Chapter 238 - 41: Good Girl

The school was also strict on students. Exams were every month, and there was quite a lot of schoolwork.

Kate got the highest score in her class in the first exam. This made the classmates who gossiped about her social identity see her differently. Teachers also showed approval for Kate when they saw her.

Kate looked calm, but her heart was delighted. It was the happiest thing for her in at least a year, or even since she had dropped out of school years ago.

She called Max and told him about this. Max was very happy for her. He had been feeling guilty for the trouble he had caused her. And this was kind of making it up to her.

After she got home, Tristan saw through her disguise and said, "Good mood today?"

Kate told him about her scores in the exam, and he laughed, "Good girl. What kind of prize do you want to have?"

She thought about it and said, "Can I not take those pills and soup?"

Since the doctor had seen her when she got the fever, he had written a long list of all kinds of medications and gave her instructions for her diet.

Since then, she has had to take all kinds of vitamins and other supplements. Laura was ordered to cook chicken soup, duck soup, fish soup, and some others she could not determine the main ingredient of.

Kate's request was denied immediately.

"You are weak, the doctor said. And now you have schoolwork. You won't be able to provide me with a quality s.e.x life if…"

She didn't insist anymore, as she didn't want to hear him repeating the reason. The good thing about the pills and soup was that her limbs had not felt so cold lately.

The full-time school was like paradise for Kate. She could have whole days occupied by studying. She could wear jeans and flat shoes, even a simple ponytail in her hair.

Kate got familiar with her classmates and sometimes hung out with one or two girls in the small café or restaurants near the school. She tried to avoid wasting too much time on socializing, though.

Sometimes she went shopping for some little things like hairpins or scarves in the boutiques. There was an alley behind the school with many restaurants, and food stands. Kate and her classmates went there several times, and she loved it because the food was cheap and delicious.

She met one of her classmates who was waiting for their food at a food stand which sold hotdogs, pancakes, tacos, and food of all kinds when a commotion happened all of a sudden.

In broad daylight, a guy holding a stick walked over and, without saying anything, started to smash everything the food stand contained. The owner of the food stand wasn't a meek person either, he grabbed whatever he had by his hand that could serve as a weapon and started to fight back.

The things on the stand and on the tables for the customers fell down, and eggs, vegetables, hotdogs, hams, pies were flying in the air and all over the ground.

The customers and passersby were mostly students, and they screamed and fled the area. Soon there were more people joining the fight, and some passersby became victims in the chaos.

Kate and her classmate followed the crowd fleeing towards the direction of the alley entrance. The road was narrow, and with too many foods stands, plus the people running in disorder, it was difficult to get out of the place. There was no place to hide from the chaos.

And somebody took the chance to rob and pickpockets. Soon somebody cried that her purse and phone had been stolen. Kate clutched her satchel tightly and went with the crowd. When the crowd moved to a barbecue stand, they were stuck there because of too many tables on the roadside.

The stand owner had already joined the fighting. A cooker with boiling oil was beside his stand, and it soon became a victim itself. It was pushed over, and the oil splashed out.

In a millionth of a second, somebody shouted, "watch out," and pulled her to the other side. The oil was splashed in the place where Kate had stood a moment earlier and still frizzled on the floor. A guy who got some drops on his feet cried in pain.

Kate was shocked, and she raised her head to find the person who saved her was Jimmy.

***

Jimmy didn't say anything but held Kate's shoulder and moved through the crowd to a safer place.

The place didn't much deserve the word safe either. It was messy too. It was the space between two houses. A huge garbage bin with scattered garbage around it served as cover. They stood behind the garbage bin and breathed the stench in the air.

Kate tried to move to a place farther away from the chaos. And the noise of shouting, screaming, throwing things, and beating was still audible.

"How did it happen?" She asked Jimmy.

"Gangs were fighting for territory, trouble provocation, revenge, and business rivalries." Jimmy stared at the ground and said in a low voice.

"Gangs?" Kate was surprised. It was hard to imagine gangs fighting would happen in an alley close to school.

Jimmy nodded. "Because the business here is good. So this is a place they fight over. It is not easy for the stand owners to survive here."

"You don't take care of this?"

"We cannot control it. And we should not either."

In fact, this was what the police were glad to see. The fighting between gangs was advantageous to the police.

"Even if somebody dies?"

Jimmy drew back his attention from the ground to Kate. "We will get involved before that happens."

Kate paused a little and said, "Aren't you very dangerous too?"

The guys fighting there were all like devils.

Looking at her worried expression, a light flashed over Jimmy's eyes. He padded his waist and said, "We are prepared."

Kate saw something bulging under his coat. It was the shape of a gun.

The next moment, Jimmy raised his hand toward her, as if he wanted to touch her face. Her heart was beating fast, but Jimmy's hand reached to her head and touched one strand of her hair. His hand retreated soon.

He showed what was in his hand to her. It was her hairpin. She probably dropped it while she was running. He wanted to put it on for her but changed his mind and gave it back to her. There was a short moment of contact between their hands when he returned the pin.

Jimmy seemed a little embarrassed and picked a subject. "You go to school nearby?"

"Yes." Kate also looked down at the ground and didn't dare to look at him.

"Seems he is good to you." Jimmy's voice contained a little loss. "I had seen you coming out from that school several times when we passed by on missions."

Grievance came to her heart, and after a few seconds, she heard him ask, "Last October, probably Columbus Day, did you call me?"

Her heart shrank, and she wanted to deny it at first. But then she nodded and said, "Yes, a woman answered my call."

Jimmy smiled bitterly, "It was my ex-girlfriend. That day I went back to my grandma's birthday party. I was taking a shower, and the cell phone was not with me."

It had been quite a long time and seemed unnecessary to explain, but Jimmy said it anyway. He didn't want her to have the misunderstanding.

Kate didn't reply.

Looking at her smooth, straightened hair, his heart was gripped by an invisible hand. He asked, "It was the time you needed help, so you…"

He stopped to change the words, "got together with that man?"

Before she could answer, he added, "If I received the phone, then…"

"No." Kate denied immediately.

"I called just to ask you when you would take back your clothes…"

Kate bit her lips and hardened her heart, "because if he saw it, he would be unhappy."

A silence followed.

But she could hear and sense Jimmy's breathing changed. His c.h.e.s.t, just a few inches from her eyes, was moving up and down.

She thought bitterly that she had played it well. Her rehearsals were not wasted.