Chapter 57: Friends Who Would Stick Around Until the End

Monday morning came and Zarah had to go to the university today for her first day of class.

Zarah was a little sad waking up alone in their room. For convenience, Zarah and Xavier agreed to sleep in one room.

Xavier was absent as he had to leave yesterday afternoon for an emergency.

It seemed serious as Rupert and Chris came to the mansion and interrupted their movie date inside the built-in theatre in the mansion.

Xavier texted her that he'd be coming back this afternoon with no exact time.

Well then, she had to get used to it from now on.

She ate her breakfast in the breakfast room. Xander had his breakfast, too.

After breakfast, Zarah went back to her room to gather her things so she could go to school.

When she was ready, she walked out of her room wearing her grey turtleneck top, black denim jeans, and boots. She completed her outfit with her elegant white trench coat.

She did not plan to dress up like that on her first day of school. More like, the students in her university were used to seeing her wearing simple dresses or skirts since she started dating Josh. A far cry from her baggy jeans and loose t-shirts when she was starting her university days.

Josh disliked it when she wore pants. He liked her wearing skirts or dresses even in winter since, for Josh, it represented femininity.

She had to change to his liking to make him happy.

Dressing up like this, she was making a statement.

Dating Xavier boosted Zarah's confidence and she slowly discovered her true self back.

She felt reborn like a Phoenix. She also didn't remove her piercings though she limited it to four piercings per ear. She did not want them to get shocked.

As she walked outside, she saw Julie standing by the car and she was wearing the female version of a chauffeur's uniform.

Zarah smiled because she thought Julie looked so cool in her new uniform.

"Do I look fine?" She asked and Zarah nodded in reassurance.

Zarah then opened the back door of the car and got inside.

They had already agreed a day prior that Julie would drive her to school every morning.

Julie volunteered to do it. Since there were other servants in the mansion, most of the tasks were covered by them and she had a lot of free time on her hands.

Zarah was surprised to know that Julie managed to finish a four-year degree program during the entire four years that they didn't see each other. At the same time, she completed a two-year special security force training while studying.

Therefore, she was more than qualified to guard her at all times.

Now that she had millions in her bank account, both Julie and Mr. Henderson decided to remain serving these two people.

The money given to them by Isaiah was only a bonus. And besides, it was more fulfilling for them to serve these two.

They did have plans in investing their money in stocks. They consulted Xavier and Zarah about this and they were both willing to sell some shares to them and we're working on the papers for share transfer at the moment.

That way, they would have dividends earned every month together with their handsome salary from services rendered to Xavier and Zarah.

Isaiah was never stingy when it came to his people's salaries and wages. Especially to those loyal to him and Zarah. Only the people working for Nikolai and Franklin could not relate to it.

Therefore, they were shocked by the huge disparities between their wages all these years.

Now they were glad that they picked Xavier's side when they were given the chance last time. Hence, they would never see their dream salary in their bank accounts every month.

Also, the Stevens Group was stable now thanks to Xavier's effort to stabilize the company's source of funds and terminated a few traitors who tried to sabotage them.

Mr. Henderson and Julie thought that this money was given to them as if it fell from the sky. They didn't exert effort in it. Nevertheless, they knew how to value it and so it was best to invest it in a business where the owners knew how to take good care of that money.

After thirty minutes of cruising through the highway traffic, Zarah finally arrived at Silver Oak University.

She saw students walking on the side of the road as they headed to their respective buildings.

Silver Oak was recognized internationally for its academic excellence and its capability to produce top students dominating every national licensure exam and a hundred percent passing rate all the time.

They were dubbed as the best-performing university in the entire Country Z. So, it was unquestionable that Zarah would want to attend there too despite the expensive tuition fee every year.

She asked Julie to pull over near the admin building since she was yet to collect her schedule.

She collected her bag and then came out of the car. She thanked Julie before closing the car door and then, watched as Julie drove away.

Zarah heaved a sigh and walked to the admin building with her bag on her side.

She was walking to the registrar when she heard a familiar female voice calling her from behind.

"Zarah!"

Zarah instinctively turned around and when she did, she saw Hope with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?!", Zarah asked in excitement while hugging Hope.

Instead of answering her question, Hope playfully asked her back, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I'll be attending her from now on!"

"You transferred?!" She asked in surprise.

"Yes!"

Well, it was expected since Xavier told her that Hope was under his wing after she ran away from her family.

Since Xavier was based now in Oakridge City, then, Hope would be staying in Oakridge City, too.

