Filed to story: That Campus Prince Is a Girl
She shoved the ointment into her pocket almost immediately, not even wanting to take a look at it. If she kept looking at it, she might actually punch Xander.
Xander smirked, clearly proud of himself after noticing her silence. “Well? Moved to tears, right? You don’t know how hard it was to get that stuff.
“You helped me win the basketball game,” he added. “Of course I had to return the favor.”
He looked beyond pleased with himself, while Cameron gritted her teeth. “Wow. Thanks.”
Then, she pressed the ointment deeper into her pocket and turned to leave.
But Xander was dumbfounded by her tone. Although she thanked him, it sounded like she was grinding her teeth when she said that.
Xander rushed after her. “You little brat, do you even have a conscience? I was up in the middle of the night trying to bring you this hemorrhoid cream, and you ignored me. I even contacted your sister.”
Cameron stopped in her tracks. “Then why didn’t you just give it to her?” Xander looked utterly shocked. “Wait, Milena has hemorrhoids too?” Cameron was speechless. She didn’t bother replying and just kept walking.
Xander caught up to her again. “Hey, don’t walk so fast, you little brat.”
Cameron just rolled her eyes and kept going.
He fell into step beside her and asked, “So, can you start tutoring me at noon today?”
“Nope, I’m busy,” she replied. She had to head back to Noble Vista at noon to change her pad.
Xander glared at her. “Busy? The SAT is right around the corner. Come on, help me out already.”
Cameron looked at him helplessly. “I really do have things to take care of these next few days. Let’s talk about it later.” Xander was stunned into silence for a while, but he quickly snapped out of it and hurried after Cameron. The two of them walked down the main avenue, one after the other.
As they walked, their schoolmates kept calling out to them.
“Mr. Murphy, you were awesome yesterday.”
“Cameron, you were seriously amazing. You totally turned the game around.”
After yesterday’s game, Cameron had officially become a school legend. Now everyone knew there was a handsome basketball ace in Class 15, Senior Year.
Cameron nodded politely at the attention, while Xander waved back with his usual cocky swagger as they made their way to the cafeteria together.
They just so happened to run into Amelia and Skyler, who were on their way to grab breakfast together.
Skyler instantly rolled her eyes when she saw Cameron. Now that both Elijah and Bradley, two of the school’s heartthrobs, were backing Cameron up, there wasn’t much Skyler could do besides rolling her eyes.
Amelia spotted them and actually greeted them first. “You guys heading to breakfast too?”
Xander stared at her like he’d just stumbled onto something juicy, asking, “Amelia, you used to act like Cameron didn’t even exist. What’s up? Regretting it now?”
Amelia froze. She hadn’t expected Xander to say that at all, and her expression stiffened slightly as she frowned. “Xander, you know that’s nonsense.”
Cameron just gave Amelia a cool nod and walked into the cafeteria, while Xander left it at that and followed right behind her. As Amelia watched Cameron’s slender figure disappear inside, she shook her head. She wasn’t the type to be fickle, and Cameron really wasn’t her type.
Seeing Amelia watching Cameron, Skyler pouted. “Amy, don’t tell me you’re actually regretting it. Come on, Cameron isn’t even good enough to carry your shoes.”
Amelia frowned. “Did you forget what Bradley told you yesterday?”
That managed to shut Skyler up.
By noon, as soon as school let out, Cameron slipped out quietly.
Elijah watched her hurry off, frowning a little in concern as he thought, ‘Did something happen to Cameron?
He pulled out his phone and sent her a message on WhatsApp. [Cameron, if you need any help, just let me know]
Cameron saw the message while scanning the code for her e-bike. She was a little puzzled, but still replied: [Thanks, I’m good for now.]
With that, she hopped on the e-bike and rode off.
Elijah grabbed a quick lunch at the cafeteria and headed back to the dorm. When he got there, only Austin was in the large room.
Austin hadn’t eaten yet, as he’d been waiting for Cameron. But instead, Elijah walked through the door. Austin looked up at him and asked, “Eli, Cam’s not with you?”
Elijah replied coolly, “He went home.”
Austin looked surprised, asking amidst his cough, “Home? Didn’t he just go home last night?”
Elijah shrugged. “No idea.”
A sly smile crept across Austin’s lips. He thought, ‘Something’s definitely up. Cameron’s way better at hiding things than I thought. He must have a ton of secrets.
‘The more mysterious he is, the more interested I get. I really want to know what Cameron’s hiding.’
Just then, Xander barged into the dorm right behind Elijah, not even bothering to knock as if this was still his room. Glancing around, he asked, “Hey, where’s that little punk? Did he hit the library?”
Normally, after lunch, Xander would be off with the basketball team. But now that the game against Horizon Academy was over, daily practice was on pause. So, he thought about Cameron.
Austin said, coughing, “Xan, you looking for Cam? He went home.”
“Home? Yeah, right.” Xander frowned. “He told me he went home yesterday, but his sister said he never showed up.”
A spark lit up in Austin’s eyes. “No way. You think Cam lied to us?”
Elijah said, deadpan, “You guys seriously didn’t know Cameron already moved out of his family’s place?”
Xander looked a bit surprised. “He moved out? When? So where’s he living now?”
Everything added up now, and Xander thought, ‘No wonder I couldn’t find him yesterday. Turns out I was wrong about his situation.’
Elijah shook his head. “No idea.”
Austin rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. ‘He moved out? He’s got more guts than me. I’m still pretending to be the good kid, and Cameron’s already gone head-to-head with his family? That’s mad.’
Xander shot Elijah a glare. “If you don’t know, why bring it un in the first place?”
Elijah didn’t answer. He was about to mention telling him anymore.
Successfully unlocked! y, but with Xander’s attitude, he didn’t feel like
Instead, he said coldly, “Xander, I remember you already moved out of our room. Isn’t it weird for you to keep dropping by?”
Xander rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue. “Like I even wanted to come.”
If it weren’t for Cameron, Xander wouldn’t bother showing up even if someone invited him. Then, he turned and walked off.
Elijah frowned, as Xander’s arrogant attitude was seriously starting to grate on him.
Austin smiled and tried to smooth things over. “Don’t mind him, Eli. That’s just how Xan is, you know.”
Elijah just shook his head. He honestly didn’t care, but it was just annoying to him.
*****
Meanwhile, Bradley was surprised when he heard that Cameron had gone back to Noble Vista again. He wondered, “Why would Cameron head back there at noon? Did something happen?’
After waiting about ten minutes, Bradley decided to call Cameron himself.
“Hey, Brad.” Cameron had just come out of the bathroom.
“You didn’t come back to the dorm last night?” Bradley asked gently.
Cameron replied, “Yeah, I stayed at Noble Vista.”
Bradley asked curiously, “Can I ask why you suddenly went back?”
Cameron thought about making up a random excuse, but she didn’t want to lie to Bradley. So she asked back, “Brad, can I not say?”
Bradley was silent for a few seconds, caught off guard by her answer.
But he stayed gentlemanly and didn’t push her. “Alright, you don’t have to say if you don’t want to. If you need anything, just let me know.”
Cameron smiled. “It’s nothing, I’m really fine.”
Bradley asked again, “Are you staying there again tonight?”
“Yeah,” Cameron answered.
“Let’s stay there together then. I’ll come back too,” Bradley said.
Cameron had no choice. “Sure.”
She didn’t mind Bradley coming along. After all, they wouldn’t actually live together in the same space, so she had nothing to worry about.
