Chapter 56: Observation Buffet

A few days passed with the children settling into an easy rhythm of attending classes and eating packed lunches together before splitting off to do their respective things. Alex was always seen hanging around the art rooms. The girl was often seen bugging any art teachers available and it was working very well. Alex learnt a lot from the teacher in charge of the pottery club from before. In fact, she was probably Alex's go-to teacher for any queries.

Scarlet would be surprised if she didn't spend all her time in one of the unoccupied art studios. Contrary to Wilmer's initial opinion, Scarlet thought that her sister had a really good chance of winning that art competition. The Wilde princess had very good guidance and she was extremely hardworking. Scarlet would know it because she'd seen the draft sketches from before and after private lessons. Even when Alex went home, she would spend hours drawing after dinner right until they had to go to bed.

The blogger hadn't been idling either. Apart from trying to complete a year's worth of homework in advance, she was busy with the very first assignment that Debbie assigned her. Decorating Judah wasn't a one-person project, but Scarlet thought that it was only fair to get some assistance. She wanted nothing less than the best for her very first book even if it wouldn't be a published manuscript. Although it didn't quite appeal to Scarlet, she could understand why Debbie found the job of an editor to be fun.

Just last night, Scarlet successfully completed Debbie's assignment. Tina helped with the plant press and Alex was more than thrilled to lend a hand in spray painting the leaves silver and gold as required. Claire did the finishing touches and laminated the cover once they'd hot-glued the plant art and decorated the book with glitter and colours. Wilmer couldn't be prouder of his daughters' very first work and took a photo to commemorate it, much to his wife's envy.

The early completion of her assignment gave Scarlet plenty of time for other things apart from spacing out the completion of homework in advance. Although Debbie hasn't told her anything about developing a writer's style, the blogger took it upon herself to do some observation. If every writer has a unique style of story-telling, every individual must have a unique manner of speaking. As such, it was only natural that Scarlet turned her attention to the people around her.

Strangely, while doing so, the blogger noticed something slightly strange about Jasper. While the boy was still easy-going like before, his manner of speech became more astute and his quips were slightly harsher. Alex even flinched at one of them because it hit a sore spot but Jasper apologised quickly enough so the Wilde princess didn't think too much of it. If one had to put into perspective, Jasper was now like a mysterious ninja. He still spent time with them just enough to keep them busy but not enough for them to find out what he's up to.

That simply wouldn't do. The young writer was curious by nature so she decided that she would uncover the reason for Jasper's recent change. The boy was often tense and up to something. His hair wasn't neat and Jasper had been bringing a lot of things to school lately. She didn't detect any lies when Jasper told them he had things going on with the Entrepreneur's Circle, but the girl just couldn't help but worry. What if the scary older boys were bullying Jasper and he couldn't say a word about it because he wanted to stay in the club?

Hence, Scarlet was determined to uncover the truth with her infamous sleuthing skills - with or without crutches.

Lessons with Danny were always interesting. Jasper didn't skip this time because it was the first class they had in the morning. However, immediately after class ended, the boy excused himself and told the girls to have lunch without him. Alex wasn't too affected. In fact, she took the opportunity to do the same and excused herself to work on her modelling practice. they'd started to use figurines and pictures for practice after doing nothing but drawing basic shapes and lines for so long. Scarlet understood her sister's excitement and didn't stop her.

On the other hand, Scarlet kept an eye on Jasper. She might be disabled for a bit but she wasn't incapable. Even without any information from Alex, the girl easily found out the location of that classroom used as the Entrepreneur's Circle. When one thought about delinquents, it wasn't anything too far from Scarlet's expectations. She simply found the most avoided spot in the school that wasn't the staff office and explored in that direction.

The classroom walls were full of poorly done graffiti meant to serve as something more of a warning statement rather than a work of art. It's meant to keep the regular students away and intimidate staff. Sadly, it just wasn't enough to deter Scarlet, who was determined to uncover Jasper's secret.

