Filed to story: That Campus Prince Is a Girl
“Fine, I didn’t get it.”
Cameron frowned, “Xander, if this is your attitude, I seriously can’t tutor you.”
“How am I supposed to focus on schoolwork right now? Xander snapped, his face dark.
Cameron immediately stood up, checking the time on her phone. “40 minutes total. I’ll count it as 30. That’s 15 grand. You still have 285 thousand dollars with me.”
She paused before adding, “If you don’t want to continue the lessons, just tell me and I’ll refund your money.” With that, she headed for the door.
“Hey!” Xander called after her. “Would it kill you to help me set up one date with your sister?”
“Yes,” Cameron replied without looking back.
Xander was left speechless.
Downstairs, Logan and Gwen were waiting in the living room.
Gwen immediately stood up when she saw Cameron, her face brightening. “Cam, you must be tired. Why don’t you take a break?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, we’re done with today’s lesson,” Cameron announced.
Logan frowned, “It’s barely past two. What happened? Is that little punk not cooperating?”
Cameron just shook her head without elaborating and said her goodbyes.
Logan and Gwen even walked her all the way to the front door, offering to have their driver take her home.
Cameron politely declined. It was only two in the afternoon, and the sun was shining bright.
Cameron walked down the main street with one hand stuffed in her pocket, going nowhere in particular.
*****
In his antique-styled study, Elijah sat behind a wooden desk covered with exam papers he’d already completed. Many of these problems were ones he’d asked Cameron about.
In fact, Elijah was able to solve them. He was a Successfully unlocked! Jestions took him just a glance to figure out. But for some reason, Elijah loved having Cameron expian proviens to mm. That was why he kept dragging her into tutoring him. Even though he knew all the answers.
Now, sitting at his desk, Elijah’s thoughts drifted back to Cameron. ‘What’s she doing right now? Who is she with? Would she end up on some rooftop again for whatever reason?’ he thought.
These thoughts wrapped around Elijah until he couldn’t focus on a single word on the papers in front of him.
After some hesitation, Elijah decided to call her. It took a while before Cameron picked up.
“Hey, Elijah,” Cameron said casually. She was sitting in a taxi. After deciding there wasn’t anything interesting outside, she’d chosen to head back to Noble Vista to chill for a bit.
“What are you up to?” Elijah asked.
Cameron leaned her head against the car window. “Heading home. Why?”
“I’ve got two problems I can’t figure out. Think you could take a look?”
Cameron rolled her eyes. ‘More math problems? Is the life of a genius really just about solving equations 24/7?’ she thought. “Elijah, give me a break,” she sighed.
Elijah froze. ‘Give him a break? What did that mean?’ he thought.
“You don’t want to help me with the problems?” Elijah asked cautiously.
“Nope.”
Elijah went quiet. He lowered his eyes, feeling deflated. His finger pressed against the wooden desk as he asked in a strained voice, “Cameron, do you hate me or something?”
“No, Elijah,” Cameron sighed, “I don’t hate you. I just really don’t want to solve math problems right now.”
To be fair, Elijah had saved her before. Well, not that she was actually going to jump off that building. And despite his cold exterior, the guy had a warm heart. She definitely didn’t hate him.
“I’m sorry,” Elijah said. “I didn’t realize I was bothering you.”
After dealing with Xander’s bullshit all day, hearing Elijah be so understanding was honestly refreshing.
Before Cameron could respond, Elijah added, “To make it up to you, can I take you out for dinner tonight?”
Cameron thought about it for a moment. “Okay, fine.” She’d already told Bradley she had plans tonight anyway. It would be super awkward if he caught her hanging around the house after that lie.
The taxi pulled up at the entrance to Noble Vista. “You pick the place,” Cameron told him. “Just text me the details later. I need to go crash for a bit.”
“What do you feel like eating?” Elijah asked.
Cameron shrugged. “Whatever. I’m not picky.”
