Chapter 67 Confession: There’s Something I Want to Talk to You About

Chapter 67: Confession: There's Something I Want to Talk to You About

Everly was completely taken aback by Misha's idea. She thought the girl was just acting on a passing fancy, or out of admiration for her idol, blindly copying her without thinking it through.

But after deeper conversation, Everly discovered that Misha was a girl who knew exactly what she wanted.

She was tired of the remote and backward small town, didn't want to be stuck in the same place like her parents' generation, living a safe but boring life. She loved adventure, was curious, longed to explore the bigger world, and was ready to pay the price to make her dreams come true.

Even her decision to attend New Osebukh State University was well thought out, because the university didn't have super high academic requirements—Misha could just barely make the cut if she worked at it—and the wilderness survival program offered by the university was also a really useful skill for someone from a desert town.

"If worse comes to worst, I can always come back to town and work as a guide for desert travelers," Misha said optimistically.

It was Misha's life, and Everly had no right to interfere. She just told the girl to think through the consequences, to talk things through with her parents, and ideally get their support.

Misha seemed delighted that her idol had given her choice the silent green light.

She waved goodbye to Everly with an unusually relaxed smile and ran home. Whatever went on in between, when Misha came to visit the next day, she grinned and told Everly she'd already worked things out with her parents.

"Katak is one of the top private schools in Mikano. With my grades right now, I can just barely get into Katak Academy, but I'm still a long way from getting a scholarship. My dad said that if I can bring my grades up for the rest of 9th grade and pay for private high school myself, he'll back me going to New Osebukh State University with you later!" As she said this, Misha's eyes sparkled, her face glowing with endless hope for the future.

Everly was happy for her friend too.

After surviving the nightmare at Xinkan Blue Theater, she realized that sometimes having a partner was essential. Especially when that partner was a smart and brave girl like Misha, it made her feel way more secure.

And when Everly successfully graduated from 9th grade and entered Katak Academy, she quickly found another perk of having a companion—she moved in with Misha's grandparents.

Katak Academy was a private high school with both day and boarding programs, and it was the top private school in Mikano City. Everly was lucky—after enrolling, she ended up in the same class as Misha, who had worked hard to squeeze into Katak.

Originally, Everly had chosen boarding just like in middle school. After all, her home was too far from the city, and Old John couldn't drive her back and forth every day.

However, when Everly opened the dormitory door and saw the decorations on her roommate's side of the room, her vision went dark, and she felt like she'd run into a real piece of work.

Because Everly's roommate Jessica was a paranormal nut obsessed with all kinds of supernatural stuff!

The school encouraged students to decorate their living areas according to their own preferences, and the U.S. Constitution had laws protecting religious freedom. Therefore, as long as students didn't use prohibited items like high-power appliances in the dorm, the dorm supervisors wouldn't interfere with how students decorated their rooms—even if Jessica made her side look like a black witch's lair, they looked the other way.

So Everly could only watch as her roommate draped black cloth with weird patterns over most of the wall, loaded the desk with crystal balls, creepy sculptures, dead branches, stuffed crows, and other ominous junk, flipped through old black-covered "spell books" every day, did weird rituals holding a basin of water up at the moon at night, and did all kinds of superstitious stuff that really got on Everly's nerves...

Horror Movie Survival Rule #5: Never play dangerous games.

Horror Movie Survival Rule #13: Never open old chests, boxes, books, or anything like that.

In just three days of living there, Jessica had already broken two of Everly's rules. Everly couldn't take it anymore, so she went to the dorm supervisor to try to get her to rein Jessica in.

But Everly ended up getting scolded by the supervisor, Mrs. Kavira.

Mrs. Kavira was a hardcore materialist. She believed Jessica's obsession with studying witchcraft wasn't a big deal—every kid goes through a phase of being curious about the unknown, and Everly was blowing things way out of proportion.

Even worse, because her roommate Jessica was a Black girl, Mrs. Kavira suspected Everly was picking on her roommate because of her skin color. She had a heart-to-heart with Everly, lecturing her that America was a free and accepting country, that she should understand Jessica's hobbies, not start fights over race, and get along harmoniously with Jessica...

Everly was practically steaming.

But the teacher's words also reminded her that Jessica's existence actually violated Horror Movie Survival Rule #21: Stay away from Black people as much as possible.

