Chapter 1: Secretly

The scorching sun blazed, and the sound of cicadas pierced the sky.

In a classroom on the second floor of Xuri Middle School.

Lucas Brooks stood at the podium, holding a teaching triangle ruler as he lectured. His shirt was soaked with sweat.

The air was so hot it seemed to bubble. The ceiling fan whirred loudly, but in this heat, even the breeze it produced felt scorching.

The students below looked half-asleep.

He couldn’t help but get irritable.

“Look at the blackboard.” Noticing the state of the girl in the third row, Lucas Brooks frowned slightly, hitting the blackboard harder with the ruler. “Did you hear me? Look at the blackboard!”

A few students who were about to doze off snapped awake, forcing their bleary eyes to the board.

The girl seemed not to hear, still bowing her head, doodling on her paper with a pencil. She had a pretty, harmless face, still a bit childish due to her age, making her look even cuter.

She sat upright, with a gentle and quiet demeanor, looking exactly like the kind of obedient student teachers love.

—Except for the fact that right now, she was treating the teacher at the podium as if he were invisible.

Lucas Brooks’s frown deepened, and he continued, “Angle one equals angle two, angle three equals 108 degrees—”

He was almost done reading the problem, but she still showed no sign of looking up. Lucas Brooks’s long-suppressed anger flared, and he slammed the triangle ruler onto the desk.

The plastic ruler hit the wooden desk with a loud bang.

The whole class flinched at the noise, and the following roar made the atmosphere even more tense.

“Grace Sawyer!”

Called by name, Grace Sawyer looked at Lucas Brooks for two seconds. Then she put down her pen and stood up automatically.

Lucas Brooks tried to control his temper. “What did I just say?”

Grace Sawyer glanced at the diagram on the blackboard, her expression calm. “Angle four equals 72 degrees.”

Used to her always acting like the perfect student, Lucas Brooks wasn’t fooled this time. He tapped the desk with the ruler again and sneered, “I haven’t gotten to that part yet!”

“……”

Grace Sawyer started to feel a bit troubled. “Then why did you call on me…”

Lucas Brooks shot back, “Why do you think I called on you?”

Grace Sawyer thought for a few seconds, then guessed, “You don’t know the answer?”

Lucas Brooks: “……”

Grace Sawyer: “So you called on me to teach you?”

Lucas Brooks: “?”

“I get it now.” Grace Sawyer nodded in understanding, looking at the blackboard. “Since angle one equals angle two, AB is parallel to CD, and when two lines are parallel, the consecutive interior angles are supplementary—”

Lucas Brooks couldn’t take it anymore. “If you’re so great, why don’t you take my job as the teacher?”

Interrupted, Grace Sawyer looked a bit confused, her lips parted, and after a few seconds she hesitantly said, “But I can’t take away your livelihood.”

“……”

The room was silent for a few seconds, then the whole class burst out laughing.

Lucas Brooks was furious. “Quiet! Settle down!”

The kids, half-grown, were still grinning, and the classroom turned as noisy as a marketplace. A few boys in the back row even started to egg her on—

“Teacher, I think it’s a good idea! Let Grace Sawyer lead our class!”

“Does that mean we don’t have to do homework anymore?”

“Can I just skip school altogether?”

Lucas Brooks shouted, “Shut up!”

“Grace Sawyer.” Lucas Brooks turned back to Grace Sawyer, his breathing heavy as he tried to keep his composure, but in the end, he was so exasperated he roared, “Bring your parents tomorrow!!!”

-

The bell rang for the end of class.

Lucas Brooks kept a stern face and left the classroom without looking back.

It happened to be the last period, so most of the students had already packed up and left in groups.