Alex smiled faintly. "I meant every word. I understand you don't see it, but your attitude really is to be pitied. The power you think you have is fake."
"Fake? Do you think I'm stupid?" Tabitha jabbed a finger at him. It was true that in that moment she looked rather powerful compared to him.
"Oh, he's just spouting pithy sayings to try to elevate himself. He's not worth the trouble," one of her friends muttered.
"Sasha, you're quite right. He must have suffered some awful misfortune to end up like this. It's him I pity!" Tabitha laughed.
"Yes, we'll have to be generous with this little security guard," said the other woman, whose name was Sasha Hayes. She took in the sight of Alex standing with his former roommates with a sneer.
"I disagree," Tabitha said viciously. "I'm not sure he'll learn anything from generosity. I think it would be best for him to apologize!"
"True!" said Sasha. She turned to Alex. "If you don't apologize, then your life in Baltimore will become very difficult from now on!"
"What's the matter? What's going on in here?" A voice called out from the hallway. Suddenly another group of people came to stand around the little confrontation.
Among them was Suranne, Suzan's mother. Suranne was a beautiful, fashionable woman with natural style and grace. She had a noble temperament, and was very different from Tabitha, who flaunted her wealth through gaudy style choices.
After listening to Tabitha's version of events, Suranne turned to Alex and his former roommates with a stern look.
"Alex, you are our guest," she said severely, "but I cannot tolerate you insulting the other people at this party. Please apologize. Otherwise, things really might go badly for you. If they do, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to help."
Suzan and Joe both looked like they wanted to speak up. But at the same time, Suranne was their mother, and partially responsible for paying for the house. They knew it would be bad to publicly contradict her.
"Please say sorry right now," Suranne continued, obviously hoping to end the fight as quickly as possible.
Suzan tried to intervene. "But Mom—"
"Please, dear," said Suranne.
Suzan shut her mouth unhappily. She knew that she was in danger of having a fight with her mother in the middle of the party if she didn't hold back.
Instead, she shot a quick, conspiratorial glance at Alex and the others, trying to hint that there was little she could do and that she was sorry. "I'm sure my friends here didn't mean it. They were just in high spirits. Let's settle this."
Alex smiled again. "Absolutely, but I'd like to wait. Why don't we talk about this again at the end of the party?"
Everyone turned to him with puzzled looks. He continued, "If, after we've all had a chance to cool off, it still seems like I need to apologize to these ladies, then I will. I'll even kneel down! You can film it if you want."
"I may well do that," Tabitha said. "What would you boss say about a video like that? Well, it sounds worth the wait." Now that she knew that Suranne was going to take her side, she felt bold.
"But," Alex said, "if by the end of the night their behavior shows that they don't deserve an apology, then I won't offer one. Because then I won't have insulted them, right? I'll just have stated the truth."
Tabitha pulled a sour face at his implication that she would embarrass herself."
Alex gave her a bland smile. "It's really no harm to you, is it? After all, you have so much power. You can afford to be generous."
It was irksome having to be polite to people he knew he could easily defeat. But he didn't want to embarrass his friend, so he tried to solve the matter peacefully.
While he said this, a middle-aged man came over to join the group. He was a tall man in a good suit and a neat pair of glasses. He said in a calming voice, "Please, I'm sure we're all reasonable people. Do me a favor and let the children go. There's no need to be harsh with them."
This was Joe, Neil's father. He was nevertheless well respected for his upstanding and honest character. As he was also Joe's father, everyone knew it was appropriate to defer to him in this matter.
As the group broke up, though, Suranne made a point of saying to Alex, "That was badly done. Needlessly disrespectful and vulgar. There will be consequences!"
"What will be consequences? For whom? Why?" A beautiful voice chimed. A girl wearing bright pink strode over on long legs. She was effortlessly pretty, easily outshining the women nearby.
Suranne couldn't help but smile at the approaching figure. "Do you think I'm being harsh, Rose?"
Everyone looked at Rose favorably. She was a striking girl and quick to charm. All the men nearby couldn't help but think how incredible she looked and how much they wanted to know her better.
Rose also knew a great deal more about Alex's true identity than most of the people at the part. But she had chosen to keep much of what she had seen, such as his fight with Tyson, to herself. She hadn't stopped thinking about him since watching that match.
"This all seems like a big mistake," said Rose, heedless of the previous attempts made to establish peace. "Just because someone is older doesn't mean they automatically deserve respect! And just because someone doesn't dress up for a party doesn't mean other people should be rude to them. I think rude people are always just looking for an excuse! I bet Alex really did nothing wrong."
Tabitha turned to her with a furious expression. "Who do you think you are?"
"Someone who deserves to have their own opinion. Why, who are you?" Rose said smilingly.
She knew she couldn't tell them why she thought Alex was so incredible, and it irritated her. But she also knew that it was important that she respect Alex's privacy. If he didn't want to talk about his accomplishments too much, then she would follow his lead. But it seemed ridiculous that he should have to put up with attitude from people so obviously inferior to him.
Rose's family was not as distinguished as Joe's, but she attracted powerful people and so had accumulated a kind of respectable reputation for herself. Tabitha and Sasha both knew that Rose had the potential to be very powerful one day. Since more and more people seemed to be coming to Alex's defense, they decided to let the issue be.
They also felt it was rather humiliating to argue so publicly with someone as low as a security guard. They decided to wait for their apology until the end of the evening.
Tabitha snorted as she walked away. "Well, it's no difference to me," she said loudly, and shot Alex a cold look. "Let's see how big you talk in the future."