Filed to story: That Campus Prince Is a Girl
Chapmans. And without that backing, things would no
After all, without Cameron, the Wallace family would lose their connection to the Chapmans longer go as smoothly for them as they had all these years.
Just as Cameron was debating whether to call back. Martin called again. Her finger accidentally slipped, and the call went through.
“Cameron, why the hell didn’t you come home last night? And what’s this about refusing the transition surgery? You even dared to hit the doctor? You’re getting bold now, huh? Growing a backhone?” Martin’s angry voice boomed through the speaker the second the line connected.
Cameron propped her Spanish textbook upright, resting the phone between her car and shoulder. Her face stayed cold as she listened. in silence.
Martin roared, “I raised you all these years, and this is how you repay me? Do you even care about our family? About me? I gave you life. and you can’t even do this one small thing?
“Raising you was a waste-I’d have been better off raising a dog. At least a dog would wag its tail at me. Let me make this clear. If you refuse to transition and marry Amelia, then get the hell out of our family.
She’d heard it all before. In her previous life, Martin and Heidi had used that same guilt-tripping garbage to manipulate her.
And like they wanted, she’d spent eighteen years pretending to be a man, even throwing away her pride just to play the loyal simpto Amelia-anything to help the Wallace family wave the Chapman name around in business deals
Her sacrifice had made their lives easy and comfortable. And it wasn’t until her final breath that she finally understood-they hadn’t raised her out of love. She was nothing but a pawn, a means for the Wallace family to climb the social ladder.
Whatever debt she owed them for raising her had been repaid the moment she’d died in her previous life.
Cameron lowered her voice. “Are you done!”
Martin froze. Are you done? he repeated in his head, stunned. That wasn’t the reaction he expected. Cameron used to fall right back in line after one scolding. She used to cave the second he raised his voice. But now she had an attitude.
Milena had said Cameron seemed like a different person now, and Martin hadn’t quite believed it-until this moment. Tve been pulling her strings for eighteen years. She really thinks she can break free from me just like that? Not a chance, he thought.
Martin’s tone tone dropped, cold and forceful. “You’re coming home. Now, I booked the surgery for two o’clock this afternoon.”
Cameron was already eighteen and about to graduate high school. If she was going to marry the Chapman heiress, they needed to lock it in as soon as possible.
I don’t have time for this.” Cameron replied coolly. I’m in class. I’m hanging up.
Without waiting for a response, she ended the call and immediately switched her phone to airplane mode to avoid being harassed
The moment she set her phone down, she caught her Spanish teacher Lacey Morgan heading her way. Cameron’s brows twitched as she thought, Crap She slid her phone into the drawer with one hand while slowly lowering her textbook with the other.
From the front row, Zach immediately tattled, yelling, “Ms. Morgan, Cameron was on her phone in the middle of class. Totally disrespectful
Zach had gotten humiliated by Cameron yesterday. He didn’t have the guts to start something again. But this was the perfect opportunity to make her look bad and he wasn’t about to pass it up.
Cameron’s gaze swept coldly across the back of Zach’s smug haule head. Clearly, thus idiot didn’t learn his lesson yesterday, she thought little
Lacey stopped at Cameron’s desk, her expression stern. “What were you just doing?”
She was a young teacher, but despite her age, Lacey was known for being both responsible and strict was looking up a word on my phone, Ms Morgan, Cameron said.
“Looking up a word” Zach jumped in practically vibrating with excitement. “I heard you talking on the phone. My desknate heard it
He jabbed his elbow into the guy sitting next to him, trying to rope someone in. “Didn’t you hear in?”
Before Zach’s deskmate could say a word, Cameron calmly placed her phone on the desk. The screen was still open to the Spanish dictionary, right on the word despertarse.
Zach’s eyes widened. “No way. Check the call history. He could’ve sworn he heard her on the phone.
He snatched up Cameron’s phone and pulled up the call log, but the last entry was from yesterday afternoon.
This doesn’t make sense. Zach muttered.
He then thought. No calls? Did she delete it? That fast? No way. She couldn’t have wiped the call log and pulled up a dictionary app in just a few seconds. That’s not humanly possible”
Cameron’s lips curled into a cold smirk. What is it that hard to believe? I didn’t take a call. But you heard one? Zach, are you sure you weren’t on some porn site and started hallucinating?
Zach choked on his words. The class burst out laughing the moment she said it.
His face instantly turned red. “Cameron, don’t you dare accuse me like that. I wasn’t.”
