Chris, who was looking at Grace without any emotion on his face for fifteen seconds, suddenly smiled. Grace looked at him with a confused face because he never smiles at her.
"I wanted to have a conversation with you."
Chris said, then gestured towards the locker room with his head, his meaning was clear, he wanted to have a private chat.
"Oh? I don't think so. You can tell me whatever you have in mind, right here."
Grace also smiled and stood more comfortably, she was used to this much attention, while her opponent was not, so she of course wanted to take advantage of the situation.
"Well, how do I put it?"
Chris's smile faltered a little because the crowd that was watching him was kind of overwhelming, he narrowed his eyes as he tried to arrange the words in his mind to sound as calm as he could.
"He is really handsome."
"He's called Chris. He looks like a prince."
"Wow, those freshmen have no idea why Chris can't be stared at, do they?"
"Why do you think? They're freshmen, dummy, they still have not graced yet."
Grace's smile twitched a bit as she heard noises coming from upstairs windows, she glared at the freshman classroom, and feeling her anger, every window of the sophomore and junior classes was instantly shut.
"I just wanted to say, you should stop bullying people. This here is Minnie, a good friend of mine. Come, Minnie."
Chris called Minnie from behind, then looked at Grace, his smile was nowhere to be seen. He doesn't like crowded places like this, so he wanted to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
"Friend?"
Grace's ear quivered hearing that word, she froze for a second to digest what Chris just said, then she snapped her head to the side to look at Minnie from head to toe. Her mouth opened to say something, but the girl was too stunned to utter even a word.
"Friend," you say? This new girl? How come I don't know?"
After a while Grace spoke, she was still very much in shock, but she had calmed down a lot. The shock was getting replaced with anger.
"Well, there are many things you don't know about me, so I would like it if you didn't bully her. Thank you for your time, Grace."
Chris, after saying what he wanted, turned to Minnie with a smile, patting her shoulder gently with a nod, and then took a step towards the locker room before he could say another.
"Wait!!"
Grace was still looking at Minnie's shoulder, where Chris just patted with a frown, her angry face suddenly bloomed like a flower, and her gritting teeth was replaced by a big and wide smile as if she just won a lottery.
Chris turned around and saw Grace walking up to him, and if he hadn't taken a small step back, she would've bumped into him.
"I will stop bullying her."
Grace said with a smile on her face and looked directly at Chris's eye, Chris nodded his head in approval and was about to open his mouth.
"There's one condition, you have to come to my birthday party today."
"Alright, done. I will come to your party."
Chris agreed, after all, Grace was a very dangerous person for a naive girl like Minnie.
"Uhuhuhu, the party is in my house. Remember to bring a good gift."
Grace, saying this, didn't wait for Chris to leave anymore, she walked out of the fields with her friends. There was a smug smile on her face as she exited the field.
"I am sorry, for me…"
Minnie's tears stopped a while ago, she was awed by the sheer presence of both Chris and Grace in the school.
I wish I were this confident.
"There's no need for you to apologize, she does this every year. It's just this year she succeeded. This year has many variables."
Chris, with a mysterious smile, went to the locker room alone, he has calmed down a lot. He was actually rather shocked by the sudden 'SYSTEM' arrival, so in his adrenaline he went out and faced Grace, which was out of character for him.
Opening the locker again, Chris saw ten $100 bills sitting there. Chris, to believe it more, touched the cash, and they were crisp notes without any crease in them. There was also a receipt with them.
Chris pulled out the receipt first because he was curious what this was about.
This shows this money is from Amazon Logistic Center work, I worked there and earned 1282.05 dollars.This was sent to me? I don't even know where it is.
Chris smiled seeing the pay stub, it validates this money, and as it was already tax-paid income, he can use the whole thing without even worrying.
My bank account is shared with Mel, I can't save it up in there. Sure, I can keep the cash, but what's the fun in that? Oh! I also need to buy Grace a present.
Chris pulled out his wallet and smoothly put the ten crisp notes in it, then put the pay stub in a corner of his locker.
"Why do you keep so much money in your locker?"
A gentle and innocent voice sounded as soon as he shut the locker. Chris was startled, his eyes went wide, and then he turned to look at the source of the voice.
It was Minnie, she was looking at him innocently, and her mouth was open like an 'O.' She looked shocked somewhat.
"Okay, how long have you been standing there?
Chris asked, he was a little annoyed that someone caught him in the middle of taking money from the locker.
"I followed you from the field, so as long as you are here, I am here too."
Minnie replied, she was nervous and looked innocent.
"Of course you are. You know what? You're very small, so I didn't notice you. Next time make some noise."
Chris, saying this, didn't wait for her to cry again, he took huge strides towards the parking lot. He wanted to return home as soon as possible.
*Ring-Ring*
Chris pulled out his 15 Pro Max, seeing 'Mel' on the screen, he first cleared his throat and then received it.
" Mel "
"Hi there, No call, no text today. I thought you had forgotten about me."
A very energetic and mature female voice came from the phone.
"I was about to call you, the class ran late."
Chris replied naturally, walked towards his 2018 Mazda 3, and pulled out his car keys.
"Did you wish, Gracie? Today is her birthday, or did you forget about it again?"
Mel asked, she was Chris's older sister cum second mom, and she lives in a big city now, but she had to grow up early to take care of baby Chris when their mother died.