Primeton's Poorest Student is Now a Billionaire

Chapter 004 ~ The Phone Call

Peter was lying on the hospital mattress when he suddenly began to flinch. He opened his eyes weakly, and everything around him appeared in blurry stripes.

'Where am i?'

'What happened to me?'

'How did I end up here?'

Those were the questions running through his mind.

He finally regained a bit of consciousness and tried to sit up, rubbing his hands on the back of his neck to ease the sharp ache.

"He's awake!"

"Bruh? Are you okay?"

"Peter, talk to us. How are you?"

Peter turned around and saw his two best friends surrounding him like a patient who had just undergone brain surgery.

"Tom?... Owen?" he called out softly, staring them in the eyes.

Relief washed over him the moment he set his eyes on them. At least he hadn’t lost his friends because of love, they were still a few people who actually cared about him. He wasn’t alone in this cruel world after all, because he still had his buddies by his side.

"What... happened?" Peter asked skeptically as little fragments of memories slowly began to return.

"I don’t know, bruh. We saw you wasted at the dorm entrance last night. You were in pain," Owen, his closest friend among the two interjected.

"It looked like an attack or something. Did you get into a fight with someone last night?" Tom followed up, curiosity getting the better of him.

"What happened, Pete?" Owen asked, studying his eyes. "What happened last night?"

"Punch..." Peter drew out the words in disgust, rolling his eyes as if the name alone made him sick all over again.

"Punch?" Tom repeated in surprise "What business do you have with Punch Walker?"

"I told you not to borrow that money, but you insisted. Now look..." Owen frowned.

"What money?" Tom continued to ask, looking genuinely confused. "Wait, what’s going on here, Peter?"

He looked completely lost. His friend had never mentioned anything about borrowing money from Punch. It seemed Owen was the only one who knew, or at least the only one who had an idea.

Owen and Peter had been friends since high school. They had gone through a lot together, and Peter would often visit his family house. They had grown up like brothers. Though they both came from poor homes, they always had each other’s backs.

"It’s a long story," Peter waved it off, seemingly not in the mood for further explanations. "Besides, I don’t want to talk about it."

Before the boys could utter another word, Peter’s phone began to ring. Owen grabbed it from the table and behold, It was an unknown number.

"Who must be calling you at this hour?" Owen asked with a creased brow.

"It must be my grandmother. She must have heard what happened to me already and is worried sick. Pick it up," Peter murmured, still feeling slight pains in his head. "Put it on loudspeaker."

Owen picked up the call, expecting to hear the fragile, soft voice of an old woman, because he had met Peter’s grandmother before and knew how gentle she sounded, but what followed was something he never expected.

A loud, mocking laugh from what seemed to be a man tore through the room. The laugh was so loud and intimidating that it made all their hearts skip a beat.

"So you made it alive, huh?" the voice mocked. "Punch is becoming way too soft. I told him to make sure you were completely eliminated. But he chose to spare you for some personal reason I still find unnecessary. How are you, Peter Lawson?"

"Is that... Troy?" Tom asked in confusion as the loud voice echoed through the speakers.

"Guessed right! Troy Williams on the phone," Troy snorted. "Was just checking up on my dear friend."

Peter frowned. What the hell did he just call him? What even did he want from him now? He already had Sophia, and Peter had lost all interest in her already. Immediately, he grabbed the phone from Owen, ignoring the pains from his body.

"What the hell do you want, Troy?" Peter asked curtly with no warmth in his voice.

"Relax, buddy. Why the attitude?" Troy deliberately kept pressing because he knew it would only annoy Peter even more. "Is it now a crime to check up on friends these days?"

"I’m not your friend," Peter clipped, burning with anger.

"Well, I’m kidding. I don’t want to be your friend either," Troy laughed again, sounding completely unconcerned.

Owen and Tom didn’t even dare get involved.

Though they were very good friends of Peter, they didn’t want any trouble with Troy. They knew how petty he was and didn’t want the rest of their years on campus to be miserable before they graduated.

"I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page. Get yourself treated. We have a lot of catching up to do."

With that, Peter didn’t waste any more time. He ended the call abruptly and tossed the phone onto the couch with rage.

"You have to report him to the school authorities," Tom muttered, feeling concerned for his friend’s life.

"Report?" Peter scoffed. "That’s not a good idea at all, bruh. Have you forgotten his father is the Dean of Academics? He’ll just buy his way out of it like he always does."

"Then what do we do?" Owen added, genuinely scared on his behalf. "He just threatened your life."

"This is all this world is about. The system is not fair to poor orphans like me. I just have to avoid him the best way I can."

They were still discussing the best solution to handle Troy before things got really uncontrollable when Owen received an urgent call. He picked it up and excused himself from the room, leaving Tom and Peter alone.

A few seconds later, he returned. His expression saying everything his mouth wanted to say.

"I just received a call from my course teacher, she says It’s urgent... I’ll be leaving now." Owen paused briefly, taking a quick glance at Peter. "Take care of yourself, Pete."

Later on, Tom decided to head out with him as well. They had been with Peter since last night after bringing him to the hospital and needed to freshen up, maybe they would come back to check on him later.

Peter was now all alone in the room, staring at the ceiling when his phone began to ring for the second time. It pissed him off to discover it was yet another unknown number.

"Damn that punk. Why the hell does he keep bothering me? Seeing me in misery really gives him some sort of delight or something.'' he murmured to himself.

He picked up the call, trying not to crash out, and simply yelled over the phone without giving the caller a chance to speak. "Leave me the hell alone, Troy! Stop bothering me!"

He ended the call immediately and sighed heavily. But after three seconds, the number called again. So he decided to ignore it, hoping that would stop the calls. To his greatest surprise, the number kept calling and called over eight times.

'Who the hell calls somebody eight fucking times?' Peter thought to himself in disbelief.

Troy was crazy, he knew that. But he wasn’t that crazy to do something like that. So who could this new weirdo be? On the ninth attempt, he picked up the call with rage.

"Stop calling me or else I’ll report you to the police," he threatened.

But the smooth, polished accent that replied him back sent chills down his spine.