"Here, take it! You know, I'm not short of this little money. In the future at school, if someone comes looking for trouble with me, won't you still have to help me? Even employees have to be paid wages, let alone this? Can't I let my brothers work for nothing?"
Despite Khalim and others repeatedly insisting not to take Carter's benefits, Carter still insisted on giving the money to Khalim. Just as he said, Carter wasn't short of these trifles.
A pack of medium-grade cigarettes would be enough to keep these guys happy for a long time. He wouldn't lose anything himself, and he could also win their hearts. Why not do it?
Perhaps some people think that things like human relations and worldly wisdom are a bit cumbersome, even some feudal remnants. But to Carter, these things are really useful!
What is human relations and worldly wisdom? It's making everyone feel satisfied as much as possible, so that they will be more willing to help you next time, more willing to interact with you.
After giving out two or three cigarettes, when Carter returned to school the next day, the situation changed again.
Along the way, Carter's black classmates, regardless of whether they had helped him yesterday or not, greeted Carter politely and warmly. Carter also smiled and chatted with each of them before going upstairs to the classroom.
He had the demeanor of a big brother from Elmont!
As the saying goes, there's gain and loss. With the support of his black classmates, Carter was not so well-received among the white students. There was no overt hostility, but the enthusiasm of the white classmates who sought him out on the first day decreased significantly by the second day, and by the third day, it had completely disappeared.
But Carter didn't care, as long as they didn't dare to provoke him. He would study peacefully for two years, and then he would leave this place. Just because he didn't like to stay in New York permanently didn't mean Carter liked staying in Douglas either.
They were just passing through life, love it or leave it.
"Hey, Carter, I just went to the gym and saw, Gein and them haven't come back yet!"
"Don't worry, you won't see him at school today. I've talked to the police, and they've kept him for 24 hours."
Seeing Khalim waiting for him in the classroom, Carter replied casually, while putting down his backpack and preparing to take out his textbooks to review.
Since he began seriously planning to study and aim for a prestigious American university, Carter had discovered that high school education in the United States was not as easy as he had imagined. Especially for students like him who aimed to attend college, let alone Ivy League schools.
In addition to regular subjects, he also had to prepare for AP courses, which were college preparatory courses. And he had to ensure a high enough SAT score to have a chance of getting into a prestigious university.
He was already busy enough, so why bother with Gein and them? Let them be detained, based on the money he contributed to Carlos while learning to shoot, it was just a trivial matter~
"Hehehe, big brother, it's time for Mary to come. I'll take off first."
Khalim, who was planning to continue talking about Gein, caught a glimpse of Mary entering the classroom with a gloomy face, and immediately decided to make himself scarce. He could help big brother fight, but facing Mary, he couldn't afford to offend her.
"Carter, come to the office with me!"
Mary didn't linger in the classroom, nor did she enter it. She stood at the door and dropped a sentence before quickly leaving the teaching area.
"Tell me? What's going on? Gein still hasn't come back. Did you have something to do with it?"
A moment later, inside the principal's office. Facing Mary, Carter knew he couldn't hide anything, nor did he intend to. He confessed directly:
"Yes, I talked to the police and they've kept them for 24 hours. Barring any surprises, Gein will show up on campus tomorrow!"
"Do you know what you're doing? Carter! This is a school! Don't bring those outside influences in here!"
Mary slammed the table, appearing extremely agitated:
"Gein's mother came to the school last night, and she couldn't see her child come home. She was crying with worry! I don't know what grievances you have between you, but I hope you can consider others when you do things. Can you imagine how anxious a mother would be not to see her child come home? How frightened and worried she would be?"
"Mrs. Mary, as you said yourself, you don't know what grievances we have, so where do you get the nerve to say such things to me?"
Gein's family background wasn't a secret to Carter. Although he didn't know if they had any tax arrears, he had already found out about their family situation.
His father was an alcoholic, and his mother worked at the supermarket where Anna worked. Speaking of family conditions, it wasn't good. But that was to be expected. If Gein's family conditions were better, wouldn't the school team find someone else to sponsor?
Hearing about Gein's mother being worried because her child hadn't come home, Carter also thought of his own mother. Of course, it was his former mother. At that time, it was the first time he was ambushed by someone, which caused him to not come home on time. His mother was also anxious and lost.
Carter frowned, admitting that he felt sorry for Gein's mother. But what followed was a deeper anger:
It seemed that every teacher liked to only look at the surface and almost never cared about what caused these things to happen in the first place.
"I'm also curious why Gein is coming after me when I haven't done anything. Just because I said a few words about the team playing poorly? I sympathize with Gein's mother's situation, but I don't think my actions are wrong."
"You may think I'm using social resources outside of school to bully him. But don't forget, they came to me first. This trouble is of their own making! I have outside resources, so I can do this. There are many people who can't. Am I supposed to just be bullied for no reason? Or do you want to tell me that Elmont absolutely has no bullying on campus? Do you dare to say that?"
"Just keeping them for 24 hours is already lenient!"
"Carter! Aren't you satisfied yet? What else do you want to do?"
Mary was initially puzzled by Carter's unfounded anger, but she quickly understood what Carter meant. Did he still intend to retaliate?
"Of course, I'm not satisfied. I never bully anyone, but I don't want to be bullied either. If Gein's mother didn't educate him properly, then I'll do it! It just so happens that I have the ability now!"
Stirred up by memories of the past he didn't want to recall, Carter didn't budge an inch.
"Get out! Get out!"
"Fine!"
Closing the door to the office gently, Carter sighed with some melancholy. He didn't rush back to the classroom, instead lighting a cigarette downstairs in the office building, quietly contemplating the future.
In Gein's family, Gein's mother was undoubtedly the most innocent. Working hard to support the family, all her hopes were pinned on Gein, her son. If Gein had his limbs broken by Doolyderick and them...
Wouldn't that be too cruel to Gein's mother?
But just let it go? Carter couldn't get over it. Clearly, he was the victim here!
With this dilemma in mind, Carter skipped the upcoming classes. He drove straight out of school and took a random route along Highway 23 for a while before returning to the bank.
"Gudermann, what do you think I should do?"