Chapter 6
“Sienna, why are you walking like a cripple?”
“Left, right, wobbling around-you look like a duck… hahaha…”
A few boys surrounded me, making fun of the way I walked.
Boys this age are so immature, I thought dryly.
I walked around them, continuing to limp forward.
“You guys are so loud!” A basketball slammed down between me and the boys.
“Which asshole threw that at me?”
“Your grandpa did.”
The boys saw who it was and quietly backed off.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong-human nature.
I squinted at the basketball’s owner: Dante Rivers, the school’s bad boy.
Honestly, even though Dante and I had been in the same class for two years, we barely knew each other.
He was the rich kid with bad grades, good family background, and good looks.
I was the good student with high grades, boring personality, and average looks.
I sat in the front row; he sat in the back.
As I passed him, I whispered: “Thanks.”
Dante’s mouth curved up, and he actually started to reach out to help me.
That scared me so much I forgot about the pain and hurried back to my seat.
Looking at Dante standing there frozen, I felt a tiny grain of guilt.
But that guilt evaporated the second I saw all his admirers glaring at me.
After class, Dante put some pain relief spray on my desk, mumbling: “This stuff works.”
After two years as classmates, I was just discovering that Dante was actually a really good guy!
“Thanks!”
I took it.
I needed it, he had it-why not just took it?
It would just be better if my desk partner would stop glaring at me with such hostility.
I wanted to shout: Lady, I’m not interested in little boy Dante Rivers!
Even though I’d been reborn, it didn’t give me much advantage in studying. The knowledge I’d learned before was becoming fuzzy in
10.8%
my mind, and even my past-life memories were starting to fade.
I quickly pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the important stuff, hiding it away.
I let out a long sigh.
I’d thought being reborn would let me enjoy that “max-level player returns to the level-1” power trip, but I still had to study!
Damn it!
Most day students got picked up by their parents after evening classes. I couldn’t count on Dad for that.
“Sienna.”
I followed the voice and saw Mom standing with the other parents waiting for students.
“What are you doing here?”
Mom checked my expression first, and when she saw I wasn’t upset, she said quietly: “I came to walk you home.”
“Ok.”
I tried to walk normally so Mom wouldn’t notice my injured knees.
I realized this young body wasn’t as pain-tolerant as my previous life’s-just two hours of kneeling yesterday and I still hadn’t recovered after a full day.
Mom said haltingly: “Sienna, I spent today looking around for work, and I noticed there are lots of breakfast stands near your school in the mornings.”
“I was thinking of trying that. What do you think?”
Mom was a great cook, and in my past life she’d also worked at a breakfast place.
There are seven or eight breakfast stalls outside our school every morning-some selling waffles, hot dogs, sandwiches…
I thought for a moment and suggested to her: “You could come sell tacos! No one’s selling those here yet.”
Mom’s tacos were absolutely incredible-setting up a stall at the school gate would definitely be popular.
Mom’s seasoning blends were incredible. I figured her fried hash browns would be popular too.
“Would you be embarrassed having your mom running a stand outside your school?”
“What’s embarrassing about earning money through honest work?”
Mom looked at me closely. She felt like her child had changed so much-not as spoiled as before, more mature, even able to give
advice.
But it made her heart ache.
As a mother, she wanted her child to never have to grow up.
She had to pull herself together for her child!
“Okay, it’s decided. I’ll set up a stand selling tacos.”
