You Faked Your Deaths to Punish Me?! That’s Illegal, Family! novel Chapter 18

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Okay.”

I said it out loud.

But inside? I knew the truth.

Next time. The time after that. A hundred times over-I’d make the same choice.

For my

brother.

Julian stayed in the hospital for three months.

I applied for independent study so I could take care of him. Three months of watching over him, making sure he was okay.

And tutoring him. High school material. All of it.

Once he recovered, we went back to school together. Just in time for the first monthly exam.

When I walked out of the exam room, I ran into two faces I hadn’t seen in a while.

Colin. And Eva.

Eva froze when she saw me.

Then she put on this exaggerated, fake-shocked expression. “Anna! When did you get back to school? I heard you got hurt. Was it bad? I thought you dropped out.”

I could see the glee in her eyes. The schadenfreude.

I didn’t say a word. Just walked past them.

“Anna.”

Colin’s voice stopped me.

For once, he wasn’t looking at me with disgust. “Are you… okay?”

I thought back to that day. The helplessness. The way he turned his back on me.

Even a stranger deserved better than that.

Whatever I’d felt for him before? Gone.

“I’m fine.”

I turned to leave.

But he stepped forward and grabbed my wrist, “Anna, I-”

“What the hell are you doing?”

Before I could pull away, a backpack came flying through the air and smacked Colin square in the chest.

Chapter 8

He let go.

Julian walked over, picked up his bag, and glared at Colin. “The fuck are you doing, grabbing my sister like that?”

“I- Anna, I just-”

Colin looked like he wanted to say something.

“Julian, let’s just go.”

Eva rushed over and dragged Colin away.

He kept looking back at me. Over and over. Until he disappeared.

“What the hell was that? Next time he touches you, you tell me. I’ll—”

Julian mimed throwing a punch.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m fine. Let’s just go home.”

“Alright. But hey, I’m telling you-my scores this month are gonna be insane. I’m definitely getting into Class 1. We’re gonna be desk partners.

You believe me?”

He looked so confident.

“I believe you.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No. I mean it.”

I never doubted Julian’s ability to learn. He was smart-he just never cared before. But after three months of tutoring, I could see the progress.

Slow, steady, real.

A week later, the scores came out.

Julian went from dead last in the grade to top thirty.

Enough to get into Class 1.

I stayed at the top. First place. No surprises.

But what did shock me?

Colin and Eva-who used to be in the top five-both dropped out of the top hundred.

They got bumped down to Class 2.

Eva stared at the score sheet, her jaw clenched so tight I thought her teeth might crack. Jealousy practically radiated off her.

“How is this possible? How?!”

She whipped around to glare at me. “You cheated, didn’t you, Anna? You were gone for months and you come back with a perfect score? Who the hell would believe that? And Julian-he was supposed to be crippled! How is he fine? How is he doing this well?!”

“I don’t buy it. You both cheated!!”

Eva lost it. She was hell-bent on dragging this to the principal, demanding an investigation.

10.55 C

You Faked Your Deaths to Punish Me?! That’s Illegal, Family!

15.9%

Chapter 8

Colin tried to stop her. She shoved him off.

Her eyes locked onto mine, sharp and vicious. “Cheating gets you expelled. You’re done, Anna.”

“Eva, stop.”

Colin grabbed her arm. She ripped it away.

(1)

800

(0)