The raise of Maureen Smith and her Good Luck System
Chapter 94: School competition

Chapter 94: School competition

The following Monday, Maureen braved the cold wind to school, only to find that the seat next to her remained deserted up to the second class, preserved in the state it was when she and Liam had left together the previous weekend.

During the break, she couldn’t help turning around to ask Niel about it. Nevertheless, Niel was equally clueless.

Holding a basketball, he said, "No idea, prior Sunshine used to skip school now and then. Both the headmaster and Mr. Logan has come to expect it.

It was just last month when he attended school daily that it struck people as odd."

"And besides, how would we know why he didn’t show up if you don’t know?

Weren’t you at his house over the weekend?"

Upon saying this, Niel couldn’t help expressing his envy: "Although I know Sunshine’s address, I haven’t even once crossed the threshold of his apartment.

How is it, is it big?

What’s the life of a wealthy person living independently like?"

Maureen avoided telling Niel that she had not only entered the house but also knew the entry password.

Because Liam had not responded, Maureen couldn’t help feeling a bit restless. In the afternoon, she ended up asking Drake: "Did something happen at his house?

He rushed back in a hurry on Saturday."

While reading love letters, Drake spared a moment to lift his peach blossom eyes for a look at Maureen before replying, "Don’t worry, Little Mask.

It probably isn’t anything serious.

His cousin recently returned to the country and wants to relocate to our area. His going back may have something to do with this matter."

Niel couldn’t help backing up Liam, saying, "Sunshine does not like to be called –" Drake, grinning, interrupted: "He’s not here right now, so he won’t know."

The two of them were jesting, and Maureen returned to her seat, continuing to write her homework in a melancholic mood.

Drake and Liam have known each other the longest, he said it’s nothing, so there probably isn’t any big issue.

Perhaps she was indeed just overthinking it.

Maureen finally put down some of her worries.

The following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Maureen moved out of his place and returned to the school dormitory.

Liam didn’t show up at all.

All her classmates, besides her, seemed to have gotten used to it.

Only now did Maureen experience what Niel meant by Liam’s former habit of "three days of fishing, two days of drying the nets."

No wonder he couldn’t remember the names of the class teacher and classmates.

Given his infrequent presence at school, it would be astounding if he could remember anyone’s name!

For three whole days, not a single seedling sprouted in Maureen’s potted plant.

She tried her best to make herself less despondent, but there were still some uncontrollable emotions breaking through the surface of her heart, growing out of her control.

Like the fifth point in "How to Determine Whether You Like a Person" –– missing someone.

Maureen bit her lip as she tidied up the sheets she’d left on Liam’s desk over the past few days, stuffing them into his desk drawer.

Training was about to start, and the last day of training was the preliminary competition.

Maureen had no time to think about other things—she started to dive into the task of problem-solving.

During the second lesson of Thursday afternoon, after sorting out her group’s homework, she took it to the office.

As she walked towards the office, she saw a tall and slender figure exiting the teacher’s office at the end of the corridor, who disappeared down the stairs in a flash.

The figure looked very much like Liam, but not quite—the hair was jet black.

Almost reflexively, Maureen crossed the bustling crowd in the corridor and hurried after him.

However, the person had already quickly descended the stairs, and she didn’t even get a clear look at a corner of his clothes.

The class bell rang in the teaching building, and Maureen was stopped by Mr. Logan, forcing her to turn and enter the office. The cold wave hit with increasing intensity, and the last leaf in the school turned yellow and wilted in the blink of an eye.

The next day, a heavy rain fell. There was water accumulating all over the school. Maureen put on a thick coat and scarf, tied her hair into a bun, packed her luggage, filled her school bag with competition questions and a bunch of draft paper, and went to train with twenty others.

The group came to the school gate in the cold wind, waiting for the bus rented by the school, and their breath condensed into white in the chilly air.

Richard saw her, hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to approach her.

Maureen was tightly holding her mobile phone case painted with a small face mask behind her back

She turned her head to look into the school, wanting to see if Liam had come today.

When she came back to her senses, she found Richard standing next to her with a black suitcase.

She frowned and could not help but move several people’s spaces to the right. Richard’s complexion shifted slightly in the cold wind.

The other nineteen people going to the train were somewhat surprised at this scene.

Firstly, they were surprised that Richard actually took the initiative to stand next to Maureen, and secondly, they were taken aback by Maureen’s distant demeanor, as if she did not want to be around him.

Everybody exclaimed, "But this is Richard!"

Six people from the Evergreen classes, including Bianca and Noella, and three from the international class; besides Maureen, two were English scholarship students.

The remaining twelve places were taken entirely by the top class.

Apart from the five from the competition team, the other seven were also from the same class.

Maureen counted.

There were seven girls in total, and she wondered how the hotel rooms would be divided.

As she was thinking about this, Noella whispered to Bianca, "I hope they don’t put us in the same room with Maureen at the hotel." Bianca didn’t say a word.

Ever since the incident at Oliver’s company, she had become noticeably thinner and her complexion worsened.

She sneakily turns her head to look at Maureen, who stands alone against the chilly wind from behind.

Her pale earlobes have grown more translucent from the cold, her casually tied bun reveals her slender swan neck, attracting several boys’ attentions.

Bianca unintentionally tightens her grasp, clutching her luggage firmly.

The more she does, the more mistakes she makes, causing her family to think she is competing with Maureen.

Maureen only did well that one time, perhaps it was pure luck, why were her previous scores so poor?

Bianca decided to do nothing for now, wait to take the competition in ten days and completely outshine Maureen.

Except for Maureen, all of the participants were veteran competition contestants.

They all participated in the year-round training sessions.

Only Maureen, due to a quota obtained by Professor Logan for her this year, joined in unexpectedly.

Twenty participants hence have become twenty-one.

One can imagine the alienation and doubt that arises when a new face suddenly appears in a small circle.

Maureen’s performance in the monthly exam was not bad, but she directly and luckily obtained the opportunities people were rushing to get, isn’t that a bit unfair?

The crowd quickly divided and Maureen was left alone.

Including the two from the International Class, who also faced rejection and were made to stand in one corner.

Richard and the school team members wanted to help her fit in, but she walked off by herself.

Maureen didn’t care about these trivial matters at all.

As the bus arrived, she quietly became the last one to board, carrying her luggage. ...