Chapter 54 Tobias Wakes Up and the World Has Changed
Amelia slipped back into the classroom, taking a seat in the back corner.
Almost everyone was sneaking glances at her. Despite the lesson going on, few were paying attention, with many secretly playing on their phones under the desks.
Rachel hadn't come back. Who knows where she had run off to? Probably too embarrassed to stay after what just happened. Quentin was also absent.
Amelia ignored the stares and furrowed her brows slightly as she searched for the Prestige High School forum on her phone.
Quentin had mentioned a video on the forum earlier. She had no idea what video of her had been uploaded.
After watching the two surveillance videos, she suddenly looked up at Leroy, who was sitting next to her, eyes cast down on his book.
"Did you hack into Prestige High School's system to get these videos for me?" Amelia asked.
Leroy was taken aback, not expecting Amelia to figure it out so easily. His eyes flickered for a moment, but he didn't deny it.
"The other day, I asked you what your field was, and you didn't get the chance to answer. Now it seems it must be computers."
"Prestige High School's system isn't something just anyone can hack into, especially not in such a short time."
Leroy paused and quietly said, "Those people were saying really nasty things."
Amelia glanced at him. "I don't really care what they say about me, but I still appreciate your help."
"I owe you one. If you ever need my help, just let me know."
"You're a member of K.A. too, right?" Leroy paused, finally asking the question he'd been holding back. "What's your code name and field?"
Amelia didn't intend to hide it. "If you're asking about my code name, it's Rose. As for my field..."
Seeing Amelia hesitate, Leroy said, "If it's inconvenient to say, you don't have to."
It wasn't really inconvenient; it was just that she had too many fields. Amelia casually picked one. "My field is piano."
Hearing Amelia say her field was piano, Leroy recalled the performance he had seen of Amelia at the banquet earlier.
On stage, she was like a dazzling star, her slender fingers dancing freely over the black and white keys, drawing the audience into the world of music she created.
Indeed.
Hard work might make one proficient in a piece, but only a genius could transcend the rigid notes and give a piece its soul.
After chatting with Leroy, Amelia exited to her phone's main screen, only to find she had dozens of message notifications on WeChat.
First, the unread messages.
There were several from Tobias, who had sent over a dozen messages by himself.
[I just took a nap during the break, what happened?]
[Mrs. Church came to the school to thank you in person? Rachel got caught impersonating you? What is going on?]
[When did you save someone on the road? You just rushed out like that, you scared me! Watching that video made my heart stop! What if something had happened to you?]
[You finished the exam in forty minutes yesterday and got full marks on every question? That's even better than Zander! I have to tell him when he gets back!]
[You’re amazing! How are you so awesome? Come over at lunch so I can see you! How about I take you out for ice cream tonight?]
[It sucks not being in the same class. I’m not playing games this month, I’m going to study hard and get into Class A to be with you.]
[Why isn't class over yet? Why does one class feel so long? How come when I nap, it's suddenly time to go home?]
[By the way, Chris asked for your WeChat. I’ve told him about you a few times. If he adds you, remember to accept.]
If "waking up to a changed world" had a face, it would be Tobias right now.
Amelia could feel his confusion and excitement through the screen.
His messages seemed so goofy, but they made her smile.
Tobias was kind of cute.
So Amelia replied:
[It was just a bunch of random stuff, nothing important. I’m meeting someone for lunch, so you go home first, brother.]
Over in Class E.
After sending all those messages, Tobias kept staring at the screen, checking every five seconds for new messages.
It had been ten minutes.
Why hadn’t Amelia replied?
Was his phone broken?
Just as Tobias was flipping his phone over and over, checking it multiple times and suspecting it was broken, a notification finally popped up.
But before he could get excited, he saw Amelia’s message saying she was meeting someone for lunch.
Meeting someone for lunch!
Amelia had just arrived in River City, so she couldn't know many people. Who was she meeting?
Was it a new classmate? A guy or a girl? Did they have a crush on her and ask her out?
Tobias's mind went into overdrive.
No way.
Amelia was so cute. If the other person had a crush on her and tried something during lunch, what then?
But Tobias couldn't just tell Amelia not to have lunch with others. That would seem too controlling. Amelia had her own social life.
So Tobias decided to agree on the surface and secretly follow her at lunchtime to make sure the person she was meeting wasn’t a creep.
Amelia had no idea that her simple message about lunch had Tobias imagining her being drugged and taken to a hotel.
She then opened Michael's messages.
Compared to Tobias's exclamations, Michael's messages were much more composed.
[Eric showed me the playback. Was the rescue on the road yesterday afternoon?]
[From now on, I’ll walk you home.]
[Even though it was urgent, don’t do something so risky again.]
[I worry about you.]
Though his words were brief, Amelia could almost see Michael watching the video in his office.
His face looked stern and serious, but his brows were furrowed, making one want to smooth them out with a finger.
She suddenly missed him a bit.
[Okay, I won’t do it again.]
Amelia replied, [I miss you.]
[We’ll see each other soon,] Michael replied instantly. [I miss you too.]
Seeing Michael sitting at his desk, staring at his phone with a look of tenderness, Eric didn’t need to guess who he was messaging.
Amelia had only registered her WeChat a few days ago, and her contacts were just Kevin, Tobias, and Michael.
Now, there were several friend requests.
Three people had sent friend requests.
Amelia opened each one. The first had a female profile picture and the message read [Miss Martinez, I’m Lila, Rex’s mom].
The second had an anime character profile picture and the message read [Hi Amelia, it’s your brother].
The third had a blank profile picture and no message.
Amelia remembered Tobias mentioning that Chris wanted to add her, so she figured the second one was him.
So she accepted the first two requests and directly rejected the third.
Whoever that was seemed creepy.
In a café outside Prestige High School.
Lila looked at her phone and smiled. "Amelia accepted my friend request."
Rex, sipping his juice and waiting for Amelia to finish school, brightened up and eagerly tugged on Lila's hand to see.
"She accepted mine too," Orval said, glancing at his phone. "What about you, Chris? Did your request go through?"
Chris opened WeChat and saw: [Sorry, your friend request was declined.]
Chris was silent.