The Rewritten Love: A Second Beginning (Madelyn) novel Chapter 15

Each class stretched out to 45 minutes. When the bell finally signaled the end of the lesson, Madelyn, almost with a sense of doomed acceptance, walked to the back of the room. She quietly righted Forrest’s knocked-over desk and gathered the scattered books from the floor, tidying them neatly into his drawer. Her actions elicited a flurry of astonished whispers from her classmates. 

“No way! Madelyn, who’s always acting high and mighty, is actually picking up books for Forrest? Did she hit her head or something?” 

“Can’t believe what I’m seeing. Madelyn, who couldn’t be bothered to speak, is now serving her arch-nemesis Forrest? Holy cow, I must be hallucinating!” 

Someone had discreetly snapped a photo of Madelyn’s surprising act of humility and anonymously uploaded it to the school forum. 

Madelyn ignored the buzz around her, focusing on straightening up Forrest’s desk. Despite everything, she was just too good-natured to hold Forrest’s temper against him. 

Meanwhile, in the grimy alley behind the school, Timothy was debating about which bar to hit that night. Adrian was engrossed in his phone when a headline suddenly popped up. 

[Shocker of the Century! Madelyn actually…] 

Before he could finish reading, Adrian saw Madelyn’s name and clicked on the link. A photo loaded, revealing Madelyn crouched down, books cradled in her arms. “Holy smokes! Look, Forry, look at the school forum, Madelyn is picking up your books again!” 

“What the…?” Timothy doubted his hearing for a moment. 

Forrest’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he peered at the photo Adrian shoved his way. A girl crouched on the floor, her skirt pooling around her. The camera captured Madelyn’s smooth, elegant profile perfectly. Light streamed in from the window, illuminating her, her eyelashes cast in shadow like the feathers of a raven, one hand clutching books, the other picking up a textbook from the floor. The photo exuded an unexpectedly serene ambience. 

‘Well, I’ll be damned.’ 

Madelyn skipped the cafeteria at noon. She usually brought her own lunch due to her selective palate and her aversion to cafeteria food. Now alone in the classroom, she quietly savored the caramelized pork that Rosario had prepared for her, while working on her incomplete test paper from the last exam. 

An hour passed and the other students gradually returned from their lunch. Madelyn was still struggling with the final math problem. The noise of chatter and footfalls grew louder as it approached the classroom. Startled gasps echoed down the hallway. 

“Oh my God, it’s Forrest. He isn’t coming back to settle the score with Madelyn, is he?” 

“Most likely. Let’s head over and grab a front-row seat. I’ve had it with that lowlife girl. I can’t believe she got into this school.” 

“People like her are a menace in this school. It was her dad who nearly cost my dad his life over a plot of land. People like them who can’t compete fairly always resort to dirty tricks. Those Jents are bound to meet a nasty end.” 

“You better watch your mouth. My dad said the Jent family are big fishes in Ventropolis, getting on their bad side always spells trouble. Don’t let your anger lead you into trouble.” 

Indeed, such words were only ever whispered behind Madelyn’s back. Many in their class had parents whose businesses had suffered at the hands of the Jent family, and those dealings were always shrouded in shadow.