Page 17 of I Despise You
I don’t know why she seems so interested in me, but maybe it’s because I’m new and she’s bored.
“Not much,” I say.
A loud crashing noise makes me lift my gaze. Everything in the cafeteria comes to a standstill as everyone looks in the direction of the sound. Two chairs are lying on the floor, and Chase is on top of some guy with his fist raised.
This time, I expect someone to stop him, since this isn’t just about verbal abuse, but no one makes a move. Chase keeps bringing his fist down as his victim cries, trying to push him away, but it’s futile because Chase is way stronger than him.
Instead of breaking them up, the crowd is gathering around them and cheering Chase on. Incredible. What’s wrong with people in this fucking school? Doesn’t anyone care?
I get up so I can see what’s going on, but there are just too many people.
“Hey!” a teacher yells from the door, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. “What’s going on here?!”
The crowd doesn’t move, and the teacher can’t get to Chase right away. I shift so I can see through the people. In a second, Chase rolls off the guy and pulls him on top of him.
No.
No!
Chase lets out a cry just as the teacher finally gets through the crowd. “Help me!”
“This is unacceptable!” The teacher catches the guy by the shoulders and pulls him off Chase. There’s blood on the guy’s face, but everyone’s looking at Chase instead.
“Are you all right, Mr. Campbell?” the teacher asks.
Chase nods. “I don’t know what happened. He came at me out of nowhere and started hitting me. I had to defend myself. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
He has such a perplexed look in his eyes, like a cute, little, innocent puppy, and I want to scream. Vanessa catches my gaze and shakes her head. She doesn’t want me to get involved, and I know there’s nothing I can say because no one will back me up.
Everyone’s nodding their heads to show they agree with Chase. The victim doesn’t say anything either, probably because he knows it’s better that he keeps his mouth shut.
The teacher sends the guy to the principal’s office, and I sit back down, looking at Vanessa and Brittany.
“Did you guys see that?” I ask. “He faked the whole thing and no one said anything! Why? What’s wrong with everyone?”
“Chase owns this school,” Vanessa says. “Well, not literally, but it feels like it. It’s better to stay out of his way.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that. But why? What does he have over all of you? I’m sure that, if we all agreed and said that Chase attacked the guy, there’d be nothing he could do about it.” Haven’t they heard that there’s power in the numbers? “Why are you putting up with him?” It doesn’t make any sense. Not in this school.
“Look, L,” Brittany says, the expression on her face sweet in a way that tells me she thinks I’m an idiot. “We didn’t really see what happened. Maybe that guy played poker with Chase and lost, and now he doesn’t want to pay up. Maybe he said something to him. What do we know? And who cares? Why get involved in something that doesn’t matter?”
If she needs a selfish reason, I can give her one of those too. “Um, because you may be next?”
She scoffs. “Not me.”
I groan.
“It’s not that we don’t care,” Vanessa says. “Of course we do. But Chase’s dad is super rich and very influential. It’s not just about us here. It’s about what he can do to our families. No one wants to be on Mr. Campbell’s bad side. He has his hands in everything, and he can ruin your family. I don’t know what your family’s doing, but I bet Chase’s dad can drive you out of business if that’s what he wants.”
Ah, that makes a little more sense. If Chase’s dad is more powerful than anyone else, then I get that they’re afraid, but that still isn’t an excuse to do nothing about him.
I pull out my phone. Researching Chase and his family online is the first thing I need to do.
Very soon, Vanessa’s story gets a confirmation. There are thousands of articles about Chase’s dad. His companies are involved in everything. Hotels, construction companies, casinos, restaurants, clubs...
Seriously, it looks like Mr. Campbell wants it all. No wonder Chase wants that scholarship. He’s probably like his dad and does stuff just to prove that he can, and he wants to be successful at everything.
Chase’s dad is also a very private person, because aside from all the business stuff, I can’t really find anything interesting about him or about his family. Chase is mentioned here and there, but nothing too important.
