Chapter 6: Reputation in school

Mia’s gaze on Diane turned sharp as she roughly snatched her hands out of Diane’s delicate ones. Wow, along with stealing her story, this pretentious little flower had also soiled her reputation by making her seem like a disloyal and selfish friend. She couldn’t help but wonder what bad blood she had with this girl, who was the princess at this university. "Of course it was all a misunderstanding, since the story you published wasn’t yours to begin with." Mia spat out coldly, which made Diane lower her head as if hurt by her words. Che, friends? She couldn’t help but almost puke at the other students' words and their sympathy towards Diane, who was the culprit playing victim. "Such a hypocrite." Rayne hissed. Diane’s facade almost fell as she glared at Rayne, but quickly put back her pitiful expression as she addressed Mia. "Mia please don’t be upset with me, I know that you don’t want to embarrass yourself by admitting that the story belongs to me after you’ve claimed that it was yours in the first place, you have no idea how scared I was when I heard you almost jumped off the library building, I immediately regretted dragging the story with you. Though I worked hard to get that information, I really wouldn’t have minded giving it to you if I knew it meant that much to you. Please forgive me. I’m willing to go ask the professor to give you the story as long as you forgive me." Diane sobbed, her long lashes fluttering with tears in her eyes. The other students continued to feel sorry for Diane, looking at Mia with so much more hate. How could Mia not understand what Diane was trying to do? She would be foolish to fall for it. Diane was pretending to apologize, while still claiming the story to be hers and making Mia seem like a bad guy who wanted to reap what she didn’t sow. Mia glanced searchingly at Diane as if she’d find exactly what it was about this hypocritical person she had trusted weeks ago. She must admit, though, the girl’s acting skills were award-winning at those tears fell. Were those real, because if she wasn’t the victim of this girl’s hypocrisy, she might have just ended up feeling sorry for her, as Eve, as everyone in the class. "Don’t you feel ashamed of yourself? Lying straight to your face, admit it, that story belongs to Mia yo, u stole it for yourself just to get the attention of the news agency." Rayne stood up with a bang of her hand on the table, unable to take it anymore. Sheeally getting upset at this little crying beauty, and I, someone, didn’t get her out of her sight she mi, she might just tear her apart. Diane pretended to hear Rayne’s accusation, as she continued to look on pleadingly at Mia, who just continued to stare disbelievingly at her. What was she expected to do? She wasn’t going to give Diane the satisfaction she was looking for by shamelessly accepting her false apology of saying she would give the story to her as if it didn’t belong to her in the first place. Wouldn’t that be confirming the people’s accusation that she was trying to forcefully take what wasn’t hers? And if she continued to claim it was hers she k, she knew that wouldn’t end well either, they were just going to prove her wrong again, Diane. Had the reputation as the purest flower in the university, even all the professors were on her side then h; ow could she just outrightly continue to accuse her? Diane had won against her this time because Mia gave her trust, but she would make sure there wouldn’t be a next time. Mia could feel Rayne becoming impatient. Pulling Rayne to sit down st, she stood up facing Diane straight as she announced each word. "Take the story, and shove it down your throat. Consider it as me having a lowly dog eat scraps beneath my slippers." Having said that she fl, she flashed her dimpled smile and, seeing Diane’s stunned expression st, she formed out of the class. Completely forgetting that she was to stay for lessons this morning. "He he he, close up." Carlos, who was one of Mia’s classmates held u, held up his phone camera to her face as she stormed out of class. "This would make awesome news in the school newspapers." He muttered as he replayed the video he’d been taking, pushing his glasses over his nose. Diane’s face twisted momentarily before regaining her flower-like appearance. She t. Sh. She looked disappointed and walked outside the class. ’Who are you calling a dog? I’ll make sure that I make your time at this school so miserable you’ll regret ever being here. I'm going to make you hate yourself so much, you’re going to wish to end your own life, just like you did to me back then. This is just the beginning, Mia Ha,rrison.’ Diane glared hatefully at the path Mia took outside the class when she was sure she was out of anyone’s sight. The expression on her face completely contrasted with her usual lovable little flower appearance; at that moment she r, she resembled a vengeful demon seeking to devour its prey. Walking out into the open campus, Mia controlled herself not to try reaching heights to relieve her anger, so she decided to take a stroll without a definite destination. Though Mia found Diane’s hypocrisy abhorrent, she couldn’t help but feel irked at the fact that Diane was innocent after stealing her hard work. She had risked her life to get that story... Mia’s dreams had always been to work in one of the number one news agencies in the country after graduation, so she could provide a better life for her mother and herself. But who knew that Diane would snatch that one chance she had at more exposure? She h??d worked so hard to get her hands on the news, but Diane had stolen it from her. She couldn’t help but recall that Saturday night when she’d had a lifetime opportunity to get togetherness. Rayne had invited her out for dinner in one of those expensive high g,high-classurant, and when she had walked into the restaurant, she accidentally overheard a conversation between two men that sparked her interest. One of the men was dressed in a formal suit, as he walked into the restaurant clutching tightly onto a black briefcase, for some reason seeing the intensely anxious expression on the man’s face she continued to monitor him, the man would repeatedly place his hands on his briefcase as if scared it would disappear as he frantically looked around. She had taken her eyes off him for a while to answer Rayne, who was repeatedly talking to her so as not to appear absent-minded, and by the time she glanced his way again, she saw the man walking into a corner as he repeatedly looked behind him to see if he was being followed. From what she knew of that restaurant, the corner led to the rest rrestroom some reason or probably the journalist in her had been evoked, she felt the urge to follow them, and she did on the pretext of going to use the restroom, but instead of entering the female restroom, she first stood around the hallway glancing around confirming that there was no one around, she peeked into the male restroom but it was completshe took light steps into the restroom when she suddenly heard footsteps, she quickly dashed into one of the cubicles and shut the door tight. Though she couldn’t see what was going on, the door to one of the cubicles opened, and a gruff and male voice spoke. "The consignment?" The voice queried. She seemed to have heard a loud clack, which, she deduced, was the opening of a briefcase. The gruff man’s grunt came as he shut the briefcase. Then she heard him speak again. "Remember, we never met." The door to the cubicle opened, ed by a set of footsteps as they exited the restroom. As she peeked from the cubicle,, caught the sight of a muscular man dressed like a hooligan exiting the restroom with the man in a suit following closely behind. Her curiosity spiked to its highest peak, so she followed the man in a suit stealthily who chose to exit through the back door. She had pondered following the hooligan, but he seemed like an extremely alert person and would easily detect her following him. However, the ma,,n the suit seemed a bit more amateur and timid due to how nervous he looked as if this was his first time doing such business. The sky was getting darker, and she had sent a short text to Rayne apologizing and cooking up some sort of emergency to excuse her sudden disappearance. She continued to follow him downtown till he reached a deserted alleyway, and he took a swift turn without bothering to look behind him. Mia noticed that the man seemed to become more confident as he was probably assuming no one could see him since he’d entered an empty street. Before she knew it they h, they had arrived at a deserted,worn-down, winding road, which the man entered straight up. She lingered at the entrance for a while before walking in as well. The inside of the building was dark, with a slight woody smell. The broken roof allowed for a tiny opening, and the completely dark building had a slight illumination from the moonlight. "Are the consignments delivered?" The man’s husky voice echoed in the spacious room, his appearance obstructed by the paper he held to his face. He asked the man in a black suit standing before him, as he moved back and forth on a rocking chair. "Yes, boss!, The person in a suit replied respectfully; his neck seemed to have straightened from his earlier timid look. "They don’t suspect a thing." He added. "Good." The man on the rocking chair suddenly halts his movements, shifting the paper from his face. He beckoned at the ton in a suit with a twitch of his finger. The man in a suit pulled out a red satchel from the inner pocket of his suit as he respectfully handed it to the man he referred to as boss. A wide grin appeared on the Boss’s face, his rough skin crinkled