Perhaps being a girl had also amplified her fear of death, perhaps she was just unwilling to die without uncovering the mystery behind her original death, or maybe she simply did not want to experience death again. Whatever the reason was, in the face of death, she felt that she could do or say anything to stay alive at that moment.
"MORNING GLORY DINER!" Remi screamed with all her might.
Rowan stopped, his cold blade almost caressing the tender skin on her neck, any moment later than that, her neck would have been sliced open. Remi felt the cold sweat drip down her forehead, luckily she had a back-up plan in case things went south.
"What did you say?" Rowan asked, his thick eyebrows raised above his shades.
"Morning Glory Diner, he took me there once" Remi said, knowing the implication of her words.
Rowan paused as he pondered, knowing how overprotective Orion was of his grandparents, he knew that Orion would never take some random nobody there for no reason. Therefore he looked at Remi and re-evaluated her again.
"How do you know about that?" He asked suspiciously.
"I can't tell you, l promised him not to speak of it with anyone" she said subtly.
Rowan paused for another second before withdrawing his blade.
"Speak of this to anyone and you'll die regardless of your relation to Orion" He said as he walked back to Drew.
"Understood" Remi smiled, satisfied with how she handled the matter.
Although her plan had been risky from the get go, she knew that even if Rowan was Orion's killer, as long as she said something private about Orion In front of Drew, Rowan wouldn't kill her. Proceeding to kill her regardless of that would make even the simple minded Drew suspicious of Rowan, why silence someone who clearly knew something about his brother that most people didn't?
Looking around, she realised that half the guards had dragged away the 3 boys and Jordan's distant cries of agony had long stopped, she wondered if they had really killed them. But that was none of her business, as long as it didn't hinder her plans for revenge, she was willing to turn a blind eye to it.
As Remi limped away from the dark alleyway Drew called after her.
"You are hurt, let us give you a ride" he said with sincere concern.
"No thank you, i'm afraid your ruthless friend might change his mind and kill me instead" she chuckled playfully as she continued limping away without looking back.
She could feel a cold gaze on her back and knew that it was Rowan but she pretended to not have noticed.
After she had walked far away enough and out of sight she leaned on the wall and her body trembled in pain as sweat glistened on her forehead making her messy hair sticky. She hissed as she massaged her sore red knee and heel, after resting for while she continued walking while thinking of ways on how to make money.
The only thing that she could think of was baking, her skills in that area were unparalleled, but after thinking about it carefully she shook her head and headed back home. Who would employ a minor anyway, she had to think of another way fast.
After getting back home, she put an ice pack on her injuries, opened a book and started reading. If she couldn't make money with her baking skills then she would make use of her brain power and start tutoring some relatively wealthy kids at school. Luckily in her past life she was a genius, studying wasn't hard for her at all and coupled with the fact that she had already gone to highschool before, reading the books felt like revision to her.
The next morning, she woke up short of breath, gasping and sweating as usual. She didn't know how much longer her body could endure this torture before collapsing on itself, she really needed that money as soon as possible.
After washing up and getting ready, she went to school as normal, found her classroom and sat down on her seat. She then took out a few books and continued to study before the teacher arrived. With how fast she was flipping the book, many thought that she just didn't understand it. Unbeknownst to them Remi's photographic memory was like a sponge sucking in knowledge at a very fast pace.
Sometime later Drew arrived and Myrtle too, surprisingly or unsurprisingly Jordan and his two friends didn't. No one suspected anything since Jordan and his friends were known for missing classes often, but Myrtle kept on glancing at the door then at Remi nervously, once in a while she would look at Drew too.
With nothing to do while waiting for classes to start, the students started gossiping about the latest hot news around campus, which was unsurprisingly centred around Drew. After 'the chasing crowd' phenomena he had caused the previous day, he had become quite the sensation. That morning a lot of girls and even some boys were secretly taking pictures of him wherever he passed, making Drew extremely uncomfortable. His pictures had gone viral and were posted all over the classroom chats, some girls even went as far as making his picture their wallpapers.
"Have you heard? Taylor the school hunk wants to confront our Drew and see how good looking he is with his own eyes. He shamelessly even claimed that our Drew uses makeup to enhance his looks" one of the girls said in a hushed tone while stealing a couple of glances at Drew.
"Pfff! Does he think that just because he uses makeup to look good then all handsome guys use such cheap tricks too?" Another girl said in a mocking tone.
