Chapter 2

The next day, the university forum was in an uproar.

Theodore had uploaded his medical injury report and crafted a woeful tale that painted him as the victim. He claimed that I had failed to seduce his girlfriend, Lana Quill, and in my embarrassment, had turned my anger on him and beaten him up badly.

Almost immediately after that, the student council posted an official announcement.

"Due to Michael Lund's disorderly conduct and the serious disruption it caused, he is hereby issued a major demerit and will forfeit all conduct credits for the current semester."

The announcement had been signed off by Selena, the student council president.

On my way to class, everyone I passed by kept whispering to each other while pointing at me. Someone had even dumped my course textbooks into the trash bin.

Instead of kicking up a fuss or getting angry, I simply calmly retrieved my textbooks, dusted them off, then headed straight for the student council office.

Selena was sitting at her desk, signing some documents. At my arrival, she furrowed her brow in a frown. "What are you doing here? Don't you think you've humiliated yourself enough?"

I looked her in the eyes as I said, "There are surveillance cameras in the equipment room, but you didn't even check them before posting that announcement. What you did was abuse your authority to cover up for Theodore."

Selena scoffed and replied, "The surveillance cameras aren't working. Michael, if you head to the broadcast station now and publicly apologize to Theo, I might consider rescinding your punishment."

At that moment, the student council vice president, who had been playing games on his phone off to one side, suddenly lifted his head.

There was a confused look on his face as he said obliviously, "Huh? The surveillance cameras aren't working? That can't be right. The Campus Services Office just changed all the cameras on campus to 4K high definition cameras with night vision capabilities last week. I would know, since I was the one who signed off on it."

I whipped my head around to stare at Selena, who tensed at the revelation. A panicked expression crossed her face, and she couldn't bring herself to look me in the eye.

A wave of revulsion rose in me, threatening to bring my breakfast up with it.

As it turned out, she already knew everything. She had been well aware that the surveillance cameras weren't broken. In fact, she might have even seen the footage already, yet she still chose to help Theodore ruin my reputation and future.

"Selena Shandler, you truly are a disgusting person."

With that, I spun on my heel and left the office.

Not only had I failed to resolve this matter, but I had even learned the truth that left me simmering with anger.

After glancing at the time, I realized that I needed to get to class first. Collecting evidence could wait a little longer.

…

That afternoon, during our compulsory swimming class, our teacher had to attend a meeting, so he left us to practice by ourselves.

Once I had changed into my swim trunks, I headed for the pool, only to see Theodore and his girlfriend, Lana, standing at the edge near the deeper end.

Lana was a sports major, so she had the powerful build of an athlete. Upon spotting me, she stormed over to me and demanded, "Are you Michael Lund? You were lucky that I wasn't there yesterday. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have let you off the hook so easily!"

Theodore placed a hand on her arm, saying gently, "Forget it, Lana. He just lost himself for a moment. There's no need to hold on to a grudge about it."

When he finished speaking, he turned to me with a look in his eyes that was filled with such malice that I shivered.

Before I could wonder about the sudden change in attitude, he seized the opportunity while I turned to grab a towel to land a hard kick on the back of my knees.

My legs buckled, sending me crashing straight into the deep end of the pool.

Just as I struggled to get to the water surface, a kickboard abruptly pressed down on my head.

Theodore stood by the edge of the pool while stepping on the kickboard with all his might, a twisted smile curving his face.

Water gushed into my nose and mouth, and as I began to suffocate, an overwhelming terror consumed me.

I struggled violently in the water, causing my heart rate to spike all the way to 180.

Then, my eyes rolled back, and I fell asleep.