Chapter 3 Back To School

What a pretentious bumpkin! Felicia gritted her teeth, staring daggers at Emberly.

"Why are you girls just standing there? Come on in!" Sylvia urged them in.

Emberly walked into the house, followed by Felicia.

"Emmie, we didn't have time to prepare a room for you. Although Licia's room should be yours, you only just came back, and she is already used to it having lived there for many years. Do you mind staying in the guest room on the second floor instead for the time being? I was able to buy some new clothes for you. They are already in the wardrobe. If you don't like any of them, I can have them replaced. Don't worry; this arrangement is only temporary. We'll later see which room you like and have it decorated, alright?"

Sylvia didn't see anything wrong with her arrangement. After all, the guest room was already much better than the place Emberly used to live in the countryside.

But fairly speaking, it wasn't the right thing to do. She was already practicing favoritism by giving Emberly a lesser room while Felicia, who wasn't her real daughter, was left to enjoy a well-furnished room.

Sylvia's behavior didn't surprise Emberly at all. This was how she was treated in her past life. Darian and Sylvia were indeed nice to her at the beginning. But as time went by, they turned against her and took Felicia's side. They even ignored her after she was set up and sentenced to prison for murder.

"No, I don't mind. I can stay anywhere," Emberly replied.

Her response stirred up Sylvia's sympathy a little. Since she finally got to be with her biological daughter, she wanted to make it up to her in as many ways as possible. "Go and check your room. I'll let you know when dinner's ready," Sylvia said softly.

"Sure. I'll go upstairs to freshen up."

Emberly went upstairs to her bedroom; the same one she lived in during her previous life. She didn't mind that she was given this substandard room. All she cared about was having her revenge on Felicia. She looked forward to striking her target when she least expected.

Felicia's heart was singing at this time. In her head, she had just won the first round of the battle for the Hammonds' love. She was pleased to see she hadn't lost her position as their beloved daughter.

In the next thirty minutes, Travis and Darian arrived home in close succession.

Travis frowned after he was told that Emberly would be staying in the guest room, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

As everyone sat at the dining table for dinner, Darian stared at his long-lost daughter. He piped up, "Welcome home, Emberly. It's good to have you back. If you need anything, don't hesitate to tell your mother. I've already transferred you to Maybourn High. You will go through the registration tomorrow morning. You don't have to worry about anything. Since the birthday of you two is in a month, I will just reveal by then that you two are twins. The story will be that you got lost when you were little. Otherwise, if the public finds out the truth, we will be made a laughing stock and Licia would be embarrassed. You should be careful not to let it out, okay?"

Darian and Sylvia were a match made in heaven. Instead of caring about Emberly's feelings, they were more concerned about their reputation and the welfare of their other daughter. Emberly sneered inwardly.

"Dad, will that be possible? And is that even necessary? Licia still has her own real father. Besides, they two don't even look like twins," Travis unexpectedly chipped in.

He couldn't stand the unfairness of his parents. In his opinion, Emberly was the one who needed to be protected. She had suffered because someone else had taken her place in this household even though it was a mistake. He also didn't like that she was sent to stay in the guest room instead of enjoying what was rightfully hers. It just didn't make sense to him that Felicia was being placed above Emberly, even though he actually grew up with Felicia and adored her.

"Why can't we? Twins don't always look alike. We can say that they are fraternal twins. Just to be clear, Licia is still my daughter. She doesn't have to keep in contact with her biological father."

"But..." Travis opened his mouth to speak. However, when he saw Felicia's pleading eyes, he swallowed his words.

He didn't want to spoil Felicia's chances of continuing to have a good life, so he decided to make it up to Emberly by treating her well in the future. She was his biological sister, after all.

It was all a game for Emberly, so she did nothing but nod at Darian's words.

Maybourn High was a top school in the country. It was hard to get in. Emberly would probably only be placed in the worst class even though some strings were pulled in her favor.

When Emberly noticed that Felicia was staring at her with contempt, she slowly smiled and her eyes turned malignant. Her strange smile and expression sent a shiver down Felicia's spine. She looked away fearfully. Why did this bumpkin smile at her like that?

Emberly went back to her room after dinner. Her family members assumed that she was introverted, so they didn't stop her, let alone question her.

Emberly took out the books she had brought with her. Since she hadn't read them in a lifetime, she couldn't remember their content.

