When the Family Ch 13

Chapter 13 I’m Not Signing Up for This Crap Again

“1 refuse. Jean said flatly, curling her lip.

To be honest, playing a tree wasn’t a big deal to Jean. She wasn’t particularly bothered by the role itself.

But she wasn’t about to waste her precious time on this kind of nonsense.

She was here to vibe, not to suffer. And it was painfully obvious that Lacey had it out for her.

This was a setup if she’d ever seen one. Why walk straight into the trap.

As for Lacey-

-8

+8 Pearl:

The host’s memories were incomplete. Jean didn’t know exactly what had caused this princess of a girl to hold a grudge. Maybe Lacey was just following the crowd, joining the others in bullying the weird, unlikable girl that was the host.

like the others who openly isolated her, Lacey was sneakier–always stabbing from the shadows.

And those fake smiles and sweet words? Way worse than being hated outright.

“Refuse?” Lacey frowned slightly, putting on a troubled look. “If that’s how you feel, why didn’t you speak up before the drawing? Now you’ve been picked, and you want to back our?”

She said it all very logically, which made it seem like Jean was being unreasonable and breaking her word.

“There’s a saying, you know–if you place a bet, you take the loss. A boy laughed from the back, clearly just enjoying the drama.

“Like she knows anything about taking responsibility. She’s single–handedly dropped our class average like five points.”

“Yeah, good one–ha!”

jean ignored the noise. She looked straight at Lacey, let out a dramatic sigh, and said-

“Lacey, I’m just not doing this stuff anymore, okay? If 1 join, I’ll be unhappy. And if I’m unhappy, I’ll be dead inside. And if I’m dead inside, that’s basically the same as being dead–dead. And I’may be a totally average nobody with no accomplishments, but I’m still my mom’s precious baby. If she finds out someone made me feel this awful, she’s gonna be heartbroken. And then she’ll call the cops. And then you’ll be the one in trouble.”

She gave Lacey a crooked smile.

Silence.

The classroom feli completely still

Lacey looked stunned by Jean’s sudden monologue. Her eyes widened in confusion. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the bell rang.

Class was starting

Carrying the lottery box,

a bottle of water, only to get cut off at the corridor’s end

te not finishedd

about the Hope

Cup”

7:40 PM c

Not Signing Up for This

You could even

threat practically written

+8 Pearl

Awards? Discipline?” Jean’s eyes sparkled as she broke into a laugh. “Is that supposed to scare me? If you can get me kicked out of school altogether,

was kind of

her a

off guard. She hadn’t expected Jean to

punching a cloud–no resistance, no

gears, “I’m involved

Her tone sharpened.

but what abour Sofia? I could easily mark

change, but her eyes narrowed

Lacey had noticed how

o one

She didn’t follow the crowd. But her grades were so far above everyone else’s, no wanted to

go after her. Sofia came from an average family. Lacey definitely thought she was

you really be okay seeing her get

her voice as smooth and cold as a devil’s whisper, dripping into Jean’s

Jean had to admit-

knew how to mix emotional blackmail and

trademark fake smile. “Son’s one of the

she walked past Jean

Jean almost laughed.

She wasn’t a

pair of

herself on stage as a tree in

her drink, Jean returned to class just as

sat down calmly and pulled a textbook out of her

metal

from between

landed on her

Iran frowned slightly.

+8 Pear

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