Scarlet could hear Jasper's voice as she approached and it wasn't her imagination either. From what she could make out, they were talking about... Math? Not wanting to give herself away so quickly or interrupt the 'lesson' in session, Scarlet hobbled to the backdoor and listened in.

There were sounds of paper smacking against something solid and the occasional protest from one of the 'students', but none of the delinquents actually acted violently. If anything, Scarlet thought that they were awfully respectful and tolerant of Jasper. The girl wondered why her friend and live-in housemate was suddenly interested in becoming a teacher. However, she wasn't quite expecting the door to be thrown open with a very tall boy with wild hair to be glaring at her. Scarlet wanted to get out of the way, but she was quickly grabbed by her school bag.

The blogger dropped her crutches as the boy hauled her inside the classroom. Jasper was surprised and slightly shocked to see the 'spy' that one of the delinquents had caught. Someone claimed that there had been people snooping around their classroom for a while now and the whole class was on high alert trying to catch that skilful spy, but nobody was successful. He highly doubted that Scarlet was the spy. After all, that spy left very quickly once he heard footsteps approaching the door no matter how quickly or quietly they were. Scarlet was on crutches, it was most certainly not her.

"Wait!" the gardener's son yelled. "Don't hurt her! She's a friend who's like a sister. Let me talk to her, the rest of you focus on copying the formula on the board."

With that, Jasper hurried over to pick up the walking aid that had fallen and helped Scarlet up. They decided to take the conversation elsewhere because there were simply too many ears in the classroom. Also, Jasper didn't feel that it was safe for Scarlet to be in a boy's territory when she was such a small and frail, not to mention injured, female. He might be able to fend for himself, but Scarlet might be at the mercy of some of the meaner boys.

"Why are you here? Didn't you have things to do? Where's Alex?"

The blogger smiled. "She's in the art room again practising for the art competition. Also, I was curious. You've been rather on the edge lately and since I finished the assignment Debbie gave me, I thought I might check on what you're up to. You've been so secretive lately. Don't tell me you're embarrassed to let us find out that you want to be a teacher..."

The boy rolled his eyes beneath his bangs. He knew what Scarlet was trying to do but he didn't bother. It was true. He'd been so stressed lately because they boys didn't show much progress with their studies. While they were willing to work hard, there was only so much Jasper could do for inflexible muscle heads.

With a heavy sigh, Jasper told her about his plans to conquer the class and get these delinquents to reform and do his bidding. "I can't build an empire on my own. Smart people often don't want to work under others because they have their own visions. It's the perfect opportunity for me to see what I can come up with. If I can win these guys over, I might be able to form a good foundation. Even though many of them don't seem very intellectually promising, these guys have something most people don't. They're a loyal bunch."

Scarlet nodded. "I see. Would you mind if I sat in? I do find it a little hard to write my blog now that I have fewer people to observe. As you can see, our class is mostly empty."

Jasper laughed. "Sure. I'll tell them not to disturb you. If your leg starts hurting or you need to get something, feel free to let me know. Also, thank you for worrying."

The blogger smiled. "Don't say that. It's only natural. We're family after all, right? Blood doesn't matter here. There is no Permanent Scarlet without all three of us. We're the perfect team here. A little crazy, but if it works, I don't think you have the right to object."

Jasper grinned. "Ha! As if I could forget. Alright. Let me have a little talk with the boys to set some ground rules and then you can sit in. Oh, if you don't have much to do, could you help me guide some of them with the language aspect? I believe word problems are 50% language and 50% math. I can teach the math part, but the language gets tricky."

Scarlet beamed. "Yes, sire! Only in exchange for boy gossips."

Jasper only laughed in response before he went in to inform his new gang of the changes while Scarlet waited outside patiently. Internally, the blogger was vibrating from excitement. Sixteen new individuals to analyse for free. Today must be her lucky day!