up distortedly, and a brown scar ran across the side of his cheeks up to his ear, giving him an ominous feel. Mia gulped as she peeked through the window of the room where two men were, as she saw the man called the boss’s appearance. If a one-year-old saw such a freaky smile, they’d have nightmares for years! "Hahaha, the first batch of the new shipments, those idiots wouldn’t know a thing." The man laughed in satisfaction. He poured the contents from the little satchel into his palms. Tiny beads glittered with the reflected moonlight. Mia squinted to ascertain what the tiny beads were. "Diamonds!" She gasped. "Call up Guzman, tell him to set the bomb and blow up the place; they'll think twice next time before messing with Da Kroll." The man called boss instantly ordered. "But boss, the next shipments will be arriving in two days at the eastern port of Zen city, and their hideout is situated at the exact location, wouldn’t it interrupt the arrival of the goods?" He queried with a worried expression. The ’Boss’ looked up at him. "That’s exactly why the big boss ordered me to send Guzman for the job, let him take care of that, I'm sure I’ll do a fine job, it won’t interrupt the arrival of the goods." The boss stated confidently. The man in the suit’s eyes lit up with understanding.. Yes, Boss.", Seeing the man in a Nina suit ha hheadingout Mia qu, Mia quickly concealed herself behind a huge crate in the building as she watched him leave the building and disappear completely. She finally sighed in relief as she sat down in a taxi, uunabl to believe what she’d just uncovered, her breath still coming in huffs. The name Da Kroll ringingrang mind like the gong of hell. Who in Zen City knows the infamous underworld organization name Da Kroll? They were the biggest Mafia organization in the whole country; it was rumoured that they had their hideouts scattered all around the country. And in Zen city was the place they were least expected to appear next. She just uncovered the location of one of the biggest Mafia gangs in the country, though because the place they were unguarded, she doubted if it was a permanent hideout; nevertheless, she had information about their smuggled diamonds and when their next shipments would be arriving. Though this was big information to the police, on the other hand, this was news. As a journalist this w, as incredibly exciting to her. She suddenly remembered her big presentation in schoo; school; she presented this news, she might just get a chance to attract a few news agencies. Her lifelong dream. But then again she s, she suddenly thought of the severity of the situation; if she kept this to herself to report, she might end up jeopardizing the chances of the police catching the syndicate. But if she immediately reported it to the authorities, some news agency would take the credit for the story. What should she do? She suddenly thought about asking advisadvice Rayne. Then dismissed the idea on second thought. Rayne was a hot, hot-headepersoso; she’d never take the fact that Mia ran straight into the hideout of a drug syndicate lightly. The one time she had burst into a private property guarded by dogs, Rayn almost plucked her ears out. She thought of someone else whom she could share this with and t, and he image of her newly made friend appeared in her mind. Yes, Diane was an easier option; they had gotten a bit close these past few days over the course of working on an assignment together, without. Withouttion she pulled out her phone from her jeans. Not wanting to risk the cab driver overhearing her conversation she op, ted to text instead. Not a few minutes passed when Mbeforead sent that message before, Diane’s reply arrived, urging Mia to calm down and not worry, also not to share the news with anyone else yet until they met in the morning to discuss over ita didn’t even get suspicious at Diane’s next message asking for more details, which she divulged completely. For months now, she had been after her big story to present, which she knew would miraculously fall into her hands. Her professor had wanted something fresh, original, exciting. She had spent a whole night outside, ran into a pack of dogs, all, while trying to do her research, though she had gotten the story, it was nowhere near as good as this one. She’d gone home that night with mixed thoughts, but then made two files for tomorrow’s presentation, one for the story she’d been chasing for months, and another for the story she’d just uncovered tonight. But unexpectedly the n, the next morning encountered a betrayal. Unknown to Mia, Diane had notified the police of the information that same night, after posting it on her blog. Which she used as her evidence that the story belonged to her. The police had followed Diane’s information, and Da Kroll consignments were seized, though a few of them managed to escape.