The day after which Pickle went to the afterlife went without a hitch; aside from Andrew's own sadness that is which he had already gone used to. Coming to school was a normal procedure, taking a single bus. At the gate, he'd meet the same girl, Clare Euston.

"Andrew!" The girl waved her hands towards him as if she was his girlfriend; her ample bust moving in synchrony.

"Good morning, Clare" Andrew greet his only 'friend' in the first year or even the whole school in general. As pitiful as it was, only Clare matched. She was the only person he had studied with, gone out with to play games or anything of the like... sadly, it had cost him plenty each time.

"Are you okay? you look sad..." She started following him into the campus as she'd usually do.

The boy had difficulties gauging what this girl's interests were… sometimes she'd show herself worried… some other she would swallow every single penny he had in his wallet. Clare's father was a banker and her mother passed away five years ago due to a terminal disease... they had been 'friends' for a long time but as Clare grew up, so did her interests and 'fanciness'.

The girl had an expensive lifestyle worthy of the daughter of a rich father... at this stage, Andrew was convinced that the only reason she remained glued to him was due to her father's insistence since his father Max and her father Louis had attended the same college together.

Clare had a lot of suitors and she was no doubt within the school belle's top ten as the youngest one, sadly... none of those suitors could give her the lifestyle she was so used to.

...

"It is nothing Clare, I just couldn't sleep well" He stated nonchalantly, taking his seat next to the window; Clare took the one at the front. He put Pickle at the back of his mind. Clare didn't know about the ghosts and spirits and he also hadn't bothered to tell her, she wouldn't believe it.

"The class starts in ten minutes, why are you not with your friends?" He inquired, taking out his history books and notebook since that was the first assignment for today.

"Actually, I didn't do my homework..." She stuck out her tongue cutely as if that was going to help.

"And why is that my problem?"

"Help your girlfriend out, please?~"

"You're not my girlfriend..."

Rolling his eyes, Andrew passed over the precious notebook with perfect homework... it wasn't free of charge. Whenever it was time to get lunch Clare and her friends would always be ahead of the queue in the cafe and the girls would allow Andrew in... that was her way to 'repay' the favour.

"What were you even doing yesterday?" He asked her, this girl always had an excuse for not doing her homework, as astonishing as it was 'the dog ate it' was never one of them.

"Do you still have to ask?! now that I think about it, you haven't said anything yet..." The teenage girl seemed offended. She brushed her silky golden hair aside with a smile and showed him her nails which were pretty and painted with red floral patterns...

'That musn't have been cheap'.

"So?"

"You look beautiful..."

"Thank you! It cost my father three grand to get my hair and nails done, also a deep muscular massage. The lady flew to our house from Spain and he's paying for all of her expenses" Clare twirled her beautiful hair as if she was flexing wealth. Perhaps she merely desired to portray to him that her family was no slouch when it came to spending money. Sadly, Andrew wasn't the right target to pull out such a move.

"..." Andrew gulped a mouthful of saliva and understood right away, a gift from her father surely. That was more than the allowance he received from his uncle in a single month.

"My scores have gone up thanks to you, so... daddy rewarded me"

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"And I get nothing for helping you out, do I?"

"You get my immense gratitude and unyielding loyalty, Andrew!"

'I can't do my groceries with that' He complained inwardly.

"There is this party my father was invited to and I have to be in my best condition... do you want to come with us? I can tell my father to drop you off on our way back" Clare said while shamelessly copying Andrew's homework.

"No, thank you... there is a math test in two days which I can already tell you're going to fail".

"You're always studying and don't have time for me" She pouted.

'I definitely have time for you, what I don't have is the money...'

"If I don't study whose notes are you going to copy, Clare?"

"Hehehe, I'll copy your notes even if they're wrong. I won't copy anyone else's, promise!~"

"..." He didn't know if he should laugh or cry at her remark, 'it seems I'm fated to have you copying my homework for a while more'.