“Oh, really?” Cameron rested one hand against her cheek, still looking completely relaxed, while the other reached into Zach’s jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.
As luck would have in the screen was still wide open on an indecent site-and what it showed was graphic, to say the least.
“Ms. Morgan, Cameron said, placing the phone flat on her desk, “wanna have a look?”
Lacey looked like she wanted to disappear. She was young, and her face went bright pink as she immediately turned away. But she’d seen enough
Zach fumbled to grab his phone, frantically trying to shut the window, only to end up opening even more. He didn’t dare say another word ich, get your ass to the Student Affairs Office. Now. You’ve got detention, Lacey snapped.
“Cameron, 1-1-” Zach stammered, his face flushed with embarrassment and rage, his fists clenched in anger.
Cameron leaned into her hand, shot hum a lazy glance, and cut in, “What?” She thought, “He wants to play tattletale? Too bad I’m better
“Out” Lacey roared.
Zach shot Cameron a vicious glare but had no choice. Under the teacher’s fury, he sulked his way out of the classroom.
Cameron gave a lazy tug at the corner of her lips and snorted inwardly, ‘He’s go got no business snitching on me when his own hands aren’t clean
“Don’t you think Cameron’s kinda hot?” a girl whispered nearby.
“I saw his smile just now, and honestly, I think he’s even better-looking than Elijah,” another said.
“He looks good even when he’s en he’s not smiling, someone else chimed in
“So you’re saying Cameron’s been hotter than Elijah this whole time? another girl asked.
Elijah, sitting in the third row with the clearest view of the room, caught the whispers and turned to glance at Cameron
Her features were indeed line and striking. The short hair made her look clean and sharp, setting off that already flawless skin.
Her lips, soft and full in a natural pink hur, looked like they had lipstick on even when they didn’t. It was a face that carried a strange contrast of gentleness and edge, handsome in an almost gender-defying way..
Elijah thought. “But it’s just a pretty face. And for a guy, that’s the most useless thing to have. Besides, Cameron’s a total slacker. If she anteven handle something as basic as studying, what kind of future could she possibly have?
He turned back to his textbook and resumed reviewing vocabulary he’d already memorized ages ago
Later in the morning, during a break between classes, Cameron was on her way back from the restroom when she overheard a group of students chatting up ahead.
“No way. Thirty grand! For solving a math problem? Elijah’s seriously loaded”
“Well, he’s trying to find the person who solved that math problem yesterday. Gotta respect the lengths he’s going to.”
“Guess he’s really desperate to meet someone on his level”
“Still, I don’t get why that person’s hiding. If they’ve got the skills to solve that math problem, why not own it?”
Cameron had been planning to nap at her desk, but the second she heard that, her drowsiness vanished. “Sorry, did you just say Elijah’s offering thirty thousand dollars for solving a math problem?”
“Yup. It must be nice having cash to burn like that, right?” the student on her right said.
Cameron let out a soft chuckle. “Sounds like someone’s rich and dumb.
She’d been wondering how to make money now that she’d blown things up with the Wallace family. And here Elijah was, offering a paycheck on a silver platter.
Cameron thought. Thirty grand for one question? I could keep solving them until Elijah goes broke. Then again, the Moore family’s too loaded to actually go bankrupt
“Not that I need to milk it that hard. Just enough for living expenses. After the SATs, I’ll find another way to make money.
By the time the morning classes wrapped up, students scattered in all directions-some heading home, others pouring into the cafeteria.
Cameron, though, strolled straight toward the Math Lab, one hand tucked casually in her pocket. For her, foed ranked far below making money. She planned to see what problem Elijah had posted today and earn that 30 grand before doing anything else.
At 59, Cameron didn’t stand out height-wise as she moved through the crowd, but there was something about her that drew eyes wherever she went. That beautifully gender-defying face never failed to stun whoever looked her way.
“Hey, look. Damn, he’s cute.
No kidding. He’s so hot.”
“What grade is he in, anyway?
Amelia overheard the chatter and, unable to help herself, glanced through the crowd curiously. The moment her eyes landed on the person everyone was talking about-Cameron-she froze for a few seconds, visibly stunned.
She wondered, Cameron They think Cameron’s hot?”
After staring at Cameron’s features for a few seconds, Amelia had to admit it-Cameron was undeniably good-looking. But that didn’t matter. Amelia was already into someone else. She’d made up her mind. No matter what, she was going to call off the engagement with
Cameron
Cameron sensed Amelia’s gaze and glanced up briefly, only to look away just as quickly, her expression indifferent as if all she’d seen was a stranger