Your Guise Is Slipping, Miss Pearl

“Cheating?” Pearl muttered to herself, struggling to reconcile the idea of Mobius, who had appeared so

remorseful earlier, being involved in cheating.

“Where is he now then?” she asked.

Hanzel wore a deeply troubled expression as he explained, “He’s still at school. The teacher called me

, but I have an opening ceremony to attend and can’t skip it.”

Then, an idea seemed to dawn on him. He hesitated for a moment before suggesting, “Why don’t… yo

u go see him and find out what happened?”

“Me?” Pearl wasn’t expecting him to ask her to do that.

Hanzel nodded. “Yes, I heard him say you helped him study. Maybe you can get to the bottom of this.”

His phone rang suddenly, and he checked the caller ID before hurriedly walking away. “Thanks, Pearl. I

’ll join you there once I’m done.”

Although Pearl didn’t know what to do, thinking of the trouble Mobius could be in, she decided

to go take a look.

She arrived at the school and, outside the principal’s office, overheard Mobius’s angry voice. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“I told you that wasn’t the note I used. How many times do I have to say that?”

Pearl was shocked to hear that. She began to suspect that Mobius might have been framed.

“Mobius Waldorf, is this how to speak to your principal?” The principal was enraged as he slammed the

table.

Mobius’s expression was cold as he scoffed, “I said I didn’t do it. Asking me a hundred times wouldn’t c

hange my answer.

The counselor

spoke up, “Mobius, even if you’re a Waldorf, you’re still a student. Your family can’t protect you from the

consequences of your actions.”

Pearl could no longer stay silent and decided to enter the room.

“Hello, Sir. I heard that Mobius was caught cheating so I came to find out what’s going on.”

Pearl smiled sweetly, leaving the three people in the room stunned.

Mobius, in particular, was bewildered. “Why are you here, Pea?”

The principal and counselor knew Pearl Leighton because she was a public figure. The principal’s tone

softened.

“Did you come

here for Mobius? He’s always been stubborn so I think you should ask him to find out more.”

Pearl, her expression now ice–cold, questioned them, “Are you sure he was the one cheating?”

“Of course. We discovered this note on his desk, and the handwriting matched his. Most importantly, his

Pearl sensed something was wrong. “His friend reported him? Can I speak to him?”

The counselor asked someone to send for David.

David appeared at the door, looking slightly overwhelmed by the number of people in the room. “What’s

“Don’t worry, David. Tell this lady everything about Mobius cheating.” The counselor looked at David affe

David gulped. “I had a

feeling that Mobius was acting weird today so I paid more attention to him. To my surprise, I saw him wit

best friend, so I felt I should help him break this bad habit. It seemed fair to everyone else, so I handed t