Whilst Zoey and Austin had lunch at the cafeteria, Kate chased Natalie Langley through the hallway.
"Natalie, wait!"
"You didn't tell me about this! I wonder how many things you've not told me!" Natalie scoffed and hastened up.
"I didn't tell you about it because it was unnecessary. My sister grew up in the countryside. She's underprivileged and I'm not inconsiderate enough to whine about how she got the role meant for me." Kate tried to reason with her through gritted teeth.
However, Natalie still didn't stop.
Their squabble was attracting the attention of other students leaving the cafeteria, so Kate stopped walking and sighed audibly.
"I didn't tell you about it because when Zoey returned that day and saw me practicing for Day of Reckoning, I didn't think there was anything wrong and let her watch."
"When I saw how interested she was in the play, I tutored her all night. I didn't expect she also stayed up all night practicing."
The clique caught up with them at that moment and gasped in disbelief.
"You did such a thing and she was still so ungrateful when she got the role?"
"That little… You should never be good to her ever again!"
"Ugh! I remember her smug smile and all I want to do is rip it off her face!"
Seeing they bought her lie, Kate began fidgeting with her fingers nervously.
"I've been so nervous about being on her good side I didn't think she was the one who took my copy of the novel."
At this, they began seething righteously.
"How greedy. If she were even the least bit grateful for what you did, she should've given up her spot to you."
"She should've told everyone she was able to read Day of Reckoning and deliver such a wonderful audition because of Kate!"
"Now that I think of it… do you think she brought up the audition on purpose to irk Natalie?"
"There's no doubt about it!"
Hearing them talk about it, Kate couldn't help considering it too.
Zoey had stretched her green flag to her just this morning and successfully got her to lower her guard.
She would never fully trust anyone, so she planned to turn Zoey into her errand girl during lunch, but Natalie finding out about the audition unfortunately spoilt everything.
If only she wasn't such a snotty little brat with an extraordinarily wealthy father, she wouldn't have had to patronize their relationship all these years.
But once she became the head of the Smith family and used the Langley family to become successful in various fields, she'd finally rid herself of this annoying soul.
But for now, she just had to endure it and continue going after her like she'd just done.
Like the others, Natalie fell for her lies and walked over to hug her.
"I bet she's not as good as you think. Prof. Hartwell must've chosen her simply because she's a new student."
"She's just a disaster waiting to happen and once that happens, the Professor will see how wrong she was not to have chosen you as her female lead!"
Kate faked a sniffle and embraced her tighter.
After consoling her, the group returned to class, ready to berate Zoey, only to find out she hadn't returned.
They waited the entire day and she still didn't show.
So Kate went home with another plan.
As she narrated many untruthful things to their parents, Zoey and Austin were getting ready to order at an expensive restaurant.
However, Zoey didn't like anything on the menu. So they moved to another. Then another.
After flashing through seven restaurants, she finally found one with better food.
Going through the menu, Austin was a little panicked at the price list he saw.
"Hey, you do know I have no money, right?"
"Didn't you inform your bully of where you are?" She calmly retorted without looking up from the menu b
He took out his phone to confirm what he had forwarded a few hours ago, exhaling shakily, "I've been sharing my location with him ever since lunch."
"Then you have nothing to worry about. Given their built-in resentment toward you, they'd come to you to find me, and in doing so, they're likely to come with about…" She paused to count on her fingers.
"From what I saw yesterday, maybe fifteen people. Let's say they each have a hundred thousand in their savings account. That's enough to cover our bills."
Austin's worry still didn't lessen, his brows furrowing harder.
A waiter noticed their uniforms and immediately recognizing it, hurried toward them.
"Good evening, what would you both like to have?"
Thr question had barely fallen when Austin leaned forward.
"I'll start with the lobster bisque. Make it extra creamy. Then I want the tomahawk steak, medium rare, but only if it's been dry-aged for at least 30 days. Swap the mashed potatoes for truffle fries. And bring me this giant molten lava cake. Do you have oysters fresh from Normandy? Yeah, add that one. Finally, duck confit tacos and the uni pastas. That'll be all."
Zoey: "…"
This little…
For someone who was concerned about who'd pay for their food, his order seemed perfectly rehearsed.
The waiter, who was used to orders like this, merely smiled as she wrote it down.
"Got it." Then she turned to Zoey, still flashing her brightest smile, "And what would you like, ma'am?"
Zoey was silent for some seconds before she raised her eyes to meet the waiter's, "I'll have the plain grilled salmon, no butter. Steamed vegetables on the side, nothing spicy. And a chamomile tea, please."
Austin and the waiter both waited for her to continue. When seconds passed without another word, they both looked up at her in surprise.
"Th-that's it?" the waiter stuttered in bewilderment.
Zoey nodded.
The waiter nodded and left awkwardly.
"What do you mean 'that's all'? We didn't spend an hour flashing through seven restaurants just so you could order something so simple." Austin complained as soon as she was gone.
Zoey shrugged, "I borderline between a weak and sensitive stomach."
"Oh." Though he didn't know exactly what either of that meant, it seemed like something bad, so he refrained from complaining further.
Since her order was simpler, it was brought out first.
She didn't eat until his arrived some minutes later.
Austin delved into his food immediately, chunking down a huge portion before she picked up her culinaries.
She had just sliced a piece of the salmon and forked into her mouth when a group of boys walked up and stood a few steps away from them.
Austin saw the guy he had sent his location to and panicked, chewing his food faster.
"No, there's no need to leave. We're just here to take our friend with us."
"Yes, don't you know us? We're respected students of the one and only Ashbury Heights High School."
"We didn't take it off for a reason, so how could you not recognize us from a distance?"
Zoey remained still, carefully chewing the salmon despite hearing Dylan's minions assuring other customers.
Austin ate faster, eyes darting between Zoey and his leading nemesis after Dylan Berschwith.
After a while, the guy reached behind him and a dog leash was handed to him.
It even had the word 'dog' boldly sprawled across it so no one could mistake what it was.
"Austin Cross and our new friend, whose name I'm here to know, are having the time of their lives. Should I wait for them to finish or should I not?"
"Fine, fine. For what you did to Sheila, I'll forgive you if you throw your plate on the floor and eat off it."
"Then crawl to me so I can walk you like a dog. In case you haven't noticed, that's why I brought this leash."
In her haste to have a good meal, Zoey forgot something about herself.
It was already so difficult to stomach things. With distractions like this, it was impossible to even swallow.
She chewed on the salmon for so long that it lost its taste.
With the taste gone from her mouth, she dropped her spoon and unhurriedly began rolling up her sleeves.