Chosen By The System To Play God

Chapter Six

The university was not the best place to be today. From the very first minute that Adrian laid foot into the environment, the toxicity of the atmosphere stiffened his breathe tight.

Every person who saw him would giggle or frown or shake their heads before deeping their faces back into their phone screens. It didn't take long to realize something was going on.

"What is going on?" He wondered. "Is this because of what happened last night?"

Of course the entire school was present when Ricardo had his boys ship him out like unwanted cargo many hours ago. Everyone who witnessed it was eager to make fun of him, like Mrs Huddersfield and Billy. But there was more with the way they all looked at him. Like some criminal who had committed a grievous crime. There must be something more going on around here.

"Hey system", he whispered. "Can you help me out here?"

"Absolutely!" The system voice chimed in his head. "It appears there are several video clips of you going viral on the internet as we speak."

The screen appeared before Adrian as he walked and he could watch several different video clips from last night when he was beaten and thrown out of the party.

But he was definitely not the first reject from a billionaire's party. Surely other people had been treated the same way in the past, why was his getting so much attention?

"But there's a particular video which has already gathered a million views as we speak." The system announced, playing the said video after the rest had played.

Adrian had stopped paying attention to the screen. He walked faster so as to reach the lecture room and escape the piercing gazes surrounding him. Then the next voice he heard made him stop for a moment.

"Adrian Blood tried to rape me." She said. It was Teresa. She was the one in the video, and she was spewing lies against him!

"He wanted me to be his girlfriend but I declined because he is not my type. Then he tried to force himself on me. Ricardo Rodriguez risked his life to save me from him. Then he followed us to the party and created a scene, but Ricardo was there to save me again. If not for Ricardo, I do not know what would have happened. Adrian is a devil. He acts all innocent, that's why he is able to secure the government's scholarship to come to our school. But he is not what he claims to be. He is dangerous..."

Tears began to fall from her swollen red eyes. She looked so tired and battered anyone would take pity on her. If Adrian had not known better, he would think she was saying the truth!

"I want justice." She concluded. "Such a man should not get favours from the government. It would be a shame and a disappointment. I ask for justice!"

Adrian did not know what to say as the video came to a conclusion. Teresa was such an actress. And he was now in such a huge mess.

As he stood agape with worry, he felt a heavy contact from behind, knocking him forward towards the screen which disappeared as soon as he made contact. He turned around to find Ricardo Rodriguez wearing that gaze which said, "I got you".

"Why?" He muttered, not knowing what to say. Why did they have to do all these? Just to get rid of him??

"I told you, Blood. You are nothing to me. Teresa is mine and she will do anything I ask her to. Congratulations, you are now a criminal. Remember what I told you, I will take everything away from you. One by one. Starting from your little scholarship. Until you come back and grovel at my feet! Your days are now numbered, Adrian Blood. For now, I have important business to take care off."

As Ricardo walked away accompanied by his gang of disciples, he burst into a loud laughter. It echoed in Adrian's head as he watched in pain.

Adrian proceeded to the lecture room. When he entered, the lecturer was already present. On a normal day, when you come late to a lecture, you would enter through a back door and take a seat quietly. But the moment he tried to do that, the lecturer called out so fast as if he had been waiting for the opportunity.

"Ohh! Look who it is!! The infamous Adrian Blood!!!"

Everyone turned around to frown. Adrian knew they must all hate him right now.

He tried to avoid their gazes and find a seat, but nobody wanted him to sit around them.

"You are no longer a part of this class, Mr Blood." The lecturer declared nonchalantly.

"How... How is that?"

"The school board of judges has sent you an invitation, and until you have gone through their interrogation and questioning, you are exempted from all schooling activities. You may now find your way out."

Adrian couldn't believe his ears. He had studied hard, all day and all night for the past three years just to get this degree that his foster mother cherished so much. Now they were going to take it all away? He knew about the school board of judges. Anybody who went to them was always going to be handed a letter of rustication. Nobody had ever escaped that. Would that be his fate too?

Angry and in rage, he found his way to the school board of judges without giving it a second thought. He knew he was innocent, and he was more than ready to prove himself.

"Mr Blood, we have been waiting for you." The woman at the secretary office smiled at him. But even behind her smile, one could find the judging eyes of distrust.

Adrian made his way to the big room where he found an already waiting panel of interrogators.

"Welcome, Mr Adrian Blood. You are late for the hearing." A fat man sat behind the grand desk, along with four other members of which were two women. He knew this man, he was the vice chancellor of the school, Donald McMahon. He wasn't the sort to attend to these kind of matters, Ricardo Rodriguez must have put him up to this. What can't you get with all those millions?

"Good morning, panel. I was not informed of an hearing until just a few minutes ago. If I knew, I would..."

"Ohh save the excuses, you'll need a lot of them later." Donald cut him short.

He was not offered a seat. As he stood before the panel, a huge television was put on display before all of them. It was filled with those videos he had seen earlier, the last one being the clip Teresa made to accuse him wrongly.

"So, Mr Blood." Donald chewed as the series of videos came to a cease. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"It's simple. I was lied against! Ricardo and Teresa are using the advantage of our little misunderstanding to fabricate stories about me..."

"Little misunderstanding?" One of the women raised a eyebrow so Adrian took the pain to explain the details of everything that happened between him and Teresa. How he was betrayed by her. How he was disgraced by her new boyfriend. Everything.

"You all have known me these past three years. I have only been a diligent student with no record of bad behaviour. You can't possibly believe this..." As he finished, he heard a clap of hands from behind the judges. A door opened and Teresa strolled out in the most expensive dress he had ever seen on her, looking radiant and proud.

"Well well well, Adrian. Aren't you quite the storyteller?"