CHAPTER TWO

THE DARE.

ANDREW'S HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, 7:00 AM.

The sound of his cellphone ringing had Drew waking from his deep slumber. With his eyes still closed, he answered the call with a swipe across the screen without checking the caller info.

"Yes, Andrew Grey speaking," he answered with a dull voice, his head was aching and he was extremely hungover.

"Hey Drew, why aren't you in class already. Professor Baldwin is extremely mad," came the voice of his assistant, Harry.

Harry was a serious-minded and total nerd kind of guy with the glasses and everything but Drew liked him because he always helped out whenever he screwed things up, he guessed he could call him his lifesaver.

With that Drew stood up in alarm, he was the course representative of Programming 202. No matter how much he partied, he never missed a class.

"Just tell him I'll be there soon. I and the guys went out last night for Evans party and we had too much to drink." He could just imagine Harry frown as he said that, he had never been the party type and even after being invited to the party, he declined.

"Whatever man, just get your ass here right now!" He yelled and then the line went off. Sighing, Drew wiped his eyes and registered the state of the living room.

Across from him was Joe lying on the rug and Miller on a love seat, they looked so hilarious but Drew knew he had to get ready for class rather than laughing at them and if he missed that lecture, his clean reputation of always being present would be tarnished.

Getting into his room in the apartment, he dashed for his closet and took out his signature black designer skinny jeans and a red designer polo. Despite being so rich, Drew was never the type to wear too much jewelry asides from a smartwatch which he always had strapped on his wrist, though Miller was the opposite, he liked flashy things and was a show-off kind of guy.

He quickly took the shortest shower ever, which did nothing to help his pounding headache.

After taking some Advil with little water, ate some fruits before leaving the apartment.

★★★★★★

ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, 11:30 AM

After the lecture, where Professor Baldwin gave him an earful of warning, Drew and Harry came out of the lecture room.

"Thanks, man, you saved my butt once again."

"It's nothing, I mean I get paid, so it's no stress. I'm sure you must be starving and you don't look so good let's head over to Penny's, what do you think?

"Yeah, let me just ask Jenna and the guys to join us."

He took out his phone and called Jenna first and she answered on the second ring.

"Hey babe, good morning," came Jenna's chirpy and excited voice.

"Good morning babe, I'd like you to join me for brunch at Penny's Cafe, are you free now?"

"Awww, I'm sorry babe. I have to make some more sketches for the new designs needed for the school's fashion exhibit but don't worry I'll come over for dinner and spend the night at your apartment. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah, sure babe. I'm looking forward to being with you tonight," he answered with a smile. Though he usually slept around with other girls, no one else made him feel the way Jenna did when they were together.

He endured their fake relationship because he knew that Jenna was also forced just like he was. She was quite cool also, they had been friends since high school and this reason complimented all of her other faults. He called Evans who just got home after spending the night with the blonde from the previous night and then called the other guys.

When he got to the cafe, Joe and Miller were already there. Miller was eating a large slice of cake, he was a food lover and when he wasn't flirting with girls, he was usually found eating.

He shook hands with them and sat down to discuss a new arcade game Drew was working on as they ate and after an hour of testing the game, their attention was caught by the sight of a beautiful, slim but curvy redhead in a red shirt and ripped jeans, she looked furious as she yelled in the cafe in a loud voice, "Where is he? Andrew Alexander Grey, I dare you to come out and face me if you've got the guts."

Hearing this, Joe asked, "Is she one of your conquests? She seems mad, this must be serious. What the hell did you do to her?"

Looking astonished Drew replied, "I don't know her, maybe she's one of those girls chasing after me."

The girl walked up to their table after being directed there by one of the waiters. She was tall for a girl, at about 5ft 10 or 11 he thought to himself while checking her out. He noticed a pair of bright blue-green eyes which reminded him of the ocean, but there was so much fury in there and he wondered what he might have done to provoke such a reaction from her.

She scrunched her cute little nose and pointed at him saying, "You Andrew Grey, are going to regret this, you're going to regret messing with me. I'll ruin you for what you've done to me."

"Hey, lady can you calm down a bit, you can't just storm in here and make threats, at least tell us what Drew has done now will you?" Evans asked.

"What has he done?" She sighed and then a crease of worry stretched over her forehead.

"Your almighty friend has done something I'll never forgive. My brother came to visit me from NYU and something came up that delayed his journey so he got to my lodge at midnight and then I heard some noise from the entrance, so I went to check it out only to see my brother lying on the road. You and your stupid friends hit him!"

