Chapter 22
se delu até conigli. Kering that a
omer’s attention was back on her, she said in a here seder, “It’s all any
deary eyes, the bunked just like a dete.
un creigh, many of them weir looking digeers at Aurora Alimin, roer Maura’s biggest fan, chinaen chatty pance of work. She doesn’t deiene tube your sister
al Mana has heatade pracije ally written all over his face. “Tuurdy he said. “If we hadict
Getting expelled in the least of her worries.
uning ij ripples in the calui pent
guilty, Aarura rouli
atever happened”
Manea, van hing sigh of the lode real licht blinking on the a
dis rectly curled
thought Witiva. The comman positioned high rough to catch Ainsa gralding my hair and serving me into the water. Ein going to make wire Auriou gets eigs Beil. Then Bodwill send diat bitc
well be despised by everyone. For year, the Crawford Family had me as the andy daughter, and for the decades tir
With that in mind. Maura dudna molto the boystal. Instead, she headed straight for the security room to see the footage.
Victor explaineil why they were there as they entered the security mom. The guard’s eyes landed on the weak Maura, noticing her shallow breaths. hall–lidded eyes, and blanch lips. He exclaimed. Jonze, she’s in bad shape. Shouldn’t we call an ambulance!”
Maima was freezing her teeth chattering non–stops. The cold sand our the way over land chilled her to the bone, making her feel like she’d been dropped timi and ice bath, but no matter how much shir aluveleid, she wasn’t leaving, at least not until she got Aurora’s ilirty behaviors exposed.
“Em fine. Don’t blame Aurora, 1.” Maura didn’t even finish her sentence before she covered her bead, her brows furrowing in pain, and the tears)] that had been welling up suddenly streamed down her cheeks.
“Maura, what’s wrong? Is your head still hurting?” Alison, clueless about what had actually happened in the water, just assumed the headache was
Maura glanced nervously at Aurora, caught her gaze, and then quickly looked away, even shivering a little. “N–No, it’s nothing”
Sering Mauras rraction. Alison immediately shot daggers at Aurora “Aurora, that’s enough. You’ve got the nerve to threaten Maura in front ofall of ux Vins really think no one can deal with you? Enjoy your freedom while it Lists. Once we see the footage, I’m calling the cops for sure:
Aurora thed her head, her expression both innocent and serious. “I haven’t said a word.”
Just heating Aurora’s voice made Maura’s face pale with fear as the memory of suffocating in the water flashed through her mind. She shrank back unstmitively and thought, ‘Aurora’s indeed a psycho
Alison didn’t miss the look of terror on Maura’s face and instantly got fired up, her sense of justice flaring,
Maur, what’re you afraid of She’s just sour country bumpkin who got dragged out of the sticks. It took your glad this many yeary to even pemember the exists, doesn’t that tell you she’s not important? She’s nothing compared to you, a real daughter who’s been by his side all this time Alison’s words hit the mark, and they only strengthened Damon’s resolve to stand by Maura’s side.
“Alright” The guard finally spoke, leaning forward to rewind the footage to half an hour ago. “Take a look.”
Daroon was the first to rush over, with Erik quickly moving to claim the other side. After wa
watching t
the footage, Erik let out a small laugh and threw a strange glance at Maura. “Did you really say Aurora pushed you in? Got any shame left?” –
Damon’s expression was a bit off too, but sering Maura’s frail state, he stuck to his guns. “Where’s your manners, huh? A real gentleman doesn’t dow shade at a girl like that it’s obvious they were just, roughhousing with each other”
Just moments ago, he’d been yelling at Aurora, going on and on about kicking her out, and now after watching the footage, he had the nerve to call it “roughhousing“. Could has double standards be any clearer?
Alison, sensing something fishy, let go of Maura and leaned in to check the footage herself. Then, she also went silent. She thought, “Wait a minute, it looks like Maura was the one trying to push Aurora into the water. Anil Aurora, actually saved her!
1/2
Chapter 22
The few who had seen the footage first looked stunned, which only made the rest of the students even more curious. They crowded around, erating their mes ks to get a better view. After a few seconds, everyone started looking at Maura with a whole different vibe.
Due to Maura’s well–crafted unage as the sweet, innocent goddess of Merenda High School, almost everyone had instinctively blamed Aurora when things went down. But the footage didn’t lie. It clearly showed Maura had set Aurora up.
Eyes darted around awkwardly, especially those who had been the loudest earlier. They – turned red i with embarrassment, completely at a loss for
word.
Aurora, half–sitting on the desk, tilted her head and stared at Maura, who was slumped against the cabinet, drenched and looking like a drowned rat. “Well, think that proven my innocence, huh?”
No way. Alson thought, Maura’s kind and pure. There’s no way she’d do something like this–there has to be a misunderstanding
Alison, sull glued to the footage, finally spotted something. Right before Maura fell into the pool, the two had been talking. She latched onto this, thinking she’d found some dirt on Aurora, and snugly shouted, “Aurora did it on purpose.
“You definitely said something nasty to Maura. I clearly know your type–country hicks are all foul–mouthed and love to stir up trouble. Your must’ve insulted Maura, and she snapped and pushed you” With that, she stamped her conclusion on the whole situation.
The room was so small that even the students from classes A and F. standing just outside the security room, overheard everything.
Maur felt a chill run down her spine. Her body was weak, but she still managed to stumble toward the computer, her urgency barely hidden.
She saw herself approach Aurora, try to push her, fall into the pool instead, and Aurora jump in after her to pull her out. The footage was crystal clear–Maura had tried to shove Aurora into the water,
“But the part where Aurora grabbed my hair and shoved me underwater? Why isn’t it there? Why isn’t it showing up? Maura thought.
Maura’s eyes widened in panic, her face going pale as she shoved Damon aside, frantically dragging the progress bar back and forth. But no matter how many times she replayed it, all she could see were splashes of water, tout
(many to make out Aurora’s hands,
Her shocked expression must have been obvious, as Auson, feeling a bit of pity, threw her a lifeline. “Maura, did you, slip”
