Chapter 42 Nice to Meet You, I Am Isabella
After William left, Isabella closed the dorm door, opened the suitcase on the floor, and took out the clothes inside one by one.
Footsteps sounded outside the door, accompanied by the giggles of several girls.
Suddenly, the dorm door was kicked open.
Isabella looked up.
Before she could see what was happening, a girl was shoved inside and fell at her feet.
?
The girls at the door seemed surprised to find someone in the room. The moment they saw Isabella, their eyes flashed with astonishment.
"Elizabeth Perez, how come there's an extra person in our dorm?"
Elizabeth ignored this unexpected person.
All her attention was on the girl who had fallen to the floor.
Elizabeth glanced at Isabella and then looked away, striding into the dorm and locking the door behind her.
The previously spacious dorm suddenly felt crowded.
Elizabeth crouched down in front of the girl, looking at her with a teasing gaze. "What a coincidence, Scarlett Lewis. Running into you on the first day of school."
Isabella's heart skipped a beat when she heard the name come out of Elizabeth's mouth.
Scarlett?
She and Scarlett were in the same class!
From what she remembered, this Scarlett was very pretty, and when she first joined Class 11, Scarlett was in the top five on the class roster, which meant she had good grades.
But during the first monthly exam after the start of the second semester of senior year, the homeroom teacher called out several students whose performance had dropped significantly, and Scarlett's name was among them.
She had dropped from the top thirty in the grade to three hundredth place.
Isabella didn't have good relationships with her classmates, and she had even less contact with Scarlett. She just often noticed that Scarlett looked haggard and seemed to be in poor mental state, and thought it was due to the stress from her declining grades.
Later, close to the SAT, Scarlett suddenly died.
She had jumped from the top of the school building.
The news was quite shocking at the time.
Stellar High School immediately blocked the information.
There were all kinds of stories about Scarlett's death.
What Isabella heard most was that she had been bullied to death. Some said Scarlett's mom was a janitor at the school, and somehow this got out and became common knowledge.
That's how Scarlett got targeted by Elizabeth and a group of mean girls from the neighboring class, becoming a victim of bullying.
On graduation day of senior year, she saw Scarlett's mother holding a banner at the school gate.
It read "Stellar High School, give me back my daughter's innocence!"
But the matter eventually faded away. The police investigation concluded that Scarlett had jumped on her own, ruling it a suicide. As for the bullying, there was no evidence.
While Isabella was lost in thought, a helpless scream rang out.
Scarlett's hair was grabbed hard by Elizabeth.
"Say something?" Elizabeth looked at her with a smile, then suddenly reached out to pull the hair clip from Scarlett's head. "What are you wearing? Let me see."
"Don't." Scarlett raised her hands to protect the hair clip, not letting her take it.
The clip seemed to have some special meaning to her.
"Let go!" Elizabeth frowned in displeasure. "Give it to me, you hear me?"
Scarlett wouldn't let go.
Elizabeth's mood instantly soured. She used both hands to pry Scarlett's hands open, and when that didn't work, she pulled her hair and yanked at her scalp, determined to snatch the clip.
Scarlett cried intermittently, "Don't..."
"Aria Clark! Zoey King! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and grab that thing from this little bitch!" Elizabeth shrieked.
Aria impatiently went to pinch Scarlett's neck.
Zoey also grabbed Scarlett's arm.
The hair clip was finally snatched by Elizabeth.
"What is this thing, disgusting!"
Elizabeth looked at the clip in her hand - the kind you could tell at a glance was cheap.
"Scarlett, is your family really this poor? You protect a cheap hair clip like your life depends on it. I thought it was some kind of treasure!"
Aria stood to the side with her arms crossed, laughing mockingly. "Her mom's working as a janitor, what do you expect?"
Scarlett crawled up from the floor crying. "Give it back."
Elizabeth casually threw it in the trash can.
Scarlett had to dig through the trash.
Elizabeth and the others laughed at the sight. "Are you crazy? Digging through trash?"
Scarlett still found the clip in there, picked it up and put it back in her pocket.
She got up to run, going to open the dorm door.
Zoey sneered and walked over, kicking her in the back.
Scarlett cried out in pain.
Elizabeth walked over, grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, pushing her hard to the ground. "Where do you think you're running? Did I say you could leave?"
Scarlett sat on the floor, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
"What's there to cry about?"
Elizabeth smiled as she grabbed Scarlett's chin, pried open her mouth, and prepared to pour expired drink into it.
Suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist.
"That's enough."
"What are you doing? Are you going to keep this up?"
The voice carried a hint of fierceness, sounding particularly low in the cramped space.
Elizabeth was startled and immediately looked at Isabella, her face showing displeasure. "What did you just say?"
"I said, that's enough."
Isabella looked over the group, her tone softening slightly. "Let her go."
Elizabeth was irritated by Isabella's matter-of-fact tone and attitude, demanding loudly, "Who are you? Mind your own business!"
"Who I am doesn't matter."
Isabella said calmly, releasing her and helping Scarlett up from the floor.
Scarlett looked up at her in surprise.
This wasn't the first time Elizabeth and her friends had treated her this way. Sometimes people saw it, but this was the first time someone dared to interfere and bring trouble on themselves.
Isabella's action made Elizabeth feel challenged, instantly stirring up her anger.
She stared at Isabella, saying in a low voice, "Classmate, are you brainless?"
How could anyone be stupid enough to go against her?
Isabella turned around, looking at her with some amusement. "You're bullying someone and you think you're in the right?"
"What's that got to do with you?" Elizabeth looked at Isabella with mocking provocation. "Are you deliberately trying to ruin my fun?"
Isabella pulled at the corner of her mouth, looking even more arrogant than Elizabeth. "Yes."
Everyone was stunned by Isabella's brazen attitude.
Aria glanced at Isabella's bed. "Elizabeth, she's new here."
"I don't care if she's new or old!"
Elizabeth glared at Isabella in displeasure, took the remaining half bottle of expired drink in her hand, walked to Isabella's bed, and right in front of Isabella, poured all the drink onto Isabella's freshly made bed.
She smiled contemptuously at Isabella. "Since you're here, let's get acquainted. I'm Elizabeth."
"Now, do you know what you can and can't interfere with?"
Aria laughed. "Elizabeth, that's awesome!"
Zoey glanced at Isabella's bed, lifted her foot, and stepped on it.
Isabella watched their behavior, but there was no obvious anger on her face. She just laughed.
"What are you laughing at..."
Isabella slapped Elizabeth across the face.
That one blow completely stunned Elizabeth.
Isabella looked at her casually. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Isabella."
Elizabeth was dumbfounded.