CHAPTER 447: CHAPTER 447: DOESN’T LIKE WHEN SHE’S NOT AROUND

Ashley Shaw was experiencing one blackout after another today.

Originally, there were already plenty of things to do, and out of the blue, another task appeared.

It was a task she simply couldn’t ignore.

Moreover, the other party didn’t give her any chance to refuse; it seemed they hadn’t even considered that she might decline. After speaking, they hurriedly left.

Speech draft...

Where is she supposed to get a speech draft?

She needs to prepare it by tomorrow and even has to go on stage... not knowing whether it’ll be a prepared speech. Going unprepared is even more disastrous.

She remembered that in her previous life, when she was in college, she didn’t have this much going on at all; the freshman assembly had nothing to do with her. She only recalled sneaking and playing on her phone during the assembly.

Now she actually has to step onto the stage, no sneaking around.

What bad luck! How did she manage to get picked as the freshman representative? Who exactly made this decision?

In the dean’s office.

The dean suddenly sneezed: "Achoo..."

The dean’s assistant walked in at that moment.

"Dean, have you chosen the freshman representative?"

The dean nodded: "I picked Ashley Shaw, she’s a bit more suitable in every aspect. Plus, Director Ford mentioned that she didn’t want the choice to be too flashy."

The most important thing is, Ashley Shaw has the highest score among the freshmen.

Jocelyn Hayes just barely made it in.

Choosing Ashley Shaw is legitimate, and it also earns favor with The Prescott Group.

Moreover, in terms of image, Ashley Shaw’s looks are a bit better; she’s the type that looks good to people of all ages, while Jocelyn Hayes is a bit too glamorous.

Choosing Ashley Shaw seems more suitable in every way.

"Alright." The assistant nodded, then brought up Wendy Alden’s issue.

The dean rubbed his temples in frustration: "Since Ashley Shaw said she wants to settle it privately, let’s not blow things up... transfer her to a different class, further away from Ashley Shaw’s group. Arrange her dorm in Building B. Try to avoid them meeting."

"Alright, got it."

...

On the other side, Ashley Shaw returned to the classroom, recounted the matters from the meeting, and distributed some forms she had just copied from the complex building.

After taking care of all these tasks, she felt utterly exhausted and collapsed into her seat, resting her head in the crook of her arm.

While others felt excitement and joy at the start of school, she was just annoyed.

Clearly, her hands were full of tasks, and she had to deal with the class issues too, how could you call this anything but frustration?

Although this might appear as an honor to others, to her, it truly felt like a burden.

"Are you okay?" Jocelyn Hayes poked her arm and asked, "Why does it seem like attending a meeting took a toll on you?"

"Doesn’t it feel like it? They said I’m to be the freshman representative and have to give a speech, and I have to prepare the draft myself..."

"Huh?" Jocelyn Hayes’s eyes widened, "Then you can’t have your midnight snacks tonight, right?"

Ashley Shaw chuckled bitterly: "You three will have to go without me; I’ll head back to the dorms to work on the speech. Since I don’t know if it’ll be unprepared, I might need to memorize it a bit."

Jocelyn Hayes patted her arm, showing sympathy.

Meanwhile, their conversation was overheard by Evelyn Vaughn, sitting at the front desk.

She couldn’t help but wonder why Ashley Shaw was chosen as the freshman representative.

Was it just because she’s good-looking?

Or did Ashley get chosen because Evelyn Vaughn didn’t volunteer?

Thinking about the latter possibility made Evelyn Vaughn feel a sense of anxiety.

She also wondered if Ashley Shaw bore any resentment because Evelyn had once "abandoned" her.

But in reality, Ashley Shaw was too busy to recall the incident of being abandoned by Evelyn Vaughn.

Soon, the dismissal bell rang, and students swarmed out.

Three people happened to bump into Ariana Grant downstairs.

Ashley Shaw explained things to them and headed back to the dorm.

The speech draft’s content wasn’t difficult. Online searches yield plenty, so slight modifications were enough.

Since the speech had to be over ten minutes, she downloaded several chunks and stitched them into a coherent draft.

Just as she was about to tailor it to The Medical University and her own circumstances, her phone suddenly chimed.

It was a message from Assistant Lowell.

Ashley Shaw quickly set aside the speech draft and checked her phone.

Assistant Lowell mentioned that he had been on the plane earlier, hence the delayed response.

Ashley Shaw immediately called Assistant Lowell, inquiring: "Where did you go?"

"The port area."

Ashley Shaw instantly understood.

This was in preparation for receiving Warren Prescott.

"If there are any updates tomorrow, please let me know, so I can relay them to Grandpa Prescott."

"Don’t worry, Miss Shaw, I’ll keep you promptly informed."

"Good."

Assistant Lowell was meticulous and attentive, and Ashley Shaw felt assured by him, although she couldn’t help but notice her heart started racing.

Hopefully, he’s alright...

This isn’t about whether she still harbors feelings for Warren Prescott; it’s just if anything happened to Warren Prescott, Grandpa Prescott’s reaction... she didn’t dare imagine.

Moreover, her past life car accident was a freak accident, not anything malicious from Warren Prescott.

It was an unexpected event, not Warren’s intention to harm her.

Thus, even though she harbored resentment towards Warren Prescott, she felt his wrongdoing wasn’t enough to warrant severe punishment.

After ending the call, Ashley Shaw suddenly inexplicably thought of someone—Xavier Quincy.

He definitely knew more details about Morgan Schultz than she did.

If she could contact Xavier Quincy, she could provide timely updates to Assistant Lowell on many aspects.

With this thought in mind, Ashley Shaw tried her luck, dialing Xavier Quincy’s number.

Predictably, her phone indicated that he was out of service range.

Xavier Quincy was in a high-security confidential area, and she couldn’t reach him unless he reached out to her.

But Ashley Shaw still sent an email to Xavier Quincy’s inbox, explaining Warren Prescott’s situation.

She didn’t mention any future-related matters in the email, simply stating her concern for Warren Prescott and her worries that chasing Morgan Schultz might lead to trouble.

This was due to her concern that Xavier Quincy’s mailbox might also be monitored by ’officials,’ and revealing any secrets would be unfavorable.

However, she knew if Xavier Quincy saw it, he would understand her intention.

But the email she sent produced no reaction whatsoever, not even the slightest ripple.

She could only focus back on what she needed to do at hand.

Although the teacher didn’t explicitly state it, it seemed the speech draft needn’t be fully memorized, though Ashley had prepared for both scenarios.

Thankfully, things went smoothly with the speech draft, and she was someone with good memory, so after roughly half an hour, the speech was about done.

Right at that moment, Jocelyn Hayes and the others returned.

Alongside Lynn Redding, Ariana Grant had also returned with them.

Despite being only away for a short class meeting, Ariana Grant seemed as if years had passed, even appearing with red-rimmed eyes.

"Ashley, I’m really not used to you not being by my side."

Ashley Shaw sniffed and asked her: "Did you drink alcohol?"

Ariana Grant held up a finger: "Just a little bit."

Jocelyn Hayes chuckled: "It’s not exactly alcohol; it’s just drinks with alcohol content. The three of us had some, not realizing it had alcohol. But I didn’t expect her to have such a low tolerance; though the two of us were fine, she got drunk. I saw her slurring and thought it was best to let her come back here with us first."