I Inherited Billions

Chapter 48

Howard came to the realization that he would have to kneel and apologize to me in public.

His face turned green. “Freddie, you’re pushing this too far!!!”

“Freddie, we’ve already apologized to you. Forgive us on account that we’re classmates. Moreover, we had one night of fun, didn’t we?” Nadia gave me a passionate look, trying to convince me.

I was pretty sure I knew better than anyone what had happened between us.

I smiled and pointed to another spot. “Here’s an empty spot. You can join Howard and kowtow to me.”

Nadia looked quite upset at this. “Freddie, do you really need to burn bridges between us? We’re classmates!”

“Isn’t this bridge already burnt?” I sniggered at her.

“You…!!!” Nadia was speechless.

When my other classmates saw how arrogant I was acting, they could not take it any longer and began to try to talk me out of it.

“Freddie, we’re classmates, after all. You shouldn’t be pushing them to this extent!”

“That’s right. Getting them to kneel in front of you is just too humiliating. Howard may have been wrong, but he has already admitted his mistake!”

“Freddie, this should be enough!”

“Enough?” I laughed when I heard what my classmates had to say. “Do you think Howard and Nadia were treating me as a classmate when they set a trap to frame me? Did they think they weren’t taking things too far? Also, just listen to yourselves! This isn’t something that’s happening to any of you, is it? What makes you think you have the right to ask me to be kind to them?

“How about this? Since all of you are as close as you claim to be, why not kowtow to me on their behalf? Once you do that, I’ll forgive them. How about it?”

“…”

“…”

The classroom went silent after I lashed out at them.

The students who had been trying to get me to act with kindness backed off one by one. They stopped trying to stand up for Howard and Nadia.

However, I was not going to forgive them easily since they had already chosen to step up!

They might not have been directly involved with what happened during the Physical Education class.

They were still, however, accomplices.

They had been so sure of themselves when they accused me of stealing!

They had sat on their high horses just like Howard and Nadia had, and they had always looked down on me. They had laughed at me and were always playing mean tricks on me!

Their words were like an invisible knife, stabbing me in the heart every single time.

If not for me being mentally strong, I might have drowned myself in a lake long ago because of the humiliation they brought me.

I lifted my head at this point to look at everyone as they shrank back, smiling as I said, “Since you’ve all decided to step up today, there’s no need to back away. Every single person present today, except for Chris, should kneel to me and apologize. I’ll take anyone I can get.”

Every single person had to kneel in apology?

The entire class erupted in anger when they heard my words.

Each of them yelled angrily.

“Are you crazy, Freddie? Who do you think you are? Do you think your family owns this school?”

“That’s right. If you don’t want us to help Howard, we won’t. But what right do you have to ask us to kneel in apology?”

“Yeah, what did we do wrong?”

“Hoho, are you all sure you did nothing wrong?” My gaze swept past every single classmate there. “Didn’t you just malign me this morning? Haven’t you humiliated me before this? Every one of you did so many things to me. Why shouldn’t you apologize to me????”

“We…”

Everyone hesitated.

However, they would not admit it as they did not want to lose face, so instead, they rebutted, “So what if we made a mistake? Who do you think you are to ask us to kneel and actually expect us to do it?”

“That’s right. Don’t think that you’ve managed to get into our dean’s good graces just because he listened to you today. You’re not good enough!”

“Isn’t that right? This rascal must be crazy… He really thinks he’s some big shot.”

“Fine. I see you’re all refusing to apologize. Let’s see what the dean has to say about this.” With that, I called Franklin with my phone.

Everyone saw me really making the call to Franklin.

They burst out laughing.

“My God, he really is calling the dean. Who does he think he is?”

“It’s not possible for the dean to listen to him.”

I ignored everyone as my call to Franklin got through. I turned on the speakers. “Hello, Mr. Stone. I’m Freddie. I’m currently in the classroom.”

As I was worried Franklin would sound too friendly, I quickly informed him of my location.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Lang. Haven’t we already settled today’s issue? Is there anything else you’re unhappy with?”

Franklin acted quite normal when he learned I was in the classroom.

“I’m quite happy with the punishment for Howard and the others. However, I think there are not enough people being punished… All of my classmates except for Chris are basically accomplices. I don’t think I’m able to forgive them for this. What do you think, Mr. Stone?”

“You’re right, Mr. Lang. Would you like me to expel all of them too?”

“It’s not necessary to expel them. I want them to apologize to me. If they are sincere enough, I’ll forgive them. If they refuse to apologize, I think you can serve them a proper punishment, Mr. Stone.”

“Alright, I’ll do as you wish, Mr. Lang.”

“Thank you. I’ll talk to them first about this. I’ll be hanging up now.”

With that, I hung up the call.

I turned to look at my classmates after I hung up.

I noticed every one of them looked shocked. Most of their jaws were hanging from the shock. I could stuff an entire egg into their mouths if I wanted to.

It was clear that they were shocked to see me converse with the dean this way and to hear that the dean was quite receptive to my suggestions.

I was very happy with their reaction. I chuckled and said, “You all heard what Mr. Stone said. Are you willing to apologize now?”

“Freddie, the apology sounds fair, but I don’t think it’s necessary for them to kneel.” Chris was the first to speak up.

I knew that many people in the class had a good relationship with him.

Thus, I nodded and replied, “Since Chris has said so, I’ll forgo the kneeling on his account. You can all bow in apology instead.”

“Alright. Let me go first.”

Jerry Sanders, who was quite close to Chris, took a step forward and bowed to me. “Freddie, it was wrong of me to malign you today. I’m sorry.”

With someone kickstarting it, everyone followed suit.

It was not long before all my classmates had apologized to me.

It was quite an amazing thing to witness.

What I did shocked Nadia and Howard. I turned to them. “What do you think? Are you willing to kneel in apology now?”

Howard and Nadia were hesitant.

I decided to ignore them when I saw this. I waved Chris over. “Chris, let’s go eat.”

“But the two of them…”

“Let’s just ignore them. It's not like I haven’t given them a chance.”

With that, I put my arm over Chris’ shoulders, and we left the classroom together.

…

After we finished our meal in the school canteen, Chris and I headed to class.

We had just entered the building when a girl from our class suddenly blocked my way.

“What’s wrong? Is anything the matter?” I looked at the girl questioningly.

“C-could we speak alone?” The girl looked a little embarrassed.

“Alright.” We walked toward a bed of flowers by the side. “Say whatever you have to say.”

“Well, our class teacher is waiting for you in a hotel room. This is the key.” She pushed a card into my hand.

I stood there blankly.

Cherry was waiting in a hotel for me?

What was going on?

“What is she doing in the hotel waiting for me?” I asked the girl.

“Stop asking me questions. I have no idea. I’m just passing the message to you.” With that, the girl ran off.

“Freddie, what’s going on? Did she just confess her feelings for you?” Chris walked toward me with a questioning look.

“Nothing’s going on. You should go to class first. I need to head out for something.”

With that, I walked out of the school.

I thought about it while walking. What did Cherry want with me?

Moreover, she was waiting in a hotel room for me.

There was something strange about this…

Could she have found out that I was the man in the golden mask?

I thought about this. It was not entirely impossible. What happened today at the basketball court had displayed my outstanding capabilities.

Cherry was a smart woman. It was quite plausible she might have figured things out.

I arrived at the hotel, full of curiosity. I knocked on the room door.

The door opened after a few seconds of knocking. What appeared in front of me was a sexy woman in a bathrobe with a great body and wet hair.

However, that was not the point. The important thing to pay attention to was the fact that she was not Cherry Quentin!