“Now that things have escalated, she’s not just hurting Natalie or my team. She’s limiting her own future and vision.
“Acting so recklessly is only going to box her in more and more.
“If she refuses to listen, I will go to Professor Wilcourt and the school administration.
“The internet isn’t some lawless place. She’ll have to pay for what she’s done.”
With that, David hung up the phone.
He never bought for a moment that Josie had nothing to do with all the drama blowing up online.
As soon as David hung up, everyone in the dorm looked at each other, then couldn’t help but laugh.
But once the laughter faded, the worry crept back in.
Allison said, growing more anxious the more she scrolled through her phone, “He’s not actually going to go to Professor Wilcourt, is he?
“If this gets any bigger, will it end up affecting Josie?
“There are more and more people on the school forum going after Natalie.
“If this keeps up, she might really get cyberbullied. If I were her, I honestly couldn’t stay at this school.
“And if they dig up the plagiarism thing again, she could even get expelled, right?”
Josie shook her head. “With the way David’s acting, he’s obviously going to protect her.
“It’s not going to be easy to get her expelled. What I’m worried about is something else.”
“What are you worried about?” Zoey asked while seeing Josie frown, “Is it the stuff online?”
Josie shook her head again.
She said, “I’m worried Natalie will keep using her depression to play the victim.
“If she does something drastic, the school will just sweep it under the rug to protect their image and avoid trouble.
“And with David covering for her, who knows if the plagiarism thing will ever get looked into?”
“Seriously?” The group could hardly believe it. “This has gotten so big.
“There’s no way the school can just turn a blind eye. If they don’t give us an explanation, students are going to lose trust in them,”
Josie still felt uneasy. After all, Natalie had some powerful connections behind her.
If her parents stepped in, plus the whole depression angle, the only ones who might get punished would probably be those who accused Natalie of plagiarism or slandered her online.
“It’s hard to say,” Josie admitted uncertainly, “Zoey, can you help me track down the people who exposed the paid posters and the two who posted those analysis threads?”
“On it,” Zoey replied, immediately turning to investigate.
1/2
12:05 Tue, 26 Aug PA
Chapter 74
21%
+38
Meanwhile, David slammed the phone down in anger.
When he turned around, he saw Natalie looking at him with tears in her eyes, trying her best to look all pitiful.
She said, “Professor, did Josie refuse to delete the posts? I knew it. She must really hate me.
“It’s all my fault. I took her spot on the team. I never should have replaced her…”
Natalie started sobbing.
She continued, “I’ll go apologize to her. I’ll beg her.
“As long as she agrees to take down those posts and doesn’t drag your name into this, whatever she asks, I’ll do it!”
As she started to run out, Aiden grabbed her arm. “Professor hasn’t said anything yet. What’s the rush?”
“Professor?” Natalie looked up, tears streaming down her face. She looked so pitiful that it could break everyone’s heart.
David was already fuming at Josie’s attitude. He thought, ‘That brat didn’t give a damn about my reputation, even though she is now part of Delilah’s team.
‘She has nothing to do with us anymore.
‘Still, she just has to keep dragging us into this mess.
‘It is obvious that she just couldn’t accept being out of the team. She wants us to beg her to come back. Since no one does, she kicks up all this drama.
‘I will never take a student like her, even if my life depends on it. The idea that we’d ever beg her to return is wishful thinking.’
Seeing Natalie, who was always thinking about his reputation and even willing to humble herself before Josie for his sake, actually managed to cool some of David’s anger.
He felt that he had made the right call back then.
He thought, ‘Natalie is so much more sensible than Josie. People from small towns would always be small–minded. Josie has no sense of perspective or grace at all.
‘She totally deserves not to graduate!‘
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