Beaufort Academy | EDITING

Chapter Seventeen: Miss Understood

Elizabeth walked to the parking lot, almost running until she reached her car. She took the keys from her driver told him to go home.

Elizabeth immediately drove away and when she reached a secluded area beside a park somewhere, she stopped the car. At first, it didn't register to her that her tears were already falling but when she finally noticed, she cried even harder. What Alvin said was breaking her heart. In truth, she felt like someone was stabbing her chest repeatedly every time she ignored Alvin and her friends.

But she had no other choice.

She had no other choice because Marco was blackmailing her. The same night that was supposedly Marco's first day in school but he didn't go, he went to Elizabeth's house. In fact, he was already there when Elizabeth got home. He and her parents were waiting for her to come home so that they could have dinner together. Her parents had to cut a meeting short when Marco called them and said that he was visiting them. Hence, during dinner, one of their employees arrived to report what happened during the meeting.

Elizabeth's parents excused themselves to meet with their employee. Elizabeth was decidedly ignoring Marco so she also excused herself to go to the bathroom. Besides, she promised Alvin that she wouldn't let herself be alone with Marco in one room.

On her way to the bathroom, she heard her parents talking with their employee. She usually didn't care but she overheard what they were talking about so she stopped for a moment to eavesdrop.

"So we will not be airing the possible Lopez story?" the employee said.

"Of course not!" Mrs. Natividad said. "Not until we are presented with concrete proofs. Do you want a libel suit in our hands?"

"But Ma'am, if we have the exclusive story that the son of a big airline company is actually adopted then the ratings would considerably rise," the employee justified.

Elizabeth gasped.

"So Alvin's adopted huh?" Marco said from behind her.

Marco followed after her and he didn't mean to hear it but he did. Elizabeth was horrified and she pulled Marco outside, by the pool area in their property.

"Didn't you hear what they said?" Elizabeth said. "They don't have concrete proof, so it may not be true!"

"But there's also the possibility that it's true," Marco said, an evil grin on his face. "I can ask around the school if the students know about it if you want?"

He saw that Elizabeth was getting defensive. Besides, now he was getting a response out of her, unlike before when she was totally ignoring him.

"Don't you dare!" Elizabeth said. "Do you want to start rumors about it? It's not yet been proven true! How can you even think about it when someone's reputation is on the line?"

"Then date me," Marco said.

"What? You really are crazy!" Elizabeth said. "No way!"

"Wrong answer, Lizzie," Marco said. "Date me and I'll keep my mouth shut. And you have to promise you can't talk to anyone about this. Or else I might just accidentally announce to Beaufort Academy that one of their students is actually adopted."

Elizabeth realized what Marco meant. She had no proof that Alvin wasn't adopted. She couldn't believe that it was her family who handed Marco something he could use against her.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and said, "Fine, I'll date you."

"Good girl," Marco said. In reality, Marco was planning to target Alexis because, based on his research on the girls, Chandria and Elizabeth had suitors while Alexis didn't have any at the moment. He thought he'd start with the easiest, with no one blocking his way. But because of Wolf, his plans were ruined so he skipped over Alexis and went after Elizabeth.