Chapter 2

The new transfer student introduced herself at the podium. Her voice was timid: "Hi everyone, my name is Daisy Mitchell. I hope you'll like me."

The moment I saw her, alarm bells went off.

When Ethan was younger, he was completely obsessed with a woman named Eleanor Mitchell. She'd threaten to jump from a building in the middle of the night during a breakup, and Ethan would spend all night on the rooftop with her. Turns out, she was just trying to make the guy she secretly liked jealous. That guy was an animal lover, so she suddenly wanted a cat. Ethan specifically found a gentle kitten and gave it to her. The moment she found out she was pregnant, she heartlessly abandoned the cat. Ethan brought it home, and it's still living with us.

Until I started kindergarten, I was constantly getting into trouble – small incidents every other day, major ones every third. Fighting and messing up the house became commonplace, and parents across the entire school united to complain. Ethan had to pull himself away from Eleanor and spent every day dealing with my messes.

I'd seen Eleanor's photo on Ethan's phone, so the first time I saw the transfer student, I knew something was wrong. Especially when I heard her name was Daisy Mitchell, despair clenched my heart. Eleanor Mitchell's daughter was named Daisy Mitchell.

The homeroom teacher scanned the room, then looked at me: "Chloe Hayes, Daisy Mitchell, you can sit next to her for now."

I immediately stood up, stubbornly refusing: "Teacher, I'm usually too rowdy. It wouldn't be good if I led the new student astray. You should pick someone else."

But the teacher, a bit impatient, waved her hand: "Just sit there for now; we'll change seats in a couple of days."

Daisy walked over and sat down. I shuffled further away.

"Slam!"

"Clatter!"

She took things out of her backpack and threw them onto the desk with loud thuds. I thought, How bizarre. Is this person crazy or something? I moved further away, not wanting to catch her bad mood.

The next second, she suddenly slammed her backpack down, buried her face in the desk, and started crying.

A classmate behind me whispered: "Hey, Chloe, did you bully the new kid?"

I was stunned, still processing what was happening. Daisy suddenly lifted her head, her eyes red, glaring at me and demanding: "Do you hate me? Do you look down on me?!"

I blinked: "Huh?"

Daisy's voice grew louder, shrill: "You do look down on me! You humiliated me in front of the whole class. How dare you treat me like this?"

I frowned: "I said my personality was difficult and I didn't want to affect you. Is that wrong?" If I can't fight her, I can sure avoid her, right?

Daisy cried and accused: "It's my first day, and I made a mistake writing just now. You clearly saw I didn't have an eraser, but you deliberately didn't lend me one. You just wanted to see me embarrassed!"

"And you intentionally rolled up your sleeve so I'd see that diamond bracelet on your wrist! Weren't you just showing off?"

"So what if your name is Chloe Hayes? Does that make you better than me?!"

I was utterly shocked. When did I see she didn't have an eraser? I hadn't even looked at her! And my bracelet? It's on my wrist, I can wear it how I want. What's it to her? As for her name, if she hates it, she should ask her mom to change it! What's it to me?

Her string of accusations instantly reminded me of her mother, Eleanor Mitchell. Back then, Ethan took her to a fancy restaurant, and she claimed he was deliberately using money to humiliate her humble background. Ethan missed her call because he was working late, so she sent dozens of texts, accusing him of cheating, then blocked him. She only forgave him after he stood in the rain outside her house all night. These two, mother and daughter, were sensitive in exactly the same way.

My anger shot straight to my head, and I rolled my eyes. "You're crazy!"