Chapter 47: Ruin her image

Mia’s consistent ringing phone woke her up on Monday morning, but before she could pick up the call, it stopped ringing. When she looked at her phone, she noticed she’d missed several calls from Rayne, however before she could decide to call her back, she noticed the time and realized she was late for school.

"Shoot!" She jumped out of bed and grabbed her towel. She took a quick morning shower and hurried to dress up. Due to the hot weather, and because she had seen an announcement post on their school forum that there would be a final photoshoot for all the participants of the school event in the afternoon, she decided to wear a light pink sleeveless dress that stopped an inch above her knees with white polka dots on the fabric. She didn’t want to wear her usual T-shirt and jeans to school because she really hoped to be part of the final participants of the contest, not for any reason, but because she wanted to pay off the bank loan with the prize.

To feel more comfortable in the sleeveless dress, Mia added a denim jacket for a casual and comfortable vibe. Although she didn’t like wearing sleeveless clothes and decided to wear the jacket, she planned to take off the jacket for the photoshoot at school. Completing her outfit with black ankle boots, she quickly grabbed her bag and phone before leaving the apartment.

She arrived at school a few minutes before the first class began, and as usual, Rayne had saved a seat for her. However, for some reason, she sensed that all the students were watching her every move like some local CCTV camera. She had noticed a lot of students eyes even when she first entered the school grounds, but she’d dismissed it as nothing. Now that she was aware of it, she found it odd because their eyes seemed to be filled with either disgust or pity. She would have assumed it was due to her change in style, but that wasn’t the case because none of them seemed to even notice her dress.

Sitting down next to Rayne, she leaned over and whispered, "Why do I feel like everyone is staring at me today? As far as I know, there’s no longer any scandal about me." She asked cautiously, feeling self-conscious about herself and her new look due to the constant gaze.

Rayne also leaned over to whisper, "Didn’t you see the post on our school forum last night and on the school newspapers? I called you this morning to warn you about it but you didn’t pick up my calls."

Mia frowned deeply, "What post? The only one I saw last night was the announcement post about the photoshoot. I didn’t see any other trending post." She said as she fished out her phone from her bag to logged into the forum since the professor hadn’t arrived yet. The moment Mia logged into the forum, her eyes widened at the trending post at the top. How did she miss this last night?! And who would dare post such thing about her?

The post was about Mia and the town she lived in. It even had her photos taken in whispering way street as she was crossing the street with a few little kids. It seemed to be taken yesterday afternoon, on Sunday when she was coming back from running some errands for her mother. However, that wasn’t what made Mia angry, the photos in the post were heavily edited to make her look dirty and make the place she lived in look like trash. If she didn’t live in the town, she would have also believed the edited version of whispering way.

The caption of the posters reads; "Trash like this don’t belong among us in Ivy Grove institute."

Mia clicked on the comments section, and the comments she saw made her regret entering it.

"Eww, how could someone live in a place like that? Look how they move around trash!"

"She will spread unknown diseases from her trashy town into our clean society if she isn’t dismissed of her scholarship. I can’t believe I’ve been staying in the same class with a dirty person like this!"

"Yes, I agree with you guys. She doesn’t belong with us, imagine she has some disease and we got infected, that wouldn’t be nice. I even sat close to her in our project class! That was so gross!"

Mia’s fingers tightened around her phone as she continued to scroll the comments section. Someone in the comments section, they even went as far as to say: "Oh my goodness! No wonder I came back home with some red itchy bumps on my skin after sitting next to her in the news reporting class few days ago! She’s a trash from the slums!"

"You guys should go easy on her, it’s not her fault that she’s that poor. Instead of insulting her, how about we come together and help her? I have a few clothes and jewelry I don’t wear anymore, if you have anything you want to give away, we can give them to her in school."

Mia decided to stop scrolling because the more she read the comments, the more she felt her blood boil in her veins. Who would dare post such a thing about her in public? Her family might have been poor, but she wasn’t as poor as they all made it seem. Her town might not be fancy, but it wasn’t as dirty as they all made it seem. They made her look like a begger and a trashy person.

Mia felt tears of anger swelled up in her eyes as she glared unblinkingly at her phone. Even though she wasn’t looking up, she could feel the judging eyes of her classmates and could hear the hushed whispers in the background.

"I can’t believe she even had the guts to come to school wearing a beautiful dress when she lives in a place like that." Said one of the students from behind.

"Yes. I hope she’s not planning to be among those participants of the contest by wearing a dress? She better not, because she would only be spreading her germs and nothing else. She’s not even beautiful enough to be among them."

As Mia heard their words, she tried to fight back her tears of anger and embarrassment, but it rolled down her eyes. Unable to take it anymore, she decided to leave the class.

"Mia..." Rayne called as she watched Mia pick up her bag and ran out of the class without turning back.

Rayne also stood up and picked up her bag, but before she went after her friend, she turned to her classmates. Her voice was laced with disdain as she said,"I’m genuinely disappointed in the narrow perspective some of you are displaying. And It’s disheartening to witness such narrow-mindedness in people. Wealth doesn’t make someone superior, and poverty doesn’t make someone inferior. Mia’s character and determination shines brighter than any stereotype. So, before you judge, take a moment to appreciate the strength it takes to rise above circumstances."

Done speaking, Rayne turned her back and left the class to look for her friend. However, Rayne searched almost everywhere she knew Mia would be, but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t even at the rooftop where she went to always clear her mind, nor was she in the library. Though, even Rayne had seen where Mia lived, it was nothing like how it was in the photos, and whoever posted such photos did it to ruin her image in school.

And to make matters worst, the photos were published in the school newspapers as well. Not just the journalists faculty would see them, but the entire school!

It was only natural that Mia would want to hide in embarrassment, because Rayne couldn’t even image what she would do if she was the one being pictured as a dirty trash. And whoever posted that should better not allow her to catch them because she would skin them alive!

Where could Mia be?

As Rayne was searching for her friend in the school, the latter was in the school cafeteria eating calmly as she hadn’t eaten breakfast when she left home. Mia didn’t hide from all the judging eyes boring holes into her back in the cafeteria, she continued to quietly eat without paying any attention to anyone. Since they believed she was a trashy person, then they should continue to believe, she wasn’t going to hide in shame nor would she cry her eyes out in a corner for being born poor.

Since the school cafeteria wasn’t just for students, there were a few professors in the building eating as well, and as Mia continued to ignore all the whispers and stares, in the far corner of the cafeteria someone was casually sitting down sipping coffee while reading the school newspapers about Mia.

Mia continued to eat her food until she was interrupted by the approaching sounds of clicking heels on the marble floor. When the sound stopped beside her table, Mia stopped eating and raised her head only to see the last person she wanted to see standing there with an air of arrogance and smugness.

It was Diane, standing in her beautiful light blue spaghetti strap dress with a ruffled hem that stopped in her mid-thighs, with a fitted bodice that pushed up her bosom. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail. As usual, her two lackeys were standing with her as they all looked down at Mia with arrogance dancing in their eyes.

"How has your day been today, Mia? I hope you like the sudden fame you’re receiving in school?" Diane remarked smugly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read