A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"Yeah. Calliope's not exactly the forgiving type, is she? Did she leave the Jewell family to guilt-trip Lisette into leaving too?"

"Poor Lisette, she didn't deserve that!"

"Calliope's got a personality problem. The whole Jewell family isn't fond of her. How's that Lisette's fault?"

"Wow, Portia, have you fallen under Calliope's spell too?"

People around Portia were quick to voice their thoughts, rallying behind Lisette. They glanced at Portia with a mix of disdain and disbelief.

"Can't you guys see? Lisette's putting on an act," Portia said, exasperated with her classmates.

"Class president, aren't you supposed to be fair? You really believe Lisette's not acting?" Portia asked, hoping for some backup.

stir up trouble. We're all classmates here. Let's have a good time today," the

Clap! Clap! Clap!

applause echoed through

from the doorway, her entrance commanding everyone's

room with an amused curiosity. "Weren't you just talking about me? Now that I'm here, why so quiet? Speak

bee, and their entire year knew her. Despite all the gossip behind her back, confronting her face-to-face was

we can't talk about it?" a heavily made-up girl sneered

eye-to-eye with Calliope since high school. A boy she liked had a crush on Calliope, and she had

you should get your ears checked. What I said was I'd prefer it if you said it to my face. Gossiping is fine. I

sat before Eva, poised and composed. She was graceful, exuding an air of elegance that matched

entering the real world, everyone had changed, shaped by the pressures of society. But Calliope seemed to

something