Chapter 129 At Least Don't Make a Fool of Yourself
Aaron's reaction caught Katniss off guard. She blinked a few times and asked, "Why'd you think I'd chew you out?"
"Cause I'm not doing great, hanging with those punks. I'm not a good guy, right?" He tried to play it cool, but his young face showed a sarcasm that didn't fit his age.
Katniss got the gist and plopped down next to him. "Who says punks can't be good people? And who told you that non-punks are all saints? The big-time criminals are usually regular folks, so how can you judge who's good or bad just by their looks?"
Aaron looked down, messing with the string on his pants, his face showing he was kinda moved.
"Next time you go brawling with them, practice a bit more so you don't make a fool of yourself," Katniss added.
Back in school, she used to see punks at the gate and was scared out of her wits.
But later, when she started working, she realized those punks were all talk, no guts, just there to scare kids.
"You sure know how to mess with me. Who'd you send the study room footage to?" Katniss asked.
The vibe was still pretty chill when she brought it up, but as soon as she mentioned the footage, Aaron's face turned ice-cold.
He turned his head and gave a nasty grin. "I warned you, stop wasting time on me! Regret it now? Split the cash you made with me seventy-thirty, you get thirty, I get seventy, and I'll give you the evidence. After that, we don't bug each other, deal?"
He was still all about the money, showing how much it mattered to him.
"Why you so desperate for cash?" Katniss asked straight up.
Aaron shot back just as bluntly, "Everyone looks down on broke folks. With money, you can do whatever you want, so who doesn't want it?"
"Ever thought that the way you're getting money is wrong and super limited? If you hit the books and earn cash through your smarts and hard work, you'll make way more than you do now and get some respect."
Katniss didn't dig into where his young mind got such ideas.
For now, she could only try to get through to Aaron on the surface, so it didn't really hit home.
"I knew it, you just want me to study, you don't actually care about me!" Aaron snapped, then stormed out of the room.
Katniss didn't plan to convince him right away either. As she stood up, her eyes caught the trash can.
The cracked bead was tossed in there.
She hesitated for a sec, then picked up the bead, wrapped it in some paper, and stuffed it in her pocket.
But she still needed to find a way to get to the bottom of the photo mess with Aaron.
Downstairs, the smell of food filled the house, and Tristan was busy in the kitchen, his tall figure moving about.
She peeked around the dining room entrance, feeling kinda useless.
Katniss told Tristan, "I wanna tutor Aaron tonight and tomorrow night too."
Since her classes were canceled for the next couple of days, she figured she'd spend all her time on Aaron to crack this thing open ASAP.
"Okay," Tristan replied without even looking up.
After a bit, he turned off the stove.
He plated the dishes and casually said, "Take these to the table."
"Okay!" Katniss quickly responded, carrying the dishes he cooked to the table.
In less than half an hour, she was pretty impressed by Tristan.
She knew he could cook, but she didn't expect him to get even better over the past year.
She was debating whether to go upstairs and call Aaron down for dinner when she saw Tristan send a text. Within two minutes, Aaron came downstairs.
He sat down, grabbed his utensils, and started eating fast but not rudely.
Just as he was about to finish and put down his utensils, Tristan spoke up, "Get ready, tutoring starts at six tonight."
Aaron paused, glanced at Katniss, his cheeks puffed up.
"Got it," he replied, all grumpy.
Katniss didn't expect Tristan's words to work so well.
Her phone suddenly rang. She quickly answered; it was Jesse.
On the other end, Jesse's voice was super distinctive, both magnetic and sunny. "Ms. Grey, how's it going?"
Seeing that Aaron seemed to have something to say, Katniss stood up and went to the living room to take the call, so she wouldn't bug Aaron and Tristan's convo.
As soon as she left, Tristan's face darkened a bit, his deep eyes staring at her.
The sunlight was just right in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, her back gentle and serene, her hands fiddling with the green plants on the flower stand, speaking softly.
He couldn't see her face, but he seemed to imagine how gentle her expression was.
'What kind of call is worth taking in private?' Tristan thought. His gaze grew colder as he silently ate.
When Katniss finished the call and came back, she found that Aaron had already gone upstairs.
She quickly sat down, finished her meal, and took the initiative to clean up the dishes, leaving with Tristan.
On the way back, after some thought, Katniss spoke up, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you before. Thanks for helping me."
