46. Bets

Lance had the phones of the four guys he had beaten up stored in his school bag.

After school, he let Paige go home first and then went to an internet cafe in a bad area that did not require an ID to use a computer.

But to make sure, he bought a dark jogging suit with a hood on the way, changing into it at a public toilet and storing his school uniform in his school bag- an inconspicuous black backpack.

After entering and sitting down, he transferred all the videos and sent them to the police with the names of the three listed.

Initially, he wanted to go easy on one of them as Jace had only given him three names, but while beating them, he forgot about this.

However, this kind of video showed up on every one of the four phones, so thankfully, no innocent person was among them.

In both storyparts was mentioned that after being raped, they gave him an admission letter for their school, and this was how he came to a prestigious school.

That not only made no sense, but he had never seen them while in school for three days and sitting in the auditorium today. Well, now they were in the hospital, he assumed.

And...he wasn't there for the second full day.

Eitherway, he had done the official revenge, now came his private one.

He made a social media account and tagged everyone that had the name of his school in their profile, then he posted the pictures he had taken of the four of them lying beaten and with pulled-down pants.

He left the internet cafe and got himself an envelope and stamps. Then he wrote down the address of a police station, the new password he had settled for the phones, and again the list of names he knew of, and put the phones in the envelope.

Stamping it, he found a public mailbox, and was finished with these guys.

He felt much more at ease with having the whole rape incident off his mind, and he shook hands with himself for not randomly going and losing his virginity.

It did not matter either way, but he should at least find one who was not working at a shady place, where it was unclear if he would have contract some diseases.

There was nothing against that girl from before, but maybe sixteen was a bit too young to take that risk.

Wandering about, he was suddenly patted on the shoulder.

Bayou smiled at him. "Hey lad, how is it going? Better?"

Lance's face twitched, feeling embarrassed for his behavior back then.

"It's alright, what's up?"

"Wanna go on a beer?" Bayou asked, looking like he was on his own.

"Sure." Lance nodded, and they sat down at a pub.

After a few hours of talking, they got acquainted, sharing unexpectedly the story of growing up in the same orphanage. 

Bayou didn't look like a bad or horrible person but had not had a chance of getting out of this area.

Lance had drunk a bit and grew bold after contemplating shortly.

"I have information on a few safe bets. How about I give you one thousand dollars, you place the bets with your brothers and keep a ten percent fee, later you get fewer fees, but the winning number will be higher, cause I will place more money." He opened another can of beer. Not having much experience with drinking because having not even enough money even to eat regularly, still, he liked the feeling of it.

Bayou listened attentively but silently waited for him to continue.

"We don't know each other, and sure, you could take the whole money for yourself if the bet works out. But, if this bet works, there will be another one with more profit. Then the one after, and so on."

He drank out and crashed the can.

"How about you try it out? You can keep the thousand dollars or place it on the bet I'm telling you about. If the bet loses, you didn't lose a thing."

Bayou did not believe that this kid had an accurate insight into gambling, but as he said, there was nothing to lose and nothing illegal about placing a bet. It was just frowned upon.

But not from himself or his brothers, who did way more illegal stuff to make ends meet.

"Deal, let's try and exchange contact information." Bayou was not one to talk lengthy about its plans; being straightforward was also what Lance appreciated.

They reached an agreement fast, and after exchanging numbers, Lance sent him the sum of money directly, and the winning team's name. This bet was on a football game, and placing it on the underdogs, who, according to the system, would win, they could double the money.

Letting Bayou take two hundred dollars, and Lance himself would get 1800 dollars out of it would be not much.

But it was not only a test for the system's accuracy; it was also one for Bayou.

If Lance could work together with more people, he would not be as noticeable as it were an underage teenager who would constantly win huge figures.

He didn't know if, at his age, they would let him place bets. After a quick search online, they apparently would not. 

After a fruitful trip outside, Lance went back home and saw Paige lying on the floor, napping while the TV was on.

After taking off his shoes, he nudged her with his foot on her side, and she turned to him, looking dazed.

"So...you went home and directly laid on the carpet, not even making it upstairs?" He asked, smiling teasingly.

Paige paused a bit and then pointed at him in accusation, with a blank face

"Underaged drinking detected." Then, she looked back to the TV, letting her hand slack down.

"And? Am I getting house arrest?"

"Na, you are the male lead, you can drink a bit, but be careful of..." She wanted to joke about him getting kidnapped or for someone taking advantage of his body, but thinking about it.... it was better not to mention these words.

"Well.....getting drunk....too much," She finished clumsily.

Lance chuckled before breaking out in laughter.