Neale sighed.
He knew exactly why Felix was smiling so much at that moment. Felix could easily escape this situation if he wanted to. He had probably been in this very situation plenty of times,and he had probably come out of it unscathed. This probably gave him the assurance that he could escape in one piece.
Soon they were taken to the office and into the principles office. Sitting at a desk which was piled with papers was a middle-aged man. He had greying hair and spectacles rested on the bridge of his nose. He had black eyes which raised to look at them as they followed Mr Jerome into the office.
Mr Jerome didn't waste time explaining the situation to the Man. The man sternly gazed at both Neale and Felix. Just standing in his presence made one feel a heavy pressure. Even Felix had a grim expression on his face.
"Mister Cain,and you." The man said speaking in a flat tone. He placed emphasis when mentioning Neale. His sharp gaze drifted from Felix to Neale as he spoke.
"Did you boys come to school to learn or to engage in meaningless scuffles? This isn't the first time, Mr. Cain. As for you, you're a new student in this school. This isn't some low-class school in a small town, you understand? This is Eagles Bay secondary school. It's a prestigious school that produces the greatest graduates in the entire district. Get into another fight and you'll be out of here. If I'm not mistaken, Claus Wayne has decided to stop paying your fees. You should receive the message later so don't be lax. Wake up, boy."
The last few lines shocked him. Did Mr. Wayne actually stop paying his school fees? He would have to ask him later. If that was the case then he'd have to leave that school for a government school.
Neale remembered Claus Wayne very clearly, he was known as one of the best businessmen in the district and Neale's mother used to work for him. He had seen Mr. Wayne a few times and the last time he met Mr. Wayne, Mr. Wayne had said he'd pay for Neale's costly school fees.
Neale didn't know what was going on.
After a while, both he and Felix were granted leave. Neale didn't pay attention to Felix and was already in deep thought, up until they reached the classroom. It was then that when Neale looked up, he saw the class staring.
Neale just quietly went to his place. He ignored everyone and continued on his way.
"Hey."
Neale turned his head to see who was calling him. It was from the boy sitting at the table next to him. After observing the boy he realized it was the same boy who had gotten bullied.
Neale simply nodded at the boy and continued writing his notes.
"Hey, thanks for helping out earlier." The boy said to him again, in a loud whisper. A few students glared at him in annoyance but he ignored them.
"It was never my intention," Neale whispered back while he continued his notes.
"But still, you saved my skin," The boy said. "I'm Fin, you're Neale right?"
Neale simply nodded. The glares were starting to be thrown at him too. He didn't care too much about it but he didn't want to be hated for the next 2 years of secondary school. That would make life much more difficult.
"By helping me, you've just turned yourself into a sacrificial lamb. You previously already had no status but that nonexistent status has now been dropped." The boy, Fin, said to him.
Neale simply have him a look before saying,"Aren't you supposed to do your notes?"
"I'm done," Fin said with a silly grin.
"I'm still busy with it so please if you don't mind," Neale said to him before he continued writing.
"Okay. I'll keep silent." Fin said to him. Neale thought that he wouldn't be disturbed but for the rest of the period, he struggled to complete his notes, getting constantly interrupted by fin.
"What do you want?" Neale asked Fin who stuck to him like glue.
"Nothing," Fin said shrugging his shoulders.
Fin stuck to Neale for the rest of the day up until it was time to go home.
Neale rushed home and phoned Mr. Wayne at the first chance he got.
The reply came instantly and Wayne heard a familiar voice from the other side.
"Neale, I was just about to call you." Mr. Wayne said.
"What happened? Why aren't you paying my fees anymore?" Neale asked while trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice.
"I can't manage it. Do you know how much the fees are for that place? I can only afford to pay for Hana but I can't do it for you too." Mr. Wayne`s cool voice sounded over the phone.
"Then why the hell did you agree in the first place!?" Neale couldn't control himself. He had moved away from his old town after losing his mother. Nothing seemed to be going well in his life and going to Eagles Bay Secondary School seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel. But even that light had now disappeared.
"Calm down, I couldn't do it then. I only realized now. I can help you transfer to another school. Just wait for 2 months, Neale. For now, you'll go to Eagles Bay. Just wait." Mr. Wayne said from the other side.
Neale knew why Mr. Wayne never said it before. It was because Neale's mother was alive. Neale's mother worked for Mr. Wayne and in order to make sure she stayed, Mr. Wayne promised to help send Neale to Eagles Bay. Now that Neale's mother was gone...
Neale cut the call. He was in a dilemma. Most of all, he couldn't believe it. The man who outwardly acted righteous and was loved by many, Claus Wayne, was such a person.
"My plans, my future...all gone..." Neale muttered. The bright assured future, the light of hope was reduced to something less than a glimmer. He was back where he was before. No, he was even worse off now.
Neale placed the phone on the old table sitting in the middle of the room. Some of the only items of furniture or appliances Neale had brought from his old home had been his fridge, his mattress, and a small 2-plate stove. He had found the table at the house when he arrived.
Neale had a shower and changed out of his uniform and into something more comfortable. Then he caught a bus to his old town. He walked from the bus stop and headed to the location he intended to go to. Soon he reached it.
At the top of the entrance was the sign " graveyard." Neale entered and walked along the concrete path.
As Neale neared his mother's resting place, he found a man standing there, right next to the grave. From where he stood, all he could see was the back of the man's coat. the man was a little tall and had black hair which had strands of grey appearing.
