"You are awake, I've been waiting for you for hours" detective Carson said as he saw Remi's eyes flutter open.
"You got alcohol poisoning, you are in the hospital now" he said when he saw that she was confused and looking around.
Remi remembered how she accidentally had too many drinks the previous day.
Detective Carson saw that she wàsnt surprised, then he decided to talk to her about the murder case. After finishing telling her the details he noticed that the girl still wasn't surprised or even shaken.
"It wasn't me" Remi said.
"It's wise that you don't want to talk about it in the absence of your lawyer but you'll still have to come with me to the police station for questioning" he said.
Remi ignored him and looked around for her phone, once she found it she pressed on Drew's number (they had exchanged numbers the previous day).
******************
Meanwhile at the school, Myrtle felt a sense of satisfaction after seeing that Remi still hadn't come to class after a long time. Thinking that it was the right time to make her move, during break time she approached Drew, but before she could even say anything he ran away from her making everyone in class laugh at her embarrassing moment.
"What are you all laughing at! Scram!" She screamed in embarrassment, her cheeks turning red but no one noticed since the acne already made her cheeks look flushed.
Two girls who were just as big as Myrtle sneered.
"You might have been hot sh*t with Jordan around, but with him gone, what gives you the audacity to still think you are in power?" One of the two girls said.
"Yeah, Coby here is from the Green Mamba Gang too, although his level was lower than Jordan's he's still a member. That means...I can get back at you for all the bullying!" the second girl said while hooking her arm around Coby.
"As for your first punishment....kneel! And you'll remain like that for the rest of the break" the second girl commanded.
Knowing that she was no longer in the position to resist, Myrtle's brain worked in overdrive until she finally thought of something after looking at Rabecca who was trying so hard to remain hidden.
She rushed up to Rabecca and gave her a tight slap.
"You bi**h! You dare to hide away from this? Didn't mom already make it clear? If I fall you have to fall too, if I'm embarrassed you have to be embarrassed too and if I'm in trouble you have to bear the consequences on my behalf!" She yelled as she dragged the screaming Rabecca by her hair and tossed her Infront of everyone.
"She will be punished in my stead" without waiting for anyone to say anything she ran out of the classroom, leaving Rabecca kneeling on the ground with a swollen cheek.
Rabecca clenched her fists in anger, she couldn't live her whole life in Myrtle's shadow.
'Maybe it's time to accept that strange man's request, my life can't possibly get any worse than it already is.....but...why would he want me to be following around Remi all the time in school?' she thought in confusion before dismissing the thought, either way she would do it.
********************
After Drew had run to the basketball court, he found a missed call from Remi, making him feel a bit regretful for having missed it.
'But...why would Remi call me during class hours?'
Thinking that she might be in trouble, he anxiously dialled her, when she didn't answer during the first ring' he felt a little panicked so he called again to which she answered.
"Hello Drew" Remi said.
"A-are you okay? Why didn't you come to school today? Are you in trouble?" He asked anxiously.
"Don't worry, it's no trouble... although something did happen, I can't tell you about it right now but if you give me Rowan's number everything will be resolved" she coaxed, in the same way she used to in the past.
Unbeknownst to Remi who was treating him as her brother, Drew misinterpreted it as Remi being considerate- to his mentality in order to not worry him- which warmed his heart.
"Alright, you can call me again if Rowan causes you any trouble okay?" He agreed without hesitation.
"Alright sure, don't worry l can handle the big guy" she chuckled.
"Um..does this mean you won't be tutoring me today? The..the exam is in 3 days and I still don't know much" he said nervously.
"If Rowan can resolve this before sundown, I'll be there" she said gently.
"Okay, I will wait for you" he said.
"Sure" she hung up.
After the call ended, Drew sent Rowan's number to Remi then he touched his chest to feel his heart. What was wrong with him today?
In the morning, he kept glancing at the door thinking that Remi would get In trouble since she was late. But when she didn't come at all after break time, he knew something was wrong which made him anxious and now he felt relieved knowing that she was alright and she would still come to tutor him.
Was it because she was the first outsider who treated him so nicely for no benefits? His first real friend who wasn't so pretentious or didn't look down on him, thinking of this, Drew's handsome face had a stupid smile plastered on it.
He happily went to the cafeteria to eat.
Now that the whole school knew that Drew was a dimwit, most of them mocked him, the majority being boys who were jealous of his looks and the girls whose boyfriends were not even half as handsome as Drew. A small portion of the students pitied his situation, due to this, only a few people still bothered Drew but it was bearable for him. After all, he was already used to it, even at his previous school, the situation was the same.
Even though all of the students at Ashwood Academy of Excellence(AAE) were from wealthy families, not all of them were good looking, Drew was still in the top 3. Being spoiled kids, they never hid their malice towards him, always finding the tiniest chances to bully him, making him seem so pathetic that no one wanted to be friends with him. One time they even beat him up, when Orion found out he acted on a whim and used up a lot of money to make their parent's businesses suffer. And although he was punished by Magnus to get back all the money he had lost, Orion was satisfied by the result. Ever since then, only a few kids still bullied him, but he was protected by the fake friends who were forced into befriending him by their parents who had faced the wrath of Orion.
But the moment the news of Orion's death spread, what Drew faced the day he returned to school couldn't even be called bullying anymore. All those kids- who had lowered their heads to him, bootlicked him and followed him around school like minions- turned on him at once. Not even half an hour after being dropped off, Rowan and his guards received his distress signal, making them rush back to school. Seeing the state Drew was in, they made a call to Magnus, despite being Drew's father he didn't even feel like getting justice for his kid. He just told them to enrol him in a mediocre school where everyone would fear his power and dare not cause trouble for him.
That's how he ended up in Ridgewood High School, but he didn't want anymore fake friends to be attracted to him because of his family's money so he retained a low-key identity.
That's also the reason why he felt so happy to have a friend who didn't care about his looks or money, but thinking that they had only known each other for a day, he wondered if they could be considered as friends so soon.
He panicked when he thought that Remi might not even consider him as her friend, then he thought of doing something brave if Remi came to tutor him. If she did not consider him as her friend then he would gather up his courage and ask her to be his friend, thinking of this he couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.
He crossed his fingers and prayed that she would not reject him, apart from his brother, mom and his six uncles, Remi was the only other person he liked.
Drew taking the initiative to like someone- without them making efforts- was rather rare, which is why he hoped to keep her by his side.