Ms. Emerson saw Nicole as soon as she entered the classroom. “Welcome back, Nicole,” she said
gently. Nicole smiled and said, “Thank you, Ms. Emerson.”
The two had a tacit understanding; Ms. Emerson was unspeakably grateful for Nicole; had Nicole not
chosen her as the head teacher, she would probably not have been awarded the excellent teacher
award.
She knew she had gone too far at first, and almost passed up such an outstanding student. She now
told herself that she would treat Nicole doubly well from now on.
No one dared to mess with Nicole again when everyone saw Ms. Emerson had such a high regard for
Nicole.
As much as Vivian hated Nicole, she had to keep her displeasure to herself because of the presence of
Ms. Emerson.
The morning class had begun. At lunch break, Nicole decided to go to the cafeteria. She knew she
would attract attention, but she still had to go because Austin and others would look for her.
Sure enough, as soon as Nicole and Lulu sat down, Austin and others swaggered into the cafeteria and
came in front of Nicole.
“Welcome back, boss!”
“We missed you so much.”
Nicole rolled her eyes at them. “You all are in the top twenty in the grade. Don’t call Boss again, as if
we’re gangsters or something. It doesn’t befit the image of top students.”
What Nicole said struck them dumb for a moment.
“You’re right, boss. We are already top students.” “Exactly. Our demeanor should befit that of our
identity.” Sammey quickly echoed. “Then what should we call you from now on, boss?” They got a little
confused. “Just call me by name,” Nicole said. “Huh?” ‘Isn’t that disrespectful?’ “What?” Nicole shot him
a lock.
Austin immediately obliged and said, “Yes, Nicole.”
He did not feel he deserved to call her by name, but still obliged, and the others followed suit.
“Will you still give her tuition, Nicole?”
Nicole glared at them. “No more free lunch.”
They all pulled a face upon hearing her reply.
But Nicole did not bother to look at them again. “I gave you all tuition previously because I didn’t want
you all to get kicked out and also because of the bet. It was a desperate measure in a desperate time.
If you all want to keep your grades, depend on yourselves from now on. Don’t let my previous time and
effort spent on you all go to waste.”
They felt sad to hear that, but it inexplicably ignited a fighting spirit within them.
“We got it. Thank you, bo- Nicole.” Sammey nearly made a slip of the tongue.
Everyone else thanked Nicole, and the lunch break turned into a thank-you party. After the meal, Austin
said, “Before you left, you asked us to wait for you in the morning with the guy called Zeke. But we
don’t know him and have only found out that he is from the Northon Institute next door.”
“Uh-huh.” Nicole nodded. “He wants to learn martial arts with me. I remember you all said you wanted
to learn, too.”
They had talked about it a few times before in class.
“We used to be interested, but now we don’t think we still have the energy,” several others said. “We’re
going to concentrate on our studies.”
If they wanted to keep up with the current learning progress, they would have to work hard for a while.
“You all are right. But if you all are still interested, come to the sports field tomorrow morning, but give
up the soonest if you’re not interested .” Nicole could not care less.
Seeing that no one was joining , Austin gritted his teeth and raised his hand. “I’m joining!”
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