Chapter 7
Aiden was a native of Aloville, from a prominent family. To treat Natalie to dinner, he reserved a private room at the fanciest restaurant near the school.
As soon as she walked in, Natalie hugged Aiden’s arm. “Aiden, why didn’t Josie come? Is she still mad at me?”
“Of course not!” Aiden took the napkin for her. “She’s sick and in the hospital. We didn’t tell her about the dinner.”
Instantly, Natalie tugged on Aiden’s sleeve with a worried look. “Why? Is it serious? I want to see her.”
“She’s always been healthy; even if she’s sick, it shouldn’t be serious,” Kyle said, pouring coffee for her. “She didn’t answer Aiden’s call. Even though we wanted to visit, we can’t find her.”
Natalie blinked and looked at Aiden with soft eyes full of concern. “Maybe she didn’t hear the call because she was sick. Shouldn’t we call again?”
When she saw Josie this morning, Josie was lively as ever. “How could she suddenly get sick?” Natalie thought she was faking it just to win sympathy from the seniors and avoid punishment.
Vincent was somewhat concerned about Josie. “Aiden, let’s try calling again; maybe she really didn’t hear before.”
“Like you’re the only one worried about her!” Kyle snorted coldly. “Mark my words, she’s doing this on purpose. She used Aiden’s medal to apologize to Natalie this morning, and now she’s ignoring his calls. Can’t you all see? She’s deliberately acting difficult with Aiden, still holding a grudge over him making her apologize to Natalie.”
The whole medal incident already bothered Aiden enough; then hearing Josie was sick had cooled him down somewhat, or else he wouldn’t have helped organize archives for her. But now, bringing up the issue again, plus Josie not answering his calls, made his temper flare up again.
“Let’s just go eat and forget about her. Since she’s been the only girl on the team, we’ve all coddled her too much. Made her forget her place—that’s why she keeps crossing the line more and more. Honestly? This whole mess will teach her a lesson and might stop her from throwing caution to the wind next time.”
Seeing even Aiden put his foot down, the others fell silent.
However, Vincent felt uneasy since he had known Josie longer than anyone else and owed his place in the team partly to their relationship. He didn’t want everyone hating on Josie.
“Josie got stuck in a rut this time around; wanting into the team badly led to some mistakes,” he said. “Now that she has apologized and received punishment, I believe that she won’t hurt Natalie anymore.”
Natalie sneered under her breath. Knew it. These guys would never give up on Josie that easily. Especially Vincent. Rumor has it they come from the same humble background, always been thick as thieves.
Now, she needed to figure out how to make Vincent hate Josie quickly so he wouldn’t keep defending her later.
“You know what? Vincent is right. I believe Josie must have had a moment of weakness when she falsely accused me—after all, you five have always had her back as a tight-knit team. And since I suddenly joined the group while you’ve all been so kind to me… well, her resentment is only natural. I totally get it, so I don’t blame her.”
Natalie spoke with such earnestness, her face radiating “this is all my fault,” that even the big guys felt a pang in their chests.
“Now that’s what I call a sweet girl.” Kyle slid the freshly served dish toward her. “You’ve been through a lot. Look how thin you’ve gotten. Get some good food in you.”