The rest of the class looked at her in jealousy. Although they were envious of Andrew in many ways, they all knew he was the one with the most accurate answers. Copying his homework was a privilege only Clare possessed. Her female friends had tried to squeeze into this arrangement, but Andrew was having none of it.

For him, a single gold digger was enough.

"So what's this party about?"

"A business partner of my father bought himself a yacht and he's making a party in it... I'm surprised that you're not invited since even the CEO of Archonte is going to attend".

"Bradford? I didn't know... I told you my uncle usually doesn't tell me about those things" Andrew ignored those facts, even if he was invited by his uncle, he'd likely not go since his aunt was also going to be there.

"Have you by any seen Sophia today?" Clare asked suddenly. Sophia Jones was the 2nd year high schooler that Andrew saw yesterday coming back to school during the evening, although not often she used to be in Clare's group of 'rich girls'.

'She began distancing herself from Clare's group when she started hanging out with that other girl from the class next door, Sasha if I recall was her name... the girl that committed suicide' Andrew thought, one of the reasons why he didn't hang out with Clare when she was with her friends, was that some of them were bullies. Mariah Belle in particular a second-year girl that seemed to lead a gang of her own was one of the people in this school who Andrew felt the most disgusted about. Her parents were politicians and she had a lot of power and influence in the school, perhaps equaling even the Mayers.

"I told you a while ago that you should stop hanging around with Mariah Belle, Clare... she's horrible... did you have anything to do with what happened to that girl Sasha?" Andrew pulled her arm with a frown and Clare evaded his gaze.

"I haven't, Andrew... I swear I had nothing to do with it! you know I'm not that type of girl" Clare seemed to be offended that he would even consider such a thing.

'I can't be certain' he thought, deciding to insist further on the topic "But you also didn't stop them from doing those horrible things to that girl and many others".

"..." Clare didn't affirm nor deny his accusation.

"I haven't seen Sophia today but I caught a glimpse of her yesterday evening while leaving the campus, she was heading back into the premises for some reason, and she was also in a rush" Andrew explained the circumstances which only made Clare even more puzzled. For her, it was a sad state of affairs in which she was Sophia's friend but couldn't side up with her in this matter.

Sophia had become Sasha's friend... but the latter was an old-fashioned nerd who had obtained a scholarship and whose family wasn't even worth mentioning.

"She didn't come to school today... and I'm getting a little worried" Clare shook her head and continued copying the notes.

"Is it that odd that didn't attend?"

"You know Sophia... she's the daughter of the Manhunt Buffet's Chairman… her parents are quite harsh and she hasn't missed a single day at school for two years… they think it was because of that peasant girl, Sasha".

"Don't call her that, Clare!" Andrew frowned profusely at the way this girl was referring to someone that had died, in such gruesome circumstances at that.

"That girl's family is broke, she has no business with us. What's she getting chummy with Sophia for?"

"You disgust me" Andrew spoke, even taking away the notes from an astonished Clare.

"Andrew! Why are you siding with her!?"

He didn't answer any of her questions and instead gave her the cold treatment until the teacher came back, forcing Clare to settle down.

'In the end, you're just like them… you all don't see people, what you see is the money behind them...' every time he thought he and Clare could reach some sort of understanding, she'd always do or say something like this.

The classes ended as scheduled, Clare and Andrew had fought again so she just huffed at him before leaving with her friends like usual. Today he had his shift at McRonard until late evening, but he could still stay a few hours in the library studying for the next test.

'Help! Please!'

'…'

Andrew didn't think twice before turning his heels and abandoning the campus. Events like this were not odd for him, what would usually happen was that the activity would become mild with the passage of time until disappeared completely. As he walked out of the campus, he could only think of one possibility.

'Is that Sasha? if so... why is she asking for help?'

'Where are you, Sasha?!'

!!!

Andrew gasped and turned his gaze to the back of the dark alleyway, it was already evening with the sun falling... the concierge had yet to switch on the lights and he'd surely do it soon, but until then, there was just darkness.

'That voice just now... w-was that Sophia?'