The commotion stopped when their professor came in.
"Miss Del Mundo! Miss Sanchez! Go back to your seats please!" The male professor told them making Jane to let go of her wrist.
"I'm not yet done with you!" Stephanie said and she turned around to face Professor Perez with her fake smile and she walked towards her seat like a fake queen.
Jane closed her eyes as she also tried to calm down herself.
She's not like this. She's usually calm and composed back in her previous life. She was trained to be gentle, elegant and a dignified queen but then when she came into this world, she had became cold and distant.
Sometimes she questioned if these were her emotions or the old Jane's.
Or maybe she's like this as a result of everything she had gone through.
Jane slumped back on her seat and decided to focus her attention on the view outside. Especially the birds who are flying up in the sky.
She was so lost in her own world that she didn't hear Professor Perez who was calling her name.
"Miss Sanchez!" Professor Sanchez said as he slammed his desk startling her.
"Yes Prof!" She said as she got up and look at him. But then she looked down as she knew this person had a higher authority than her in this room so she bowed her head out of respect.
"Is there any problem Student Jane?" He asked.
"None at all Professor. I'm sorry." She said as she shook her head and also apologized for spacing out.
"Good! Then come and get your test paper and also your grades." He said making everyone to look at Jane with mocking gazes.
She was the last student in class who was called to get her test result so everyone thought that she's the last in the class even if they had not seen their results yet since they were told to open it altogether and strictly no peeking.
Those who violated, ten points would be deducted from their final score and thus it would surely affect their grades.
Jane finally understood what was going on and she made her way to the front to get her results.
The students looked at her then all of a sudden, they could not help but to stare at her. It was as if Jane's body was surrounded with a halo which attracted them.
"Wow! Is it me or Jane looked different today." One of her classmates whispered to her sit mate.
"No. It's not only today. But even last week when she first showed up for the first time after the three whole months that she was on leave." She replied.
"No. Even when she entered the room today and in the hallway earlier, she seemed to be a completely different person. And I feel like she have these prominent facial features the more I looked at her."
"Yeah. I'm sure if she would bleach her skin, she would look very beautiful."
Even if she completely heard them, Jane decided to ignore them with her poker face as she continued walking straight towards the center.
If there's someone who looked unhappy hearing the gossip, it was Stephanie herself.
"Are you all blind? Look at her! You better get your eyes checked. She's ugly as h*ll!" She exclaimed in a whisper but she was loud enough for their professor to hear especially when she was close to the front.
"What's the gossip all about ladies?" Professor Perez called them out and the two students bowed down their heads and immediately apologized.
"Nothing Professor! We are just curious about Miss Sanchez's grades." Rachel butted in.
"Oh! Then why don't you open yours and check for yourselves?"
As soon as they did, they have mixed emotions on their faces. Some were happy to get a passing grade and some were very upset to receive a failing grade.
They then looked at Jane who remained calm.
Since Director Lopez had already spoiled the news to her earlier, her reaction was neutral when she opened it. However, the corner of her lips had curved up a little bit as she was still very happy of her performance.
Of course, she thanked Jane and her's photographic memory for this.
Everyone then turned their attention towards her but she immediately shoved her results in her bag just in case someone would take it away from her hand.
Professor Perez then inserted his flash drive into the waiting laptop and displayed to the white screen who performed well on the exam last week for everyone to see.
And they were shocked to see Jane's name on the top position again.
"No! She cheated! How can a person who was out for three months would be able to perfect everything? It's impossible."
"Believe me Miss Del Mundo. That's what I thought too. Especially when I receive the news Saturday afternoon. However, with the School Director's credibility as her watcher, can we still raise the question that she cheated during the exam? And besides, to whom she will copy her answers from?"
He then showed a screen shot of Jane's answer sheet and compared it with the answer key.
"I will believe in the theory that she cheated if all of the words in her papers are the same with the answer key that I made." Professor Perez continued in defending Jane.
Stephanie had no other choice but to remain silent. She didn't like the feeling of being humiliated at all.
Even her father never scolded her at home. She's a daddy's princess.
Even Jane wanted to touch him to know what was going on inside this professor's head.
He was never nice to Jane. In fact, he had been indifferent towards Jane since day one just like the other teachers that she had on her previous years.
He never defended her with the bullies even if it happened the moment he passed by the hallway.
Yes, he was strict inside the classroom about orderliness but that's all.
Therefore, Jane couldn't help but raise her hand to ask him personally.
"Professor?" She called out.
"Yes, Miss Sanchez?" He replied.
"Thank you for defending me but, why are you doing this? Don't get me wrong but this is the first time that you have done this. I'm just not used to it." She said.
"Is there a need for me to have a reason to defend you? You're the top student in my class and all I have are praises and appreciation towards you Miss Sanchez." He started with an apologetic tone.
"I may have acted indifferently previously but that's just my way of showing no favoritism and I know that you have your ways of helping yourself from them so I decided to not interfere."
