Chapter 3

I rejected Savannah's call and texted her. "About to get on the bus. Can't talk right now."

She bombarded me with a string of frantic messages, clearly losing her temper.

"Benson, you said you'd wait for me!"

"How could you just leave?"

"Are you messing with me on purpose?"

I didn't reply to her and remained hidden, waiting to see what she'd try next.

Then, she sent me many more messages which I completely ignored. Savannah paced around anxiously, but there was nothing she could do. Finally, clutching her stomach in frustration, she left the school grounds, seemingly giving up on hounding me.

I had just breathed a sigh of relief when chaos erupted at the school gate.

Someone screamed in horror, "Th-there's someone going into labor!"

To avoid being called out by Savannah on the spot, I remained where I was and watched from the hallway on the second floor of the academic building.

Savannah was slumped on the ground, the area beneath her already stained red.

Everyone there was a student, and no one had ever seen anything like this. They all crowded around the school gate, frozen and clueless. Some asked what they should do, and others asked whether they should call 911, but no one dared to get close.

Savannah wailed through her sobs, shrieking, "Benny! Where are you? Our baby is coming! Oh, Benny! It hurts so much… Benny! Didn't you promise you'd always be with me and the baby? How could you lie to me?"

She kept calling my name, firmly pinning the label of getting her pregnant out of wedlock and then abandoning her squarely on my head.

I was furious. Even after I avoided her, she still tried to pin the baby on me.

Everyone around was stunned by her words and began whispering among themselves.

"Oh my goodness! The top student of the grade is actually such an irresponsible scumbag?"

"I thought Savannah just gained weight. I didn't realize she was pregnant!"

"How disgusting! A monster like him deserves to rot in hell!"

My deskmate, Elijah Montgomery, tried to defend me. "There has to be some sort of misunderstanding here! Benson's not like that!"

Someone shot back, "A misunderstanding? She's ready to pop out a whole baby! What kind of a misunderstanding could there be? And let's be real, Benson and Savannah are always together. You can't deny the fact that they are pretty much inseparable, right?"

Savannah put on a pained, self-soothing act. "Benny wouldn't abandon me and the baby. He's probably just busy. After all, it's the SAT tomorrow. He's always been so good to me."

Then her phone slipped from her hand, and a voice message I had sent her started playing.

"Baby will sleep with me tonight. I'll take good care of Baby."

"Baby's pregnant? Don't worry! I'm coming over now!"

Someone exploded in anger. "He admitted it himself! How is that not proof? Benson is absolute scum!"

Even Elijah hesitated, starting to doubt whether I really was that kind of person.

I was so mad that a laugh escaped me. Baby was Savannah's cat!

Before I could step forward to explain, Savannah let out a blood-curdling scream.

Everyone looked to find Savannah had delivered the baby. It was a purplish, shriveled stillborn baby.

Covered in blood, Savannah staggered to her feet. "It's dead. My baby is dead, and Benny doesn't want me anymore! What's the point in living anymore?"

With that, she made a show of lunging headfirst into the school gate.

Everyone around rushed to hold her back.

"Don't be stupid! This isn't your fault! Benson's the monster!"

"I've already called the police. They'll get you justice!"

"Benson's such a disgusting creature! He deserves to be imprisoned!"