No longer a pushover

Chapter 10

Noelle stopped in her tracks and greeted the Liddell brothers politely but distantly. She said, "Frank, Blake, Lucas."

She knew skipping the greeting would only lead to more accusations about her attitude, and she did not have the energy for their drama.

"How was the exam today?" Lucas asked, his eyebrow raised. "Since you chose your studies over joining the team, let's see just how well you did!"

His taunts did not bother Noelle anymore. After all, her brothers would always find reasons to criticize her, no matter what.

"I'll do my best," she replied simply, knowing that she was definitely doing her best to get into Yole University and away from all of them.

"Noelle's never been academic material," Blake scoffed. "She barely scraped by Grades 10 and 11. This last-minute studying is just for show. She'll still rank below Xenia!"

Smiling sweetly, Xenia chimed in, "Blake, don't say that. Noelle's been working really hard lately, and even the teachers praise her. Besides, rankings aren't everything."

Noelle gripped her bag tightly, rage building inside her. In her previous life, her poor grades had been deliberate. Whenever she outscored Xenia, the latter would cause problems that turned her brothers against her. She intentionally performed poorly to avoid their disapproval, but that did not mean that she was incapable.

During her previous college entrance exams, she had tried to outperform Xenia to prove herself. Nevertheless, despite qualifying for better ones, Donovan had forced her to apply to the same mediocre college as Xenia. Determined not to repeat her mistakes, Noelle suppressed her anger and stated coldly, "I'm going to my room."

...

The next day, Noelle slept in as it was a Saturday. When she finally went downstairs for breakfast, the house was quiet. She figured that the others had probably left for training camp. Unbothered, she ate quickly and returned to her room. Then, she checked her phone for gaming tournament news.

revenge against Magnus Greene in the finals. Team Luminark had won the championship in her last

speculated that it was because of family business obligations. However, Magnus never clarified. Noelle felt an itch to join the action as she read the report.

decided to hold off. She only needed

she finally texted Cedric. "Sir, I couldn't come to the infirmary last week because Frank noticed I wasn't coming home on time. I was worried he'd discover my secret study spot." After hitting send,

the message on his phone, his eyes narrowing

who's texting you?"

simply locked his

profile picture... It's a girl, huh? Must

talk too much,"

time at the infirmary last week and then suddenly stopped. Plus, you've been walking around with a grump expression. Did you two have a

I know everything

the balcony with his phone and looked at her message again. The thought of her considering the infirmary her "secret spot" made

her social media, noting that it was full of typical teenage posts and daily life updates. Catching himself lingering too long

and closed the app. After that, he headed back

his response. She wondered if he was angry, yet she dared

at home while Xenia and

...

brothers chatting and laughing

said nothing and headed straight to

out today,

Noelle nodded. "Yes."