Gasps of surprise and murmurs of agreement resounded throughout the crowd. Who hadn’t heard rumor of Elena Seelbaugh’s interest in Matthew Williams in the prior months? With the clever twisting of her words however, Carrie Elwood meant to imply that Elena Seelbaugh had sinister intentions! Perhaps Elena Seelbaugh had hoped to borrow the status and prestige of the prince-like Matthew Williams by fawning upon him and his wealthy family.

The other youthful girls present here felt awash with jealousy, thinking to themselves that Elena Seelbaugh was a toad lusting after swan meat! The expressions of the young men darkened as well, thinking to themselves what was so great about Matthew Williams? In what way could they not compare to him?

“Say whatever you like,” Elena Seelbaugh said, treating the girl as though she were a simple passing cloud that wasn’t worth another glance. “What you think means nothing more than a joke to me.”

“Why don't we make a little wager, then?” Carrie Elwood asked with a provoking sneer. “I bet that before the end of the week, Matthew Williams will agree to be my boyfriend! I’ll wager twenty United States dollar bills!”

“Why not make it fifty United States dollar bills?” Elena Seelbaugh challenged with a mysterious smile. “Do you dare?”

There was a sharp intake of breath from many of the nearby students who had been listening in on their exchange. United States dollar bills were a precious cultivation resource for any youth of Springton High School; even the wealthy young masters here could simply never have enough United States dollar bills. The coveted notes were a precious commodity used as currency even beyond their province of Kentucky.

“Fifty United States dollar bills?! Despicable!” The girl standing at Carrie Elwood's right leapt forward.

“You're courting death!” Carrie's other lackey declared, her face turning black.

“Hmph!” Carrie Elwood waved back her followers with a flick of her sleeve. “Fifty United States dollar bills? Why would I not dare? I only hope your Seelbaugh family can bear such a heavy price!”

“Elena…” Alicia Brooks began to protest in a hesitant voice. She knew her friend was domineering, but this was fifty United States dollar bills! That was no small sum!

What Alicia Brooks had forgotten in the heat of the moment, however, was that the two of them already were in possession of a certain important truth! They had discovered Matthew Williams was already engaged in a secret courtship with Casey Miller! In deference to their friendship with the pair of young lovers they had both kept silent on this matter and word had not yet leaked out. Carrie Elwood was completely unaware of this critical fact, and had lost her own wager before it had even begun! Truly face-smacking!

“My father is a core practitioner of transcendent law, and his legal firm is one of the nine great pillars of Springton,” Elena Seelbaugh answered. Her clear face was like a tranquil pool, without a single ripple of concern. “Trash like you who can only cling to the thighs of the sophomore disciples need not concern yourself with the affairs of my Seelbaugh family’s pockets!”

“Y-you!” Carrie Elwood gnashed her teeth.

“Elena Seelbaugh has Mr. Peterson and the entire Art department supporting her!” Alicia Brooks scoffed. “She doesn’t even have to put Carrie Elwood in her eyes.”

“Oh, so you haven’t heard?” Clarissa Dole spoke up.

“Heard?” Alicia Brooks asked. “Heard what?”

“I'm afraid this matter indeed isn’t simple,” Clarissa Dole sadly shook her head. “Mr. Peterson is an elder of the Art department, yes—but rumors throughout the sect say that those sophomores Carrie Elwood has been fawning over have the backing of Coach Cooke!”

Alicia Brooks staggered at receiving the ominous news as if she had been struck a shocking blow, while Elena's pupils sharpened to a knife-like quality.

After all, Coach Cooke was head of the Sports department! In their province of Kentucky, an Art department elder like Mr. Peterson was not even fit to be mentioned in the same breath as a venerated teacher from the Sports department! The Springton High sect had always favored the martial path over the more obscure profundities of the arts.

To make matters worse, in the generations since the foundation of the school, the Art department had continuously fallen into decline, failing to produce any young prodigies capable of ascending beyond their foundation stage. Even an arts genius like Alicia Brooks who was as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns was still only just an outer disciple, while young experts pursuing the dao of football or basketball were as common as clouds in the sky!

“Shameless!” Carrie Elwood spat, unable to quell her rage. She’d thought that with Tabitha Moore out of the picture Erica Taylor gone, her own rise to prominence was set in stone! “Someone needs to teach that slut a lesson!”

“How does that Elena Seelbaugh even qualify to be compared to our Young Miss Carrie?” one of the girls exclaimed. “Hmph, she has eyes but can’t even see the Appalachians!”

“Fifty United States dollar bills? A wastrel good-for-nothing like her really only knows how to flaunt her family’s wealth!”

“Doesn’t she know our Young Miss Carrie has the support of several juniors and seniors?” Another sycophant chimed in. “I don’t believe that slut won’t be willing to give face to upperclassmen. The freshman class has always bowed their heads and given respect to their seniors— or does she intend to overturn the traditions of our Springton High?!”

“Another freshman dares step all over our Sports Department?! Good! Good! Good!” Coach Cooke roared out three times as he slapped a hand on his desk, which instantly created a small cloud of dust from the impact. “I’d really like to know where they get their courage!”

As a former semi-professional football practitioner, Coach Cooke was an enormous man with arms like tree trunks and eyebrows like swords. Within the halls of Springton High he was celebrated as a hero, a tiger among men. Who else but him could summon the wind and the rain by simply turning his hand?

Had news of Elena Seelbaugh’s challenge to Carrie Elwood reached his ears at any other time, Coach Cooke would have just taken it as words not worth a fart. However, it had only been a few weeks since the matter with Chris Thompson!

It was bad enough that the state officials hadn’t sought his opinion regarding Chris Thompson, and remembering the matter once again had Coach Cooke furrowing his brow in displeasure. Chris Thompson had been one of the favored disciples he had been grooming personally! There hadn’t been a doubt in his mind that with a bit more nurturing and guidance in mastering the secret footwork technique Coach Cooke had been passing down for generations, Chris Thompson was a rare talent. Without the young dragon of their star running back representing them, he’d been unable to win any face for Springton High in the recent competition with Fairfield High!

Chris Thompson’s expulsion from Springton High really had Coach Cooke’s intestines turning green with regret! The boy had indeed erred, of that there was no doubt. But, expelling him from the sect for such a mundane infraction was going too far! A hot-blooded temperament was to be expected from disciples of his Sports department, for how else could Coach Cooke forge these youths into young heroes? If those despicable administrative officials had only given him his due and left the matter to him, Chris Thompson would simply reflect on his actions in the detention hall and his training regimen would be doubled or tripled as punishment!

Coach Cooke had reasoned with the officials until he was blue in the face, but his council fell on deaf ears—all of the sudden it was as if his words weren’t worth a fart to them!

He couldn’t make any sense of it. The Tabitha Moore girl was a nobody without any standing in the first place, and her family’s abject poverty made the circumstances of the minor injury suspect. There were always despicable characters muddying the waters and using any means to climb up from where they belonged in the natural hierarchy of things. To Coach Cooke, the Thompson family was already generous enough in offering recompense at all! The matter should have been as good as settled!

Editors team note: Alicia Brooks and Elena Seelbaugh discovered Matthew Williams and Casey Miller's relationship in chap 288.