'So in short, you're just a coward who would turn a blind eye on the bullied because the bullies held a higher background than you do.' Jane said inside her mind.
She wanted to really say that but since he was older and out of respect, she decided not to.
She was thankful that at least he defended her against them and it's quite hard for Jane to achieve that.
"It's fine. I just don't want them to target you just because you defended me. Their parents after all are with more powerful background than mine. I'm just a scholar with no solid backing. I can't bear the consequences."
"No! It's not that. Questioning your results and painting you as a cheater was something I could not tolerate! In my twenty years of teaching, this is the first time that I am very happy." He added.
"It's an honor to hear that Professor."
"Well, it would be my honor to exchange some pointers with you maybe when you're on your free time. I'd love to hear your opinions about many topics. You provided a solid argument on the last part of the test. And I would love to hear any additional points from you." He said.
Who didn't want to talk to a genius like her?
"Ahm. I'm sorry Professor but I don't think I would have the time. I'm not available on the weekend." She apologetically said.
"Oh, it's a pity. But it's okay. I'm sure a lot of your professors will be coming at you one by one today." He gave her a heads up.
"Thanks for the reminder Professor."
The exchange of their conversation was non-stop until the bell rung indicating that lunch time had finally arrived.
Everyone walked out of the room and Jane decided to be the last to exit.
Which was a bad thing for her as it gave more opportunity for her bully to attack her.
As soon as everyone left, Stephanie's group immediately surrounded her in the middle.
"Move." She told them calmly.
"You only aced one subject and here you are, acting cocky as if you aced the whole finals! Girls, I think we should teach this ugly freak a lesson. We should cut her ugly horn, they're growing and it's not a good thing." Stephanie meaningfully said and one was about to grab Jane by the hand to isolate her.
"Do you really think that attacking me like this would faze me. I have suffered the pain of death once. Do you even know what it feels like? Tormenting. So if you don't want to suffer the same way, leave me alone." She warned.
However, instead of taking her seriously, Rachel even mocked her.
"Then, we don't mind letting you experience it again." She said as she signaled her other classmate and they both grabbed her.
The moment they touched her, flashes of thoughts came to her head making her dizzy because these thoughts were full of ill-intentions.
However, she heaved a sigh as she saw one who didn't have pure malice against her. The owner of this thoughts only wanted to be accepted in the group.
She then looked at her and said, "You don't need to be with them just to feel acceptance. Accept yourself first before you try to blend in a group which you know you don't belong, Sarah."
Sarah was taken aback and therefore let go of her.
She also did what she had done to Fred to the other two girls who grabbed her.
She did it quicker this time. She didn't pry much. She only looked at their weakness and use it to attack them.
"Rachel, why do you copy what brands Stephanie wears and use? She can afford it but your Auntie has to work hard to earn every penny she placed in your bank account. Are you going to waste her efforts into nothing by giving her a failing grade? What are you trying to prove?" She questioned making Rachel to be surprised to.
Jane knew that Stephanie hated it when someone tried to imitate her.
"B*tch what are you trying to do?" She said angrily but Jane didn't stop there.
"You're even secretly dating her ex-boyfriend whom she had broken up a week ago. If that's not trying to copy her, then I don't know what that is?"
She then looked at the other student and said, "Carol, do you think your mom and dad will be happy to see you being influenced by them? She never wanted you to be a bully. I feel sorry for your mother the most."
Upon hearing that, Carol let go of her and tucked her hands on her side.
"And you Stephanie. Do you feel no guilt for turning them the worst versions of themselves by following you? If my appearance bothers you a lot then why don't you follow me and make it a trend?"
"No matter how many times you put make up on your face to make you beautiful, but the truth is that your entire being smells like amorphophallus titanum. If the grim reaper declined to take me to h*ll because of my ugly appearance then I'm sure he will refuse you too for that reason."
Who told them that the bullied would never know how to verbally bully back the bully (them)?
A loud clap then echoed on the room and everyone turned their attention to Jake who was now standing by the door and his hands still clapping.
"Bravo!" He exclaimed like a proud father to his little daughter.
Many times he had seen her being stuck in the same situation.
Being mocked and bullied because of her appearance.
And he was one of those bystanders who would just watch and passed by.
Aside from their few exchange and encounters in the library, there's nothing more.
He thought she was weak but when he learned that she used her life to save his little sister, his view towards Jane drastically changed.
He knew from the very beginning that she's a good person but telling her as a good person was an understatement.
Jane was a selfless person and that fitted her perfectly.
This qualities made him to admire her.
"I'm sorry. I really wanted to enjoy the show but the worms and bacteria in my stomach won't allow me. Jane let's go! I'm hungry!" He called her.
"En!" She nodded as she looked at them in the eye one more time.
"It's not me who is the problem here. The problem is you and your insecurities. Trying to pull one person down will never make you superior over others."