No longer a pushover

Noelle and Cedric Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Despite how petite she was, Noelle's eyes were brimming with rebellious determination. She firmly answered, "My answer won't change even if I say it a hundred times. I refuse."

Xenia seized this opportunity to sweetly say, "Don't be angry, Donovan. I already have a tutor, and my grades will improve soon. Noelle's grades improved because of how hard she'd been revising. I'll learn from her, I promise!" Frank, trying to remediate, chimed in, "Don't worry about their grades, Donovan. I'll handle it.

However, Donovan was still furious. "Stop making excuses for her! Do you think that I don't know what she's like? She's acting out just because she isn't happy that Xenia joined our family!"

He snapped at Noelle, saying, "Let me make this clear, Noelle. No matter how much you're against it, Xenia isn't going anywhere, even if you leave the house. She's here to stay, you hear me?

Noelle's head was lowered, her expression hidden. Frank felt sorry for her. "Noelle, Donovan doesn't mean it that way."

Coolly, she said,. It doesn't matter." Without saying another word, she

her when Donovan's furious voice rang out behind him. "Stop! That kid has you in the palm of your hand because of how soft you

"It's not like

he might have also thought

expression earlier worried him. He'd never seen her

I blame myself for not doing so well this time. If only I were as smart as Noelle.

already told me everything, so you should stop defending Noelle. Just because she's our biological sister doesn't mean that we'll favor her over you." Xenia wiped her tears away, her expression brightening. "Thank you, Donovan. I'll try harder from now

in the family to suck up to. He was also rarely home, which made Xenia fear him the most. But thanks to Noelle's outburst that day,

Noelle, "Donovan, Noelle took part in the competition too. The team wouldn't have won if

don't know that she refused to join Lucas team just so that he would beg her. However, she got jealous when Xenia stepped in and secretly practiced so she could steal

wave of helplessness wash over him. For the first time, he realized that he had treated Noelle the same way Donovan was treating her. He wondered if they had hurt her so much she wanted to distance herself from

as he finally understood what a terrible brother he'd