A Day of Reflection
After the funeral, Jiyu rested for an extra day before heading to school with a heavy heart.
This time, she had been scheduled to meet with Ben Anderson, the vice principal of the high school.
Ben, who also taught history, was one of Jiyu's favorite teachers. He had lost his wife to illness last year.
“We will do our best at the school level to support and care for you so that you can navigate this difficult time.”
He made the promise to her with genuine sincerity.
When she asked about the tuition assistance, he asked for details and promised to contact the administration to let her know.
“Since we’ve been giving a thousand dollars a year since your kindergarten days, even just that amount will let you attend the remaining two years for free.”
Whispering to Jiyu that she should feel secure, he added, “They were secretly showing off to the kids who received tuition assistance, like they were better than everyone else.”
As promised, the staff members showered Jiyu with extra care.
The counselor called her in for a private meeting and told her to come anytime she needed to talk.
But the students’ reactions were icy.
While she was away, Beatrice and Siena had reconciled and become inseparable again.
The Ponzi scheme was the link between them.
Coincidentally, Beatrice’s father had been one of the small-time victims, and Siena, who had already seen Jiyu as a thorn in her side, found the perfect excuse to attack her.
Jiyu’s image had been permanently set as the daughter of a Ponzi schemer among the students.
Thanks to the relentless chatter from Siena and Beatrice.
During the time she was treated as invisible, Jiyu had felt somewhat at ease, but the malicious sidelong glances and open mockery were truly unbearable.
When she walked the halls with her head lowered, the whispered taunts followed her like glue.
“Is that her? The daughter of the Ponzi guy?”
“Yeah. She’s so shameless. She’s attending private school with the money she stole from Beatrice’s dad.”
“Her dad will probably go to prison, so she must have committed suicide.”
“Really? I heard the accomplices killed him because he knew too many secrets.”
“But isn’t she poor now? How did she pay tuition?”
“Who cares. But what if the donation from our family is going to her tuition? Haha, gross.”
At lunch, before heading to the cafeteria, Jiyu stopped by the locker to organize her books.
Colorful Post-its covered several sheets on the locker door.
Skimming through them revealed the same taunts she had overheard.
Chloe rushed over the moment she saw Jiyu standing there with a pale face.
She quickly peeled off all the Post-its and crumpled them in her hand.
“Olivia, we can’t just live like this. Tell your mom. And report them to the vice principal and the counselor. They’re really too cruel.”
Jiyu leaned weakly against the locker and shook her head.
She had no motivation or strength left.
Siena was sly. Unlike movies or dramas, private schools punished violence and bullying the most strictly.
Knowing this, she stayed just on the right side of the line while pulling strings from behind.
In science lab and French class, she had no lab partner and remained until the very end.
The teacher paired her with the remaining student, who clearly didn’t want to be her partner.
She had clearly brought her water bottle in the morning, but it was nowhere to be found.
After searching everywhere, it turned out to be rolling behind the trash bin.
She had to ask each subject teacher directly because the other students didn’t know the assignments after she had been gone for a week.
Every time Jiyu passed Siena, the girl pretended to sneeze and shouted, “Ponzi!”
Then everyone would burst out laughing.
If she told Chloe everything, it would topple the entire school.
It would only make things worse.
After Spring Fling, the bullying had stopped because no one responded, and Jiyu hoped the same would happen this time.
She just needed to hold on a little longer.
It seemed the amount of grief a person could bear had a limit.
Still a bit dazed from the aftereffects of the overwhelming events.
Because she hadn’t fully recovered from Allen’s death, fresh blood continued to ooze from the unhealed wounds every day.
Being bullied was painful, but compared to her father’s death and the fear of an uncertain future, it felt lighter.
She also knew she couldn’t cause any trouble.
From the next year onward, she would need tuition assistance, and she had no idea how stirring up the school with bullying would affect that.
The popular clique, led by Siena and Beatrice, were mostly from the top tier, and their parents had generously donated to Astor School.
She had no choice but to endure since she would be attending school with the money they donated.
Jiyu almost skipped lunch but ended up going to the cafeteria with Chloe.
She immediately regretted it.
The seat she usually took was occupied, so as soon as she set down her tray at another table, the kids sitting there sprang up and moved to a different table.
Siena’s high-pitched laughter pierced through the cafeteria noise and stabbed Jiyu in the back like a knife.
Her shoulders involuntarily shrank.
Chloe tried to smile through her obvious discomfort and said, “Don’t pay attention.”
Jiyu picked at her food without much appetite.
Chloe cautiously asked, “Hey… just in case, is your dad really the mastermind behind the Ponzi scheme?”
Jiyu forced back the tears welling up and firmly shook her head.
“No. My dad was just a manager in the accounting department. He passed away from a heart attack while the reporters were harassing him. Not suicide or murder.”
Chloe nodded thoughtfully.
Then she suddenly spoke louder, “R-right? Your dad is innocent! I thought he was such a good person. I would never think that about him!”
For a brief moment, silence fell over the cafeteria.
Chloe’s hand trembled as she gripped the fork.
As soon as the noise returned, Jiyu lowered her head and fought back tears with all her might.
After swallowing the tears several times, she looked up and silently mouthed to Chloe, “Thank you.”
Chloe, her eyes also red-rimmed, nodded back.
But after that, Chloe became a target of the popular clique too.
She had added the heinous crime of defending a criminal’s daughter and going against the trend.
After school, Jiyu asked Chloe to come to the library for a short talk.
“Chloe, I want you to stay a little distant for a while. I can’t bear to see them bully you because of me. I’m sorry…”
“Olivia, what are you talking about? I’m fine.”
Chloe tried to act strong, but her cheeks, which had been plump during the days she was treated as an outcast alongside Jiyu, had become noticeably thinner.
She couldn’t let her only kind and gentle friend get involved in her troubles.
“Please. When the madness calms down a bit, let’s hang out again. Thank you for staying by my side when I needed you the most, Chloe. If it weren’t for you, these past few days would have been really, really hard. I’ll never forget it.”
Jiyu poured out her true feelings.
Chloe’s nose turned red and her lips drooped, but she nodded reluctantly.
Yet the honest eyes betrayed a mix of relief and guilt she couldn’t hide.
As Jiyu started walking alone, the bullying of Chloe gradually died down.
They would exchange quick, secret conversations while checking around when they met in the halls or lockers, but no one else at school spoke to Jiyu except the teachers.
Whenever she had a chance, she would run to the main library and hide in a corner out of sight, doing her homework, reading, and studying.
‘Just two more months until spring break. Please hold on until then.’
She had attended Astor School for eleven years and had only two years left until graduation.
But the two months until spring break felt longer than the eleven years she had already spent there.