Chapter 104 Who is Heaven II
Maverick’s heartbeat turned erratic, but his expression didn’t change. Something unreadable passed through his eyes.
“Who is Heaven?” he asked her back, feigning ignorance.
“You called me that name just now.” She was sure she heard it.
“I called Vera. Come take your bag,” he lied smoothly.
She frowned slightly, studying his face as if trying to pull something from the depths of her mind, but there was nothing, just fog.
“Or maybe…” He stepped forward, his presence filling her space trying to distract her. “You heard wrongly, because your mind is clearly still clouded by the kiss.” Her cheeks turned crimson. He bent to her ear. “We could go in and continue…”
She pulled away, blushing hard.
“See you at 8,” she said, turning and smiling sheepishly.
Maverick’s jaw tightened. He had almost slipped. Fuck.
Fabian’s hand tightened around the flowers in his hand. He had watched them since the car. His eyes, red rimmed. He turned and walked back to his car. Maverick only saw his retreating figure.
Havilah was in the best mood today. Her father did love her after all; he was just always busy. He had promised to come for the father’s function.
She wanted to show Liam her dad, but Liam had not agreed to be her friend yet. He said she had to stand up for herself. She sighed. How would she do that? The Father’s Day function wasn’t far away anymore.
She got down from the car and closed the door.
She saw Liam stepping down from a car too. A lady was holding his hand. She pouted as she walked to class, holding her bag.
The whole day went by in a blur until it was time for recess.
As usual, she ate alone. Rosie and Mimi used to let her share their table, but since the last time, they avoided her.
As she ate alone, they brought their food to her table. Had they decided to be friends with her again? She was delighted.
“Hi Mimi, hi Rosie. I thought you both hated me now?” she asked.
“Why would we hate you? My mother said it’s okay for friends to fight as long as they settle,” Rosie told her.
“But we can only settle if you help us take his phone secretly,” Mimi added, pointing toward where Liam sat talking to a group of boys.
Havilah squinted. “That’s stealing. I can’t do that,” she told them.
“We’re going to return it back to him. We just want to delete the video he took of us,” Mimi added. Her little voice was already irritated.
“Then we go over and ask nicely, instead of taking his phone without his permission,” Havilah said seriously.
Mimi wanted to talk, but Rosie stopped her. “Okay, go tell him nicely for us.”
Havilah smiled. It looked like they really listened to her.
She got up, about to move toward Liam’s table, when Rosie stuck out her foot. Havilah stumbled to the floor. Mimi got up, holding her cup of milk shocked.
“You should be more careful, Avi,” she said, then she dropped the cup of milk on her, messing up Havilah’s clothes.
Liam had already noticed what was happening long before the attention of the other kids was drawn.
Havilah got up. Her knee was scraped a little, but it didn’t hurt as much as the humiliation. She curled inside herself. They had done it on purpose.
Mimi and Rosie pretended to be helpful, trying to clean her clothes. Havilah saw the eyes of the other students on her but she stopped at one Liam’s. Defend yourself, his words echoed in her head.
Liam looked away from her and continued eating his food.
Havilah’s hands curled into fists. She pushed Rosie away, then did the same to Mimi.
“Why would you put your foot out for me to fall over?” Her voice came out low, almost a whisper.
“It wasn’t done on purpose. You should have watched properly,” Mimi refuted.
“And why would you spill milk on me?” She pointed at Mimi.
“She wanted to help you up. I didn’t know you were ungrateful.,” Rosie added.
“We’re not helping anymore, since our help isn’t appreciated.”
The two girls smirked, they wanted to get back at Havilah for refusing to give them the fancy back by telling her to take Liam’s phone and of course branding her a thief if she did. But she had refused and wanted to ask nicely.
They turned to leave.
The recess teachers had already come to take Havilah to the bathroom. She looked at Liam one more time.
She moved, picked up a glass of milk, and splashed it on Mimi’s face. Then she pushed Rosie down.
The dining hall erupted with noise. Nobody had expected the quiet introvert to fight back.
Liam looked up, shocked to see the blonde girl standing while her bullies lay on the floor. A smirk tore from his lips. She looked innocent in chaos and he liked that.
The teacher scolded, “Why would you do that to your friends, Avi?”
“They are not my friends. Friends don’t hurt each other.” The zeal burning in her eyes scared the two girls on the floor.
Avi had never reacted before, no matter what was done to her. That was why she was their easiest target.
“Detention. All three of you.”
The matter blew up in school. The director was livid when she discovered the granddaughter of the Richards and Edwards, the school’s strongest investors, was a victim of bullying under her nose. She tried to handle it without alerting her parents.
“They always take my stuff,” Avi said, not wanting to go further.
“That’s a lie. You let us take it,” Rosie and Mimi said at once.
The director sighed. “So what happened in the dining room?”
The two girls looked at each other.
“Well, they wanted me to steal Liam’s phone because he captured them forcefully taking my stuff. He threatened to report them. When I refused, they pushed me and poured milk on me.”
The director made a call. A few minutes later, Liam was brought in. His hands were in his pockets. His eyes moved to Havilah before looking at the director.
“Is it about the video?” He brought out his phone without hesitation and handed it over.
Mimi and Rosie were already bawling.
“You both can leave,” she told Havilah and Liam.
“Your parents will be invited,” she said to the bullies.
Outside the director’s office
Havilah hugged Liam, taking him by surprise again. “Liam, I defended myself. We are friends now,” she said, smiling.
Liam wondered why she always hugged him out of the blue. His ears turned red.
“It wasn’t hard, was it?”
She shook her head. “I like defending myself Liam.”