Flashback Continuation

- Flashback continuation -

As the crowd grew louder and raised their arms in unison, a horrendous screeching noise pierced their ears. Everyone covered the side of their faces and pressed their fingers into their ears.

When the metal sound faded, their eyes wandered to where it came from. Jessica Wang had her legs crossed, back leaned against the chair and arms folded like a mighty queen. In front of her was a knocked over desk with Emma's belongings scattered messily on the floor.

Tapping her fingertips impatiently against her skin, Jessica spoke in an aggravated tone. "Shut the hell up. You're all college students, not kindergarteners. This is a classroom, not a protest stage. Like the professor had said, if you have any complaints, then go to the principal's office. I'm sure Emma Watsons would be the first volunteer since she said those accusing words with such overconfidence. I paid for tuition, so stop wasting my time and money."

Emma gnashed her teeth as her limited-edition lipstick rolled down the lecture hall and stopped at her foot. "You! You must be an accomplice with her! You must have cheated on the exams with her! You're helping her!"

Raising her index finger in sway movement, Jessica scoffed at her foolish words. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. If I cheated, then my score should be on the top scores in the class. Unfortunately, my score is one point above your seventy-five points on the previous exam. Miss. Watsons, think before you speak or you'll be seen as an expert laughingstock.

Before Emma could speak another word, Selina stood up from her seat for the first time. "Are you done with your announcement? If you're done, then it is my turn."

Walking in front of the entire class with a straightened back, Selina turned to the professor. "Professor, sorry for this chaotic mess in the classroom. My responses to Miss. Watsons accusations are as follows: writing a term paper in half an hour and answering a question from each classmate in class."

"What do you mean?" Emma was taken back by her response.

"First of all, writing is not an easy task. To forge a person's writing style is incredibly difficult. Since you claimed I stole other people's work and paid others to write my essays; I will prove my skills by writing in the next half an hour on any topics you give. You also claimed I cheated on my exams. Since you're ruining my reputation by spreading rumors about me cheating, then I will let everyone ask me a question from any courses I've taken in the past."

Selina walked over to her laptop and connected it to the projector. In seconds, her entire course history was listed for everyone to see. Classmates began to chatter amongst themselves as they witnessed Selina's confidence. If she was a cheater, she would never prove herself this way.

She stared at Emma with a languid expression. "Oh, right. The only reason I stepped out to prove myself today is because these rumors interrupted the professor's lesson. As much as I don't care about the rumors circulating amongst students, I hope everyone realizes you are all adults in higher education. Action speaks more than baseless words."

"You're all old enough to have proper communication with one another. Creating baseless rumors could lead to irreparable damage to one's reputation and the victim will be drowned by your false words. If you scored low on one exam, your focus should be what and how you got the question wrong."

"Instead of blaming your faults and responsibilities on other people, you should be self-reflecting on how to do better on the next exam. Complaining won't improve your scores nor would it make the exam questions easier for you. We're all here to study, not gossip. With that being said, I hope Miss. Watsons and her friends who are spreading rumors to stop before I take legal action for defamation and slander on your group."

Leaning her weight on her right leg, Selina smiled. "Miss. Watsons, you may give me any topics and I will type a one-page thesis in front of the class right now. While I type, all of you could look for questions you want to ask me later."

Within fifteen minutes, Selina typed a grammar-free one-page academic paper about atomic particles on Microsoft word. After she had accomplished the task, the professor asked another professor from the science major department to read and confirm the integrity of her essay. The science professor reviewed the one-page document and looked shockingly impressed by Selina's descriptiveness in her paragraphs.

"You wrote this in fifteen minutes?" The science professor gasped when she heard the amount of time it took for her to write this excellent work.

"Yes. The class is my witness. Is there something wrong?" Selina calmly replied.

"Nothing is wrong! This is too impressive! Girl, are you studying science as your major? Such descriptive work takes years of experience to write!" The professor kept complimenting her words that she forgot the class exist.

At the end, the professor decided to take a copy of what Selina wrote and added it to the department's model samples. Finally, the room returned to its original quietness. Selina shifted her neck sideways and cracked her knuckles.

"Okay. Have your questions ready for me." She held a chalk in her hand as she stared at the dazed audience like they were a bunch of clowns. All along, only one person didn't bother joining their ridiculous accusation; that person was Jessica.

Within half an hour, Selina answered every question that was thrown her way. Most of them were mathematic related problems because only those had one answer. Jessica was deeply captivated by Selina's calmness as if she already knew what questions the class would ask her.

One after another, Selina solved problems and wrote out the calculations across the chalk board. When she was done, everyone but Emma was sitting in their seats. Their faces flushed from embarrassment as Selina proved them wrong. Emma's mouth was left agape by how intelligent Selina really was.

"Well, Miss.Watsons? Any more accusations or inquiries you have? If not, then you owe me an apology." Selina cornered her with words she could not retaliate against. Right before an apology could slip out of her mouth, the class was over.

Emma's group announced class was over, and Emma avoided the apology she owed her. Jessica recorded the entire class session and uploaded it on the school forum. After the video was exposed, students who previously slandered Selina felt harsh slaps on their faces.