“Cool. I’ll text you later,” Elijah said.
When Cameron got home, she flopped onto the couch, her body instantly going limp with exhaustion. Making money from Xander was no joke.
Feeling drained, Cameron fell asleep right there on the sofa.
The second Cameron walked through her front door, Bradley got the notification. He’d linked her house’s lock system to his phone and hadn’t gotten around to disconnecting it yet.
Sitting at his desk at the law firm, Bradley stared at the notification for a moment. In the end, he decided not to bother her. Just before clocking out, Bradley’s phone lit up with Eddie’s name.
“Brad, you free for dinner tonight? Thought you might want to meet my future wife,” Eddie said, his voice practically smirking through the phone.
Bradley walked to the window, shaking his head. “Eddie, if you’re asking me to dinner, I’m there. But if you’re bringing a random girlfriend, I’ll pass.”
“Random Girlfriend” was the perfect description. Eddie went through girlfriends faster than most people changed their socks. Half the time, he probably couldn’t even remember their names after they broke up.
Eddie laughed. “Fine, just me then.”
*****
Cameron woke up to Elijah’s voice call blaring through her phone. She blinked awake, noticing how the sunset bathed the garden outside her floor-to-ceiling windows in this gorgeous red glow.
Cameron sat up, rubbing her temples as she answered. Elijah’s calm voice came through immediately. “Cameron, didn’t you see my messages?”
“Huh?” Cameron was still half-asleep. “Message
Successfully unlocked!
“No problem,” Elijah said. “Just get ready and come down.”
“Come down?” Cameron frowned. “Wait, are you outside my place?”
“Yeah, I’m outside Wallace Villa.”
“Sorry, Elijah,” Cameron said after a moment. “I don’t live there anymore.”
Now it was Elijah’s turn to be speechless. After a pause, he asked, “Where are you now?”
“You don’t need to know where I am,” Cameron replied. “Let’s just meet at the destination.”
Elijah thought for a moment. “Okay, see you soon.” He realized that going to pick up Cameron now would make them super late to the fondue place. She could just meet him there.
It was his fault for not asking where she was earlier. ‘Cameron is still a student, isn’t she? And now living on her own?” Elijah wondered.
Cameron ended the voice call and immediately saw Elijah’s WhatsApp message with the location, a fondue restaurant not far from Noble Vista, maybe a 30-minute drive away.
Cameron decided to grab a bike to get there. She really needed to buy her own car. Getting around like this was such a pain. But first, Cameron would need to get her license. She already knew how to drive, so she wouldn’t need driving school. She just had to register online and show up for the test.
By the time Cameron arrived at the restaurant, Elijah was already there, sitting by the window.
The fondue place was on the second floor of a mall built right alongside the lake. Elijah had snagged the perfect spot with an amazing view of the water sparkling just outside.
It was beautiful.
“Cameron, over here!” Elijah called, waving her over as he saw her at the entrance.
Elijah looked stunning in a simple black shirt, his posture perfect as he sat waiting. His handsome, elegant features were already drawing sidelong glances from girls his age throughout the restaurant.
But when Cameron looked up, her eyes didn’t land on Elijah at all. They locked onto the man behind him.
The man was drop-dead gorgeous, especially those seductive bedroom eyes of his. When he heard Elijah speak, he glanced over in Cameron’s direction. Their eyes met.
Cameron froze for a second. ‘Wait, isn’t that Bradley’s brother Eddie? What are the odds? Did I just run into Eddie, or is Brad here too?’ she thought.
Cameron stared at the empty seat across from Eddie, her stomach doing a little flip. She walked over to where Elijah was sitting.
Cameron had barely reached Elijah’s table and was debating whether to say hi to Eddie when a familiar voice called out.” Cameron?”
Cameron turned her head to see Bradley standing there in a crisp white shirt, black slacks, and those signature gold- rimmed glasses.
