Chapter 52 Friends of the Past
"Isabella, wake up, Isabella..."
Isabella was still asleep, vaguely hearing Scarlett's voice.
Along with whispered discussions from other girls.
"Really? She's really the new student?"
"She's so pretty, I really want to paint her in my picture." Aurora Rivera looked at the sleeping girl, her eyes practically sparkling with stars.
Several girls excitedly gathered around the sleeping Isabella. Even though drool from the corner of Isabella's mouth had dampened her pillow, it didn't detract from her appearance at all—instead, she looked as cute as a sloth.
"I really want to pinch her cheeks. I've never seen such a pretty little beauty."
Violet Cooper thought this and actually prepared to reach out.
The next second, before Violet's hand could touch Isabella's face, it was precisely caught by another hand.
Isabella opened her eyes, her gaze dangerously fixed on Violet who was about to touch her face. Her tone was cold, "What do you think you're doing?"
Even though caught, Violet still looked at Isabella with a grin, "Little beauty, why so fierce? I'm your classmate, and you're in our dorm right now."
Isabella looked at Violet's carefree manner and said coldly, "You don't need to tell me. I know we're classmates."
Violet—one of her good friends from Class 11 in her past life.
Back then she hadn't lived on campus, but when she first arrived at Class 11, she and Violet were deskmates. Violet had a wild personality, dating early, skipping classes—the most troublesome for teachers.
Most importantly, Violet loved pinching her face!
Violet would pinch her face and ruffle her hair all the time.
In Violet's words, she just loved touching beautiful girls, especially cute little rabbits like her—she couldn't help herself, it gave her a special sense of satisfaction.
Good thing Violet was a girl. If she were a guy, who knows how many times she'd have been reported for harassment.
Isabella sat up in bed and looked around, discovering that not only was Violet there, but Aurora had come too. Aurora was blinking curiously at her, her little face flushed, her eyes filled with uncontrollable joy.
Aurora was exactly the type of beauty Violet loved to "corrupt"—typical double eyelids, round face, twin ponytails, cute appearance, and lively personality.
But like Violet, she also liked good-looking people. When Violet met someone attractive, she'd touch them directly, while Aurora would become shy when seeing someone pretty, blushing and getting flustered.
Isabella often thought that the reason she became good friends with these two in her past life was probably because of... her face?
Violet and Aurora were both very good to her.
But these two's fates...
"H-hello." Aurora felt uncomfortable under Isabella's gaze and stammered, "I... I'm Aurora, very... very happy to meet you."
Violet looked at Aurora strangely, "Do you really need to stutter like that?"
Aurora nervously tugged at Violet's sleeve, "I'm introverted."
"Nonsense." Violet scoffed. "Isabella, don't let her fool you. Once you get to know her, she's more outgoing than anyone."
Isabella completely agreed.
"Isabella, are you hungry?" Scarlett asked with a smile. "You probably don't know the way to the cafeteria yet. I'll take you to breakfast later."
Violet glanced back at Scarlett, "Scarlett, why are you only thinking about Isabella? I haven't eaten breakfast either. Why don't you want to take me?"
Scarlett smiled helplessly, "I'll take you too."
Aurora raised her hand, "And me."
Violet frowned, "When I asked you to go with me earlier, didn't you say you'd already eaten?"
Aurora quickly glanced at Isabella then looked away, saying, "I can eat again."
Isabella looked very appetizing.
Violet saw right through Aurora's thoughts and reached out to pinch her face, "Well, Aurora, so I'm not appetizing enough."
Aurora had anticipated Violet would do this and quickly hid behind Scarlett, "Violet, don't touch my face, I put on makeup today!"
She wanted to maintain a good image as a pretty girl in front of her new classmate.
Isabella watched the two playing around and smiled.
How wonderful to see her old friends again.
This time, she would never let Violet and Aurora repeat their past life's mistakes. She would protect them, protect all these people who had been genuinely kind to her.
Isabella greeted everyone and went upstairs to wash up, since her toiletries were still in room 701.
When she returned to 701, she was surprised to find that last night's mess had miraculously been cleaned up.
Her bed looked brand new, with fresh sheets and bedding.
When Aria and Zoey saw her arrive, they eagerly rushed over, "Isabella, last night was our fault. We shouldn't have cut up your clothes or dirtied your bed, so we just hired cleaners to tidy up your bed area."
Aria looked at her sincerely, "I'm sorry, Isabella. I apologize."
"Me too." Zoey quickly followed, "I'm sorry."
Isabella looked at the two of them strangely.
What? Their personalities changed overnight?
Isabella walked over and looked at the freshly made bed, touching her chin, "You didn't put anything dirty on the sheets?"
Aria and Zoey quickly shook their heads, "No, no."
"Don't worry, Isabella, we'll never treat you like that again."
Zoey smiled, "We're all in the same dorm, why not get along well?"
Aria and Zoey looked kind, but Isabella knew it was all a fake appearance.
They wanted to lower her guard, with the goal of getting the watch on her wrist.
Isabella didn't want to expose them, and smiled lazily, "Good, I really want to be friends with you."
Aria and Zoey showed delighted expressions, "So will you come back to stay?"
"Of course." Isabella said, "I'll stay in 701 tonight, not going to Scarlett and the others' dorm."
Hearing this, Aria and Zoey were thrilled.
Perfect.
That way they could snatch the watch from Isabella tonight!
"Isabella, we're heading to the classroom now. Remember to report to your class on time."
Isabella agreed, "Okay."
——
Stellar High School's cafeteria was huge, with three floors and a rich variety of food.
The top floor even had several small restaurant-style private dining rooms, suitable for class gatherings.
"Scarlett, why didn't you ever mention being bullied by the class next door?" Violet walked beside Scarlett, unable to help asking, "If this hadn't blown up, would you have just kept swallowing it all?"
Scarlett always kept things to herself and endured everything. Even when she couldn't take it anymore, she'd just hide in a corner alone and say nothing.
Only now did she learn that Scarlett had been enduring so much behind the scenes.
She'd seen injuries on Scarlett's shoulder before and asked about them, but Scarlett said she'd fallen. At the time she hadn't thought much of it, but now she only regretted not being more observant.
"Violet, I just didn't want to drag you all into it."
Scarlett knew Violet was too righteous and would never stand by if she knew. If Violet also offended the Perez Family because of this, that would be trouble.
She could just endure it herself and it would pass.
"Scarlett." Aurora linked arms with Scarlett, her eyes full of sympathy, "From now on, wherever you go I'll follow you, so you won't get bullied again without us knowing."
Scarlett smiled with pursed lips, "Aurora, don't worry, it's fine now."