Chapter 31 The bad boy facade has crumbled
With the “crime” cleared up, the judgmental looks toward Katherine disappeared, replaced by respect or indifference.
Katherine sat down again, calm as the surface of a lake. In her hands, she absentmindedly played with a pair of black-rimmed glasses, twirling them between her long fingers, an enigmatic smile on her lips.
As soon as the bell rang, the trio was escorted to the math office.
Nísia walked behind them, watching Katherine's back with seething hatred, frustrated that she had failed to get her expelled. But when they reached the main hallway, her expression changed completely.
“Octavio!” she shouted, her voice rising an octave to sound sweet and enthusiastic.
Octavio was coming down the stairs, his hands in his pockets, with that aura of untouchable bad boy that made girls sigh. His eyes, however, were fixed on Katherine, who was walking ahead.
Nísia's cry attracted the attention of the entire hallway. Being called intimately by the Spences' heir was a rare privilege, and the envious glances fed Nísia's ego.
She ran up to him, stopping at a calculated distance to appear intimate, and smiled radiantly. “Wow, why are you wearing glasses today? And black frames... You look so intellectual. It suits you.”
Octavio stopped. He looked at her over his glasses, his expression unreadable, and took a long step back, creating a physical barrier between them.
“What happened to your cousin?” he asked, ignoring the compliment.
Nísia didn't notice the coldness in his voice. She sighed, shaking her head with theatrical sadness. “Oh, Octavio... it's so embarrassing. She copied my homework just now and got caught by the teacher. I tried to help, but... I don't know when Katherine will take life seriously.”
“Oh, really?” Octavio's voice was dry.
Nísia nodded, looking devastated. “Unfortunately. I'm afraid she'll be expelled.”
Octavio took a deep breath. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and a scornful smile appeared on his face. He reached out and called a random student who was passing by.
“Hey, you,” Octavio called.
The student stopped, thrilled to be noticed by the king of the school. “Yes, Ota? Go ahead!”
“Answer me this: did Katherine copy her homework in math class today?”
The student shook his head vigorously. “No! It's all been cleared up.” It was Gabriel Park who wrote it for her, but she didn't even accept it. It was a misunderstanding, Katherine is innocent.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Octavio turned his gaze to Nísia. She was paralyzed. The blood drained from her face, leaving her pale as wax, while her ears burned bright red with humiliation.
“Ota... I...” she stammered, trying to find an excuse.
Octavio took a step forward, looking at her with disgust. “You know, Nísia... you once told me that your cousin was a ‘difficult to describe’ person.”
He paused cruelly, letting the words hang in the air. “I think you were wrong. The person who's hard to describe here isn't Katherine. It's you.”
He turned abruptly and walked away, leaving Nísia standing in the middle of the hallway, her fingernails dug into her palms and her reputation in tatters.
As he descended the stairs, Octavio took off his black-rimmed glasses.
His heart was beating a little faster. He thought about the night before, about Katherine's promise on the dark staircase: “Would you like to see a play with me?”
She had given him those glasses. They weren't ordinary glasses; they were a high-tech transmission device.
The moment he put them on that morning, the magic happened. He saw the world through her perspective. A camera hidden in her glasses or clothes transmitted everything in real time to the lenses he wore.
He saw the unfair accusation. He saw Nísia's lie. He saw Katherine's absolute calm in the face of the storm.
He saw the naked truth.
When he reached the door of the teachers' room, he peeked through the glass.
Inside, Katherine was standing next to Gabriel and Nísia, listening to Professor Wilson's lecture. She looked bored, superior to it all.
“You three have one last chance,” said the professor, hastily ending the subject to go to his meeting.
“If you don't pass next week's math test, you can forget about the Independence Day holiday. You'll stay here, locked up with me, taking remedial classes until you learn to be responsible. Now, get out of my sight.”
The three left the room. War had been declared.
As soon as Katherine left the building, hurried footsteps echoed behind her. Octavio caught up with her, catching his breath, and matched her pace.
“Hey. Here are your glasses.”
Katherine stopped and held out her hand. He placed the object in her palm, and she slid it into her pocket with a fluid movement.
“Anything else?” she asked, her voice soft but with that tone of someone who has no time to waste.
Octavio scratched the back of his neck, looking away. “Um... I just wanted to know... where did you buy those glasses?”
“A friend gave them to me.”
“They're amazing. Can you send me the link? I want to buy a pair just like them.”
Katherine stopped walking. She turned to him, crossed her arms, and stared at him with that look that seemed to read his soul. She knew he was stalling. “What do you really mean, Octavio?”
Caught red-handed, Octavio's bad boy facade crumbled. He gave a weak, forced smile. “All right, you win. Let me take you to dinner after class.”
He seemed genuinely embarrassed by the morning's misunderstanding and Nísia's false accusation. His pride was hurt by having been deceived, and he wanted to make it up to her.
Katherine raised an eyebrow, amused. “Are you trying to bribe me?”
“No! I mean... yes. Maybe.” He sighed. “Look, now that we live on the same property, as a man, I feel I have a responsibility to take care of you. And... well, my mother would kill me if she knew I was a jerk to you.”
Katherine lowered her eyes for a second, pondering. There was an awkward sincerity in him that wasn't entirely unpleasant. “All right,” she agreed.
Octavio exhaled, relieved, as if he had just defused a bomb. “Great! I'll pick you up at the exit.”