Freshman year in high school came with its own hurdles. She would have to take nine subjects from the fields of science to literature. To refresh her memory, she skimmed through the textbooks. The content stuck to her brain quickly. Perhaps it was because in her life in the Star Age, she turned out to be a scientist with a high IQ.

Emberly studied until she felt a bit dizzy. She then went to bed early.

At the crack of dawn, she went out for morning exercise. Decades of imprisonment and life in poverty had made her see the need for a strong physique. The ability to fight could be a lifesaver.

Due to her ill health, Emberly couldn't carry out tasking exercises. Her legs became shaky after running around the estate twice. She rested for a while before she trained her fists for punches and did some yoga to balance her breathing. She learned from one of the inmates that yoga was a good way to strengthen the body. In the Star Age, many people just drank gene strengtheners to energize their bodies. There was no such thing here, so she was only left to exercise.

After breakfast, Darian went to work and the three kids went to school.

A heated argument was going on in the dean's office at Maybourn High.

"Mr. Happer, I don't want this kid to be transferred to my class. As you know, my class is the best in the school. This girl previously attended a school in a remote village. You of all people should be able to guess how her performance will be. If she's brought to my class..." The argument was between the homeroom teacher of the top class, Dolores Cooper and the dean, Marlin Happer.

Marlin sighed. "Ms. Cooper, I understand how you feel, but the school believes in your ability to guide her. Although she's a transfer student from a remote village, her records show that she was a top student there."

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king! If she's allowed into my class, she will only bring down the average grade. I can't allow that. I'd rather resign than have someone like her in my class!"

Dolores was stubborn. She was confident that this threat would work since over the years she had been working here, the majority of her students had gotten into famous universities, Ivy League ones even.

Marlin knew that arguing with her was like talking to a brick wall. In the end, he had no choice but to say, "Fine. Please call Ms. Lyons for me."

Dolores breathed a sigh of relief and left gloatingly.

"Ms. Lyons, a transfer student is coming to our school today. I'm going to assign her to your class. Do you have any objections?"

The homeroom teacher for Class 14, Mona Lyons, looked at Emberly's file and frowned when she saw the school she was being transferred from. "Sir, I have no issue with that. But since she didn't take the entrance examination, I'd like to hold a test for her first."

"No problem. Give her the entrance examination papers." Marlin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone accepted Emberly.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

"Good morning. I'm Emberly Hammond." Emberly introduced herself as soon as she walked in.

"Welcome, Emberly. We were just talking about you. Since you missed the just-concluded entrance exams for the semester, would you mind doing the exam papers now? Oh, and this is Ms. Mona Lyons, the homeroom teacher of Class 14," said Marlin.

Emberly nodded. "Okay."

Mona sized her up carefully. At least, she didn't look like a troublemaker.

"I have a meeting to attend now. I'll leave you to it, Ms. Lyons."

Mona nodded and Marlin left the office.

"Have a seat, Emberly. These are the question papers for the entrance examination. You will do just math, English, and science questions. Skip the essay part if you want to, since we don't have that much time really."

Once the question papers were placed in front of Emberly, she began to solve them after just one glance. Her pen kept moving on the answer sheet as she didn't even stop to think.

When Mona saw that Emberly was solving the questions so fast, her face darkened. She didn't mind Emberly having a bad grade, but in her opinion, Emberly wasn't even making an effort to think before writing random things down. She suppressed her displeasure and waited for the girl to finish before she would snap at her.

In less than an hour, Emberly finished writing. It would have taken her lesser time if it weren't for the math quiz, which required her to write down every equation in detail. Anyway, she still felt like a doctorate student who just did primary school addition and subtraction.

With anger steaming off her ears, Mona took the answer sheets and read through them. Her anger soon subsided and she couldn't believe her eyes. Not only was she shocked by Emberly's beautiful handwriting, but she was also amazed by her answers.

She had answered the questions correctly—all of them!

She even solved each math problem with different methods.

Mona's hands trembled. A smile suddenly appeared on her previously hardened face. She had thought a dullard was placed under her care. But it turned out she got a genius!

She looked at Emberly with bright eyes. "Welcome to Class 14, Emberly!"

"Thank you, Ms. Lyons." Emberly nodded with a smile.

Mona wanted to tell Marlin the news. But on second thought, the possibility that Emberly saw the question papers before now couldn't be ruled out. She then decided to double-check before blowing Emberly's trumpet.