Chapter 309 - 307: First in the Grade

At that moment, Eugene Jacobs was also sitting before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his luxury apartment, gazing out at the glittering neon nightscape of Lorcain. Beside him was a glass of neat whiskey.

He took out his phone and entered Blair’s livestream, his exclusive VIP entrance animation flashing across the screen.

"Welcome, Fifty Shades of Grey."

Seeing her top supporter enter the stream, Blair quickly welcomed him.

At that moment, Eugene Jacobs finally let himself completely unwind, the exhaustion and misery of the day melting away.

As if venting, he immediately began frantically spamming gifts for Blair—the most expensive ones, in continuous bursts of ten!

The gift animations filled the screen, attracting a massive influx of viewers to the stream.

Boosted by Eugene Jacobs’s gifts, Blair’s stream entered the national top 100 rankings for the first time, then shot into the top thirty at incredible speed!

The stream’s viewership peaked, with over twenty thousand people watching live!

Even Eugene Jacobs’s own account gained nearly ten thousand followers from it.

"Cecilia, look, the big spender is back! He’s the real deal!"

Estelle handed her phone to Cecilia Sterling. The gift animations were appearing one after another, completely obscuring Blair.

"At this rate, Blair must make a few bucks per stream, huh?" Cecilia asked.

Estelle nodded. "Yeah, much better than we expected. It’s mainly because this top supporter is the real deal. I just wonder how long this novelty will last for him."

At that point, Cecilia Sterling had no idea that the top supporter in Blair’s stream was actually Eugene Jacobs.

*

The next day, the results of the Second High School’s diagnostic exams were released.

With a total score 7.5 points higher than Renee Reid’s, Ethan Sterling became first in their grade.

The result was both unexpected and yet not entirely surprising. After all, Ethan Sterling’s score on his transfer exam had also been a few points higher than Renee Reid’s at the time.

However, students from other classes were quite surprised that the top spot had suddenly changed hands to a completely unfamiliar name.

"You’re amazing, Ethan! You showed all the seniors what’s what right off the bat."

The boy in the front seat turned around, looked at Ethan Sterling with an excited expression, and said, "You’re doing us guys proud!"

Another boy gave a thumbs-up. "The class president has always been number one. She’s probably going to be crying her eyes out this time!"

Ethan Sterling quickly shot them a look and shook his head.

’Of course, he was happy about getting first place, but not ecstatic. After all, he’d almost always been number one in the past, so he wasn’t about to get carried away.’

All the fuss from his classmates was making him a bit awkward.

He secretly glanced toward Renee Reid’s seat in the front right, where he saw her staring blankly at her results.

"Class President, are you okay?"

Renee Reid’s deskmate hesitated for a long moment before finally mustering the courage to ask.

Renee Reid had been staring at her score sheet in a daze, as if she’d suffered a major blow.

Renee Reid shook her head and muttered, "How could the gap be so big?"

She sighed, a look of defeat on her face, but she felt a sense of indignation inside.

7.5 points. To Renee Reid, the gap was a huge blow. In the college entrance exams, a single point could separate you from a stadium full of people!

Her deskmate patted her on the back, consoling her. "Your grades don’t matter that much now. You’ve already been guaranteed admission, so you don’t even have to take the college entrance exams."

Renee Reid pouted. That was true, but holding the results in her hand still filled her with a sense of defeat.

It wasn’t until the break between classes that Ethan Sterling found a chance to speak with Renee Reid alone.

But before he could speak, Renee Reid cut him off. "Don’t you dare console me. I can take a loss as well as I can take a win. I’ll admit, you were better this time!"

Ethan Sterling’s words caught in his throat, and then Renee Reid’s response made him laugh. "Alright, you admit I was better. So, are you still competing next time?"

"Why wouldn’t I? I refuse to believe that just because you won once or twice, you can keep winning forever!" Renee Reid’s competitive spirit was fired up, and she accepted the challenge without hesitation. "Next time, I’ll definitely be number one!"

"Well, good luck then!"

"Good luck? This girl doesn’t need luck. This girl relies on skill!"

"Alright, Miss Skill!"

Just then, Jameson Stone popped out from the side, slinging an arm around Ethan Sterling’s shoulders. He raised a smug eyebrow at Renee Reid. "How come you’re not crying? Ethan stole your throne as number one."

"I wouldn’t cry even if you died!" Renee Reid rolled her eyes, turned, and walked away.

"What about you? What rank did you get?" Ethan Sterling asked, looking at Jameson Stone.

Hearing this, Jameson Stone clutched his heart in mock agony. "One hundred and one. It hurts just to talk about it. My mom promised me a reward if I got into the top one hundred. I missed it by one spot!"

Ethan Sterling couldn’t help but laugh, but Jameson Stone smacked him on the back of the head. "You’re laughing?"

"You may not be getting a reward, but I can treat you to something good to encourage you."

"Really? Aren’t we going to eat at Mama’s Fiery Skewers with Renee Reid next Monday?"

"Next week is next week. I got first place and want to celebrate, too. Is there anything you’re craving?"

Jameson Stone thought for a moment, his eyes lighting up. "It’s Thursday. How about we go crazy with some KFC?"

Ethan Sterling nodded. "Sure, no problem."

Jameson Stone grinned from ear to ear. The two walked off toward the restroom with their arms around each other’s shoulders, Jameson’s teasing voice drifting back. "Ethan, your sister’s so powerful, you think she can make KFC have five ’crazy’ days a week?"

"I think you’re the one who’s crazy..."

*

Cecilia Sterling opened her eyes, unlocked her phone, and was greeted by a long, essay-like message from Eugene Jacobs.

"Miss Sterling, yesterday..."

Cecilia Sterling closed the message after reading only the first few words. Whatever Eugene Jacobs had sent didn’t matter to her; everything was still under her control.

She got up, washed her face, ate breakfast, and then headed to her class.

’She knew Eugene Jacobs would be anxious. Especially after she’d witnessed that farce yesterday, he was bound to grow more insecure and start acting rashly out of panic.’

Then, after her class let out at noon, Cecilia Sterling suddenly received a message from Fabian Griffin.

"Miss Sterling, I’ve dug up some more tidbits on Eugene Jacobs for you. Hope they’re useful. These are on the house!"

Attached to the message was a folder.

Cecilia Sterling casually opened it. Inside was a record of some of Eugene Jacobs’s personal connections and his various social media accounts.

She was only glancing at it, as this information wasn’t particularly useful, but when she saw the four words "Fifty Shades of Grey," she broke out in goosebumps.

"Tiktok ID: Fifty Shades of Grey"

’Blair’s top supporter... is Eugene Jacobs?’

Cecilia Sterling’s mind immediately flashed back to the day she and Blair had met Eugene Jacobs. Connecting that to Eugene’s "peculiar tastes," Cecilia couldn’t help but wonder if he had ulterior motives toward Blair.

Thinking that Blair wasn’t streaming in the mornings now and should still be in her dorm, Cecilia decided to tell her about this immediately.