Chapter Twenty Four

< Nina >

“It doesn’t make sense.” I shake my head. “You hate me because I resemble someone you despise?” In fact, that’s the most immature thing I’ve ever heard.

Well, we’re high schoolers. But still…even all of his reasons are nothing but childish. But then again, all of my bullies have been nothing but that.

“But now you know,” he simpers, as he stands up.

“You said that you forced students to quit this school, the academy w-wouldn’t surely just ignore this.”

“Oh, right, of course, you don’t know,” he says as he hums. “Since you clearly have no idea about family names, I guess I’ll explain it to you.”

“You know that times have changed and brick-and-mortars are slowly decreasing in popularity due to the great demand of digital marketing.”

“But old traditions must continue. After all, it keeps the balance out. Once a problem arises, the beauty of innovation is to take advantage by being the solution.”

Clarence seems to enjoy giving monologues, I assume that’s the case after having three interactions with him.

“T-then I take it that you’re the son of some e-commerce company?” I ask, carefully.

He turns to face me and gives me a sly grin. "Glad that you caught that one. Do you happen to know any famous online apps there, Nina?”

Why is he asking me that? “I don’t often use the internet, Clarence, so I know a few.”

“Oh, do tell.”

I sigh, trying to think of the names I've seen from my mom's packages. “LeShop, Ibei, AriExpress, and the most famous one--” I pause and turn to look at him. “Your family owns the B-Emporium?” It’s the giant e-market that I often see in the newspapers or even the business magazines Gene reads.

“Yes, and the ones you mentioned are also under the B-Emporium. We bought their shares, easy-peasy. My mother is quite a woman with great vision, you see. If the de Milano Inc. focuses on acquisitions after transitioning from finance and healthcare, then the B-Emporium dominates the digital market.”

I look at him. Again, he keeps talking about Luca but I decide not to pry. What matters to me the most is the purpose of this topic.

“I see... and d-do you mind telling me already why you’re telling me all these, Clarence?”

“I told you this yesterday: connections. Small businesses and companies looking to gain online traffic need our name to get them to the top ranks. Thanks to that, having them do whatever I say to them is easy. Take yesterday for example,” he says as he smirks. “I just tell the whole school to leave as early as possible leaving you, me, and some curious guy friends of mine to give you a warm welcome.” he eyes me carefully, expecting a reaction from me but I only bite my lower lip.

My hands are trembling so I quickly hide them in my blazer pockets.

“And the Academy?” I ask, trying to change the topic so I focus myself on controlling my fear.

“Well, my family donated a lot to this academy. So, that means I’m in control here until graduation. However, there is a limit to what I can do, Nina. For one: anything about killing or raping is out of the question. So you have nothing to worry about that!"

I look at him, dumbfoundedly and sigh. Why does it seem unfazed with the way he said it?! The more I talk to him, the less I continue to like interacting with him. "Can I just stay until graduation in peace? As I s-said , I won't get in your way."

"That will be unnecessary, Nina. Just seeing your face pisses me off, I don't think I couldn't concentrate in school." He gives a dramatic shrug.

A part of me, my sleep-deprived mind, hopes to quit school and go to a smaller one as long as I graduate high school. And then, I will never see him again.

But deep down, I don’t want to worry my mom and Armando who carefully enrolled me in this school. Yu will start to question and they will definitely come to my school then.

“If that’s your only reason, I-I’m afraid I can’t just leave school,” I declare, yet stammering along the process.

“Oh? Would you like to continue where we last left off yesterday?” He smirks and at that, I pale.

“It will be more than just the uniform I’ll tear,” he continues as his eyes glint with amusement.

"Y-You said that you won't go that low!" I exclaim as I feel like my head is getting numb.

"Who says something about murder and rape," he laughs. Then he shows his mischievous smile once more. "What I do to you will be a surprise."

Ugh, he’s even worse than I thought. But if I lower my defenses, it will be a worse outcome for me. So, as if someone possessed me, I finally said, “Try me. Make me leave, then.”

To which Clarence just stands there, revealing his surprise.

““I-if you catch me that is. I was caught off-guard but back then, I could easily run away from you.” I continue, feeling a bit more confident now. Or it’s just the sleep deprivation that removes all of my fears and insecurities.

“You are a bundle of surprises, princess,” he chirps as his hands move to his waists and lean on me. “I’ll like a game of cat-and-mouse chase.”

The sound of the gates finally opens and I silently mutter thank God while the stress and anxiety fade a bit. I immediately dash my way out before he decides to capture me again.

T-that was the first time I actually had the balls to fight back. A part of me would like to pat myself on the back but at the same time, I regretted challenging him. I’m really an idiot.

I run inside without looking back, as I finally reach the classroom. Then a thought hit me. It’s just me in this room and since Clarence is already on the campus, it will be us alone for a while, I gulp.

Maybe I should just hide in the music room.

……………………….

< Clarence>

“She sure runs fast,” I whistle as I look at her retreating form.

Nina Caulfield. A pitiful soul who resembles a certain someone that I hate. I know it was an irrational reason. After all, her mannerisms, her voice, her eyes remind me of that bitch.

A poser. That’s why I couldn’t stand people who use connections to get easy access.

But Nina has guts. That makes her different.

I’ve realized that since yesterday and even until now, when she dared to come back to school, alone at dawn. I didn’t expect her to come back, really. I thought she would tell her butler stepfather to us and that’s it. Heh, if she dares.

I walk at a normal pace as I head to our classroom on the second floor. When I entered, she was nowhere in sight.

"Smart choice," I chuckle. Her academics are nothing but shit based on her previous record but she is very self-aware, sort of, street-smart if we call it that way.

Frankly, her declaration caught me off-guard, how amusing, really. A mouse who actually has hidden fangs in her. I can't wait to see more of that!

This year might be fun. As I’ve never tried playing this chase game before. And once I finally caught her with my own hands.

I’m looking forward to seeing her squirm.