Chapter 43

Joseph's POV

"Wait."

Cassidy's voice cut through the air just as I reached for my phone.

She fixed me with that calm, all-knowing stare and made a downward pressing gesture.

"Don't worry about whoever you're calling. Deal with what's in front of you first."

I looked at Joe, using my scrambled brain to recall what he'd just been asking.

Joe gazed at me expectantly. "Doesn't your team get pretty close with the cheerleaders? Don't they make little requests? Like preferring girls with good figures..."

I understood, and nearly laughed in anger.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

No wonder Cassidy looked ready to breathe fire.

"Cassidy is a fair, strict captain. She has absolute autonomy over her squad. She doesn't listen to any of us. We're just players, not kings, okay?"

Cassidy let out a cold laugh. "My girls are also just a group of excellent female students, not playthings for people to pick and choose from."

She stepped forward, her tall figure casting a shadow over Joe, making him seem two inches shorter.

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that..." Joe smiled weakly.

"If I catch you spreading rumors again..." Cassidy paused.

I filled in the rest of her threat.

"I'll cut the news department's budget in half next quarter."

Joe's eyes went wide as he let out a wail. "Are you serious, boss?"

"Especially," I said coldly, "about Amelia. I hope that slanderous article you were planning to share with me about her will be in the shredder within ten minutes."

"Otherwise I'll reconsider your budget application, so you can focus your energy on what actually matters."

Joe's eyes bulged like a frog's. "Boss, didn't you say you barely knew her?"

I now deeply hated that phrase. "None of your business."

He had nothing to say and left dejectedly.

Cassidy leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, finally nodding with satisfaction before turning to look at me.

"We barely know each other? Ha, that's the funniest thing I've heard all semester."

She straightened her neck arrogantly and turned to leave.

"Hey," I called after her. "That day... the day you guys asked me what my relationship with her was, what were you doing?"

I only just realized.

The atmosphere that day hadn't seemed so simple.

"Were you all gathered together for... some kind of social event? Sorority recruitment?"

Cassidy let out a snort through her nose. "I'm too lazy to explain it to you. Go ask Amelia yourself—ask her what you did that day, if she hasn't blocked you yet."

She walked away.

I frowned and pulled out my phone.

Ridiculous. How could she have blocked me?

I dialed her number.

No answer.

I checked the network and redialed.

Still no connection.

I checked the digits again... no, how could the number be wrong? I'd called it thousands of times!

Had she really blocked me?

At the thought of this possibility, my rationality was about to disappear again, but fortunately I quickly saw the contact below Amelia's name.

I immediately dialed.

"Evelyn! Are you with Amelia right now?"

My sister yawned on the other end. "Yeah, but Amelia's busy with homework."

"She asked me to tell you that if you also saw the campus forum and want to lecture her or tell her to stay away from Samuel... well, you should just shut up, Joseph. She won't listen, so don't waste her time."

I felt absurd. "Something this big happened, why didn't you come find me?"

Evelyn huffed. "Last time I asked you for help, you didn't do anything useful."

"I don't understand—she's already having such a hard time, and if you won't help, fine, but why do you keep causing her trouble? Does it make you happy to see her suffering..."

"I'm not," I interrupted her. "I've always wanted her to be happy."

It's just that somehow, whenever I face her, I can never say what I really mean.

Evelyn sighed. "I hope so."

"Put her on," I said. "I need to ask her something."

Evelyn seemed about to say something when Amelia's voice cut in.

"Give it to me, I finished my homework."

The phone changed hands, and for a moment neither of us spoke.

A minute later, I found a room where no one would pass by and organized my words. "Are you okay?"

"If you're referring to some things on the forum," she said calmly, "I'm fine, it's not a big problem. I can handle it."

"So you really... really became a cheerleader? Samuel asked you to?"

She sounded somewhat surprised. "Of course not, it's mainly for the housing subsidy and credits. Though I thought you knew about this."

"Why would I know?" I said through gritted teeth. "You've never shown the slightest interest in cheerleading in the past eighteen years!"

"You've barely even entered the stadium! You never watch games! I've been on the team for three years, played over a hundred games, and you don't even know what position I play!"

On the other end was only Amelia's soft breathing, while I was about to break down.

For the first time, I completely released my emotions, letting them flood over me like a tide before surging toward the other end of the phone.

"Just because you got to college, you rushed onto the field for some boy? Abandoned all your dignity, your restraint... completely unlike you! Amelia, why?"

She paused for a while before slowly speaking.

"I didn't really know what kind of sport football was before... Samuel looked seriously injured at the time, I thought I was going to lose him completely. I couldn't accept that, so I rushed onto the field. That's all."

My heart felt like it had been stabbed.

Ha, so in that moment, Amelia valued that blond kid's life more than her own!

"What about me?" I asked hoarsely. "You've only known each other two years, and you can't accept losing him—so what do our dozen years count for?"

"You said we barely knew each other."

"That was just me being angry!" I exploded. "Don't play dumb! You know exactly what I meant! I was just mad that you kicked me out of the car that night! You... wait."

I suddenly realized something. "That day... when Evelyn asked about our relationship... could it be..."

That day, there had been a group of girls lined up in the hallway, Cassidy sitting behind a table with a thick stack of application forms in front of her.

Another recruitment season.

She was popular on campus and did this every semester, recruiting for Sorority, or some book club, charitable organization.

I'd never cared which specific organization it was, so at the time I'd just taken the opportunity to vent my dissatisfaction with Amelia before leaving with the team.

But thinking carefully, an organization recruiting in the athletics department...

"That day was cheerleading tryouts," Amelia said calmly. "There was a girl who didn't make it, and she wanted to drag me down with her. She publicly said I was a fraud, that my grades were fake, and I didn't have much time to find documents to prove myself. So Evelyn asked that question."

The knife in my heart was pulled out, drawing a cry of anguish from deep in my chest.

"So that day..."

When she was being questioned by everyone, when she needed help the most.

Not only did I not help her.

I pushed her into an even more desperate situation with a single sentence...

"I didn't know," I murmured. "I don't pay attention to the cheerleading squad..."

I had no special thoughts about any girls except Amelia, but girls who actively approached me were always numerous.

To avoid trouble, I'd always steered clear of groups full of girls, including the cheerleading squad.

But I never thought...

"I understand," Amelia's voice remained calm. "You didn't do anything wrong. Is there anything else? I need to get back to studying."

"No," my voice trembled. "I was wrong, I'll help you..."

"No need," she said flatly. "Keeping our distance is good for you and good for me."

"Alright, have a nice day."

"Beep—" A long tone.

She hung up.

Leaving me like a fool, standing dazed against the door of the empty room.

I slowly let my body slide down, collapsing to the floor.

"I've ruined everything..." I murmured. "I'm such an idiot. I clearly..."

I clearly love her, want to protect her for the rest of my life!

I painfully grabbed my hair, questioning myself.

Joseph, look at all the stupid things you're doing!

"Ding—"

A text notification sounded.

I glanced at my phone and saw Joe had sent a photo of the shredder at work.

Right, I pulled myself together.

I'm still useful. I need to do something for Amelia, at least make up for my mistakes...

I opened the forum again.