Chapter 8 - 8: Best Friend's Ridicule
Best Friend's Ridicule
Connor was riding an electric bike and was about to rush home. It was at that moment his phone suddenly started ringing.
"Connor, where are you? Don't you know that we have classes in the afternoon?" His roommate, Dominic, yelled in urgency from the other end of the line.
Dominic was Connor's roommate and one of his few friends in college.
"Oh crap, I almost forgot!" Connor exclaimed. He then quickly said, "I'll head over to class right now..."
"Hurry up!" Dominic replied in a low voice and immediately hung up.
Connor hurriedly rode his electric bike toward Porthampton University's campus area. His first class in the afternoon was finance. It was taught by a lecturer called Ray Walkster. What Ray hated the most was students being tardy. Anyone who had the audacity to be late for his classes more than twice would have to repeat the subject the next semester.
Hence, Connor did not dare to dawdle. As soon as he arrived at Porthampton University, he quickly grabbed his food delivery bag and rushed to the classroom.
Five minutes later, he finally arrived at the classroom.
But he was still late!
When Connor got to the classroom entrance, he felt the whole class staring at him.
For a whole minute, Ray paid no heed to Connor and carried on his lecture in the class.
"Excuse me!" Connor called out as he stood by the door.
Ray finally put the pointer down and turned to look at Connor. He said coldly, "Connor McDonald, did you lose track of time delivering takeouts? Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
"Do you have any idea what time it is now? Are you here to learn or to deliver takeouts?"
Ray obviously was not really expecting an answer from Connor when he asked these questions. He just wanted to humiliate Connor. All students in the class burst out laughing when they heard Ray's words.
Connor, who was currently in his yellow uniform, was holding a food delivery bag; he truly looked like a food delivery person.
"Come here. Open that food delivery bag you have in your hand and show everyone the delicious takeouts that you've delivered today." Ray continued ridiculing him.
HAHAHA!
Once again, the classroom was filled with roaring laughter.
The two who laughed the loudest were Mandy and Brandon. They were currently sitting in the last row of the classroom and flirting with each other. The sight of them made Connor feel bitter. That was because when Connor was still with Mandy, she had never sat with him before.
All of his classmates obviously knew about Mandy dumping him.
"I don't think that's necessary," Connor said indifferently.
Although Ray Walkster was a lecturer at Porthampton University, he was not an educator who cared about the students. On the contrary, he looked down on poor students, so he often picked on Connor in his previous lessons.
However, Ray had always tried to please the students from wealthy families. It was as if he was a lap dog.
"Take your food delivery bag with you and quickly get to your seat!
"I'm warning you, the next time you're late, you won't be in my class anymore! The poorer they are, the more hopeless they are!" said Ray coldly. He lost interest upon seeing Connor's reaction.
Connor could only oblige obediently. He walked into the classroom with a food delivery bag in his hand. Many of his classmates were looking at the food delivery bag he had in his hand. They were even whispering to each other and letting out faint sounds of laughter. All of them were probably talking about him delivering food.
Connor sat in his seat but did not pay attention to the lesson. He felt bitter as he peered at the last row, where Brandon and Mandy were sitting.
"Connor, are you alright?" Connor's roommate, Spencer, whispered beside him.
"I'm fine..." Connor replied indifferently.
"Why were you late? By the way, I heard that you and Mandy..."
"Spencer, don't bring up something like that!" said Dominic with annoyance while punching Spencer on the shoulder.
Dominic and Spencer often helped Connor back when they were still in school, and Connor never forgot how good they were to him.
"I'm fine, really..."
Connor forced a smile at the two and placed the food delivery bag under his feet.
Dominic and Spencer thought Connor was in a bad mood, so they did not continue bothering him.
One class period ended very quickly.
After Ray had left, a sweet-looking girl stood up. "Class, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Let's have dinner together!" she shouted while smiling.
The girl, who was only in her early twenties, was very pretty and had a shapely figure. Her legs were fair and long. She had donned a blue short dress and a pair of sports shoes which made her look youthful and energetic. She was Eunice Tanner, the course representative of Finance.
Eunice was kind-hearted and innocent. She had never looked down on Connor for being poor. On the contrary, she had helped Connor many times.
"Yes! We can finally have a dinner party together!
"The student representative has spoken, so all of us must go!"
Everyone in the class immediately became restless.
At that moment, Dominic ran to Connor. He placed his hand over Connor's shoulder and said, "Con, come join us today! It's been a while since we had a dinner party together as a class—"
"Dominic, why are you inviting that pauper? How could he have the money to attend the dinner party?" a girl in a pencil skirt yelled at Dominic loudly.
Connor could not help but lift his head to look at the girl. She was May Young, Mandy's best friend and roommate.
May looked down on Connor and often bullied him. A huge part of the reason behind Mandy dumping Connor and choosing to be with Brandon was due to May's instigation.
"Exactly! How can a pauper like Connor afford to go to a dinner party?" Mandy's other roommate, Lily Sullivan, added sarcastically.