Zara Fitzgerald and the others quickly arrived at the parking lot. After a glance, they saw that Howard Hamilton had put a deep dent into a Mercedes.
Alex, who was standing behind everyone, frowned when he saw that it was Lucy's car, which he was driving while she was gone, that had been dented.
That idiot Howard! He was bragging about how awesome his driving skills were when we were eating just now. And yet you had to dent Lucy's car. You're a real dope! Alex thought.
They bantered amongst themselves.
"This big car must be at least over one hundred and fifty-thousand dollars. This is bad—this is bad to dent it up like this—that's at least ten thousand dollars in damages."
"If only I could drive, I definitely wouldn't have dented it up. Ach—who knew something like this would happen?"
"You want to pay ten thousand dollars? Who the hell can afford it?"
"Who can we blame? If we were a bit more careful, we wouldn't have been able to make such a big dent."
Howard became even more annoyed than he already was. Now, he was so angry that he wanted to zip up their mouths.
"Oh, this guy won the prize. I've seen this kind before at an exhibition. It's a high-quality version imported from Germany—over two hundred thousand dollars. With a dent like this, no one can get out for less than fifteen thousand."
One of the cars driving by stopped in front of the crowd. The driver commented, gave Howard a thumbs up, and then drove away.
Fifteen thousand! Howard thought.
Howard's heart stopped. His whole body felt numb as if it had been shocked. His legs felt weak as if he were about to collapse.
He was just an ordinary rich guy, so losing fifteen thousand dollars in one shot was a huge sum of money to him. If the family knew about this, his father would be mad!
The others noticed Howard's mood, stopped commenting, and just sighed.
He didn't want to look weak in front of the others. He decided to avoid losing face in front of his friends that no one would look down on him, even if he might get in trouble with his father when he got home.
"Why don't you drive away? Nobody has seen it—I think if the owner can drive a Mercedes, he probably won't care about your money," Alex said.
Alex felt funny when he saw Howard's expression as if his parents had died. Honestly speaking, he didn't think much of it. More importantly, they had been holding him up from getting out of here.
"What is your pig brain thinking? Can't you see that it's surrounded by surveillance cameras? It would be even more embarrassing if you dent someone's car up and then ran away—don't you understand?" Zara said with a frown.
"Hmph—you—ah, I didn't expect you to be dressed so badly and have such vulgar thoughts. You would have run away if you had touched someone else's car. Don't you have any morals?"
Howard sneered and said, "Do you think I have that little money? Fifteen thousand dollars—that's just two months of pocket money—what's that?"
If Howard had that much pocket money every two months, he wouldn't be so scared. But Howard only had a few thousand a months. It was more like a few months' worths!
The others started to boast about how rich Howard was, mocking Alex for his lack of morals.
"Let's go—let's not hang out with them anymore!" Rachael O'Connor couldn't stand listening to the others anymore. Even before going into the restaurant, she had said that Alex was a target for bullying.
Rachael held Alex's hand and walked away without looking at the others.
"Rachael—don't go. We still need to go to karaoke and sing," Zara called out to Rachael.
"Yeah—you and Alex can only take the bus. But you can drive in luxury with us!" Dean Marshall and Howard also hurriedly tried to persuade her to stay. They were all interested in Rachael, and they felt really upset as they watched her leave with Alex.
"No need—you guys can go hang out. I'll go back with Alex. I don't like taking luxury cars either. The bus is quite comfortable." Rachael steeled her heart and didn't have any intention of going back.
"What's going on?" the parking attendant said as he walked over. When he saw so many people gathered around, he became suspicious and pushed his way through the crowd. When he saw the car, he shouted angrily, "Who did this?"
Howard admitted that he accidentally dented the car.
"Sigh—you're a talent. Such a big place—to be able to dent up a car—I admire you!" The parking attendant said sarcastically, "Everyone stays here and don't leave. When the owner of the car arrives, you can pay him for the damage!"
