Claire was no stranger to this sort of thing.
Back when she was the heiress of the James family, she had crossed paths with her fair share of shameless people.
They always played the victim, pretending to beg while actually laying on a heavy guilt trip.
The James family had only been the top household in Apex, yet that alone had attracted endless trouble.
With her current status, even more opportunists were bound to flock to her like moths to a flame.
The only saving grace was that her true identity as a granddaughter of the Churchill family hadn't been fully leaked to the public yet.
If the truth got out, the number of people staging "accidental" encounters with her at Cabinda University would skyrocket.
Pests like Waylon Hudson would just be the tip of the iceberg.
"I know," Claire said, not showing the slightest bit of impatience at Norris's warning.
Lucinda covertly nudged Priscilla's shoulder.
"Is Norris superficial too?"
"Why is he only talking to Claire?"
Wasn't she pretty enough?
Or maybe just not gorgeous enough to catch his attention!
Priscilla subtly inched away. "Didn't you hear her call him her brother?"
"Isn't that just a kinky pet name?" Lucinda gasped, her eyes wide with shock.
As someone who lived on the front lines of campus gossip, she prided herself on knowing everything about the university's elite.
Who could have guessed that Claire and the notoriously aloof math professor were actually related?
"Wait a minute. If they're siblings, why didn't Claire enroll in the math department? What's she doing slumming it with us in med school?"
Priscilla's mouth twitched, and she immediately defaulted to sarcasm. "Maybe she just wanted a real challenge?"
Lucinda's mouth formed a perfect 'O'.
"These geniuses really know how to make life difficult for the rest of us."
Was there some unwritten rule against having two math prodigies in one family?
"Why are the academic elites so hardcore?"
Priscilla fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Lucinda, shouldn't you be including yourself in that elite category?"
Lucinda grimaced. "Priscilla, do you realize my grades in sophomore year were barely scraping the bottom of the barrel?"
Priscilla feigned a dramatic gasp. "Are you sure you should be telling me this?"
"If this is classified information, please spare me!"
Lucinda immediately realized she had given the wrong impression. "Not like that! I mean that during my senior year, my dad pulled every string he had to get me an insane tutor for an entire year!"
"A whole year! You have no idea the kind of hell I lived through."
Her delivery was entirely theatrical, and she practically collapsed onto Priscilla's shoulder.
She buried her face, terrified she might burst into laughter and ruin her own dramatic performance.
But beneath the theatrics, every word she said was the unvarnished truth.
At most, she was just milking her past suffering for a little extra sympathy.
"Everyone goes through absolute torture during their senior year."
Priscilla was so unimpressed she almost rolled her eyes again.
Professor Vance was such a serious and upright man-how on earth did he end up with such a dramatic daughter?
"Ugh, I bet Claire didn't have to suffer like that," Lucinda sighed, glancing between Claire and Norris.
Was being a terrifying academic prodigy just baked into their DNA?
"I wonder if Claire has any other brothers at home around our age."
Claire and Norris both caught that last remark.
They turned to look at Lucinda in perfect unison.
Lucinda let out a nervous, dry laugh. "Just... just curious, that's all."
set
Claire took it in stride. "Norris is actually my oldest cousin, and he's single My second cousins
engaged, but my third cousin is still on the market."
Lucinda hadn't expected such a straightforward rundown of the
family tree, and a flush of el
embarrassment crept up her neck.
She knew better than to set her sights on someone as untouchable as Norris.
But if the oldest cousin was out of the question, maybe the younger ones were fair game?
Still, with Norris standing right there, she didn't dare say it out loud.
Fortunately, the professor was adept at reading the room.