12 I Can't Believe The Bracelet Is Gone! (03)

"I didn't give Paige my number..." Julianna looked like she was going to analyze the whole unpredictable situation, but with distress. She put her hand below her chin and walked around in small circles.

"What's the message about, Jules?" Beth caught a glimpse of Julianna's message. "Oh, no...we are going to face Paige, Jade, and Simone tomorrow."

"Paige...she must have got my phone number from someone else in the school. That's such a cheeky move."

"What shall we do then?"

"Anyways, the only thing we can do is to face them now. And we will not back off."

After all the drama and rivalry with Simone and her friends, Julianna finally decided that the time was ready for a war. Taking a more diplomatic route towards them and staying out of business didn't work when Simone's crew had been persistently aggressive. It became a necessity to start striking back.

The war took place at the end of school time on the second day. Unexpectedly, in the hallway in front of the art room. A gap was created between the two parties--Beth and Julianna stood near one end of the hall, while Paige, Jade, and Simone stood near the other end

"What do you guys want from us!" Beth pointed to Paige, Jade, and Simone one by one and shouted.

"Just answer one question for us. Where did your materials come from? I have never seen you guys have something like that at the start of the competition!" Jade replied irritably.

"We found it in the cabinet and decided to use it. It was one of the allotted items in the art studio, which just got replenished. Jade, you had better pay more notice to the environment when you are working, instead of..."

Julianna walked towards Simone's group and took over Beth's words, with an emotionless look on her face.

"Letting someone help you guys making the dress, having three people at once joining the group, getting jewelry from your dad's clients. What you guys have been doing already constitutes a violation of the competition rules, and we could report you to the committee if we would like. Now, please excuse us since we will need to prepare for the final touches before we enter the runway show."

"Shit..." Jade backed off, her body shaking. She turned to Simone. "Simone, go to the runway show by herself then. We will only be assisting you from now on..."

"Paige, Jade, I mean, the materials that Beth and Jules used look suspicious, but indeed they found it in the cabinet, and they have already put a lot of effort into the work." Simone frowned back at Paige and Jade. She knew that everyone had breached the rules, so why not just reach a more pacific way of settling the dispute?

"Besides, we did indeed use other people in the project. We need to give them a chance to go to the runway and not just block them when we are trying to win..."

"Simone, you know nothing." Paige's face dropped at Simone's words. She then stared at Beth and Julianna, cold-eyed. "Have you guys got any evidence on this?"

"Yes, I recorded what you said on my phone note one day when you were in the art studio." Beth swung her backpack onto the floor and took out her phone. "Just hear this. 'We are so proud to have a friend like you, Simone. You know what, we took the dress to a tailor to let it be made just to cater to your pretty design!'"

Now nothing could be denied. The evidence was by Beth's side. Upon listening to the message, Paige's heart started beating slowly, and Jade started to sweat. Both of them became self-conscious. They had been so proud yet so careless, and now they were facing reverse threats from Beth and Julianna, two people that are clearly "inferior" to them in any way. However, Simone had a different look apart from that of both of them. Her face was written with confusion. She seemed to want to say something, but her lips just stopped in the half-air, with no words spoken from her mouth.

Hee, hee, we don't need to fear them anymore! Beth chuckled loudly to herself.

"Also, Jade, I have a question for you." Beth continued with reading her phone messages. "The other day when you were in the hallway, did you say that 'We need Simone because she is a dazzling star that can help one of my father's clients! I mean, now what have we got? Nothing...'?"

Simone's unspoken sentence turned into a loud gasp.

Unable to defend herself from Beth's evidence, Jade didn't choose to back down. Instead, she suddenly ran towards Beth and grabbed her quickly by the wrist, trying to take her phone away. Beth, startled by what was happening, became instantly anxious and threw her phone away to Julianna. Nonetheless, her bracelet still got reaped by Jade despite that her phone was safe at Julianna's.

"Where did you get this, Bethany Clementine?" Jade's pushed her death stare towards Beth as she almost spat on her face.

"My parents give it to me as a gift."

"I don't believe that. It looks so perfect in comparison to you, and I am sure your parents can't afford something like this. Let me see...wow. Since you used unusual materials on the runway show, now this bracelet is all ours as compensation. How about that?"

Seeing Jade's aggression, Julianna couldn't take it anymore.

"You can't take one's possessions without permission!" Julianna stepped in front of Jade to confront her. "Now you'd better listen up. This bracelet is an important object for Beth!"

"Yea, Jade...can we all just calm down?" Simone was almost speechless about the situation as well.

"Simone, why can't you understand? We are fighting for you and helping you gain more popularity as a singer!" Paige groaned in the midst of the fight. Just then, Jade dunked under Julianna's armpit and slipped away from the rest of the girls.

"Don't mind those two people. Let's go." She waved the bracelet while swaging around, signaling Paige and Simone to come with her before Beth and Julianna could even reach them. "Simone is right—we should give a chance to you guys to prove to everyone how dummy you guys are!"

Paige followed her quickly. Meanwhile, Simone stopped for several seconds at Beth and Julianna, following Paige and Jade's suit later. Why did she do that? Was she hesitating on something?

"Ay. What pieces of garbage." curse words popped out of Julianna's mouth as her exclamation to the messy situation.

"I never expected this to happen."

"I agree with you, Beth. These people are always trying to make drama and conflicts in front of us, although we didn't confront them in the first place. They should be punished."

"No, Jules, it's not that." Beth shook her head and gave her a faint smile.

"Then what, Beth?"

"Jules...I told you last time, but you didn't believe me. The bracelet might be dangerous to Paige and Jade. It belongs to me. I didn't get it from my parents. I got it because I have magic."