No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

"To where?"

"To the hospital to visit Justin of course. When you get there, explain everything clearly and put the blame on the school doctor. That way, when the Parham family shows up, they won't cause any trouble for you." This was the plan Frank and Lucas had come up with.noveldrama

Noelle couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "I remember rejecting this idea clearly last night. Frank, did you not understand? Do you need me to say it again?"

"Nelly, this isn't the time for a tantrum. If the Parham family comes after us, it won't just affect you the whole Liddell family could get dragged into it."

Noelle responded sarcastically, "Don't worry. I won't let the Liddell family get involved."

"Whether we get involved isn't up to you. This situation is more complicated than you think. Lucas already spoke to Justin on your behalf. If you apologize to Mr. Parham and explain things, he won't hold it against you." Noelle frowned. "I refuse. I have more important things to do right now."

"How long are you going to keep acting like this? What could possibly be more important than this?"

Rachel interrupted, raising her voice, "Of course, attending the celebration banquet for our city's top scholar is more important!"

Frank frowned. "I heard the top scholar is from your school, but that's someone else's business. What you should be doing right now is handling your own issues, not running around causing trouble."

Rachel raised her voice again. "If Noelle doesn't attend today's celebration banquet, it can't even start!"

Frank snapped back. "Noelle isn't that important. Why does the banquet have to wait for her to begin?"

"Because our queen, Noelle, is the city's top scorer! How could the celebration banquet possibly start without her?"

Rachel had been waiting for this moment to finally defend Noelle.

Earlier, Frank had been dismissive, showing no interest in her achievements and instead bossing her around to apologize so arrogantly.

"What did you just say? You're saying Noelle is the top scorer?"

"Exactly! It seems everyone knows by now, except you people in the Liddell family. And to think you're her brother! You don't care about her at all."

Frank was stunned, his thoughts in disarray. He couldn't believe it.

He had never imagined that Noelle could be the city's top scorer.

Looking up, he saw the banner hanging at the school entrance. "Congratulations to our student Noelle for achieving the city's top score!"

The bright, celebratory message felt like a slap in the face.

Frank still couldn't quite process it.

He hesitated and asked, "Didn't you say your language exam didn't go well because of the faulty stationery?"

Noelle's voice dripped with sarcasm. "So what?"

Frank swallowed nervously, guilt written all over his face. "Nelly, I'm really happy for you. It's just... this news is so shocking."

No one expected the Liddell family to produce the city's top scorer!

Rachel added, "The top student

whose language score was said to suffer wasn't Noelle-it was

someone else. But Xenia deliberately pinned the blame on Noelle. She was probably jealous of Noelle outshining her, so she decided to tarnish her name first." Frank instinctively said, "Xenia isn like that. It was probably just a misunderstanding because of the defective stationery. She didn't mean anything else."

After all, he had thought the same thing.

But no one could have predicted that Noelle would surprise them all like this.

At that moment, Lionel, Bruce, and several reporters walked out to join them.

Lionel glanced at Frank and said, "Perfect timing, Noelle's brother. Come join us for the celebration banquet."

One reporter immediately pointed a microphone at Frank. "We've heard that Noelle's academic performance improve dramatically in the last few months. It must have been thanks to the support of her family. Could you share some tips or experiences with us?"