Alex saw that the parking attendant was the one who had parked his car for him. He was afraid that the parking attendant would recognize him, so he took Rachael's hand and quietly told her to leave with him as soon as possible.
He was afraid of what would come next. Instead of pulling Rachael along, he had instead attracted the parking attendant's attention.
"Hey—boy—stop!" When the parking attendant saw Alex run out of the crowd, it looked like he was the guilty one! The parking attendant had to catch him or risk losing his job.
Howard and the rest went quiet and watched the parking attendant chase Alex.
If Alex had been alone, he would have just run away. However, with Rachael beside him, he couldn't run so fast. The parking attendant quickly caught him.
The smiles on the others' faces became even more obvious. Rachael's heart sank as she felt that the others would think she was a joke.
"Still running! Do you think you can escape!" exclaimed the parking attendant.
After being caught by the attendant, Alex said, "A young man wants to run after touching someone else's car. Is that all?"
When he saw Alex's face, the parking attendant was stunned, "Sir—why—is it you?"
Most of the people who drove cars of this calibre were over forty years old. It was the first time that a parking attendant had seen someone as young as Alex, so he remembered Alex's young face.
"Sir, I'm sorry—I didn't know it was you—I didn't want to chase you—sir, are you leaving now? I'll drive the car over for you now," the parking attendant said happily.
As he turned around, the parking attendant saw Howard and the others, so he quickly said, "Sir, they dented your car. If you want them to compensate you, then I'll tell them. If they don't, then I'll call the police."
What's going on? Did this luxury car belong to the loser—Alex? thought Howard and the others in confusion.
"Are you sure you haven't made a mistake? This brat was just begging out on the street in front of the shop—how could this G be his?" asked Howard.
"How could I not know after personally parking the car? Why don't you think about how you're going to compensate him?" said the parking attendant as he looked at Howard and the others in disdain.
"No need for them to compensate me—it won't cost that much to fix it." Alex just wanted to leave as soon as possible, so he said, "Just give me the car keys—I'll drive it myself."
Since the parking attendant had already revealed him, there was no need for Alex to hide who he was anymore.
Alex took the car keys, got in the big G Mercedes, and drove it out steadily.
When the others saw him do this, their eyes widened in shock. They couldn't believe that Alex, the nurse of the cheering squad, was the owner of the Mercedes Benz G!
Zara was like a statue. Her mind went blank, and her big eyes were locked onto Alex's body. It all felt unreal to her!
Harry and Howard were heartbroken. They looked like fools as they watched Alex step into the car. Their minds were a mess as they wondered what exactly was going on with Alex, How could he afford to drive such a good car?
"Beep! Beep!" Alex pushed his horn twice. The group hurriedly got out of the way.
Alex stopped the car next to Rachael and rolled down the window. He looked at the stunned Rachael and said, "Get in the car—I'll drive you back."
"Me—" Rachael pointed at herself and then calmed down a little. She smiled, "Sure!" With that, Rachael opened the door and climbed in.
Alex was about to drive the car out when he saw Zara tapping on the window beside him.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked Zara as he rolled down the window.
"Alex, I'm going back to school too—can I get a ride too?" she asked him coyly now that Zara knew Alex was the owner of this G.
This was a luxurious car worth at least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars! Zara had never ridden in one before. If she could be seen riding in this luxury car, it would make the others envy her.
"Eh—I think you should go in Harry's car. Don't you guys still have to go sing?" Alex said as he slowly raised the car window and started the engine.
"Alex, I'm not going to sing anymore—why don't you visit me sometime—" Zara said in a craving tone, walking after the G as Alex slowly started rolling away.
Alex ignored her as he drove out of the parking lot, increasing the throttle and speeding up.
"Alex—Alex—" Zara followed the G into the middle of the street, shouting like a shrew. The only response she got from him was the exhaust and dust from the surrounding cars.
When passersby saw Zara's angry expression, they all secretly guessed that Zara had been dumped by her boyfriend.