Chapter 32

WHEN I RETURNED, everyone knew something that I didn't.

I'd missed two days of classes, and students are, for some reason staring and whispering in my wake. Always in my wake, never in places I can see. They knew something I didn't know, be it menstrual blood on my skirt, spider on my head, or something much more sinister. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to hear what they knew.

But the Lord giveth Jaxon's honest mouth after the Lord taketh my financial troubles away.

When Jaxon spotted me, he slid between the timber doors of classroom 513, and, well, myself. Brown eyes narrowed, as if trying to peer into my fucked up mind, my private sanctuary.

"Is it true?" He asked.

We were too close, too much PDA for two friends. People were staring, they had to be. We were in an open corridor with students rushing to respective classes. I withheld speech in hopes that he would elaborate, Jaxon wore an expectant expression in hopes that I would corroborate.

I don't know how long we stood like that, but when an unnamed student squeezed past us to enter the classroom, I took it as my cue to respond.

"I don't actually know what's happening."

Jaxon's expression was unwavering. "The rumors about you being the richest kid in school."

"Me? The richest kid? Certifiably fake." I said as I slid into the Calculus classroom, acting normal despite the increase in heart pace. I wasn't sure why my body was doing this to me. This situation wasn't calling for fight, nor flight.

Jaxon trailed me. "What about the bribery one?"

"The what?" I paused dramatically in my tracks. Too dramatically, I belatedly realized. I forced my legs to keep moving, to the beat of Albert Einstein's words, 'Life is like a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving'.

But Jaxon, the new student body president, had long legs and an even more persistent thirst for answers. "Explain."

"There's nothing to explain. Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, accepted by idiots."

"Ziad Abdelnour?"

"Ziad who the hell?"

"The person you just quoted," Jaxon said impatiently. "Never mind that, just promise me you'll tell me the full story later."

"There is no full story, Jaxon Ortega." I said nonchalantly as I flipped my Calculus textbook open.

He hummed. "At least tell me how the rumors started."

"For someone so smart, you sure love rumors," I said under my breath.

Jaxon frowned. "There are two logical fallacies in your statement. First you tried to ad hominem me by attacking my thirst for knowledge. Then you non causa pro causa'd me by assuming a causal relationship between the two things you said."

Too bad Ms. Elliot entered the classroom, I would've responded with something snarky. We both knew I would.

✖

The whispers wouldn't die down. I had half a mind to start something controversial and fake, just to displace the current one circulating. Perhaps a fake pregnancy, or better still, a student-teacher relationship.

Because whether or not the bitchy sparrows of Richmond Park Academy realized, I would get expelled if the rumors become known to the higher authorities.

My parents would disown me if they knew. No more "come home this instant Andrea" or "don't worry about it, Daddy will pay". I knew some parents in this school would close one eye to their children's misdeeds, but not mine. Father was always a strong believer that character can shape one's destiny.

Question was, how did the students know? Was it Elias? Would Elias really do such a debilitating thing to me?

The thought was such an all-consuming one that it rendered a pause in my gait.

"There you are," came a faraway noise, down the hallway, behind me.

I turned around, catching sight of Jaxon Ortega flanked by a female and a male, both I identified as Faction Five people.

"Are you stalking me?" I asked when he came in proximity - I wasn't about to scream this down a hallway in a display of barbaric, uneducated behavior.

Jaxon was about to reply when he got cut off by the female by his side. "No, we were going to the SCroom to get something. Why, do you think you're being stalked? That's quite a heavy accusation." She frowned.

"She's joking, it's okay Karina." Jaxon reassured his female counterpart. The male merely stared at our interaction, not deigning to contribute. "Why don't you two go ahead? Tell them I sent you - remember it's all in the third drawer in my office."

With said order given, I watched with mild interest as Jaxon's friends scurried down the hallway. With them gone, the hallway was now empty. It was evening, goes without saying that most students prefer to retire to their hostels than to hang around the classrooms.

"So?" Jaxon prodded, straight to business, none of the pleasantries we learn as children.

"Are you genuinely interested or are you just trying to make conversation with me?" I asked back.

He made a frustrated noise, very un-Jaxon-like. "I just want to know."

"Which part?"

"We can do this all night, Andrea," he shook his head. "You know which part."

"I literally got back today... And everyone's whispering for some unknown reason. In the first place I don't even know how students came to whatever conclusion they've come to because I certainly do not recall doing anything to the effect of drying dirty linen in public." I huffed out.

He seemed to be pondering. Then his hands rested on my lower back, leading me in the opposite direction I was originally walking (I was headed for the gym to find Elias).

"Walk with me," he said easily.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Do you always ruin romantic moments with inquisitive questions?"

"Romantic?" My hormones jumped excitedly.

His hands fell away from my back, leaving in its wake a silent desire for his hand to return. He turned his neck to face me, a flat expression etched on his features.

