Are you sure? Last time I heard she got fired from her job... pfft hahaha!! "
Leonidas face was brightened by a devilish smile. Everything clicked into place. So this is the scumbag who hired Jeffrey...
Leonidas couldn't help but think to himself how much of an idiot this guy is for committing murder then calling the cops on himself.
"Pfft... What an idiot." said Leonidas while turning away from Julian with a disdainful expression on his face.
Associating with idiots like these is what Leonidas hated the most.
Leonidas walked away from Julian and his pet dog Mark, who funnily enough kept growling and scowling at Leonidas from the side, even though he had no intention of escalating this into a fight.
Seeing this, Julian felt a wave of power rush through him as he felt that he had thoroughly won against this guy.
"Hahaha, what are you doing? Walking away to call your foster mother? Pfft what a mommy's boy..." said Julian snidely with a loud enough volume for him to get noticed.
People looked at the scene and made their own assumptions about what it meant. Leonidas could care less though. He needed to deal with this. Quickly.
He went to the bathroom, whipped out his phone, and called his favorite new pet.
"Jeffrey. Anything new?"
"Boss this is really bad. It seems like all her clients are leaving her, and even the company board is being pressured to vote her out of the law firm."
"Do you know where this pressure is from?" asked Leonidas. He instinctively knew this had something to do with Julian. But Julian is just a kid. It would take some big players to put pressure on a major company like Ana's Lawfirm.
He would find out who those players are and write them down in his own equivalent of Santa's Big Black Book of Naughty Kids.
What gifts would those naughty kids get on Christmas? A thorough spanking. Ho ho ho.
"That's the thing. It's coming from all sides. I'm tracking it but I need more time. And these guys are big players. I might get in trouble this time boss." Jeffrey said fearfully.
Leonidas knew that Jeffrey's always been a coward so he understood Jeffrey's reluctance to go down the proverbial rabbit hole.
But Leonidas knew... All he had to do was knock down the smaller dominoes first and the bigger ones would come crashing down eventually.
"I'm giving you till Friday. Find me names, contacts, details, involvement... Everything you can find. Don't alert too many people."
"Okay boss"
*beep*
Leonidas turned off the call and called the next person on his damage control agenda.
"Morning sir, how can I assist you?"
"Micky, I need you to check on my mom."
"Is there something wrong with Ms. Ana?" said Michaela worriedly, her concern was audible through the phone.
Michaela and Ana had been working together for months now and had somewhat of a solid relationship. They would even go drinking occasionally.
Leonidas knew that Ana wouldn't talk to him about her problems, but maybe she could talk to Michaela who was an adult, a friend, and a fellow colleague.
"Just go to the house and spend time with her. Be there. Maybe get her to talk. I'll do the rest."
"Okay sir"
"Thank you." said Leonidas unconsciously and switched off the phone.
On the other end, Michaela was shocked. This was the first time she had heard those words in that tone. Whatever was happening was serious. Her beautiful eyes shine with determination as she decided to try her best to be helpful. She couldn't let him down.
Back at school, Leonidas had been in the toilet for 5 minutes now. After a fake flush and he exited and went back to the waiting area where all the 8th graders were.
Although a few people noticed him, they would stay away from him naturally given his reputation, demeanor and nature. Leonidas had never been the social type so he took advantage of this by "reading-a-book/cultivation" as he always would in these situations.
Minutes passed and the bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. The Buses meant for the trip immediately entered the gates afterward.
After some strict ordering by the class teachers and packing of bags in the busses luggage space, the 8th graders were allowed onto the busses and the school trip commenced.
The two busses were top of the line long distance carriers which had 15 rows of seats with 5 seats per row separated by a corridor. There was ample spacing and the kids would definitely take advantage of this.
Ms Leah, the class teacher of 8e, was seated in the from seat of the bus with another teacher, Mr Tomis Bull, the class teacher for 8a, who was as big and as loud as his surname suggested.
"Alright kids, just get on. There are enough seats for everyone. Don't fight, don't cause trouble and everything will be great."
Teenagers of various heights and body sizes rushed in while heading to the back seats... Leonidas could only inwardly roll his eyes at this. So childish.
Leonidas chose a seat by the front knowing that all these" cool kids" would chose the ones at the back, but he hadn't even sat down for even 10 seconds when another student came and sat right next to him.
Leonidas didn't think much of it but still looked to his left only to see one of the most prettiest faces he's ever seen, almost on the same level as Fiona and Maya.
The girl had golden blonde hair that flowed down her shoulders like sunlight and emerald green eyes that glowed like treasures. Her skin was pale but flawless and accentuated the color of her full red lips.
"Rosaline, you're really gonna sit here? Come on, everyone else is at the back." said the girl who was following behind the girl who sat down. Her eyes shone with impatient gleam as she looked at the indifferent face of the blonde girl.
"Sorry Irna, I can't come. You guys are gonna be super loud at the back and I just want to read a book." Rosalie said dismissively.
"Really? But Julian said he wanted to hang out with you..." said the girl with a tempting tone, but Leonidas could tell that there was some bitterness in her look.
Julian was a good looking new boy, and it turned out that not only was he also smart, but he was rich as well. This naturally made Julian an incredibly popular option for a boyfriend with the girls throughout the grade.
But Rosalie couldn't be bothered though. While getting a book out of her bag, and without even looking at her classmate, she said "There's always gonna be time to hang out in the future. Why don't you hang out with him?"
