Having gone out to buy milk tea, Hyatt noticed with some consternation that the rain seemed to be growing heavier by the minute. He decided, then, to go back and ask Erica to make an appointment with Julianna for some other day.
He made it back to campus without incident, except that the rain soaked him, since he had no umbrella. The building was quiet and for the most part seemed deserted—but when Hyatt was just around a corner from where he'd left Erica, he heard her speaking to someone. Her voice was angry, but there was a trace of panic in it as well. "Tell Julianna," she was saying, "that if anything happens to me today, she's dead meat!"
"Shut up!" someone retorted. "Lenora, if she doesn't want to go upstairs, just have the others come down. No one's around, so the ground floor's as good as anywhere else."
There was a girl's voice—Lenora, presumably—speaking into a phone. "You guys can come down now. This bitch won't go upstairs!"
Rain beat against the windows. Dripping and shivering, Hyatt carefully stuck his head around the corner. Not far down the hall, he saw a small group of young men and women. Two of the latter had grabbed Erica by her arms. Squinting, Hyatt realized with a start that he recognized the assailants—he had seen them while out on his errand!
As he stared, five more people, about the same age, emerged from a stairwell nearby.
Erica now had a dozen people surrounding her.
Dread overwhelmed Hyatt's mind; now his shivering had nothing to do with being wet. His limbs felt weak, and his knees wobbled.
'What are they going to do to Erica? What should I do? What should I do?' Panic fogged his brain, and he struggled to get ahold of himself.
Suddenly the group was moving—Erica's captors were shoving and dragging her toward the door to a bathroom, which was between them and Hyatt. As they came closer, he heard them more clearly.
"I heard that you could be quite violent to your schoolmates," taunted one of the men—a boy, really. "Come on, show us what you can do!"
"She doesn't look tough to me," said someone else. "Look at that delicate skin—she must be a really rich, dainty lady. Doesn't look like a bully at all."
Erica stubbornly kept her head high. "Did Julianna tell you to come here?" she demanded.
They didn't deny it. In fact, one of them confirmed it—a young man with short, rather stupid-looking spiky hair. "Yeah, but we don't really have anything else to do anyway. We may as well just have some fun with you!"
Water flowed from Hyatt's thick hair and down his cheeks. Every inch of his skin felt cold and clammy.
He wanted to call out to Erica. For a moment, all he could think of was the brave expression she'd worn when she defended him. He couldn't just do nothing!
Finally he got himself to move. With trembling hands, he took out his phone and dialed Gifford's number. He didn't have anyone else from the Li family in his contacts.
Gifford had given Hyatt his number after returning the money for Erica; he'd said Hyatt could call him if he ever needed help.
Hyatt pressed the call button and held the phone up to his ear, his face bloodless.
It started ringing. Afraid of being heard, Hyatt frantically stepped away from the corner.
A stone's throw away, he heard Gifford's voice on the line and came to a stop. "Hello, Hyatt?"
"Giff… Gifford…" He was so nervous that he could barely talk.
Gifford was immediately worried. He said, "Hyatt, what's going on? What happened? Calm down. Take your time and tell me!"
"T-they…" Hyatt stammered, trying to form a coherent sentence. "They cornered Erica. They're right outside the bathroom. Hurry up and get here! Help!"
Gifford frowned, wondering who he was talking about. "All right, where are you? Tell me the address."
"Y City, No. Eighteen…" Hyatt choked, then swallowed in an effort to moisten his throat. "No. Eighteen Primary School, the teaching building—Ah!" As he said this, he nervously turned around, and screamed hoarsely. He was face to face with a very unfriendly-looking figure.
His voice failing him, Hyatt reflexively put the phone behind his back. Staring in horror, he recognized the figure as one of the boys he had just seen in the hallway.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" snarled the assailant. Hyatt simply wheezed in fright, unable to say a word.
But as the boy grabbed him by the neck and dragged him into the hallway, Hyatt managed to pocket his phone without it being noticed.
The hallway was deserted. Dragging Hyatt into the bathroom, the young man threw him roughly to the floor in front of his friends and Erica. "This guy was snooping around behind the corner," he explained. "I bet he knows Erica Li!"
Staring down at him, Erica cried, "Hyatt!" before she could stop herself.
"They do know each other!" said one of the assailants. "Hey, keep an eye on him! And take his phone so he can't call anyone."
They had already snatched Erica's phone and turned it off.
One of the taller boys came over and stared Hyatt down while another searched his pockets.
But it so happened that Hyatt's phone had shut itself off because it had gotten wet in his pocket, so they didn't see the call log.
These people didn't think too much. As long as Hyatt wasn't able to call anyone then, they thought they'd be safe from interference.
With that taken care of, the two men kept Hyatt restrained.
On the other side of the room, two girls were forcibly dragging Erica to the sink. One of them turned on the tap and said, "Lenora, get her over here! We'll soak her head, sober her up!"
Lenora grabbed Erica by the neck as they came closer.
Without the other girl holding onto her, Erica jerked back and forth and was able to loosen her grip. At the last minute, she clasped Lenora's head and pressed her under the tap instead.
Lenora sputtered and flailed, bumping her head against the faucet once or twice. "Damn it! Ah! Let me go! Let me go, you bitch!"
Staring down at the girl and giving her head a shake or two, Erica sneered, "You want to deal with me? Go home and practice martial arts for two years first!"
The rush of exhilaration she felt was short-lived, however—the longer the moment lasted, the more Erica began to think something was wrong. There were ten-odd people around, not counting the two holding Hyatt, but none of them were doing anything to stop her.
Erica looked at the closest one, the girl who had turned on the water. Their eyes met and, as if she had been cued, the girl threw her arms up as if in dismay and cried, "Let go of Lenora! Let go of her, Erica Li!"
Feeling something was very wrong, Erica did as she was told and turned off the tap.
Shivering, Lenora gave Erica a ghastly look and backed away from her.
Still confused, Erica glanced at Hyatt, but he wasn't going to be of any help. The boys holding him were keeping his mouth covered, so he couldn't even speak.
The situation grew even stranger when Lenora, still in the process of retreating, was suddenly pressed to the ground by her companions. They began to take off her coat, and then her sweater. The whole process was surprisingly efficient, with a clear division of labor. Three or four people handled Lenora's clothes, quite immune to her yelps and shrieks, while three others were taking photos with their phones.
Erica stared, mortified and wondering what Julianna was up to. Clearly Erica had been suckered, but whatever was going on was worse than she'd originally guessed.
Glancing around, she caught sight of another person in the far corner, their phone held up—taking more photos or videos, no doubt.
Erica was sure that this person had not been in the group before.
Without thinking, she started toward the person, reaching for the camera, but several of the bystanders came between them.
Meanwhile Lenora, still on the ground, quite abruptly stopped screaming and began to tidy up her clothes. Those nearby left her alone. After sending the pictures they'd taken to their WeChat group, they put their phones away.
Lenora glanced at them, then gave Erica a murderous look. "Guys, are you done with the pictures? If so, let's show Erica Li what campus violence is!"
Several people blocked the door, while the rest surrounded Erica, who was forced to step back all the way to the sink.
With a ferocious look on her face, Lenora said, "Grab her. I'll give her a dunk myself! Give her a taste of her own medicine." If it weren't for money, why would she be willing to suffer this on such a cold day?
