"Go on back, then. We'll wait to hear from you."
Gavin felt a surge of gratitude.
"Just wait for my text!"
Once Gavin left, the older girl said her goodbyes to Lex and headed to the campus dining hall for dinner.
Claire had her class dinner to attend, so she excused herself as well.
However, a lively debate kicked off in their group chat. The girls all agreed it was highly likely one of Gavin's roommates was the culprit.
"Gavin probably knows who did it and just wants to save his roommate's pride," someone texted.
"If he doesn't give Lex a straight answer tonight, we'll just go after him again."
"I recorded the whole conversation just now,"
Claire messaged, dropping a pleasant surprise on the group.
"Good job, Claire!" Skye praised her.
Zara sent a thumbs-up emoji in the chat.
Claire hurried over to the class dinner. By the time she arrived, the rest of the group was already there.
Because she was running late, Ethan Monroe actually stepped out to meet her.
"What took you so long?"
It was a large gathering, with three round tables set up in a private dining room—just enough space for the entire class.
They had split the bill, coming out to about twenty dollars per person.
It wasn't exactly cheap for a student budget.
But it wasn't overly extravagant, either.
Claire had already paid her share. Honestly, if Ethan hadn't stressed in the group chat that attendance was mandatory, she wouldn't have bothered showing up.
"My roommate had an issue I needed to help with. It held me up,"
Claire replied, keeping the details vague.
"You're late. The others are probably going to give you a hard time about it,"
Ethan warned her.
In truth, Claire had been the only one missing, and people were already gossiping.
A few had whispered that since she was the top student, she probably looked down on the rest of them.
Ethan didn't believe that for a second and had quickly shut down the rumors.
But he couldn't control what they whispered behind his back.
They were all classmates now. He genuinely thought it would be better for Claire to blend in a bit more.
Otherwise, she was going to have a rough time getting along with everyone.
"It wasn't intentional," Claire said, frowning slightly. "And I certainly don't look down on anyone."
She could already guess what they had been saying.
"Tell you what, I'll buy everyone milk tea on your behalf,"
Ethan offered, thinking it might smooth things over.
Claire shot him a look. "You really don't need to baby me like this."
"Did your dad put you up to this?"
"No. My dad just said you were incredible. I guess I just want to krow
Ethan rubbed the back of his t
how someone my age can be that amazing."
They were peers, yet Claire felt like she operated on an entirely different level.
Were geniuses really built differently?
"Then you definitely don't need to buy everyone drinks for me."
"I checked the invite. The dinner was scheduled for seven. Technically, I'm not even late."
Taking into account that some students lived off-campus, the absolute latest arrival time had been set for seven.
It just happened that everyone else had arrived by six-thirty.
And Claire was walking in at six-forty.
She was only a few minutes behind the rest.
If they really wanted to make a big deal out of it, she was more than ready to defend herself.
"Sorry, my mistake," Ethan conceded.
He had let the group's impatient energy get to his head.
Claire hadn't been late at all. The others were simply excited for their first class dinner and had shown early.
"Right."
When
the price and Ethan stepped i
up
the private dining room together, the loud, boisterous chatte
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Taking in the sudden awkward silence, Claire couldn't help but joke, "Did I interrupt something? Should I leave?"
Priscilla Hastings quickly broke the tension, waving at her. "Claire! Over here! We saved you a seat!"