Chapter 246

Chapter 246

Beatrice grabbed Ivy by the hair and slapped her twice, yelling while hitting her, "I've never liked you. Are you out of your mind? We don't even know you, and you're picking a fight with us?"

The two slaps left Ivy completely stunned. I wasn't standing around either — I grabbed her by the throat and squeezed hard. Ivy's face turned bright red as she gasped for air.

Her two sidekicks screamed in panic.

"Someone's getting killed!"

"Go get Martin, quick!"

Some students had already gone to get help, but most of them just stood around watching.

Right before Ivy was about to pass out, I let go. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

"If you can't back it up, don't start something. You brought this on yourself."

Just then, Martin and two other instructors rushed over. One of them was Wayne Cooper, Ivy's class instructor, and the other was Louis Cox, the officer in charge of the whole training camp.

Wayne saw Ivy's condition and hurried over. "Are you... are you okay?"

Ivy looked at him like he was her savior. She gritted her teeth and said, "Punish Charlotte right now! She's the one who did this to me! I want the principal to expel her!"

Wayne turned to me with fury in his eyes. "You're barely back at school and you're already bullying people. Pretty bold. I'm taking this to the principal!"

"Go ahead," I said calmly. "Let's see who started it. I'll be filing a police report and getting a medical assessment."

Beatrice wasn't backing down either. "Yeah! Call the police!"

"Go ahead and call them. There are no cameras here. How are you going to prove I hit you? You got any evidence?"

I smiled slightly. "Who told you there are no cameras? Are you serious right now? You really think the school would just let students hold competitions on the back hill with zero surveillance?"

Ivy and her two sidekicks visibly panicked. The three of them started looking around frantically, searching for cameras.

I helpfully pointed it out. "There's one on the tree in the northwest corner. And what a coincidence — it's pointed right at us."

Ivy's face fell. She shot Wayne a look, and he got the message. He turned on me furiously. "Who do you think you are, demanding we pull the footage? You've been causing trouble since day one. This school doesn't need someone like you!"

"You're way out of line for an instructor. And let's be clear — who actually started this?" Beatrice stood with her hands on her hips, not the least bit intimidated.

Nathan pulled himself up off the ground. "I'm a witness. Ivy picked a fight out of nowhere and punched me for no reason."

He moved his fist away from his face to reveal a very obvious swelling — which honestly looked a little funny.

Wayne completely ignored him and kept coming at me.

That's when Louis snapped. "Wayne, shut your mouth! Do you have any idea how unprofessional you look right now? Where are your standards?"

Wayne went quiet immediately.

Martin checked on all of us and asked with concern, "Where are you hurt? Everyone go to the medical room after this."

"I'm fine. Nathan's the one who needs to be checked," I said.

Nathan added, "I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. I'll just ice it when I get back."

Martin patted Nathan on the shoulder, then turned to Wayne with a sharp tone. "Wayne, keep your students in line. Picking fights over and over again is not acceptable. We may not be school teachers, but this is military training season, and it's our responsibility to manage our students."

"Do you have any proof that my student started this?"

"I can prove it!" Beatrice said.

Alice and the others all backed her up.

Wayne's face cycled through shades of red and white, but he still argued back stubbornly. "You're all friends with each other. Of course you're going to cover for each other. Your word doesn't count!"

"So you're just going to play dirty?"

"What are you going to do about it?" Wayne said smugly.

"Everyone shut up!" Louis looked like he was about to explode.

Then he walked over to me and apologized in a calm, respectful tone. "Charlotte, I'm really sorry about all of this. I'll be giving Wayne an internal disciplinary action, and I'll report the three students to the principal."

"Fine, handle it however you need to. But those three have to apologize to my classmates," I said.

Louis's attitude toward me caught everyone off guard — especially Ivy and Wayne, who exchanged confused looks, completely unable to figure out what was going on.

At that moment, the dean of students, Bruce Howard, came huffing and puffing up the hill from below. After getting a quick rundown of what happened, he handed down punishments on the spot.

"Ivy Price, Autumn Foster, and Winter Hayes — each of you will write a ten-thousand-word self-criticism. You will read it in front of the entire school at the closing ceremony in three days!"

Ivy froze, her eyes practically bulging out of her head. Her two sidekicks didn't dare say a word and kept watching Ivy's face for cues.

"Mr. Bruce, do you know who my father is?"

Bruce's expression didn't change. "I don't care who your father is. If you're a student at this school, you follow the rules. If you have a problem with that, you're welcome to file a complaint!"

Ivy clenched her fists so tight her knuckles went white. She couldn't say a single word.

Louis disciplined Wayne on the spot too. "You're writing a ten-thousand-word self-criticism as well. And if I ever catch you targeting students again, you're out!"

As much as Wayne hated it, he had no choice but to take it without a word.

Because of everything that happened, the competition between our two classes had run way over time, so it was called off immediately, and the space was handed over to the other classes to continue.

Bruce told us all to head back to the dorms and rest, and we'd pick up training again tomorrow.

On the way back, Beatrice kept acting out her moves from earlier, annoyed that she hadn't hit harder.

"Come on, Ivy's going to be sore for days after today," I said, half laughing.

Beatrice crossed her arms and muttered, "Still not satisfying enough."

Back in the dorm, we all took turns showering, changed into pajamas, and stretched out on our beds under the air conditioning. Beatrice was scrolling through the school forum when she suddenly let out a gasp and leaned over toward me.

"Is this Eleanor?"

I glanced over. "Yeah."

"Apparently she was voted the prettiest girl in the Department of Education and the Arts. She's got a ton of guys chasing her."

The photos were selfies Eleanor had posted on the school forum, and the comments were full of guys asking her out.

She was probably doing this on purpose.

She could barely afford food right now. Of course she'd use her looks to get a few guys to buy her meals.

"I don't care," I said, not interested.

Alice and Violet were curious and asked about it, but Beatrice didn't say much — just told them Eleanor was bad news and to stay far away from her.

Besides, they were all in different departments. As long as Eleanor didn't go out of her way to cause trouble, the chances of running into her were pretty slim.

"Honestly, I think she looks pretty average. Their department must really be lacking when it comes to good-looking girls," Violet said, sticking out her tongue.