Chapter 5

Tiffany begins her money-making venture with Laurence using every possible that's available for her to use, including Howard himself. And while he may not be happy with the current arrangement, he's learning to take Tiffany in stride and hope that her crazy antics will end soon. The only downside for him? They don't seem to be ending any time in the near future. It's a new day and once class is dismissed, Howard fans come to the window of the classroom to take a peek at him and when he hears them, he pulls out his tablet to pretend to read, looking cool just for show. meanwhile, Tiffany begins her money making scheme with Laurence, an errands service business. Back in their dorm, Tiffany had gone over the business plan with her explaining that the school is full of people who are rich and live in style and therefore their desire to buy will not get over their laziness to go and get the items themselves. So Tiffany hopes to be the people who defeat their laziness for them, earning money along the way. At first it doesn't seem like anyone is listening or taking them up on their idea, but Tiffany pulls out a megaphone that repeats the same message about their service being open for business. Howard turns it off, though, since he says that it's disturbing his studies. Tiffany says that he's disturbing her business and they begin to argue but she notices the fans looking through the window and Howard takes notice again. She notices his change in attitude to look cool in front of them and calls him out on not studying but rather trying to look cool. Howard doesn't say anything but then comments on how, when ugly, being stared at is some sort of cruelty. She was about to yell at him for his comments when he reveals that it's in the novel that's on his tablet. When Laurence steps in to prevent their argument from getting any worse, Tiffany thinks to when they set up their business plan. Laurence had said that no one changes their habits that quickly and Tiffany tells her that they need a marketing trial, they need people to promote it. She immediately turns down the suggestion of Howard promoting it, since he'll think they're plotting against him and she doesn't like him, but she does have someone else in mind, someone with a good image and good at persuading. That person is none other than Jeff, who gets up to use her service, much to the shock of Howard. It's like the flood gates open after that, with a ton of students coming up to try out the service. Even Howard's fangirls came inside and start wanting to use Tiffany's business. Howard escapes from the desk to ask of Jeff is crazy but he plays dumb. Tiffany and Laurence went to the school's cafeteria and the grocery store to begin picking up the items for their customers. They arrive with their hands full and split up to deliver. One of the classes they go to is Bernice and her friends comment on how she's gotten everyone at Art university Bournemouth under her spell and how she's Howard's desk mate, much to the annoyance of Bernice. Her next stop is her own classroom and as everyone gets their snacks Tiffany carefully makes her way over to Howard, passing a letter to him. His eyes get wide, under the assumption it's a confession letter from her, and turns it down. Tiffany threatens to read it aloud but Howard just tells her he wants nothing to do with her. Staying true to her word, she begins to open and read it as he steals it out of her hands. He ends up throwing it back telling her to wait in line since he has a ton of fans and Tiffany reads the letter for herself, also throwing it back on the desk and becoming flustered. But she pulls out an entire envelope of letters for him explaining that her errands service now delivers love letters. Howard gets angry asking if he would agree to that but Tiffany defends herself by saying that she's only trying to help him keep his popularity and she heard he can't turn down his fans' love letters. She also rationalizes it by saying that she's making it into a systematic system rather than having everyone disturb everyone else's studies. She also has color coded envelopes that cost a different amount of money, everything from just to show respect, to getting an autograph, to even getting a reply. In an attempt to trip Tiffany up, Howard announces to the entire class that he wants to buy drinks for everyone in the large bottles, one for each person. Tiffany doesn't back down and readily accepts Howard's deal. He hands over the money and, after handing it to Laurence, Tiffany sits down and waits. Confused, Howard wonders why she's not going and getting the drinks, but Tiffany smirks as delivery men came in carrying the drinks. She tells the shocked Howard that they placed their order online and calls him out for trying to outwit her before running away to their next class. It just so happens that they have swimming so their class is at the pool. The students go to gather their googles and items but Howard is across the pool, lounging in a chair and listening to music. The other students talk about various reasons why he's not swimming with them but Tiffany can't help but continually look over. She ends up ditching her doughnut floatie and heads over to him. She wonders why he won't swim with them but Howard just brushes her off. She tells him that she'll push him in but he tells her that she can joke about anything else but the pool. She gets closer and goes to push him in and he freaks out a little, even jumping on the window. Tiffany laughs at him and ends up falling in. unable to get her balance in the water, she calls out to him who looks like he has a panic attack and runs away. In the end it's kengsington who pulls her out saying that you have to learn how to