"Were you trying to make fun of us last time? I thought I'll never see you for a very long time and it made me upset and sad." Zarah confessed.

She was so sad that she almost cried.

Though they were together for a short time, Zarah became comfortable with Hope.

She had already recognized Hope as one of her best friends. She knew the twins wouldn't mind putting Hope in the same league as them in her heart.

Hope chuckled and apologized, "I'm sorry Zarah. I didn't think this will happen. Xavier did it."

"Oh."

"So, are you still upset at me?"

"How can I? I'm glad that you're here."

Zarah thought that her final year would be the same just like the last three years.

Boring and plain. Even she admitted that her university life was boring.

Why?

Because she had no friends.

No one dared to approach her because she was weird. And she barely had time to stoop to their level as she was busy with academics and would often hang out in the library.

But now that Hope was there, her final year would be more meaningful.

"Have you finished the enrollment formalities?"

"Not yet. Hahaha."

"You're crazy. Let's go. I'll be collecting my schedule, too."

They went to the registrar and she helped Hope with the enrollment.

After they were done, they left the building and started heading to their department.

Hope was also a business student, therefore, they were in the same department and their buildings were next to each other.

Both buildings were on four floors and it was connected by a footbridge on the third floor.

It was easy for them to meet during breaks.

Hope found her room first. Zarah didn't leave until Hope settled down. She knew that with Hope's personality, she could easily blend in with the group.

She somehow envied Hope's interpersonal skills. If only she had an ounce of it, her life might be different. She might have many friends.

However, she also thought that having many friends was useless, especially when they were fake friends.

What she yearned for were those who would stick until the very end.

Hope found her seat and placed her bag down.

Then, she looked at Zarah and a soft chuckle came from her lips. Zarah was like an anxious sister watching over her sibling on her first day of class and she was happy about it.

She signed that she was good and she should go look for her room assignment.

Had it not been for the fact that her professor was coming, she would accompany Zarah to look for her room, too.

Since Hope was actually in her sophomore year, her classes were mostly on the third and fourth floors.

Zarah bid goodbye and went to the next building via the footbridge on the third floor.

She finally found her room and walked in. There were a few people in the room when she walked in.

As expected, they kept looking at her.

Of course, they knew her. Believe it or not, Zarah was the most hated student in her class from day one until now.

It all started in her first year.

Her classmates could not fathom how their professors were so good at Zarah yet they were terror when it came to them.

Zarah was like every teacher's favorite student and so they hated her for that because they didn't know back then why.

They even tried to spread rumors about Zarah sleeping around with the professors so she would have this preferential treatment and good grades.

The Dean had to step in to protect Zarah and the professors' reputations.

However, even he was being slandered by them, too.

And so, the campus director had to step in and announced that the people behind the rumors would be expelled from school and vowed that no universities or colleges in Country Z would accept them as their students.

Silver Oak was not a simple school. When the management says something, all of the students should follow. Or else, they would be unwelcomed the next day.

This school was ruled with an iron fist and strict discipline was followed. The students felt like they were in a military school because of how strict the rules were.

Their students were exposed to extreme competition which was similar to what they would experience in real life after they obtained their bachelor's degree and had a job.

That way, it would be easy for them to win their boss's hearts with their dedication and will to stay on top. It would not be attainable unless one possessed strong self-discipline.

The government was lenient with the way the management ran this school since they produced the best results every year.

Therefore, those students who broke the rules and were proven to be guilty of the crime had no other choice but to admit defeat and not protest.

A lot of students in their class got expelled because of her since an investigation was conducted right after the announcement.

And so, the students who silently antagonized her could only resent her in their hearts especially when they found out that Zarah was treated like a treasure in the university because the campus director had to eradicate the other school directors who wanted to enroll Zarah in their respective universities.

This shut the rumors immediately. Those who doubted Zarah became silent as their accusation that she slept with a man just to have what she had was baseless.

Zarah proved time and time again how capable she was every time she was challenged.

After five minutes, her class started and it lasted for two hours.

The lecture was fine but it bored her classmates, especially the people sitting behind her back.

They kept rambling about how boring the lecture was and it lasted until the end.

Zarah did not have many classes compared to before and so she had a lot of vacant time.

During their lunch break, Zarah messaged Hope so they could have lunch together.

Hope replied and informed her that her class would not end until twelve. It was 11:30 in the morning.

Zarah was not in hurry to eat her lunch. She had a lot of time to wait for Hope.

***