Ficorpio
Chapter 1
After I was admitted to the elite school, my parents gave me two hundred a month for spending money.
By the second year, Lily got in too. Mom and Dad gritted their teeth and sold the house just to buy her a proper wardrobe. They wanted her to have enough confidence to make friends here.
After she enrolled, Lily saw me letting my studies slide and spending every day running errands behind the rich kids. Furious, she accused me, “Mom and Dad work themselves to the bone to put you through school, and this is how you repay them? I would never humiliate them the way you do.”
I silently glanced at the bank card in my wallet.
There was over a million in it, money I had earned at school.
“Deal,” I said. “Just make sure you focus on your studies. Don’t come compete with me for business.”
Lily had only transferred in today. Her uniform was brand-new and spotless, a world apart from the second-hand one I had bought from the previous scholarship student.
Before she came over, my parents had specifically warned me that Lily was sensitive, unlike me, who could take a beating and keep going. So I was to keep our relationship quiet and not let anyone else know we were sisters. They were afraid the other students would look at her differently.
So when Lily stood up and gave her enthusiastic self-introduction, I only looked up once, then put my head back down and went right back to making up for lost sleep.
No one else in the class cared either. Everyone was busy with their own things.
Lily froze for a few seconds. Once the awkwardness hit her, she let out a dry laugh and walked straight to the empty seat in the front row.
The classroom went strangely quiet all at once. Just as Lily had hoped, every eye turned to her.
She seemed not to notice at all and kept arranging her things on the desk.
It was only when the silence grew unbearable that she finally asked, curious, “What?”
The girl behind us, Sophie Hart, who always wore makeup, gave her a tactful warning. “The person sitting there is someone you really shouldn’t mess with. You should probably pick another seat.”
At that, Lily’s eyes actually lit up.
She turned toward the voice. “I’m here to study. I don’t care who my deskmate is.”
“But I do.”
Julian Sterling suddenly appeared in the doorway.
He gave the cutesy, childish stationery on the desk a sideways look, frowned, and clicked his tongue.
Lily straightened her neck and met his eyes, looking fearless.
“But the seat is empty. There’s only one person using a two-person desk. Isn’t that a waste?”
“You don’t need to care that I’m here. I’ll just study quietly. I won’t say another word to you, so don’t look at me like that, like you’re above me.”
Julian let out a cold laugh.
“You’re talking a lot for someone who claims she won’t say a word.”
“Three.”
Chapter 2
He didn’t give Lily another chance. “Two—”
Before he could finish counting, I sighed and gave in.
I got up, walked over to their desk, and in one smooth motion packed up all of Lily’s things. Then I caught her wrist and dragged her back to my seat.
It was in the back rows, which Lily clearly hated.
She yanked her hand free and asked in a low voice, “I was talking just fine with the new classmate. What are you doing?”
Even as she spoke, she tried to grab her bag and go back.
I pressed the bag down with one hand.
“Since you’re my sister, I’ll meddle once.”
“Listen to me. Don’t go provoking someone you shouldn’t provoke.”
I had already learned what Julian’s temper was like. He hated anyone getting close. He gave no one face. Everyone kept their distance from him.
Even I didn’t take jobs connected to Julian.
But after hearing that, Lily’s eyes filled with a strange confidence.
“That’s just because you people don’t have what it takes to provoke him.”
My eyelid jumped.
Fine. It really was better to mind my own business less. My health would probably thank me for it.
So I let go.
If she wanted to run headfirst into a wall, that was her choice.
Lily, triumphant, picked up her bag and was just about to go back to Julian when she heard him call someone on the phone loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Come replace my desk and chair right now.”
“Some idiot dirtied it.”
Lily’s face froze. Her feet locked in place.
Under the weight of everyone’s gaze, she slowly turned back.
Grinding her teeth, she sat down beside me again, unwilling and furious.
First academic class.
I was so drowsy I was almost sleeping with my eyes open.
When it finally ended, I felt like I’d barely clawed my way through it.
Lily Bennett couldn’t help sneering at me.
“Barely one class in and you’re already this sleepy. Are you even here to study?”
I slapped my own face a couple of times to wake up.
“I was up late working last night. That’s all.”
There was a pair of upperclassmen who were supposedly going to end up together someday. Lately, they’d been at each other’s throats, and neither of them would lower their pride first.
So last night I’d been busy setting up a surprise party for them and smoothing things over between them the whole time.
By the time I finally got those rich-kid heirs to relax and make up, I was exhausted to the bone.
Still, the payout was generous.
It pushed me a little closer to my savings goal.
But the moment I finished speaking, Lily looked at me with an expression I couldn’t even describe.
“You…” She frowned. “Have you always had so little self-respect?”
I was still half-asleep, so for a second I didn’t even catch what she meant.
Then she dragged her chair farther away from me, her face twisting with disgust.
“Don’t spread your sickness to me.”
Chapter 3
It took me a beat to realize what she was talking about.
I was so speechless I almost laughed.
I reached over and gave her shoulder a sharp slap.
“Too late. You’re already infected. You can sit here and wait to die with me.”
When she actually went pale and panicked, I rolled my eyes, gathered my things, and was just about to leave.
Lily stopped me again, sounding surprised.
“You’re skipping class?”
I pulled out my phone and shoved the timetable right in front of her.
“Today’s only one academic class,” I said. “The rest is horseback riding and golf.”
Lily still didn’t get it.
“Then go to those classes.”
I put my phone away.
“You need your own horse and riding gear for horseback riding. Golf also means bringing your own clubs.”
“My parents only give me two hundred yuan a month, so I can’t afford either one.”
At that, Lily’s gaze drifted awkwardly down to her brand-new school uniform.
Every year, this school set aside a few places for outside students.
It picked high achievers at random and let them in tuition-free.
They were called scholarship students.
In my second year of high school, I was lucky enough to be chosen.
When I excitedly shared the news with my parents, they only looked at me with unusual seriousness.
“So you’re that happy just because you got lucky?”
“This whole lottery system is so outdated. Your sister is smarter, quicker on her feet, and she skipped a grade in elementary school. She’s the youngest student in your year now. If we’re talking about intelligence, it should have been her, not you.”
“So don’t get too full of yourself. You’ll only fall harder later.”
They found out the cafeteria was free too.
After that, they decided to give me only two hundred dollars a month for living expenses.
They dressed it up as a lesson in hardship.
Eat bitterness now, and you’ll become better for it later.
It was only after I started school that I realized tuition was the least important part of getting in.
The curriculum here was unusual.
Academic classes tied to exams made up only a small part of it.
Hardly any of the students planned to take the national college entrance exam.
And even if they did, hiring a private tutor at a premium was the smarter choice.
Most of the other classes were electives.
Horseback riding, baseball, golf, IELTS prep, TOEFL prep - the school had all of it.
But if you wanted to take horseback riding, you needed to have your own horse.
The hidden costs behind it were more than I could ever afford.
I did try bringing it up to my parents.
I told them I had no interest in those expensive sports.
IELTS, though, was actually useful.
They only gave me a cold look.
“Do you know what kind of family we are, and what kind of families those kids come from?”
“Just focus on your academic classes and stop daydreaming about things that aren’t for you.”
“You’re so young, and already obsessed with foreign things.”