Bryan heard the sound of the doorbell, so he went to turn off the stove for now, and went to proceed to the door. He looked at the intercom to see who rang the doorbell.
He beamed when he saw Natasha, so he opened the door in haste.
"Welcome back, Dear!" he greeted in a cheerful manner.
Natasha gave him a tight hug. "I'm back, Pops!"
He also returned her hug, but after several seconds, he was the first one to let her go, and Natasha followed afterward.
"Did Mum go home?" Natasha asked.
He shook his head. "No, not yet, Dear. I bet she will be home soon."
"Okay," she said. "What will be for today's dinner, Pops?"
"It will be hamburger steak!" he answered.
Her eyes twinkled as she heard that would be their dinner. "All right!"
"It will be ready. Just you wait," he informed.
She got a little bit sad that she didn't manage to help Bryan. "If I only got early, I could lend a hand, Pops."
Bryan patted her head. "You don't have to, Dear. You must be tired from school, so you should take it easy."
She went upstairs to place her backpack and change her apparel.
She went downstairs after she got changed with her phone. It was a miracle that she didn't have to do her assignment because she did it at the school. It wasn't that hard since she had the library as her help to cite some answers. She ate her lunch as fast as she could at that time to answer the assignment that was given to her and her classmates.
She slammed herself on the sofa and then unlocked her phone to tap a game application called Among Us. She would invite Cassie to play with her later because she assumed that Cassie was still busy doing chores or something else at her home.
She had Nat as her display name. She tapped the online and then tapped the public. It didn't matter to her which map she should choose, but it was the default map called The Skeld. She scrolled down to see which rooms she would get in.
She decided to tap the room with two out of 10 players. She decided to wait until it became 10 players.
The game started after it counted five to one. She got the crewmate role. She had no idea who were the imposters, so she should do her task until it was completed and investigate who could be the potential imposters.
She was on her way to the cafeteria when someone pressed the emergency meeting button. She saw that the player named Dundun was dead. This they would discuss who were the potential imposters.
She typed that she was on her way to the cafeteria, but the player named Bread typed that she was one of the impostors. She knew that she was a crewmate, so got suspicious of Bread.
She couldn't believe how everyone believed Bread although she had an alibi. She was kicked out and then revealed to be not an impostor.
She quitted the game since she already had no energy to continue.
She locked her phone and then covered her eyes with her right arm. She remembered the lie of Baker and it just irritated her. She didn't want to think about it, so she decided to take a nap.
**
She was relieved that nothing much happened at the school. She got news from others that Charlotte was punished to clean the female restroom for doing vandalism. So her suspicion was correct, it was Charlotte who vandalized her desk.
Although Charlotte was punished, gossips about her having a boyfriend spread so fast. It wasn't that surprising since gossips were meant to spread like a wildfire. It wasn't bad... for now.
She needed to settle evidence, so the gossips would be extinguished at least. She believed it wouldn't fully be extinguished, but it was better to prove her innocence than ignoring it because it might go bad at her side since she didn't have friends in the school to back her up.
She wanted Baker to apologize and if that happened, she would make Charlotte and Lawrence apologize to her with the evidence she gathered.
She waited at the school gate of Jones High School. She wanted this to be settled, but she shouldn't set her expectations high since she recalled the account of Cassie.
"Look!" Boy C pointed his right index finger at Natasha who was waiting for someone at the school gate. "Isn't she a beauty!?"
"Woah! You're right!" Boy D agreed. "But isn't that a Smith High School uniform? Who is she waiting for?"
Boy C pondered, but he came up with a guess. "Don't tell me that beauty has a boyfriend in Jones!?"
"You must be assuming things!" Boy D replied. "Maybe that beauty has a best friend in here!"
Boy C couldn't deny that possibility. "You might be right."
She saw Baker, so she— "Mister Cinnamon!"
Baker paused his steps and then looked beside him. He didn't ask her, but he was waiting for her to spill what she had to tell.
Boy D dropped his jaw. "Look! Look! That beauty talked to Mister Cinnamon! What's going on!?"
Boy C couldn't believe this. "Don't tell me that beauty is friends with Mister Cinnamon? Or perhaps... her boyfriend is Mister Cinnamon!?"