Underestimated Heiress

CHAPTER 2 - The deal

It was almost time for the teachers to announce the students in the leadership team. The team was announced at the end of the curriculum year and the students started their respective roles in Grade 11. The curriculum year for Grade 11 is filled with activities for the top performing students, giving them a chance to add more points to their portfolio, while it was a quiet period for average students with a lot more homework to help them improve in academics. This would divide the Grade 11 class in 2 different sections making it difficult for them to interact with other fellow colleagues.

Due to all the excitement and future expectations, it was easy for Jess to focus back on her plans. She didn't speak to Nate after that day. Her classmates spoke about them but she learnt to ignore them. When her best friend, Sarah would ask her about it she would either change the topic or make a joke. Sarah understood that Jess didn't want to talk about it so she didn't bring the topic up again. Similarly, when her classmate found something else to talk about they also moved on.

Jess was as focused as before, but she didn't know if her performance in previous few months will have any impact on her future opportunities. All she could do was work hard and try to overcome the loss.

One of these days, Jess and Sarah were debating on a subject while they were waiting in the queue to fill the water bottle. Jess was so focused on her debate that she accidentally dashed into someone. She turned around to apologize and said, "Sorr..." but choked on the rest of the words when she saw Nate. There was an awkward silence between them, everyone around them could feel it.

"It's alright. I am ok.", Nate said after sensing the people staring at them.

He walked away leaving Jess surprised for a minute. Jess immediately continued the debate and successfully distracted Sarah from asking any questions.

Nate went back to his group and was lost in his thoughts. He thought about their last meeting in the park. They were in the same school and still shared some classes but felt like strangers.

When Nate went back home from the park with the file that Jess gave him, he was a different person, he had become more sincere. He started going through the plan made by Jess and made his pointers to work on, he adjusted his calendar so that he can work on the plan. He reduced the number of parties and was more attentive in class. His grades were improving with each test in class which surprised his teachers.

Every now and then Nate would steal a glance at Jess, but always saw her focused on her work. He also overheard the conversation between Sarah and Jess where he was mentioned and saw how easily she avoided any discussion that included him.

He was still not sure if he felt guilty towards Jess. All he knew was to focus on the plan that Jess made for him and try his best to work on it, hoping this will help reduce the guilt he felt towards Jess.

During this time Richa tried to approach Nate multiple times, but Nate would give a friendly response without indulging much. He would help her as a friend and answer her queries but along with everything else he also stopped hanging out with her. This made Richa angry and curious.

Richa was a spoiled rich heiress, she always got what she wanted. She was smart and had a good score. She was liked by all the teachers and students.

One day, Jess enrolled in her school. Jess was very similar to Richa in all aspects and soon started attracting the attention of all the students and teachers. Jess was also a simple and helpful girl which made her more approachable than Richa.

Richa was not used to sharing her limelight with anyone. Therefore when Jess attracted the attention Richa was jealous. She wanted to compete with Jess so that she can prove that she is better than her. Unfortunately for Richa, Jess always focused on her strength while she worked on her weakness in the background. Richa didn't care about her strength and weakness, she was more focused on Jess and wanted to defeat her in everything she did. This was reducing Richa's overall performance and affecting her likable personality. Soon everyone started seeing her as a jealous and competitive girl.