BXBX NOVEL Chapter 187 - Bait (2)
Chapter 187 – Bait (2)
"Hi Em, I\'m sorry I\'m late," Elise said as she finally arrived at the Pottery Club room. I smiled at her and told her to sit on a chair. She seemed to be in a complicated mood, much to my curiosity.
Because I hadn\'t told her my plan, how could she already seem to be in a heavy mood?
"Elise, is there something wrong?" I asked.
Elise looked at me and smiled thin, "There is a problem, Em."
"Huh? What problem?"
"It\'s about Natasha. She confronted me face to face right before I came to the club building. She started yelling at me because I had returned to school. She seems to hate the fact that I can get up after months of depression of what she did to me before."
My eyes widened instantly, "Did you do something then? Don\'t tell me that you just let her stomp on your face just like that!"
\'Of course, I don\'t want to be the victim here. I fought her, and we yelled at each other. In the end, she said that I should watch my back because she is still pissed at me and will not rest until I left Darthmorth," Elise reported.
I was stunned by her report. I underestimated Natasha Zest\'s pettiness. I thought she would drop her case with Elise because Elise had suffered for months after that sexual assault, and Thomas, Jorge, and Jackson went to jail for fifteen years.
But it seemed that Natasha Zest was the type of person that would continue her petty war until she was satisfied. And to satiate her petty rage towards Elise, who made her the butt of the joke in class, she wanted Elise to leave Darthmorth.
"That\'s why, Em. I\'m not sure how am I supposed to help you right now. I\'m sorry that I already ruined our plan before it even started," Elise bowed his head slightly, feeling so ashamed of herself.
"Why did you say that? I haven\'t even told you about my plan," I said, trying to be positive.
"I mean, from what you texted me before, basically you want to bait them so they would post something about me, so our suspicion will be proven, right?" Elise said, and I was stunned because Elise actually predicted what was on my mind perfectly.
"W—Well, yeah… I\'m planning to use you as bait to do something that is at least drama-worthy but won\'t be enough to put you into big trouble. If they posted the rumor about you on Instagram, that means they are the ones behind the Instagram account."
"Em, that\'s simply undoable if you only use me," Elise shook her head. She looked remorseful. "If you only use me as your pawn here, they could instantly tell that I am the one who accused them."
"If you want to blackmail them, they shouldn\'t know your identity, or the blackmail would be a lot less scary. Isn\'t the anonymity behind blackmail what makes it so scary? Because the one who got blackmailed couldn\'t do anything while they\'re getting threatened by an unknown blackmailer," Elise explained her view that put a new perspective to me instantly.
"Ah, you\'re right…." I had to admit that Elise was very logical here. If I used Elise as the pawn to bait Natasha and Barbara, and we started blackmailing them, then Natasha would definitely target Elise first.
Because they had a heated argument that turned into yelling just now, if Elise was the one who would become the spotlight here, then Natasha would find out quickly.
At least, her harassment towards Elise would be ten times worse since she was threatened when the blackmail started.
"Elise, do you think Natasha is already targeting you right now?" I asked.
"She is. I don\'t know what she will do, but it seems possible that she will do something even crazier to me after this. She could pay Thomas and his gang to assault me. It\'s not impossible if she did worse later," Elise said. "Em, I think I will sit this one out. I cannot help you as the main actor here. Because I\'m afraid of my life as well…."
I sighed pitifully. What Elise said was true. She should sit this one, at least not to be the main actress on the stage. Because Natasha and Barbara were really dangerous, she might even kill Elise if we got caught.
So… since Elise was out of the game right now, I had no other way to start the mission with another actor, and that actor would be…
"Elise, I think you shouldn\'t come to my club, and we shouldn\'t meet for a while, at least not in the school like this. Because we don\'t know whether Natasha and Barbara are already spying on you or not."
"So, you want to kick me out because of the risk?" Elise asked. She looked hurt.
"No, not like that. I will give you another mission, but I will be the actor in this mission. I will be the one who set up a trap for Natasha Zest and Barbara Cornwell to be put into the Instagram as a post."
"Oh, about that trap you\'re talking about, are you planning to do something post-worthy for that Instagram account, and then you will start blackmailing Natasha and Barbara?"
"Correct," I confirmed her guess. Elise was indeed a good partner. She knew exactly how my plan worked without me explaining it too much to her.
"But you know you can just accuse them, and they will not answer, right? It\'s easy to just block you or ignore…." Elise said, giving me the range of possibilities that might happen.
"I know, that\'s why I already have someone else to help me trace their IP, and if possible, hacking into their phone and account," I said, mentioning my request to Logan Walker about tracing the IP address and, if possible, finding something for evidence of their ownership to the account.
"Oh! Is it Mason Hall?" Elise asked curiously, and I shook my head for a reply.
"Mason Hall is an actor, athlete, and honor student. He is not a hacker of some sort. If he has that ability as well, then he might as well jump into a novel world because he is definitely a male lead from romance story, haha!"
"Wait, you\'re close enough to another boy other than Mason Hall?!"
"Sshh!" I covered her mouth with my hand. She was being too loud, I was afraid that her voice might leak out and someone else from outside could overhear it.
"It\'s not Mason Hall, but another man I know. But we\'re nothing but friends. He is helping me doing a favor occasionally in exchange for a reward."
"Reward?"
"Just my cooking. He loves the food I make so much," I replied lightly. I didn\'t have much thought about it, and I thought since Logan Walker liked my cooking, why not use it to my advantage?
But it seemed that Elise had something else in mind, "Em, do you not realize what you said just now?"
"What?"
"You said that he is just your friend, but you cook for him? Like… you personally made food for him to eat?"
"Yeah, what\'s wrong?"
…
…
Elise seemed to have many things in her mind, which I didn\'t understand. She looked frustrated as well, "Do you not realize how contradictory that is?"
"Elise, quit beating the bushes and just tell me what\'s wrong. You look really desperate right now."
"Emmy, what you did is something only a literal wife would do!" Elise yelled at me frustratedly. "Do you not realize that girls don\'t really cook for boys around her age? Especially when they are just friends. In fact, I think your view is a bit too naive, Em. Cooking for someone, especially regularly, is almost like a traditional husband and wife role."
"We don\'t do that in high school," Elise said as she leaned on the chair, "You\'re seriously clueless about this? You literally cook for someone that you call a friend, and on a regular basis as well!"
"Tell me, Em. What kind of food do you cook for him usually?" Elise asked.
"Uh… I cooked a full set of lunch yesterday, from appetizer to dessert. But I usually just baked a box of cookies for him."
"Cookies?!" Elise\'s eyes widened out of shock.
"What? What\'s wrong with that?"
"And you still call yourself his friend?" Elise is confused the hell out of me right now. I didn\'t understand why she sounded so desperate and peeved about it.
"Yeah, I\'m his friend. And what\'s with your reaction, Elise. If you want me to bake you cookies, I can do that as well."
"I baked cookies for Mason Hall a few times, usually in bunny shape," I said honestly. Since I already trusted Elise.
Elise\'s jaw dropped the moment I mentioned my baked cookies for Mason Hall, "Wow, Em.. I didn\'t know that you\'re such a player."