Disaster Strikes

Terry's group escaped the bill and caused a ruckus at Palace Garden. They smashed an antique vase in the process and they were cuffed and taken off to the police station. After taking their statements, the police decided that Terry, Ashley Lex, and Alex would take all the responsibility. The cost of the meal was $15,000. Plus the $30,000 for the antique vase, the total was $45,000.

Alice, Mary, Lisa, and the rest of their classmates were released.

"So are you able to pay, or are you going to spend some time in jail?" An officer asked them.

"Wait, let me make a call." Terry took out his phone in a hurry and started making calls, one by one. Half an hour later, Terry had only managed to borrow a few thousand dollars. Most of the people he called either claimed they didn't have any money to lend, or simply hung up the phone when they heard the amount.

"Damn." Terry was so angry that he nearly smashed his phone. "Do you have any money?" He asked Ashley with reddened eyes.

"I only have a few hundred dollars on me. I spent almost all my allowance for this month." Ashley said awkwardly.

"Lex, what about you?" Terry asked. "Uh, the same as Ashley. I only have a few hundred on me, nowhere near enough." Lex replied.

"Alex, what about you?" Terry asked getting more and more desperate. Alex shook his head at Terry's angry look, he backed off a few steps in fear. "Dammit, you three ate and drank a lot tonight too. You were there when the vase broke due to our scuffle with the security guards and you were part of it." He realized they were out of options.

"Without the money, we're all going to jail then."

Ashley, Lex, and Alex's hearts sunk. They felt betrayed. Hadn't they done all this for Terry? And not only was he not shouldering all the responsibility for what had happened, he almost seemed to be trying to turn the tables on them. The three of them looked at each other in frustration, but they did not dare to be hostile towards Terry. They had only managed to scrape together $6,000, which was still a long way from $45,000.

Helpless, Terry could only lower his head and plead with the manager of Palace Garden, who was at the station with them to finish off giving his report of the night's events. "Sir, we're students. We really can't afford that much money. We've never been in any trouble before. Would you consider settling for 20,000? "

"Ha! So what? Students can just go around smashing things and not have to come up with compensation?" The manager sneered. "Where did you get the idea you can just get away with something like this? Do you want a discount? Ridiculous. If you make a mistake, even if it's only once, you have to face up to the consequences."

Terry was getting angrier by the second and started toward the manager with a hateful look. But Ashley and the others stopped him in time. "Terry be rational. If you hit him, it'll be much worse than just a matter of losing money." Ashley said.

"Terry, if there's really no other way, you can speak to your dad, right?" Lex looked at him, helplessly.

Terry glared back at Lex and said, "Bullshit. If my dad finds out, he'll kill me. He won't let me drive anymore. And I may as well say goodbye to my monthly allowance."

"We can't go to a loan shark, can we?" Lex sighed.

"Hey, that gives me an idea. A few days ago, who saw some ads for loan companies? They sort things out really quick." Alex went to get his phone back out, but Terry grabbed him and shoved him up against the wall.

"Hey. Hey, what are you doing? In the police station, and you still want to cause trouble?" A policeman shouted heading quickly over toward them.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We're just having fun." Ashley claimed.

"You're still in the mood to play around, huh? Hurry up and think of a way to pay your debt. Otherwise, you'll all have to spend the night in jail," the policeman mocked.

Terry grabbed Alex's collar and sneered at him. "Are you a fucking idiot? How are we ever going to repay a loan like that?"

Alex realized it was hopeless. "Then what do we do? I can't go to jail. It'll ruin my life. I won't be able to go to a good school and I won't be able to find work. If my parents find out, they'll never speak to me again. Terry, you're the richest one here. If you can't afford it, we can't afford it."

Alex was the one with the most ordinary family background among the four of them. His parents both worked hard at decent jobs and they lived pretty comfortably, but nothing more. Alex's monthly living expenses were actually only slightly more than a couple hundred dollars. The others all knew about Alex's situation, but they pretended not to. But just like him, they didn't want to feel their parents' wrath or end up eating prison food.

"Terry, Alex is right. You're the richest. I definitely can't afford to pay." Ashley said carefully.

"We have to figure this out. Once this is all settled. We'll go find Rudd and get revenge," Lex said, fiercely.

Terry looked at Ashley and the others with a cold heart. What a bunch of dogs they were. Waiting for him to clean up.

"Okay, look, I can ask my dad. But after this is over, you have to think of a way to get the money out of George so we can pay it back." Terry said.

"What? How are we meant to do that?" Ashley was confused.

"It's either that, or you can think of a way to return your share of the money to me. Otherwise, don't blame me for what happens then." Terry's threatened.

Ashley and the other two looked at each other and helplessly agreed.

Terry immediately took out his phone and called his dad, Joseph Fuller. "Um, dad, something happened to me. I'm at the police station."

"What? Calling me up because you are in trouble again? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"Dad, it's hard to explain, but I need you to come and we need $45,000 to settle things up." Terry said, helplessly.

"What? 45,000? You can't be serious. I'm done with all this. If you cause trouble for yourself, you can take care of it yourself." And with that, Joseph hung up the phone.

"Terry, is he coming?" Alex asked anxiously.

"Don't worry. It's all good. He'll definitely come." Terry said trying to sound confident.

A half hour later, a stocky middle-aged man walked into the police station. When he saw Terry who was sitting casually chatting with his friends, he walked right over and slapped him.

"Terry, you are an extravagant idiot. You're grounded. And how…"

"Dad stop. Wait. You need to pay him first. He's the manager of Palace Garden." Terry said, lifting his hands to try and protect his face.

Turning to see the man they owed all this money, Joseph was dumbfounded. He stuttered. "Ba… Ba… Ba… Mr. Banks."

Ronald Banks gave a cold laugh and tilted his head to the side.

"You brat. It's bad enough to be in trouble at all. But with Little Banks, what the hell were you thinking?"

He held Terry by the collar and considered slapping him again, but controlled himself. Turning away and taking a breath, Joseph signalled his assistant who took out a suitcase. "Mr. Banks. This is $45,000. Feel free to count it if you wish."

Ronald Banks opened the box and said, "45,000," he took out some of the money.

"Mr. Banks, please. I hope you won't hold this against us. He's a stupid kid. Look..." Joseph rubbed his hands together and looked at Banks nervously.

"Written off," Banks said coldly as he took the money and left.

Joseph respectfully watched until he was gone. Then he turned around and looked angrily at Ashley and the others. "From now on you won't be spending time with this bunch of idiots."

Ashley and the others were angry at feeling the blame being put on them again. But as they watched Mr. Fuller viciously grab Terry by the neck and march him out of the station, they didn't dare say a word.