Flora’s Guide to a Second Chance at Love and Life

In the hallway.

Fiona

and Jackson were strolling side by side.

"Do we have another class later?" Jackson asked in a casual tone.

"Yeah, we do."

Fiona blinked up at him; Jackson was taller, so she had to tilt her head back a bit: "But we could totally skip it, sneak out! I didn't eat enough at lunch, I'm starving. How about we grab a bite first, bro?" Another "bro" slipped out.

Jackson's gaze softened for a moment. This girl sure knew how to sweet-talk, probably hard for any guy to say no to that.

But he shook his head gently, "No can do."

"Look, kiddo, you're still a student, and your main gig is to hit the books, not skip class." He ruffled her hair with a big brotherly pat: "Be a good girl, head to class, and once you're done, I'll treat you to something nice." Fiona pouted, clearly not thrilled.

What was up with Jackson's big brother act?

"Fine."

Without another word, Fiona turned and headed to her classroom.

Jackson watched her go, his smile fading as his expression turned serious.

He pulled out his phone and made a call.

The whole mess Fiona had gotten into was resolved, but it might still have some fallout.

Especially in a school full of gossip-hungry kids who love to chatter away, they'd probably still whisper about it.

Fiona was a good kid, and some things were better left unheard.

...noveldrama

Class Nine.

It was break time, and the students were all on edge, craning their necks in anticipation.

Finally, they spotted Fiona making her way towards them.

"Flora!"

They rushed to meet her.

Giving her a once-over from head to toe.

"Flora, are you okay? We knew it, someone must have been out to get you. Seriously, who's low enough to smear your name like that?" They were all fired up, ready to tear the gossip spreader to shreds.

"It's always the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. Flora, the girl who set you up is Rosa, a scholarship kid,

basically invisible at school. Andret

now she's gone and hacked an account to spread dirt on you"

The school had already sent out the full story, so they knew what went down. Just thinking of Fiona being framed got them all riled up.

Seeing their worried faces, Fiona raised an eyebrow and chuckled: "Why worry? You all call me Flora, and I wouldn't want to let you down, right?" That was true.

Laughter broke out among them.

"But, did Rosa really hack the

account? one girl wondered aloud, "I

know Rosa, her family's struggling,

doesn't seem like she'd have the

know-ho

-how or cash to hire a hacker."

"And anyway, she's got no beef with Fiona, why go through all the hassle to hack Louise's account and post that stuff? Even if she wanted to, she could've just used her own account. Why take the long way around?"

The girl was just voicing her thoughts since the whole thing seemed off.

It wasn't just her; a lot of them thought it was fishy but chose not to dig deeper.

"Hey, are you suggesting Louise had something to do with this?" another girl shot back immediately.

Her name was Sammy, a hardcore fan of Louise, always backing her up whenever.

"I'm just trying to think this through logically," the first girl replied, not too happy about getting snapped at.