"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You win. I'll pay. I'll pay for everything. Food, drinks, chatting, fun—whatever you want, okay?" Evie cut off the mirror's accusations and said.
"That's more like it. South Gate of the school. I'll wait for you there!" Charlie finally hung up, satisfied.
Evie pulled her wallet out of her bag to check how much cash she had left.
Then she went back to the dorm, dropped her backpack, and emptied every pocket and pouch she could find, searching for any spare money.
In the end, she came up empty. Only two hundred dollars.
Barely enough to treat Charlie to a full tour of the student street. As long as they didn't step into any fancy restaurant, they could survive on street snacks.
Evie switched to a smaller bag and carefully tucked her wallet and phone inside, terrified of dropping them.
Then she told Emily she was leaving and headed to the South Gate to meet Charlie.
But instead of Charlie, she got a phone call from her.
"Evie, I'm at the Spice Garden. Get over here, quick!"
"What happened?" Evie was startled.
"I got hijacked by Zoe on the way here. Come save me!" Charlie laughed.
"…Then wait for me. I'm slow on the bus!"
"What bus? Just take a taxi. I'll pay you back when you get here. Hurry up!" Charlie hung up.
Evie felt her head spin.
The Spice Garden was a famous local Sichuan restaurant. You couldn't get out of there without spending at least a few hundred per table.
And she only had two hundred dollars. Not even enough for dessert!
Sigh.
She'd just have to play it by ear. Maybe she could shamelessly avoid paying the bill.
Evie took the bus to the Spice Garden.
Charlie and Zoe had almost blown up her phone by the time she arrived.
"Are you that slow? Do you need to be in such a hurry? It's not like there's a prize for being late!"
"The air was nice today. My spaceship took a detour around outer space. I enjoyed the night view along the way, so the trip was a bit slow!" Evie replied without missing a beat.
Lily chuckled. If she hadn't covered her mouth, she would have spit out her tea.
"Evie's still the same. Always full of nonsense," Charlie rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah!" Zoe nodded with a smile.
Evie smiled back. She looked around. There weren't many people. Besides her, there were six of them, all elementary school classmates.
Evie sat down in the empty seat next to Charlie.
"Didn't you say you were coming to our school? How did you end up here?" Evie put down her bag and asked.
"It's all Zoe and Lily's fault. They knew I was back in town and insisted on picking me up. Then they dragged me here. It's fine. We'll deal with them today. Tomorrow, we'll go to your school for a real feast!" Charlie replied with a smile.
"Evie, long time no see!" Noah finally spoke up.
"Yeah, long time no see!" Evie looked up at Noah and smiled.
After junior high, two people from their class had gone abroad. One was Charlie. The other was Noah.
Charlie's family was rich. She and her brother were the only two kids. Her brother had lived abroad since he was young. Charlie couldn't stand hamburgers and salads, so she cried and threw a fit until her mom sent her back to her dad. She stayed until she graduated from junior high.
According to Charlie, she didn't go abroad for the food. She went because of Evie, her best friend.
Noah was sent abroad temporarily because of some family issues.