Chapter 597 Ridiculous Grandstanding
She felt disgusted seeing these people flocking toward Elise.
Were the scholars in Tissote University this green? They were acting like they had never seen a beautiful girl before. What was the big deal about Elise’s beautiful looks and her past popularity? In the end, she was just a wild girl from the countryside. God knew how many germs and viruses she carried, and even her genes were inferior to them! One would have ten years of life deducted from their lifespan just by touching her. Did they have to be so close to her?
Female artists could be found almost anywhere in this era, especially in Tisotte. Just throw a stone outside and it may strike a trainee, an artist-to-be.
But Sophie was different! She was a brilliant and talented science scholar, who would one day bring glory to the school, if not the country! Instead of being captivated by her, they instead went crazy for an actress. These people were just so unprincipled!
At this moment, Martin appeared.
When he walked in, he saw Elise standing on the podium, surrounded by students asking for her autograph or a photo with her. The entire classroom was extremely noisy. It didn’t look like a place to study at all.
His expression changed to an awful one when he saw this.
An alert guy noticed him and immediately exclaimed, “Mr. Kamp!”
Hearing that, everyone else ran back to their seats and sat down quietly.
With this, Elise felt relieved and walked toward her seat.
Martin then rose to the podium, tidied his shirt, and looked sternly at the entire classroom with his hands on his waist.
When the students saw him in this manner, they immediately felt guilty and lowered their heads. Sophie was the only one who raised her head arrogantly, ready to witness a good show.
The entire classroom was deafeningly silent. The students were under immense pressure as they all knew that there was always a terrifying calm before a storm.
After God knew how long, Martin finally broke the silence.
“Who can tell me what place this is? Who?”
“This is the Elite Class! Each and every one here enjoys the best resources and attention from the country, but what were all of you doing just now? You were all ridiculously seeking pleasure!”
“Especially one particular classmate who was initially left behind. Her family and friends spent so much effort to get her in, but she was ungrateful and sees the school as a venue for her grandstanding! She’s hopeless! All of you want to fail along with her, don’t you?”
All the students knew that they were guilty of what he said, so they lowered their heads even more.
Though he didn’t explicitly say that Elise was the root of the problems, what he said was obvious enough to have the same effect as if he had expressly identified her.
When he said “ridiculous” and “grandstanding”, he was obviously referring to her.
Hearing his scolding, she raised her gaze angrily and looked into Martin’s eyes across the classroom.
The shot always hit the bird that poked its head out. Martin immediately noticed Elise among all the students who were lowering their heads.
He could feel that Elise exuded a strong aura that a college student who had never stepped into the outside world would have; it meant that she had absolute confidence in her capabilities.
He had only seen that kind of gaze once in the eyes of a world-renowned professor. At this moment, he almost couldn’t bear her stare.
His mind went blank for the few seconds they both had eye contact, and he forgot what he needed to do next.
At this point, Sheldon walked in and he immediately came to the aid of Elise.
“Mr. Kamp, as a university professor, why are you so mean with your words? I can hear you from the corridor. I suppose this is school bullying and I can sue you for it.”
Hearing what he said, Martin regained his senses and directed all his anger toward him. “What has it got to do with you? Don’t think that you…”
“What?” Sheldon did not give him a chance to finish his sentence. “You’re knowledgeable, so I’ve nothing to say about that, but I can’t say the same for your personality. This Elite Class has just started, and how many times have you already treated Elise unkindly and made oblique accusations against her? If you aren’t decent yourself, how can you be qualified to educate others?”
“The fact that our classmates asked for her autograph as well as photos together shows how well-liked and popular she is, as well as how harmonious our class is. Furthermore, it did not occur during class. What did they do wrong?”
“People who know nothing have no right to say anything, as the old adage goes. How much do you know about Elise that makes you qualified to describe her so viciously?”
Sheldon was good at nothing, but he was the top guy in terms of arguing and talking back to their teachers. Martin was so stunned by all his words that he had no idea which sentence he should reply to first.
Some of the classmates had long been unhappy about Martin’s targeting of Elise, and hence, they immediately stood up and backed Sheldon.
“Mr. Kamp, Sheldon is right. Elise was innocent all the while. I was the one who stopped her on the podium and asked for her autograph as well as a photo with her. She was kind enough to not reject me, but she shouldn’t be my scapegoat. If you must punish someone, please punish me.”
“Me too! I’m involved also!”
“Mr. Kamp, I stopped Elise too!”
“Mr. Kamp, you’re too obvious in targeting Elise!”
“Exactly! To be honest, I initially thought all of the teachers in this Elite Class would be easy-going, but Mr. Kamp’s conduct for the last two days has really disappointed me…”
Within a minute, almost half of the class had stood up, and the public opinion was that Elise had been treated unfairly.
Martin lost all of his arrogance and his expression turned more and more sour.
A teacher who lacked the support of his students had no right to lose his temper.
“That’s enough! Stop talking and get back to your seats!” Martin decided to just ignore all of them and end this matter sloppily. “This matter ends here. There’s no need to continue arguing about such meaningless matters. Keep quiet. I’ve got a very important message to share…”
“Wait!” Just after everyone sat down, Elise stood up and shouted. She looked at Martin firmly and asked, “The matter was meaningless just because you said so?”
Hearing that, Martin adjusted his glasses and with gritted teeth, he said rudely, “What do you want then?”
“I need an apology,” she said, in a way which was neither haughty nor humble.
“What?” Martin appeared as if he found what she said amusing, and he asked, “Are you asking me to apologize to you? Do you need me to remind you that you’re merely a student, and I’m the teacher who imparts knowledge to you?”
He, being a teacher who graduated from a prestigious foreign university, was highly sought after everywhere. How could he admit defeat to his student?
Elise was not at all impressed by what he said. “Do teachers have any special privilege? Can teachers simply wrong students then? In which book is it stated that teachers do not need to apologize after making a mistake? Or do you believe that you’ve been doing the right thing all this while, and thus you don’t need to apologize, Mr. Kamp? You humiliated me with your words earlier. If you think that this is a normal thing to do to a student, then I highly doubt your credentials as a teacher!”
“That’s true! Elise is right. No matter who you are, you have to apologize after making a mistake!”Sheldon agreed.
“You two!” Martin’s face flushed with anger. He needed to find some support among the students so that he wouldn’t be humiliated.
Sure enough, Sophie was sharp enough to sense that, and she stood up.
“Elise Sinclair, you’re being unreasonable! Everything Mr. Martin has done is for our own good, as well as for the benefit of the entire Elite Class. Who are you to make things difficult for him?”