He didn't say a word. Tristan leaned one hand on the car door, driving lazily, his sharp features and the fancy car giving off a cool vibe.
She pressed her lips together, feeling kinda guilty.
At the company entrance, he hit the brakes and said, "Get out."
Instinctively, she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, closing the door behind her as the car sped away.
A warm breeze blew, making her long hair flutter.
Her guilt turned into a chill.
Did she really think that having a meal he cooked would make things all better?
She smirked to herself, turned around, got into her own car, and headed back to the education center.
She started prepping for Aaron's tutoring session that evening and shot a message to Saskia on Facebook, telling her not to wait for her for dinner.
She grabbed two sandwiches on the way and ate them while waiting at red lights. By the time she finished, she had arrived.
Even though Aaron had agreed to Tristan's tutoring, he was just sitting at the desk.
He sprawled half his body across the desk, hogging the whole space, leaving no room for even a book, showing no intention of studying.
Then Katniss noticed that the 8th-grade books she had brought last time were missing.
She suddenly thought of something, turned to Aaron, and said, "If you sold those books as scrap, they'd be worth quite a bit. Throwing them away is really wasteful."
"Go lie down somewhere else," he said without moving. "Don't bug my nap!"
Katniss responded with an "Oh," dragged a beanbag chair to the window, and enjoyed the sunset.
With no more noise from her, Aaron cracked open an eye, saw her looking all content, and smirked, secretly snapping a few photos with his phone.
Two hours later, it was completely dark, and the study room lights weren't even on.
When the time was up, Katniss got up, packed her things, and patted Aaron. "Wake up, class is over, go back to sleep."
As soon as she finished speaking, she disappeared from the study room.
Aaron's eyes snapped open. Seeing she had left, he quickly turned on the lights and sent the photos on his phone to someone at Inspire Academy.
Then he demanded money, pricing each photo at $500.
But the other party didn't respond for a long time. When Aaron sent a question mark, the message couldn't be delivered!
Aaron jumped up in anger, only to find Katniss had returned at some point.
She leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, looking at him with a half-smile. "Got scammed?" she asked.
Clearly, Katniss had seen him sending messages.
Aaron glared at her, gritting his teeth.
"How much did you sell the photos for?" Katniss asked.
After a while, Aaron muttered, "Five hundred bucks."
Katniss raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Only five hundred? Inspire Academy really played you. If I went under because of those photos, they'd rake in at least five hundred grand a year, and they only gave you five hundred? And now they've blocked you?" She shook her head. "You got a raw deal."
The more she talked, the more Aaron gritted his teeth!
"I've got an idea. You can get your money back in less than an hour," Katniss suggested, motioning for him to sit back down.
Aaron felt utterly humiliated, having been lowballed and then blocked, making him feel like a fool!
Instinctively, he sat back down and did as Katniss instructed.
"Take a screenshot of the transaction record and post it online without saying a word," Katniss said.
She watched as he posted the screenshot online, then quickly opened the webpage herself and took two screenshots.
About half an hour later, someone from Inspire Academy contacted Aaron.
Their attitude was very polite, negotiating for him to delete the post and offering some compensation.
Following Katniss's advice, Aaron demanded $5,000 per photo as compensation.
Aaron's Facebook balance increased by $30,000, and he could hardly believe it.
"You've got a brain and know how to fight back in your own way and make money, but why did you make less than I suggested and end up getting blocked?" Katniss tapped the table with her fingers and continued, "Because you're young, people won't treat you like an adult. The saying 'act your age' is true."
Without saying more, she smiled at Aaron. "Remember to treat me to a bubble tea someday. I helped you get all that money back."
She turned and went downstairs. Unable to wait until she got to her car, she sent the screenshots Aaron had posted online to Jesse.
Katniss: [Post these in the online class parent group so they can see someone is stirring up trouble. Also, schedule a meeting with the disruptive clients tomorrow morning at the center to give a detailed explanation.]
Jesse quickly replied: [Got it!]
Putting away her phone, Katniss hurried downstairs. As she reached the second-floor corner, she suddenly saw the door open.
Tristan staggered in, leaning against the entryway to change his shoes, his head resting against the wall.
His slightly parted lips and the movement of his Adam's apple suggested he had been drinking.
As he walked toward her, his long fingers were unbuttoning his shirt!
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