Spoiled by Eight Uncles (Lily)
Chapter 74

Lilly bowed her head and drew on the dirt floor with a stick. "To somewhere far away where I won't be able to come back."

"..." To Josh, that sounded like Lilly was going to die if she didn't fill the jar. He said nothing for a while until he could gather himself. "Are there more ghosts like Ms. Sumo Wrestler...?" The faster they were caught, the better it would be for her.

He wasn't going to watch her die simply because she failed to fill the jar of souls. He was only doing this because... All he did was make a calculation. He had to verify the results to see if he got it right.

That was all there was to it.

Pablo suddenly got closer to Josh to ask quietly, "Say, how can you see me?"

That jolted Josh who was just about to respond when the white-robed man faded away before disappearing.

That had him looking around in confusion. "Lilly, is your Master gone?"

Lilly looked beside him. "No, he's right beside you!"

Josh suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. It felt as if someone's hand was on him which had all the hairs on his body bristling.

He fought the urge to look back!

Why does it feel a hundred times scarier when I don't see it?!

Lilly suddenly cut in. "Josh, my master is asking if you've ever seen a ghost before."

He stiffened. "No."

Pablo rubbed his chin and frowned.

"Well, that's a bit odd. How can he see sometimes but not others? Strange!"

In his hundreds of years as a spirit, he had never seen anyone like Josh unless they received external interference. Examples of that ranged from applying a dog's tears onto their eyelids or having someone forcefully open their third eye temporarily.

Josh, however, was suddenly able to see.

One either had the eyes to see or didn't...

"How is this possible?" Pablo flipped through his booklet.

Do not panic when in doubt. Let me see if I can replace an answer here.

Noise suddenly began to fill the clearing.

Anthony, a few teachers, and the headmaster came into view.

Behind them were Drake, Ivan, Theo and his father, Valentine, and Tina, Cheryl's mother...

Everyone immediately noticed the unconscious Cheryl alongside Lilly and Josh who were kneeling on the ground.

Were they...making calculations for something?!

The x's and the y's had everyone at a loss for words.

"Lilly!" Anthony took a large stride forward and put his full attention on Lilly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay!" She answered.

The foreign language teacher, Ms. Watson crossed her arms. "I told you I don't know. This has nothing to do with me! See for yourself. She came here herself. Stop pushing the blame on me." Every student had queued up by the gate after school when the homeroom teacher realized that Josh, Lilly, and Cheryl were missing.

Tina rushed in to pick her daughter up. "Chery?!"

Cheryl was covered in mud. Her hair was also in disarray. Tina could barely recognize her own daughter!

The girl finally regained consciousness and burst into tears.

"It hurts! It hurts!"

Cheryl's face was heavily bruised. Her arms and calves were also littered with scraps...

Her face had swelled up. One of her front teeth was missing. Her eyes were bruised black.

"What is going on here?" Tina wanted to unleash her anger so badly but Anthony had her backing down.

These people are the Crawfords...

She changed her tone. "Did Cheryl do something wrong?"

Cheryl felt wronged...

I didn't do anything wrong! I don't know what happened. How did I get here?

Why does everything hurt?!

Why doesn't Mommy protect me as Lilly's uncle does? He always protects her no matter what.

Cheryl's sobs turned into full-blown wailing.

Anthony turned to Josh. "What happened here?"

Lilly bowed her head as if she had done something wrong and was about to speak when Josh cut her off.

"I did it."

That shocked Tina. "Why..."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "She messed with my sister and claimed she had been passing notes in class."

"She then dragged me here after school to ask me out."

"Why is a kid acting like some kind of demon? Keep away."

"..." Everyone didn't seem to know how to respond.

Josh had started with a fact that everyone knew to help cover for Lilly and throw off suspicion.

Doing so, however, put all the focus on him...

Tina anxiously protested, "Even if that was the case, you shouldn't have beat her up like that..."

Cheryl liked him. Isn't it a good thing to have someone like you?!

What was the point of beating her up?

Josh grunted. "I wasn't even that heavy-handed."

Ms. Watson crossed her arms and frowned. "What's wrong with Cheryl reporting you for passing notes in class? What nonsense is this? You were the one in the wrong and yet you beat her up?" Josh smiled coldly. "Duh. Reporting it is fine but I just wanted to hit her. So what?"

Ms. Watson was stunned speechless.

Theo was impressed by the display and decided Josh could boss him around all he wanted!

He had just passed a note to ask Lilly if he could pat her parrot and tortoise after class.

It resulted in Cheryl accusing Lilly of passing notes, leading to the girl being put in time out.

The petty Theo was also upset.

Anthony cut in. "Yes, assaulting someone isn't right. We'll take responsibility for what happened."

He turned to Charlie.

"We're making a public apology. Mention the Miller family's daughter dragged a scion of the Crawford family to the grove to confess and he hit her. The Crawford family will formally apologize and offer compensation of 10 thousand."

Ten thousand was no small amount but it was simply a drop of water in the ocean for the Crawfords.

Tina immediately said, "No, there's no need..."

Cheryl would be publicly humiliated if it were made public!

She didn't know what to do. Was this what an apology was like for the Crawfords?

She couldn't replace any fault in the offer to offer compensation and publicly apologize.

She forced a smile. "It's normal for kids to fight. Nothing to worry about."

Cheryl continued to wail. "Mommy, I didn't..."

Tina hissed at her daughter. "Stop talking!"

The girl pinched her lips shut as tears continued to spill from her eyes.

"Alright. Feel free to contact my assistant if you ever want to follow up on the matter," Anthony said indifferently.

He then picked Lilly up into his arms and left with Drake and Josh.

Ms. Watson chastised them for being hedonistic.

Josh excelled in his classes but those were in other subjects. He had only scored 90 on his foreign language test.

Having a mere score of 90 had her seeing him as an underperforming student.

She hated underperforming students.

Anthony stopped in his tracks and turned to glare daggers at Ms. Watson.

"How do you think we should handle Ms. Watson over here, Mr. Lane?"

Ms. Watson felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach.

What?

Was he blaming all of this on me?!

All she did was stand her ground. What was wrong with that?

Why are the Crawfords taking it out of me?