Chapter 53
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Marianna turned to Kayla, whose expression remained calm and unconcerned, and her face twisted with anger. “Everyone’s fawning over you just because you’re a lady from the Sexton family! Are you satisfied now?
“I only asked you not to bully your classmates. Why do you have to turn everyone against me? This is bullying! Kayla, why are you so cruel?”
Kayla was so annoyed she almost laughed. She didn’t even bother arguing, so she just said, “Quit playing the victim. You brought this on yourself. You deserve it.”
Many students here were poor kids who got into this elite school with their top grades. For them, 650 dollars might not be an astronomical figure, but it could at least solve an urgent problem, like covering living expenses or buying groceries.
Marianna was a low–income student herself, yet she couldn’t understand why those classmates were so excited over 650 dollars.
Maybe Tristian’s constant funding had made her forget that poor families cared most about filling the belly, not her so- called “dignity.”
Tired of wasting time on Marianna, Kayla and Tania were about to turn and leave when Davon suddenly pushed through the crowd.
He’d come to see Kayla, hoping to ease the sudden tension between them. But he only saw a group surrounding Marianna, the air thick with unease.
And the moment he saw Marianna’s face streaked with tears, her expression so aggrieved and pathetic, like she’d just suffered unspeakable unfairness, a tightness seized his heart.
He rushed over without hesitation and asked, his voice soft with worry, “Maria, what happened? Did anyone bully you?”
Marianna looked up at Kayla instinctively, her tearful eyes full of accusation and sorrow. Then, as if she could no longer hold back her grief, her tears poured down as she choked out a sob, “Dav!”
Kayla and Tania exchanged a look. They had to admit that Marianna was a fantastic actress. To anyone who didn’t know the truth, it seemed they’d really been picking on her.
Davon followed Marianna’s gaze, then glared fiercely at Kayla. His brows furrowed, his eyes turning sharp and cold as he snapped, “Kayla, why did you bully Maria again? This is going too far!”
Kayla narrowed her eyes slightly, a mocking, disdainful smile curving her lips as she replied coldly, “Davon, did you even bother to figure out what’s going on before accusing me? ‘Maria‘?
“Since when did you two get so close? And you even called her so sweetly?”
Hearing this, Davon mistakenly thought Kayla was jealous of his closeness to Marianna, and a faint sense of complacency stirred in him. “Maria is simple, kind, and hardworking. There’s nothing between us.
“Don’t give her a hard time for my sake. As classmates, we should help each other, right?”
Kayla felt a surge of rage suddenly rush to her head. Disgust prickled at her, but she held back her irritation and sneered, “Are you out of your mind? Do you think it’s for your sake?
“Who do you think you are? Who you choose to get close to is your business, not mine. What a narcissist you are!”
Davon didn’t catch the sarcasm in her words, but only thought Kayla was throwing a tantrum. “Kay, I know you care about
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Chapter 33
me, but with so many classmates watching, don’t be so willful.
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“Apologize to Maria, and we’ll let this go. We’ll get along peacefully from now on. I won’t even be mad about you leaving me after school earlier, okay?”
Kayla felt a wave of powerlessness. She’d never met anyone so self–righteous, shameless, and blindly conceited.
She secretly regretted being so doting and compliant to Davon in the past. It had led him to believe he could take her devotion for granted and that she couldn’t live without him.
She blamed herself inwardly, ‘It’s all my own fault for being blinded by love! I had it coming!‘
Taking a deep breath, she forced her tone to calm down. “Davon, that’s enough! Marianna brought this on herself, and everyone here witnessed it. Stop trying to paint me as the bully.
“Get out of my sight. Leave me alone from now on. Stop acting like you’re everything to me. If you don’t, I’ll teach you what real bullying is!”
Suddenly, she thought of her plan to “train him” and realized her attitude might be too cold.
Glancing at Marianna, who was still sniffling, Kayla deliberately widened her eyes, letting them redden slightly, before putting on a wronged expression and turning to Davon. “Davon, didn’t you say this morning that you would make me happy?
“Now you’re getting so close to another girl. Is this how you’re supposed to make me happy? You’ve really let me down so much!”
Her tone and manner perfectly mimicked a jealous girl.
After saying that, Kayla turned and walked away, leaving Davon staring in a daze and Marianna, still sniffling, looking confused.
The second she turned her back, the mistiness and grievance in her eyes vanished completely, replaced by undisguised mockery and cunning.
Davon stared at Kayla’s retreating figure, his brows furrowing tighter as he tried to tell if her words were true.
He thought, ‘I’m everything to Kayla, aren’t I? For years, she’s followed me around like a little puppy. No matter how much I taunt her or brush her off, she just won’t leave.
‘Everyone can see how head over heels she is for me. She even said she’d marry me when we’re old enough. Now she’s asking me to leave her alone? Impossible!‘
The image of Kayla “holding back tears” and seeming so upset only made Davon more certain she was just in a mood.
He mused, ‘Didn’t her last sentence just show she’s jealous of how close I am to Marianna? Obviously, Kayla still likes me. Everything she’s done lately is just a girl’s way of throwing a jealous fit, playing hard to get. How childish!”
The setting sun slowly sank toward the horizon, casting its last rays of afterglow over the old, run–down neighborhood in the South Side.
This place seemed to have been forgotten by time. Every building was bathed in a dull golden light, but it could hardly hide the poverty, filth, and decay beneath the surface.
The roads in the neighborhood were potholed and cracked, overgrown with weeds. Garbage was tossed everywhere, plastic
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bags, rags, and discarded furniture littered the ground, reeking of rot. A few fearless stray cats and dogs rummaged through the trash piles, looking for food.
The exterior walls of the houses were faded and peeling, revealing patchy bricks underneath. Most of the windows were broken: some were clumsily covered with planks, while others were left wide open, letting in wind and rain.
Occasionally, when a gust of wind blew, Kayla could hear the rattle of broken windowpanes and the drip of leaking water from some corner.
This stood in sharp contrast to the distant, faint sound of children laughing, and that contrast only underscored how bleak and run–down this neighborhood was.
Kayla gripped the note that had the address on it tightly in her hand, moving forward at a slow, unsteady pace.
During class, she’d had someone look into Payton’s background and learned he lived in this shabby neighborhood in the South Side.
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