"That's right, we should definitely re-vote for the new school hunk. Clearly our Drew is the most handsome in the whole school, who is Tylor in comparison?" Another girl said while shyly looking over at Drew.
A few girls hummed in agreement, one of the boys who had been listening in on the conversation couldn't stand seeing the girl he liked looking at Drew so shyly. Jealousy surged in his heart, he knew in terms of looks he couldn't compete but at least he was normal.
"So what if he's a little bit more good looking than Taylor? What good will that do him? Can't you all tell there's something wrong with him?" He asked as jealousy shrouded his heart.
Looking at Drew again, one the girls sighed.
"I was wondering why we have someone so old in our class, it turns out he's actually a dimwit. If only he was more manly and less child-like, I would happily confess to him." She sighed.
"It's a pity a face so good was wasted on him, if he's not good at studying he can at least earn money as a boy toy for some rich madams" another boy joined in making a few of them chuckle.
Hearing this, Remi's eye twitched but she said nothing. Just then the English teacher Mr Hemsworth arrived when it was time for classes to start. After teaching for a while there was a knock at the door, the school principal's secretary called Mr Hemsworth into the corridor and whispered something to him before leaving. Mr Hemsworth came back to the classroom with a solemn expression, then he cleared his voice.
"It seems that the guardians of Brandon, Jordan and Sean from this class have reported them missing. They were last seen at the school gates yesterday, anyone with new information should go report it to the principal. Your efforts will be rewarded." He said.
Knowing the nature of the three bullies, most students didn't take the news seriously, even the weak willed students were just happy they would get some breathing space for a while. Remi was just subtly surprised Rowan didn't let the delinquents off, after all no matter what, they were still just kids in highschool. Drew on the other hand could be seen fidgeting nervously while Myrtle was shaking in fear glancing at Remi every 2 seconds as if afraid of losing sight of her.
After giving the students some time to digest the news, Mr Hemsworth cleared his voice to get their attention.
"That said, I would like to announce that your monthly assessment will be held this following Monday" He said as he packed up his teaching materials before leaving.
Many of the students were groaning in annoyance but Remi was actually happy about the upcoming test, this might actually be her chance of getting some money. After looking around she approached two boys but after informing them of her intentions they just laughed at her efforts of trying to rob them.
"I was in position 11 and you were at the very bottom of the rankings last semester, who is supposed to teach who here ?" One of the two boys said in amusement.
Pondering about this Remi realised that she wouldn't be able to tutor anyone since they all thought she was still the low ranking Remi.
Glancing around, she set her sights on Drew, as she moved towards him she could feel the constant gazes from Myrtle that made Remi uncomfortable.
Approaching Drew, she smiled brightly at him, Drew shivered upon seeing her smile, with her dark circles getting worse it made her smile super creepy.
"Hey there, since you are a new student , you probably don't know much about what we learnt. Am very good at studying, l can help you catch up before the test on Monday. What do you think?" Remi said .
Of all people in the classroom, Drew was without doubt the biggest money making target for Remi. After thinking about it carefully, tutoring Drew came with a lot of perks. One she could be able to help her brother get better grades, she could keep a closer eye on Rowan which made investigating him easier and most importantly, she would earn a lot of money from him than with anyone else.
Drew looked at Remi doubtfully after seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Really? Everyone says you aren't good at studying" Drew lowered his eyes.
Remi sighed, just when she was about to try to convince him again, she heard him speak.
"But you did save me, I'll give you a chance, if you are really good at studying I'll talk to my Dad and you can be my English tutor" his head was still lowered so his voice sounded small but Remi still heard it.
"Great, i'm also good at most of the other subjects. If you want, l can help you with those too if you are satisfied with my teaching methods" Remi said joyfully.
Looking at the girl who wouldn't stop grinning at him, Drew felt like he had fallen into her trap. Even though he was slow witted, his intuition was sharper than most people's, therefore he couldn't shake off the feeling that he's about to get the short end of the stick. After hesitating for a brief minute he finally asked.
"How much?" He raised his eyes to meet hers.
Upon hearing his question, Remi smiled even more brilliantly.
"Just $150 per hour, Oh and while I'm tutoring you, you are responsible to feed me" Remi shamelessly said with the same smile etched on her lips.
Drew's eyes widened, were the prices so high or was he about to get scammed?