Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 156

Chapter 156: 156-Accused Of Using Drugs

Helanie:

“Did you know about the timer? Why didn’t you announce it to everyone?” Penn yelled at his sister.

“Beca—,” Lucy tried to respond, but he raised his palm to silence her.

“I’m not talking to you. I’m speaking with my sister,” he shouted at Lucy before turning back to Jenny. We had already reached the car to keep an eye on the heavily drunk Lamar.

“Why do you want to be a part of this politics? You had to work extra hard to get into this academy, and now you’re throwing it all away by getting involved in petty drama that isn’t even your problem?” The way he was shouting at her made my blood boil.

I had a stepbrother back home. Living with Sullivan had been such a task. He was a bully, end of story. There wasn’t much else to say. He hated my guts, just like my so-called parents. So, Penn yelling at Jenny reminded me of those days, and it was exhausting.

“Here,” Lucy whispered as she handed me my phone. “I saw it on the kitchen counter and thought you might have left it there by accident.”

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened and how it ended up on the kitchen counter,” I whispered back to her before our attention returned to the siblings.

“She’s my friend. I’m not going against her,” Jenny finally spoke, and I guess she shocked her brother with the tone she used.

“Look at you. Spending time with them has changed your tone and mannerisms,” Penn hissed, taunting us for being from a lower rank.

“Huh, you’d rather I befriend Sydney and Salem? Do you even know the kind of crazy shit they do?” Jenny fired back with so much confidence that I felt proud of her.

Our group, along with half the class, was now sitting in the garden. They had found out about the timer Maximus had given us, so they didn’t argue when running out of the guesthouse.

“Don’t befriend them for the wrong reasons. But their group, with the higher-rank girls, isn’t so bad either,” he argued again.

Did he really want her to join Sydney’s team? Or was it because he thought they were the winning side?

At this point, I could tell from the number of people outside that only Sydney, Salem, their minions, and a few guys were left inside—the same guys they often used to harass and bully others.

“Those girls… are bad,” Lamar managed to sit up. “Imagine—they almost sexually assaulted me. Me! I would’ve done it with them if they’d asked nicely—when I wasn’t drunk.”

The minute he said that, I watched Penn’s expression turn guilty.

“Somebody get him some water,” Lucy whispered, and I noticed Gavin glaring at her with an unsettling intensity.

“Why did you punish Salem? She never did anything to you.”

The weird part was, the question came straight from none other than Gavin. It made us all turn to look at him in shock.

“I guess because if she told Salem, she would’ve told her sister and those awful she-wolves,” Penn, who had been taking their side for the past five minutes, suddenly switched sides.

However, my phone started ringing, and seeing Professor Maximus’ name on the screen made my heart skip a beat. I began to wonder what had happened.

Were they going to confront me in front of everyone—the girls and the boys?

I gestured with my hand to signal I needed a moment, stepping away to answer the call. I put the phone to my ear.

“Yes, sir?” I asked, but there was no response.

However, the line wasn’t silent. I could hear conversations happening in the background. That’s when I realized he’d called me so I could hear what was going on.

“Sir, we didn’t do it,” Salem was speaking in a strange, innocent tone.

“Really? But you girls are here,” Norman’s voice was sharp with anger. “Or maybe it was your clones?”

I could hear the venom in his voice as he yelled at her.

“It was that weird girl!” Salem blurted out, her tone suddenly defensive. “She and her friends mixed something into our drinks.”

Hearing her outrageous lie, I turned to my group of friends. They had all been watching me silently, clearly wondering why I wasn’t speaking into the phone. Without saying a word, I rushed back and stood among them, switching the phone to speaker mode.

“Who is—” Penn started to ask, but Jenny quickly hushed him. I assumed he wanted to know who was on the call.

“What weird girl?” Maximus demanded, his tone as sharp as ever.

“That Helanie and her friends!” Salem doubled down on her lie. “It was them! That Lamar guy brought the alcohol but told us it was non-alcoholic beer. And those other friends of hers—”

Salem’s words were so absurd that everyone listening had their jaws practically on the floor.

“So you didn’t know about the alcohol bottles?” Maximus questioned, his voice heavy with disbelief.

“Give me your phone,” I suddenly heard Norman grunt, followed by a loud noise, as if he’d snatched the phone from someone’s hand.

“So, Lamar brought the booze? Firstly, Lamar wasn’t even on the property the whole time. And even if he arrived with the booze, what about these text messages?” Norman’s tone was biting, each word landing like a punch.

I felt a chill run down my spine as goosebumps spread across my arms.

Jenny, standing close beside me, gently placed her hand on my back. She was always so observant.

“Your sister Sydney is having a conversation with one of your guy friends who are present here, asking him when he’ll be bringing the alcohol,” Norman stated, his voice laced with certainty.

Relief washed over me as he mentioned actual evidence—text messages.

“Umm, well—” Salem’s facade was beginning to crack, her voice faltering.

But just when I thought she’d given up, she shocked me.

“Then Helanie should be punished as well!” she exclaimed, a desperate edge to her voice. “She’s in our bedroom, waiting for one of us to bring her drugs.”

I froze. My heart stopped for a moment as her blatant, audacious lie hung in the air.