Shut up!"
I slammed the tray in my hand onto the nearby table. Soup splattered.
Without any hesitation, I raised my right hand and used all my strength to slap Sienna hard across her delicately made-up face.
My palm went numb from the impact. Sienna's face whipped to the side. Her previously arrogant voice cut off abruptly.
The entire cafeteria fell into deathly silence. Everyone gasped.
Sienna covered her rapidly swelling cheek, eyes wide with disbelief.
After a full two seconds, she let out a hysterical shriek: "You dare hit me?! You lowly bitch, you dare slap my face!"
She completely lost it, turning to scream at her three followers behind her: "What are you standing there for! Grab her! I'm going to tear her face apart today!"
The three girls snapped awake, immediately pouncing like wolves and tigers.
I instinctively tried to retreat, but the old injury on my knee slowed my movement by one second.
In that one-second gap, my arms were twisted hard behind my back. My whole body was roughly pressed against the edge of the cold dining table.
"Let me go! Let go!" I struggled desperately. My knee slammed heavily into the table corner. The pain made me gasp, but the three of them were too strong. I couldn't move at all.