Irna was almost visibly angered at those words. If she had the chance, she would. She had tried engaging him before, but Julian had merely given her lukewarm responses. She hoped that Rosalie and Julian getting closer could maybe allow her to be closer to Julian, even as a friend. Who knows what could happen in the future.
With an annoyed look in her eyes, she looked to the seat on the same row and saw the face of someone who had a terrible reputation and couldn't help but become even more annoyed.
"Okay I understand, but do you have to sit next to the sadistic psychopath serial killer? At least choose another seat..."said Irna while glaring at Leonidas.
Leonidas couldn't help but secretly smile wryly at this. When did he become a psychopath? When did he become a serial killer?
He had not started his cultivation since he figured he may be disturbed while all the kids were settling into their seats. He was right.
Rosaline's face changed after her friend's words went out of her mouth. She looked at her blankly and said, "Where I sit isn't up to you is it? Why do you care so much?"
Irna was stumped. This was the first time Rosalie had spoken so harshly. She looked at Leonidas hatefully as if he was the cause of this misunderstanding.
Julian was obviously interested in Rosaline. If Julian knew that Irna knew that his girl was fraternising with another boy and Irna did nothing about it, Irna might lose her chance at being close to him.
Her look of annoyance softened as she spoke to Rosaline, "I'm sorry Rose it's not what I meant... You're the prettiest girl in the grade. Sitting next to this creep is beneath you."
Then she glared at Leonidas and continued, "Why doesn't he move instead?"
Rosaline was about to say something but Leonidas, without even looking at Irna, spoke demeaningly "Pfft... I was here first."
Irna could only grit her teeth in anger. This orphaned piece of shit was giving her attitude. If she didn't handle this the right way, then her name wouldn't be Irna.
But before she could say or do anything a person behind Irna complained at her, "Hey! You've been holding up the line for a long time now. Just move."
Irna teeth clattered as she angrily grit them. Even no names could now think they could talk down to her. It's all this orphan's fault.
She withheld her anger and looked at Rosaline once again trying to dissuade her from her actions, "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
Rosaline was adamant as she gently said, "Yes. It's fine. I'll see you later."
Irna gave up and could only move towards the seat that was reserved for her by her other friends. But not without glaring hatefully one last time at her chosen root cause of this. If she could strangle someone, she would definitely strangle Leonidas right now.
As soon as the clog was dealt with, everyone managed to find their seats, and the busses started moving out of the front gates of the school. After thirty minutes, the busses were cruising on the freeway on their way to the Safari Lodge.
Leonidas was currently cultivating. He was in about to make a breakthrough to the 10th level of the Noble Realm which would allow him to freely weild 10,000 units of spirutal energy.
Of course to the outside world, it seemed like he was calmly reading a book. His body would occasionally flip over the page and turn its head to make it seem like it was truly following the book.
The person next to Leonidas would occasionally gaze curiously at Leonidas, whose focus seemed to be just short of burning a hole through his book. Rosaline could see that Leonidas was reading The 48 Laws of Power, a book that was uncharacteristic for a 13 year old.
She was there the day Leonidas beat Mark and Jake up. At first she thought he was a brute like the rest of them, but after rewatching the whole scene in her head she realized that every move was calculated and purposeful. Even the limb breaking was only based on some set rule.
She was even more surprised after hearing rumors about his genius in school, as he was known to ace every test and assignment. To her, he was terrifyingly brilliant.
This idea further magnified itself when she heard about his exaggerated past, and later on, the true story. How could someone who experienced that much not be atleast a little 'different'.
She was curious about this boy but she held herself back. It has to be said, Rosaline was not only a top beauty, but also a top student with a terrifying family background. She had her own pride to maintain.
And so after making a mental note to add The 48 Laws of Power to her reading list, she continued on with her own things.
The busses continued on until they stopped at a way station at 12:00 pm where the kids could get themselves some lunch or get some fresh air. Leonidas merely got himself a sandwich and a drink, returned to his bus, and after 15 minutes, the busses were on their way again.
It wasn't until 3:00 pm that the busses stepped onto some semi rough terrain. A large gate regulated by security personnel could be seen at the front. The busses entered and after showing some credentials and all the teenagers in the bus started ogling the sights on the outside.
Tourists walking around with their families. Wildlife rangers carrying rifles slung on their shoulders. Large vehicles carrying visitors to sight seeing spots. Everyone couldn't help but get excited.
The busses stopped by the side of an inside parking lot. All around were numbered houses and a middle area which seemed to have been used as a gathering place.
The teachers immediately took to opportunity when the bus was quiet and stood by the front of the bus to tell the students what was about to happen.
Ms Leah started, "Alright everyone, since there are 5 classes with 20 to 25 people each, numbering a total of 140 people, we decided to split you up into 14 groups of ten. Each group will be randomly chosen later on."
"For now, all you need to do is step outside and wait for your name to be called, then grab your luggage and follow an escort to where you'll be staying with your groups."
Leonidas and the rest then stepped outside in an orderly fashion. When Leonidas counted the houses and realised that there were 30 of them, he immediately deduced that this was the place they were going to be living for the next week.
A pretty lady with a bright smile, whose name was Anne Mueller, the class teacher of class 8b, stood at the front and started, "Oukay boys and girls, let's start. When I call out your name, you get your bags and go to the haus I point you to Oukay? Boys will take the odd numbered hays, girls will go to the even numbered haus. Everybody vith me?"
"Yes ma'am..."
Leonidas could only smile wryly to himself. Splitting the boys and the girls up is a very good idea considering the crazy hormones these kids are experiencing.
He was not looking forward to this trip. But by the end, it actually turned out to be a lot more interesting than he had ever expected.