After her rebirth
Chapter 43

Clara slumped her shoulders, fishing out her speech from her bag. "The competition kicks off in like, thirty minutes. Gonna cram a bit more."

Just as she pulled out the speech, her hand trembled, and a bag of meds tumbled out of her bag.

Ruby heard the clatter, glanced down, and spotted the meds. She scooped them up and asked, "Clara, what's this?"

Still flipping through her speech, Clara replied, "Ruby, my stomach's been acting up, so I've been popping these laxatives."

She reached out to grab the meds back from Ruby.

But Ruby dodged her hand, grinning. "Clara, lemme take these. I've been feeling kinda off too. Maybe they'll help."

"Sure, but Ruby, wait till you get home to take 'em. These laxatives are pretty hardcore. If you take 'em now, you might miss the speech comp. Check the dosage when you get home, okay?" Clara smiled, noticing Ruby's mood lift. Ruby nodded, "Got it, Clara. You keep cramming. I'm hitting the restroom."

Before Clara could say anything, Ruby bolted.

Clara watched her go, shaking her head with a sigh, muttering to a classmate about Ruby always being in such a rush.

"Haha, Ruby probably had to go real bad, holding it in to keep you company," a classmate joked.

The place was packed since this speech competition was a big deal, drawing a huge crowd.

Besides teachers and students, there were some old folks in suits and some sharp-dressed pros.

Katniss, worried about losing Juniper and causing any pre-comp chaos, clung to Juniper's hand, following her to the contestants' seats.

Juniper's turn was somewhere in the middle, and the contestants' seats were right up front, so they were pretty close to the stage.

As they sat down, two old guys in suits took seats in the guest area across the aisle, followed by two middle-aged dudes in suits in the row ahead. They seemed to know each other and started chatting.

As the comp time neared, people gradually found their seats. Many contestants sat next to Katniss and Juniper, and student volunteers began handing out water bottles.

The contestants, nervously reviewing and practicing, quickly cracked open the water bottles to wet their dry mouths.

Feeling her lips getting dry, Juniper reached for a bottle of water and was about to open it when she hesitated.

"What's up, Juniper?" Katniss asked.

Katniss's voice was sweet and clear, catching the attention of a few people across the aisle. Seeing that Katniss was especially attractive and full of youthful energy, they couldn't help but steal a few more glances before looking away. Juniper shook her head, smiling, "Nothing, this water's just easy to open."

With that, Juniper was about to take a sip.

In a flash, something clicked in Katniss's mind, and she instinctively stopped Juniper's hand, saying, "Wait!"

Her voice was so tense and excited that a few people nearby looked over again.

"What's wrong, Katniss?" Juniper asked, puzzled by Katniss's sudden tension.

Katniss frowned, wondering if she was just being paranoid, but to be safe, she grabbed the bottle from Juniper and held it up to the light.

Upon closer look, she saw some white, cloudy stuff floating in the water. Her expression changed, and she almost squeezed the bottle too hard, nearly spilling it.

What a nasty trick!

Katniss couldn't help but think back to her past life, when she busted her butt for the Manners family's business, even leading a team to develop a new product that got major props from the higher-ups. Just when she was about to present her product to the visiting bigwigs, she was a no-show.

Because she had drunk tampered water.

She was out of it for two days and had to take sick leave, letting Clara step in for the presentation.

Later, the leaders showered Clara with praise, who was already a favorite.

But the product credit went to Clara as the developer under the Manners family's name.

Katniss's eyes reddened.

"Katniss, what's wrong? Don't freak me out," Juniper said, thinking Katniss was sick and trying to get up.

Katniss held her down, shaking her head and lowering her voice to avoid being overheard. "Juniper, I'm fine. But the water is messed up." "Water?" Juniper was confused.

Katniss smirked. "Someone messed with this water."

She dipped her finger in the water and tasted it, confirming her suspicion.

"It's a strong laxative, and a lot of it. If you drank it, you'd be out of the competition." Katniss sneered. "What a dirty move." In her past life, she never found out who tampered with her water, even the surveillance footage had a missing segment.

But after that incident, Katniss had trained herself to identify drugs by taste, becoming super sensitive to different flavors. With eyes wide, Juniper couldn't believe such a thing could happen.

She quickly reacted, "Katniss, we should tell the teacher!"

Katniss frowned, "Now might not be the best time. The school will probably try to cover it up to keep the competition running smoothly. Don't worry, Juniper. I'll protect you. After your speech, we'll figure it out. That way, it won't mess with your performance."

Juniper felt reassured by Katniss's logic. If she had gone to the teacher, the school would have tried to hush it up to keep the competition going, which would have messed with her mood and performance.

Juniper nodded vigorously, "Katniss, don't worry. I'll focus on my speech."

Katniss smiled, looking much more at ease.

Seeing Katniss's smile, Juniper felt completely reassured.

After a while, as Juniper reviewed, Katniss poured out half the bottle of water, leaving the other half on Juniper's desk, and started observing the students' seats.

Across the aisle, the two old guys in suits had watched everything. Their frowns relaxed, exchanging a glance, looking at Katniss with clear admiration.

As the crowd settled, the host gave an inspiring opening speech, and the competition officially kicked off. Contestants took turns delivering their well-rehearsed speeches passionately.

When it was Juniper's turn, she confidently walked to the stage, with Katniss clapping enthusiastically.

Suddenly, a voice came from beside her. "Hello."