"And do you know what's worse? Instead of helping me out to get him some medical attention. Your friend here threw a cheque of fifty thousand dollars at me!"

When she said that, Drew recalled the ocean eyes that had been haunting him before he slept. He remembered how he ran over someone but refused to acknowledge it.

"Look miss whatever your name is, I don't know you and I don't even wanna get to know you, so if you're saying this just to get my attention, then let me tell you I don't do desperate. I certainly have nothing to do with your brother's accident," he replied with his lips curving in a smug smile.

With that statement, Joe looked at him and tried to speak because he remembered what happened, but Drew stopped him with a hand.

"What? Do you know what you've caused? My brother hasn't regained consciousness and is lying in the hospital because of you. Do you even know what my brother means to me? He's the only family I have left," she cried.

"How the hell did you know I was gonna be here? You must be one of those stalkers right? Don't worry I'm used to this just leave your number, I'll surely spare you a call later. Though you lack the reasonable fashion sense that I like in girls, but I guess your looks are good enough."

And with that statement, her hand connected with his face in a tight slap that echoed in the cafe.

Holding his hand to his face Drew and his friends stood. "How dare you bitch? How dare you hit me?"

"I'll hit you once again if you don't take responsibility for your actions, you need to admit it already. I won't rest until everyone gets to know how you are, see this is the cheque. You can have it back, in case you don't know, I'm not one of your cheap bimbos. I have a higher class and despite your looks and fame, nothing can ever make me fancy someone like you."

Taking the cheque and flinging it in the air, he said, "You know what? You can go to hell girl, I dare you to do whatever you want to do. Just know that, I own this school, everyone listens to me only and I don't think I can sit still and keep listening to this nonsense. Let's get outta here guys, this bitch is crazy."

They all followed after him, while the girl kept screaming about how she would have her revenge.

"Dude, I think you should have just apologized. What you did was too bad. Even if you don't want to apologize, I'm willing to do it on your behalf," Joe said when they got out of the cafe.

"What? You mean you're on her side? Didn't you see her hit me? I can't believe this."

"I don't know what happened, she might have gone too far by hitting you, but I think you were also wrong," Evans added.

"You too Evans? Great, just great. Just with a stupid accusation, she has been able to turn my friends against me."

"But is it true, did you hit her brother and give her a cheque to shut her up?"

"Well I was drunk you know? I can't even remember correctly."

"Just leave her to me I'll deal with her myself, you know you can trust me. I remember her from this morning when we hit her, but I don't understand what else she wants even after you gave her the cheque. So many girls have done extreme things like this just for my attention, these girls are all the same, they've got no shame," Miller said while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Harry listen, I need you to get every detail about that girl. Find out where she's from, what she's studying, her contact details and especially which lodge she stays in."

"Sure, I'll do that right away and get back to you tomorrow morning," Harry replied and walked away.

They all went for their respective lectures and when Andrew got home, he found himself still thinking about that girl. He felt sorry when he saw those tears in her eyes and how angry she had been but he just had to make her shut up before she went around telling everyone what had happened.

His father Silas Grey had always been clear on one thing, he wanted Drew to graduate with no bad records and he had made sure he stayed out of trouble so as not to get into the news for the wrong reasons.

As he picked up his laptop to create a storyline for his new game, he found that he just couldn't concentrate and could only think of the girls' words, "I won't rest until everyone gets to know how you really are, see this is the cheque. You can have it back, in case you don't know, I'm not one of your cheap bimbos. I have a higher class and despite your looks and fame, nothing can ever make me fancy someone like you."

"So she isn't into me huh? We shall see about that" He said to himself as he thought of her ocean coloured eyes and wondered what her name was and decided to wait for Harry to give him her profile the next day.

His chain of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, the guys had gone out to watch football and Drew had stayed behind because he was expecting Jenna.

He figured it was definitely Jenna at the door and the thought of her being around brought a smile to his face, at least she would be able to get his mind off things.

He quickly jogged down the stairs and opened the door. "Hey babe," he said while drawing her closer for a kiss but was surprised as Jenna remained unmoving and she looked angry.

"What's the matter, did anyone upset you?" He asked, it was a rare thing to see Jenna in that mood. She was usually cheerful all the time.

"You, it's you who's made me upset, can't you see."

"Me? What did I do?"

"You don't know? You are all over the school's gossip platform, haven't you seen it?"

"Jenna, you know I don't check such childish platforms, so tell me what is it?"

"Well I do, look at this," she stretched her phone to his eye level.

"What the hell is this?" He exclaimed.