The voice, though quiet, cut through the tense silence of the classroom like a knife.
Instantly, every pair of eyes in the room snapped toward the sound.
It was a girl.
She was small and dangerously thin, her heavy bangs obscuring half of her face. She wore a faded, washed-out school uniform and looked severely malnourished.
It was Lydia Brooks, the most hardworking, desperate, yet entirely invisible scholarship student in the class.
Lydia had clawed her way into the Vanguard Honors Program through sheer academic brilliance.
But within the elite walls of the program, she was a ghost.
The girl was painfully timid.
Aside from academics, she never spoke a word to anyone.
Over time, everyone had naturally learned to ignore her.
She was also one of the charity cases funded by the Doyle family.
Naturally, everyone assumed she belonged to Dreamscape Alpha or Dreamscape Beta.
And yet, this was the girl...
Who was stepping up at a moment like this.
It was hard to imagine the sheer, agonizing amount of courage it took for her to stand up and speak out.
After all, Serena and Bianca Doyle had just publicly declared war on each other.
Siding with Serena right now...
Was the equivalent of openly declaring war on Isabella Lancaster and Bianca Doyle.
Yet, bearing the crushing weight of everyone's stares, she walked straight toward Serena.
Her legs were visibly trembling.
But she bit her lower lip so hard it turned white, her hands balled into tight fists as she inched her way to Serena's desk.
Every step felt like she was dragging a boulder.
But she walked with absolute, unwavering resolve.
Lydia's actions were a vicious slap across Bianca's face.
First, it was Caleb Sommers.
Now, Lydia Brooks.
Two pathetic losers who usually didn't even dare to breathe too loudly were suddenly defying her in front of everyone, embarrassing her just to follow a bitch like Serena!
Did they have a death wish?
"Lydia Brooks, you're going against me too, aren't you? Do you want the Doyle family to cut your funding, so you can crawl back to the Backwoods, marry some old creep, and pop out a litter of brats?!" Bianca shrieked.
Lydia flinched violently.
Her trembling worsened.
But when she met Serena's calm, clear gaze.
A sudden, inexplicable surge of bravery bloomed in her chest.
She shrank her shoulders, but she didn't take a single step back. Slowly, she lifted her chin, staring stubbornly at Bianca. "Bianca... last week, just because I didn't have the money to buy you coffee, you had your friends corner me in the restroom..."

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