"Twenty-first century media, along with novels really corrupt the youth, you know that?" Jaxon started. "I wasn't referring to romantic in the conventional sense, I was referring to it's other meaning: an idealized view of reality, synonymous with the words idyllic and picturesque."

"Jaxon, can I ask a question?"

"After you answer if the rumors are true."

I rolled my eyes. Here we go again.

"I could tell you which bits are true and which aren't, but I don't even know what the rumors are."

"There's one saying you're the richest student here."

"That sounds ridiculous. My father's decently well-off, I can't be the richest person here."

"If you're a Schaeffler, you belong to the thirteenth richest family in America. And none of your twelve superiors have children in this school so..."

"Look," I sighed. "Honestly, I don't like talking about my father's wealth, neither do I like when people try to conflate my father's wealth with my own. I'm this close to getting disowned by my parents - don't ask." I extended my thumb and pointer finger to show him exactly how much my parents want to disown me.

He took it in with an appreciative nod. "What about the one that said you bribed Principal Walters into leaving with five billion dollars?"

"It was five million."

"Holy shit."

"I said million, not billion."

"Still," Jaxon insisted. "That's a lot of money. My father doesn't even have a thousand to his name."

"Wait," I blinked. "You're, uh - "

"On scholarship, yeah." Jaxon confirmed, his eyes leaving mine for the first time this evening. "I'm no Elias DuPont, yeah, I know."

"What are you saying?"

"Keep walking," he said instead, leading the both of us out into the cool night.

No moon tonight, it gave the sky an ominous look, encrusted with indifferent stars that glimmered like cheap rhinestones. Not pretty, not tonight. My mind was brimming with questions, it suddenly occurred to me that I knew close to nothing about Jaxon. Nothing.

"Why don't you talk about yourself?" I asked Jaxon, earnestly.

"Neither do you," he retorted.

Tonight of all nights, I saw this boyishness in Jaxon. For once, he wasn't my intellectually superior Calculus tutor, he wasn't the student body president, he wasn't this social creature with extremities distributed across different factions. Tonight, Jaxon was a friend, and I was curious to know everything about him.

The feelings hit with the force of a tidal wave. I balked in my steps.

"I literally know nothing about you," I complained. "Where are you from? What's your middle name? What do your parents do? What are your hobbies other than taking unhealthy interests in rumors? Why did you say you were no Elias DuPont?"

He laughed - such a foreign sound to my ears. His smiles were rare, his laughter rarer. Who was this enigma standing beside me? How dare he know so much about me, without offering any information about himself?

"Before I answer, I have one last question," he said. "What were you going to get expelled for?"

I kept my gaze downcast. "Does it even matter?"

"Some are saying you tried to set a building on fire. Others are saying you tried to kill a student. I mean, the previous rumors were crazy, man, so crazy I didn't think they were true, but turns out they weren't fake," he shrugged. "What's the truth, Andrea?"

"I smuggled an outsider into my room," I said after a very long beat of silence. "A boy."

"Boyfriend?"

"No," I elbowed him playfully. "Why? You jealous?"

"He did get caught and would've gotten you expelled if not for illegal means of resolving a conflict. It's hard not to - "

I stopped him abruptly when I finally recognized the figure standing at the entrance of the female hostels. Elias DuPont, with gym bag slung over his shoulders and phone in hand. I felt my stomach sinking as I instinctively dug for my cellphone.

Five missed calls and three texts from Elias, the earliest one dating back to an hour ago, each respectively inviting me for dinner.

I chewed on my lip, unsure what to do. But Elias made up his mind for the both of us, choosing to leave the area. In silence, I watched the male leave. I'd never felt this helpless prior. Jaxon was the first to speak.

"What was that about?"

"Not sure," I said uneasily.

I contemplated chasing after Elias. But Jaxon stopped me, leading me by the waist to the common area of the female hostels. He sat me down, before launching into the tale of his childhood, his studies and his 'claim to fame'.

I took everything in, despite the apprehension in my guts and disquiet in my head. Elias. Elias. Elias. Something felt off.

"Andrea," Jaxon snapped his fingers, anchoring me back to reality. "Are you okay?"

I cleared my head to the best of my abilities. "I'm okay.  Why are you suddenly so nice to me?"

"I'm nice to everyone."

"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

"How does this matter?"

I gaped. "You've never had a girlfriend."

"No, I mean I - " he gave up mid-speech, trying another angle. "People usually get into relationships to fill their emotional and sometimes sexual needs. I can get both needs fulfilled without having to be in a relationship - "

"I can't believe you've never had a girlfriend."

His neutral expression turned into a scowl. It was cute, honestly.

"What's your point?"

"It just explains everything." I said cryptically.

His eyes narrowed at my statement. I flashed him a tight lipped smile, not offering anymore words. Giving his thigh an affectionate pet, I bid him goodnight and retired to my room. He called after me, but I didn't turn back.