swim if you want to overcome your fear of water. He extends his hand telling them they should become friends but when Tiffany doesn't take it right away, he extends it to Laurence instead, who does shake it. Back at the changing room, some girls are outside of the changing room talking about the incident. They begin to say that they heard it was kengsington who pushed Tiffany into the pool but Laurence, who is waiting for Tiffany, tries to clarify and say that he was the one who saved her, not pushed her further in. They say that kengsington is a bully and wonders why she's standing up for him, if she likes him, but they begin to cower away when kengsington makes an appearance. Kengsington ends up yelling at them asking them what they said, scaring them into running away. Laurence begins to ask about what he just heard but he tells her to mind her own business and walks away. In their dorm that night, Tiffany and Laurence count their earnings for their first week of operations, which doesn't amount to as much as Tiffany thought they would get. Laurence thinks they did great, they earned more than what she earned at the café, but Tiffany is disappointed because she has to get the money for the painting and wonders if she'll get kicked out. But she ends up paying with Howard's card and gets into the clear with the teacher. As she leaves, she runs into Bernice who brings up her being Howard's assistant. Tiffany tells her that she's his private, personal assistant but Bernice isn't fooled saying that she's only an assistant by name. Tiffany doesn't let that shake her, though, and gets closer to Bernice as she repeats herself saying she's his desk mate and his private, personal assistant and that Bernice is none of that. Jeff also asks if Tiffany is really his assistant but Howard calls her crazy since she claimed she wasn't a fan but bought a bunch of his tickets. Jeff warns him to be careful since it seems like things haven't been going great for him lately. They notice girls around Tiffany and Howard asks what she was doing. Turns out she was reselling his concert tickets. Jeff stops Howard from saying something to her by explaining that she'll stop the service when she gets the money that she needs, just like he wanted. Later, Howard was listening to music when he feels someone staring at him. It's a different girl sitting in the seat next to him. Tiffany is advertising her seat for sale as part of her business. He asks if she doesn't already have enough money but she says that she can earn more, plus, they don't want to sit next to each other anyway, might as well sell her seat to girls who like him and want to sit next to him. Howard gets angry at her and demands she stops and tells her that it's because she's his assistant and if she breaches the contract, she'll need to compensate more money than she paid for the painting. She says she's a woman of her word and he orders her to get him some water. However, it's not good enough because he wants hot water for his sensitive stomach. The next one is too hot, though, and he demands she go get him some warm water, which she does eventually. They end up having math instead of gym, since the teacher is sick, and they get back their math tests. As Professor winfield is scolding them for their bad grades, Tiffany warns Howard that he better not give her any problems that she can use against him. It's at that moment that the teacher calls him out to say that he scored the lowest in the class and even brought down the class average. He also hands out study group assignments, putting Howard and Tiffany in the same group. Howard stands up to object to the pairing but Tiffany stands up next to him to say that she's happy to accept the arrangement since she's willing to help a simple-minded student step it up to defend the class's honor. Howard has nothing to say to that and admits defeat. She then brings up the welcome party saying that every class has to do something. The class suggests that Howard sings to which he readily agrees. They got back to going over their papers and as Howard isn't paying attention, Tiffany begins to draw him, getting struck by lightning. She even uses her compact to try to get good angles of him. At the Howard fan café, the fangirls are giving Tiffany a massage wanting her to give them information about him and envying her since she's able to be next to him all the time. She tells them that the only reason they took pictures of the two of them was because they seem like good friends before telling them that he's unmanly. Jeff brings Tiffany to the Student Council saying that they could use some help since they're planning for the welcome party. Tiffany is curious about who is in charge of the college archives and he tells her that only those in the presidium can access them. When asked why, she brushes it off as just a curious question. Jeff tells her that she brushed someone on the council the wrong way so it's now the perfect time to clear the air. Turns out that the person is none other than Bernice. Tiffany's someone that sticks by her word. She is definitely not afraid to call Howard out on things or argue with him, as seen by their relationship, even as they fall in love, and Howard isn't afraid to give Tiffany what he got either, although she always ends up winning in the end, he clearly isn't just going to let her step all over him. But it does seem like he has some issues with water. He seemed fine until Tiffany fell in and called for him to help and when kengsington helped her out, he made a comment about needing to know how to swim in order to get over your fear of water. So perhaps he knows something. Tiffany is a girl with spunkiness, confidence, but Bernice kind of gets on her nerve.