abcnovels
Chapter 244
Chapter 244
Chapter 244
It was early morning when Casper and his friends arrived at the mall, which was still sparse at that hour. Now, shoppers were streaming in. Drawn by the commotion at the music store, a small crowd of shoppers soon gathered at the storefront as they watched in curiosity a bunch of students pelting three men with loads of coins.
Some were amused by what was happening, while others appeared slightly alarmed and wondered if they should make a call to the police.
As if sensing their thoughts, Colton stepped forward. “Everyone, please do not be alarmed. We’re doing a flash mob! This is part of the performance.”
The onlookers ooh-ed in realization. Those who seemed concerned earlier relaxed visibly.
“No, don’t listen to him!” Ced cried out. “Can’t you see we’re being stoned here?”
One shopper nodded in understanding. “Yeah, aren’t we all by capitalism?” she called to Ced before turning to her friend beside her. “I can see it now—the performance is about the evils of capitalism. Not bad for an artistic expression,” she said appreciatively.
“I want to get hit by money too,” another shopper muttered, oblivious to just how much it would hurt to get pelted by coins.
As the students were nearing the end of the stash of coins, Godfrey turned to Casper. “You said you’d take care of the show… It’s about to start soon. What do you plan to do now?”
Mischief flashed in Casper’s eyes. “We run, of course.”
He grinned devilishly. “We’re hired by Vamanos Manpower, so they are the ones who need to answer to the management if anything happens. Anyway, even if Vamanos Manpower comes after us for compensation, I’ll just give them whatever amount they demand in coins.”
The rest sucked in a breath in unison, impressed by Casper’s devil-may-care attitude and blatant intention to play dirty.
When Casper and the gang vamoosed, all the BU students recruited by Vamanos Manpower followed suit, leaving the mall severely short-handed to set up the performance.
Shortly after they left, the mall management sent someone to investigate the matter. The staff arrived at the music store and were shocked to see the owner, Goodyear, and Ced looking battered and bruised while surrounded by a blanket of coins.
“What the hell happened here?” one of them asked incredulously.
The store owner was so glad to see the calvary that he was close to tears. “We were clobbered b-by these coins.”
The staff looked at one another, flabbergasted.
As Casper and Colton expected, the show arranged by the mall management met a significant delay. The performing starlet was made to wait for more than an hour. Incensed, she approached the management after the show and demanded an explanation.
The manager awkwardly explained to her that the delay was due to issues caused by the outsourced vendor, and as a result, they could not set the stage up in time.
She scoffed. “Passing the buck to an outsourced vendor? I can’t believe how irresponsible you are as an organizer.”
As a rising starlet with several millions of fans, she felt entitled to a proper explanation and apology from the management. She was clearly unappeased at receiving neither.
“We aren’t lying, ma’am.” The manager was practically wringing his hands now. “The student part- timers provided by the vendor had a conflict with some of our people. The situation got out of hand and all the part-timers left, which resulted in the delay. We are deeply sorry, ma’am. Rest assured that we will terminate all current and future dealings with the vendor.”
To prove his point, the manager invited the starlet to review the surveillance footage herself, to which she agreed.
The footage showed Ced and the music store owner bossing Casper and the students around. Even through the screen, she could sense the arrogance of those two men by their actions and demeanor.
“Wow, they seem like a**holes to me,” the starlet said bluntly. “It’s no wonder the part-timers left.”
The manager flushed in embarrassment and kept quiet.
The recording continued and showed the part where Casper stood up against Ced and the store owner. The starlet’s eyes widened when she saw the young man in the video smashing the piano fallboard over Ced’s fingers. “Oh, that got violent pretty quick…”
Having gained a rough understanding of the situation, the starlet turned to the manager. “I think the part-timers are responsible too… But that’s not to say that the manpower vendor and you guys are without blame.”
She was about to tell him to turn the footage off when she saw Goodyear appear on the screen along with a group, surrounding the students threateningly. “They didn’t beat up the part-timers, did they?” She frowned. If there was one thing she hated, it was bullying.
“Certainly not,” the manager hurriedly explained. “In fact, the footage will show you that these students were the ones who caused the trouble.”
The starlet watched on, curious now to see what happened next.
She requested for the recording to be sped up. Her expression shifted as she watched the screen intently. Confusion morphed into surprise, then into amusement, and finally ended with a giggle that escaped her lips.
“That’s a new way of getting back at someone, if I’ve ever seen one,” she chuckled. It had been quite a while since she burst into genuine laughter.
“How much money was that?” she asked, referring to the coins the students threw.
“Uh… Twelve thousand, give or take…” The manager could tell that his plan to show her they were the victims did not turn out as he expected. “Our staff and the store owner suffered quite a bit of bruising…”
The starlet huffed. “Your men are at fault too, I’m sure. Anyway, twelve thousand is plenty of money as compensation, don’t you think?”
The manager could not find a retort to that.
Interest piqued, the starlet pointed at Casper in the recording and asked, “You said the part-timers are students, right? Which school are they from?”
“Business University.”
“And where are they now?”
“They left immediately after the whole fiasco.”
“Hmm… Do you know this guy’s name then?”
“Well… The vendor may have it.”
The starlet smiled. “Get me his name, and I promise not to create any bad press about you on social media.”
“Deal.” The manager was only too happy to comply since it effectively minimized their losses. Regardless, the mall management had decided not to work with Vamanos Manpower in the future.
The starlet got the name within the day. “Casper Simpson from Business University… Interesting guy.”
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