Chapter 1137 - Just Say I’m Your Cousin

As long as Mindy was willing, it wasn’t a problem for her to visit Gold Nugget once or twice a week.

Now that she had gotten permission, the little girl was in a very good mood. She even hummed a song.

Luke remembered that she should be in school by now, so he casually asked her about it. Only then did he learn that she had transferred to a junior high school and was currently in the seventh grade.

Mindy’s middle school life had clearly started out well.

She was already far more knowledgeable than the other seventh grade students, and she had good grades. Thanks to her athletic abilities, she had joined the cheerleaders at school not long ago, and had a good relationship with some of the ninth grade team members.

Luke had a strange expression on his face when he heard that. “I may have gone to high school in the middle of nowhere in Texas, but cheerleaders always have their little secrets. Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with those girls?”

Mindy was stumped. “What do you mean?”

Looking at her, Luke knew that while she wasn’t stupid, she had never been to school, and didn’t know about the rotten things cheerleaders could get up to.

Of course, she would learn if she watched more shows for pre-teens, but she mostly chose to watch cartoons.

So, he explained, “When I was in high school, I had a friend who was a cheerleader, and my sister was a cheerleader too. So, it might not be accurate to say that all cheerleaders are bad. However, they also said that there were a lot of b*tches in the cheerleading team who liked to play dirty tricks behind other people’s backs and bully new team members.”

Mindy was stunned. “Really?”

Luke sighed. “It’s usually a small group of two to four people. They’re a little wealthier and dress on trend. They’ll usually have a boyfriend or two, and like to flaunt their clothes, perfume, jewelry, purses, phones, and the number of boyfriends they have in front of ordinary girls.”

Mindy’s eyes widened. She murmured, “It… It seems they’re like that. They invited me to a party this weekend.”

Luke shook his head. “Although these sorts of people are usually pranksters and will only pull hair or slap people at most when they bully them, most girls still won’t be able to take it.”

Mindy was lost. “Why… would they do that? If they wanted to make fun of me, they wouldn’t have made friends with me, right?”

Luke said, “Because they like to see other people fall into a trap before jumping out to mock them for being idiots. It’s a typical case of having a little bit of sick fun. It’s only when you’re not fooled that they’ll stop pretending.”

Mindy frowned and was conflicted. “No way? I think they’re quite nice… although they are a little catty.”

Luke rubbed her head and said, “Now that I’ve warned you, aren’t you going to check it out? It’s easy to investigate the reputation of someone like that in school. Go and ask a slightly weaker and more honest student. No matter what they say, you’ll be able to confirm it yourselves.”

Mindy hesitated. “Should I really check it out?”

Luke nodded. “Isn’t it normal to see how other people treat their ‘good’ friends? How can a good friend blame you for something like this?”

Mindy gave a somewhat lacklustre “oh.”

Luke rubbed her head again. “Don’t think that your classmates are all bad. It’s just that there are slightly more rotten eggs among cheerleaders. You’re a girl, so you should protect yourself.”

Actually, he wasn’t too worried about Mindy; he was worried about what she would do to the cheerleaders.

Most of these so-called “pranks” in school were mostly to humiliate the other party, and could even go so far as to become a crime.

If they really pissed off this little girl, those girls might not die on the spot, but they would very likely have to be sent to the ICU.

Looking at Mindy’s downcast face, he thought for a moment before he said, “I think I know two friends at Dalton Junior High. They’re also cheerleaders. I’ll ask them about the situation. How does that sound?”

Mindy hesitated for a moment before she nodded.

Luke pulled over and dialed a number. “Monica? This is Luke. Which Luke? The Luke who treated you to Shake Shack twice…”

Mindy, on the other hand, had a strange expression on her face. Although the burgers there were very delicious, he dared to call them friends just after treating them twice to a meal? These friends seemed very cheap!

While she was letting her thoughts run wild, Luke got to the point. “Here’s the thing: I have a little sister who just transferred into the seventh grade and is a cheerleader. I’m afraid she’ll be bullied in that group, so I want to ask…”

A moment later, he put down the phone and said, “There’s only one group of ninth grade cheerleaders on the team. Their leader is called Brooke. She’s from a middle-class family and likes to dye her hair blond. She acts like a rich young lady and has two female ‘lackeys.’ One of them is called Harlow, and the other is called Dolce.”

Mindy sighed and didn’t say anything.

Luke patted her head and said, “It seems that I was right. They’re the ‘good friends’ you met. Don’t be sad. Most people in high school would be lucky to make one or two good friends. That’ll take a few years.”

Thinking for a moment, he asked, “When will the cheerleaders get together?”

Mindy said, “There’s a training session tomorrow at 9am.”

Luke was amused. “I’ll take leave tomorrow to take you to the training.”

Mindy turned her head in surprise. “Huh?”

Luke patted the little girl’s head again. “Just say that I’m your cousin. It won’t be easy for them to mess with you after tomorrow.”

Mindy’s expression turned strange. “Are you sure?”

Luke chuckled. “It’s just a small matter. What’s there to be nervous about?”

Mindy’s eyes sparkled as she pondered.

She and her father were passing friends with Luke, and they barely had dealings with each other.

Why was he so nice to her? Did he really think of her as a sister? Mindy was a little bewildered.

Of course, Luke wouldn’t tell her that he was just trying to improve her good impression of him.

This little girl was one of the few 1-star teammates who had passed the system’s evaluation.

Based on when she became his teammate, he didn’t need to work hard to impress this little girl; doing something small was enough to give her a very good impression of him.

Pretending to be her cousin and making an appearance to help her solve a small problem with some of her classmates truly took no time and effort.

After all, all the cheerleaders were girls.

…

The next morning, Selina and Gold Nugget went out on patrol in the car.

Luke, on the other hand, drove a barely used car out of the garage on the first floor and headed to Damon’s house on the other side of the river.

After he stopped the car in front of Damon’s house, he honked, and Mindy quickly opened the door and walked out.

Damon followed her out and was about to say hi to Luke, but both father and daughter were stunned when they saw the car.

Mindy couldn’t help but exclaim, “Cool~”

Her gloomy mood was suddenly tossed to the side as she circled Luke’s car and examined it.

Damon was about the same. At most, he had slightly more self-control than Mindy, and there was a nostalgic look on his face. “I wanted a car like this back then, but I didn’t have much money. This car of yours… Did you modify it yourself?”