It wasn't that Everly was racially discriminatory—she privately felt she was better at rejecting racism than many sanctimonious Americans—it was really the American directors from her past life who were the problem. Look at the horror movies they made: when the protagonist group had both Black and white characters, 98 out of 100 horror movies would have the Black character die, with only a tiny minority where the Black character survived to the end.

So this roommate of Everly's, who had stacked the debuffs of "half-baked paranormal nut + lover of trying various spirit-summoning games + Black," was truly high-risk among high-risks!

Since the supervisor was useless, Everly had to rely on herself and try to communicate with her roommate.

She privately approached Jessica and tried to persuade her to give up these unsafe hobbies, or at least not to do them in the dorm, because she felt very uneasy... Everly believed her tone was perfectly normal and her attitude very gentle, but Jessica acted as if she had been mortally insulted—first rolling her eyes, then crossing her arms and shrugging, and finally letting out a long "hmph" from her nose.

Everly: "..."

Seriously, why though?!

Sensing obvious hostility from Jessica, Everly didn't dare to persuade her further.

She settled for trying to change rooms, but whether she applied to the dorm supervisor or her homeroom teacher, the responses were either "there are no spare rooms" or "you can't change rooms without a valid reason."

Just as Everly was about to explode with frustration, Misha came to the rescue.

Misha's mother was originally a resident of Mikano City proper, and it was only after marrying Misha's father that she moved to Lemote Town. After Misha came to the city for school, she had been living at her maternal grandparents' house in the old district, which had plenty of spare rooms—more than enough for Everly to stay too.

The old district had experienced the Xinkan Blue Theater massacre just a year ago, and was currently in a very peaceful and safe period.

Misha's parents were deeply grateful to Old John and his granddaughter for their help during the cockroach disaster, and they really liked Everly. They were more than willing for their daughter to be good friends with the hero who had saved the town. They originally planned to let Everly stay at Misha's grandparents' house for free, but Old John felt it was too much and insisted on paying 5,000 Mido to cover Everly's room and board for the school year. They refused to take any more no matter how hard he tried.

Compared to the school's boarding fees of over ten thousand, this was an incredibly good deal.

What made Everly even happier was that she had escaped her unreliable roommate Jessica and gained a relatively safe environment for studying and living.

Everly felt that given her former roommate's death-seeking abilities, something was bound to happen sooner or later. Therefore, she was extremely grateful that she and Jessica weren't in the same class. After moving out of the dorm, she had no more contact with Jessica, and even if the girl did something reckless, she shouldn't be dragged into it—at least that's what Everly hoped.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Sometimes, you don't go looking for trouble, but trouble comes looking for you.

It all started with a confession.

Of course, the one confessing to Everly wasn't Jessica, but a boy in the same grade named Edward Greenwood. He was a handsome boy with blond hair and blue eyes—tall, strong, with a sunny personality. He had been recruited into the school's football team right after enrollment and served as quarterback. It was said that many girls in the school regarded him as their Prince Charming and dream man, and even some upperclassmen would gather at the field just to catch a glimpse of him.

In short, he was a popular heartthrob at Katak Academy.

The heartthrob was always high-profile wherever he went. That day after school, under the scorching gazes of everyone around, he swaggered up to Everly, rapped his knuckles against her locker.

Everly looked up to meet a very confident smile.

"Hey, Everly, hi, I'm Edward... There's something I'd like to talk to you about. Mind coming to the campus café?"

"?"

Everly rarely received confessions, and Edward's expression showed no sign of nervousness, so she didn't initially realize what Edward's invitation meant—of course, that didn't mean Everly lacked charm. It was just that she was cold and aloof to everyone, seeming untouchable, which made many boys timid before even approaching her.

However, Edward was clearly an exception. He had been the center of attention since elementary school—the focus of everyone's gaze, the leader among students—so he was full of confidence, believing he would definitely succeed in his confession and become the boyfriend of the revered "Ice Queen" in people's minds.

...Well, yes, Everly's nickname had been passed along to Katak along with her enrollment.

And then Edward, who had never lost on the romantic battlefield, encountered the Waterloo of his life.

Everly had absolutely no interest in him.

Although the boy was indeed handsome

Was it a coyote? But in her memory, coyotes should only make short, brief "howl-howl" sounds...

Everly thought she had misheard and was just about to listen more carefully, but the howl had already faded away. In its place, she heard a scraping sound at the window—scratch, scratch, scratch.

What on earth...

Unable to focus on her meditation any longer, Everly abruptly opened her eyes.

Through the window glass, she saw a palm that had suddenly pulled back.