The man turned and saw Neale, and as soon as he saw Neale, a little bit of surprise showed on his face.
Neale felt quite surprised too because the man standing in front of him, was the famous tycoon, Lucas Blake.
~~~
"L-Lucas Blake...W-what on earth are you doing here?" Neale asked.
After Neale spoke to Lucas Blake, the surprise on the superstar's face disappeared.
"I just came to visit someone. What about you, kid?" Lucas Blake said as he placed his hands in his pocket.
"T-the same as you. It's a bit of a coincidence, isn't it? Hahaha." Neale could only laugh nervously as he stared at arguably the greatest man in the country.
"Yep, maybe for you. You're pretty calm for someone meeting a celebrity in person for the first time. Are you sure you don't want an autograph or anything? I'm about to leave." Lucas Blake said as he began walking towards the exit. Neale was overwhelmed by the presence Lucas gave off. He displayed the identity of a confident, powerful man.
"No, actually. Well, have a good day Mr. Blake." Neale replied to Lucas Blake, managing to compose himself.
Lucas Blake simply nodded his head before walking away. Then he stopped and turned around, asking Neale a question, "What's your name kid?"
"I'm Neale." Neale simply replied. He didn't want to drag on the conversation in case he began stuttering. It already felt so difficult to stay composed near such a famous person.
"It was nice meeting you, Neale. " Lucas Blake said taking a few steps up to Neale and stretching out his arm.
"Thank you, same to you Mr. Blake," Neale said as he rushed up to Lucas Blake and shook his arm.
Lucas Blake then nodded before walking off and placing the hat he held in his left arm on his head.
"Haaa. That was absolutely nerve-wracking!" Neale Blake exclaimed. "I can't believe I just met Lucas Blake!"
Neale recovered from his awed state soon enough and remembered why he came there. Neale turned and walked toward his mother's grave. Neale felt a heavy feeling overcome him and it was as if he had just placed a heavy burden on his shoulders, his legs felt weak and under pressure as he struggled to approach the grave.
Neale stood there for a few seconds as he watched the grave. Just a couple of days ago, this very person was with him but they disappeared from his life so quickly. It was so fast... too fast. He hadn't gotten to use his time properly because, by the time he woke up, she had already fallen asleep.
As countless thoughts ran through his head, Neale felt like his head would explode from the immense amount of thinking it was doing.
"What do I do...what do I do without you?" Neale asked as he gritted his teeth, he felt tears run down his cheeks as he stared down at his mother's final resting place.
~~~
Lucas Blake entered through the doors of a black Audi SUV parked outside the cemetery. He sat in the passenger seat and removed his phone to check if he received any important calls. He had a few but it wasn't from anybody very important.
"Are you done, boss?" The driver, a dark-skinned man asked. He was Joshua, the driver, and bodyguard of Lucas Blake.
"Yes, we can leave now, Josh." Lucas Blake said as he appeared to be deep in thought.
"I must admit, I was surprised when you said you wanted to go to this cemetery. I didn't know the boss had lost someone. Was it recent?" The female sitting in the seat next to Lucas asked.
"If I have to admit, I lost this person a while back. Very long ago, actually." Lucas admitted scratching his chin.
"Oh, no wonder we don't know. The boss must have an interesting past." The girl said with a sigh. She was Rachelle, another bodyguard of Lucas.
It may have seemed like the girl was being extremely inquisitive with her boss such seemed unusual but the relationship between Lucas Blake and some of his bodyguards was different from others. They were close to him and Rachelle was the closest one to him out of all the guards. she had been adopted by Lucas when she was just a young girl.
"Where are we heading next?" Lucas Blake inquired as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
"To Newton. We've got some work down there to do." Josh said to Lucas as he stepped on the accelerator speeding down the street.
"Oh and boss, you should see this." Rachelle said holding out a tablet to Lucas.
"What is this?"
Lucas took it from her and looked at it.
"These pictures of gangsters all around this province. Many of them are young teenagers who are under big gangs. From what information we've received, there are 4 main gangs around here. There are other smaller or medium sized gangs but they're all under the bigger gangs. If we take out the large gangs than it'll be easier to get rid of the smaller ones. These gangs are a problem if we want to operate our businesses without interference." Rachelle explained as Lucas scrolled through the images.
"We don't have to completely wipe them out, we just have to keep them in line." Lucas said to Rachelle, handing the tablet back to her.
"What do you mean, sir?" Rachelle asked with her eyes widening a little.
"It'll be both easier and more efficient to merely subdue them than to completely wipe them out. We don't even have that much influence in the underworld so how would we do that?" Lucas explained as he watched the road ahead.
The underworld was the dark side of society. It involved dark secrets, gang violence and different crimes. Even with Lucas Blake's large influence, He still had very little power in the underworld.
"Moving on from that, did you get the information I asked for." Lucas asked Rachelle. Rachelle nodded and handed him some papers.
Lucas gazed through the papers and his eyes widened, "no, it can't be."
"What's wrong, boss?" Rachelle asked. Her boss Lucas, who rarely showed any genuine emotion, just displayed a very surprised expression.
"Did you get his photos?" Lucas asked looking up from the papers, his expression serious.
"Yes, it's back at the office." Rachelle replied, patiently waiting for an instruction.
"Show them to me as soon as we get back." Lucas said, his eyes showed a spark of interest as he looked back at the papers in his hand before staring out of the window at the setting sun.
"Neale Blake ,huh? It can't be him...can it?"
~ ~ ~