Hopeless
“Good.” Martin nodded in relief. He then swept his gaze over the entire class and asked, “Who else?”
Once they were shortlisted in the Know-All Competition, they would have to attend the final at the TV
station. Except for Sophie, who was used to attracting people’s attention, none of the other students
wanted to be given that much attention. Hence, they lowered their heads and remained silent.
At this moment, they were behaving similarly to those from the normal class, being chatty and noisy
when there were no questions posed, but remaining silent once the teacher began asking questions.
“Fine. None of you is willing to participate, right?” It was not Martin’s first time facing such a situation, and
he was well-prepared. He took out a box he had prepared earlier and placed it atop of the podium,
saying, “We’ll draw votes then. Come up and draw your vote one by one, beginning with the first group.
Those who get a star will represent the entire class to shine brightly at the competition.”
Given what he said, all of the students had no choice but to line up to draw votes.
Elise was the last in the line. After getting her vote paper, she immediately opened it up beside the
podium.
Luckily, there was nothing on it.
Hence, she placed the vote paper on the podium and went back to her seat.
“Mr. Kamp, I got it.” A guy wearing spectacles raised his hand and showed his vote paper, which bore a
star.
“Mica got it too!” a female student exclaimed.
Following that, Elise’s desk-mate, a slightly plump girl, raised her hand too and displayed her vote paper.
Elise thought the name sounded familiar. Hence, she turned to look at Mica, and she vaguely noticed a
hint of helplessness on Mica’s face.
“That’s great. The class monitor will lead the team and everyone else in the team should cooperate with
each other. I’ll brief you about the details of the competition after class,” Martin said decisively before
starting his lesson.
The class was over in no time. When the bell rang, Martin packed his teaching materials and began
nagging, “The lesson isn’t difficult at this point. Students who have high expectations of themselves can
try to do some exercises on their own. Physics is a subject in which you need to work hard and think a
lot, especially for those who have a poor foundation…”
His words came to a halt here, and he subconsciously raised his head to look at the last row in the class.
However, the seats of Elise, Sheldon, and Elliot were long empty.
Seeing that, Martin put on a solemn expression and shook his head. They’re just hopeless, he thought.
Poor students would always remain poor. No matter how hard he tried to push them, they would never
take it seriously.
“Class is over!”
Elise returned to her house to conduct a body check-up on Laura. Then, she accompanied both the
elders for a meal before she went back to the school.
When she was transferred to the Elite Class, her hostel was changed as well. So far, she hadn’t been
there yet. Since Alexander had something on tonight, she intended to stay at the hostel.
Martin was right; the Elite Class was provided the best resources by the school. Her new hostel had only
two people in a room, meaning that she would only need to deal with one roommate.
Dragging her luggage behind her, she opened the door of the hostel room, and she smelled a faint floral
scent. When she walked in, she noticed that the bed on the left side had been tidied up with personal
belongings placed on it. The bed on her right was empty, but it appeared to her that it had also been
cleaned, as there was no dust on the bedstead.
Seeing that, Elis couldn’t help but be grateful as she thought that her new roommate was a helpful
person.
“You’re here.” The door of the toilet swung open. Mica walked over to her bed while saying, “Because
you arrived later than me, I tidied up your place while I was tidying mine. You just need to put on
bedsheets, and then you can sleep on it.”
“Thank you,” Elise said smilingly.
“You’re welcome.” Mica forced a smile. She was probably in a bad mood because after she sat down on
her chair, she turned her back to face Elise and said nothing more.
Elise guessed that Mica was frustrated over the Know-All Competition.
Since Mica had tidied her place for her, she would definitely help Mica out if she asked for it.
However, Mica chose to keep that to herself, which made it difficult for Elise. Hence, Elise had no choice
but to feign ignorance and begin making her bed.
After getting everything done, both of them were ready to sleep.
Just as Elise was about to climb into her bed, she heard a loud crashing sound of a heavy object falling
to the ground, followed by the sound of a chair colliding with the bedstead and the floor.
When she turned around, she was shocked to see that Mica had fallen to the ground from her bed.
Furthermore, Mica was lying on the floor with her limbs flailing around and foam coming out of her
mouth.
Elise immediately recognised this as an epileptic symptom. She hurriedly jumped out of her bed, tilted
Mica’s head to one side so that she wouldn’t be choked by her foam, and then held her limbs down to
prevent further injuries.
After a few minutes, Mica finally quieted down, but she remained unconscious.
Seeing that, Elise wiped the foam from Mica’s face. She then took a silver needle from her luggage and
poked it into some of Mica’s acupuncture points several times. After doing so, Mica gradually regained
consciousness.
Mica was initially dazed the moment she awoke, but she quickly realized that she had exposed the worst
side of herself on the first day of living with her roommate.
She sat up from the floor and frowned with embarrassment, then hugged her legs as if she were an
injured child.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret,” Elise said softly.
“Thank you,” Mica answered, her head lowered. She dared not look at Elise.
She knew that what Elise said was pointless. Mica had met classmates who were kind enough to keep
her epilepsy a secret after witnessing her attack, but eventually, they would all stay away from her and
treat her as a freak.
She didn’t resent them. At the very least, they were far better than those who openly commented that
she looked like a monster when she was suffering an attack. However, she still felt broken-hearted.
No man was an island. She, of course, would really love to be friends with those who were kind-hearted.
But she was unqualified for that because of her illness.
Elise knew that Mica needed some time alone. So, she went back to her place with discernment and
kept her silver needle.
After that, she couldn’t control herself and said, “Actually, this illness can be cured.”
“What did you say?” Mica, who had just stood up, didn’t hear her clearly.
“I said that epilepsy can be cured,” Elise repeated while looking at Mica with a serious face.
“I know.” Mica gave her a bitter smile. “But the chances are slim. Most of them who suffer from this can
only spend their entire lives in between the attacks of the illness and waiting for the attack to happen. I
won’t be the exception.”
“That’s not what I meant. I did a simple diagnosis on you just now, and I think your illness can be cured,”
Elise said decisively.
Hearing that, Mica looked at Elise with her eyes full of anticipation.
Mica had been observing everything that Elise did in class for the past few days, and she felt that Elise
was a special girl. She had never met anyone like her before. She felt especially so when Elise was
arguing with Martin. In Mica’s heart, she admired Elise.
Perhaps it was because of this that Mica had the impression that Elise was not someone who would
make empty promises. Hence, if she said this illness could be cured, then it could be cured.
“Are you recommending a doctor to me?” Mica took the initiative and asked.
“Kind of,” Elise replied calmly. “Let me go back and do some research first before recommending her to
you. In the meantime, I’ll get you two kinds of medicine tomorrow to delay your condition.”
She then continued, “Don’t be too worried about the competition. I’ll go with you.”
“Are you serious?!” Hearing that, Mica was ecstatic. She had never been on stage before because she
had no courage to do so, and because of her health.
“Yes.” Elise nodded and didn’t explain further.
In fact, Mica would not necessarily suffer the attack while on stage, but she would be more at ease
having someone by her side, which could reduce the likelihood of an attack.
“Thank you, Elise. Can I call you Elise?” Mica asked shyly.
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