8 The group assignmen

Annabelle was brought out of her reverie when her doorbell rang. She had been staring blankly at her notes for so long that she couldn't remember exactly what it was she needed to do.

Annabelle stood up and walked to the door to open the door when she did her brows furrowed confusingly before she understood what they were doing at her place.

"Hmm, it is nice to see you too," Charlie said as he entered Annabelle apartment without waiting for an invitation. The other two greeted her in a friendly manner and asked to be invited before they did so.

Once Annabelle had closed her door, she noticed Charlie had already taken a drink from her refrigerator. He was strutting around like he owned the place, which annoyed Annabelle greatly.

Sitting down he looked up to see Annabelle scowling at him, he grinned at her and continued to annoy her with his actions. He just loved teasing her and he was satisfied with all her expressions.

The remaining two which were siblings, Samantha and Samuel respectively shook their heads at his antics. The three had met up in school to discuss their group's assignment when they noticed their group leader was not around. They wanted to call her but Charlie stopped them and instead insisted on making them go to Annabelle's apartment.

Annabelle was still angry at Charlie and could only heave a sigh of relief when she noticed her place was clean enough. She had the siblings for their choice of drinks and after getting it for them, they decided to start the assignment.

"I am very sorry I didn't meet up in the agreed location. Sam girl you could have called me though" Annabelle apologized. "Well, we were going to call you but someone", she looked in Charlie's direction before continuing "Made us all come here, he is paying for my transport though, aren't you Charlie?"

Charlie just shrugged her off.

Since they were done clearing the air, they went on with their assignment which lasted them almost three hours. Once it was time to leave Charlie insisted on staying back to help Annabelle with the chores which earned a glare from Annabelle. Shaking her head Samantha communicated with Samuel and they both dragged Charlie out, each holding one of his arms.

The next day Annabelle received a call from Rose informing her not to forget about her upcoming birthday party. How could Annabelle forget her birthday celebration, she knew she was just calling to make sure she showed up after her heated argument with Elisa the other day.

Thinking about the birthday gave her a bit of a headache. As if sensing her discomfort from the other side Rose decided to put her at ease "You don't have to worry about the dress, I will send one to you and for my gift how about making up with Elisa" "Come on, we have missed you a lot, although Elisa has not apologized yet, I know she will do that soon. So pretty please, you will come right?"

Annabelle was pretty sure if she was before her right now, Rose would be making a puppy dog eyes with her. She swore she could hear her smile over the phone "Fine, I will be there and I don't need the dress. I will look for something else to wear, just send the invitation will you?" Annabelle rolled her eyes when she heard Rose scream YES.

She knew Rose was still going to send her the dress anyway. The way she does every year since they became friends, 4 different dresses per year for all their birthdays that is including hers. Although, she never wore any of the dresses Rose still bought them for her anyway. She always felt out of all her friends Rose was the most sincere to her.

Remembering the day she met the three girls, she couldn't help as a smile crept up her lips. A lot of People had always seen her as the most gentle person in the group but her friends knew she was the total opposite. She may not be as reckless as the others because of her background but she was not to be taken lightly too.

The three girls were all daughters from influential families and the fact that they could be friends with her made her not only grateful but also happy. There were so many things that were wrong in her life but she told herself being friends with the trio was not one of them. She had no idea how wrong she was about this. She will be finding that out very soon though.

CEO's office, Alexander Corporations

Lester sat back in his chair looking all broody since the last time he had dinner at his parents and his mother had slapped him, he had become more ruthless in the company. Even though he knew his mother hated him, that was also the first time she had raised her hand on him. He left quietly that day not because he couldn't counter her but because of the last drop of respect, he had for her as his mother.

The door to his office was opened and he heard his secretary apologizing for a couple of times. Ryan kept on bowing and saying sorry for the umpteenth time before the man who was seated on the chair with his back turned to the door slowly swiveled the chair to look at the intruders.

When Lester saw his mother, he was filled with complicated emotions. He looked at her for a minute before turning to his secretary. Ryan got the cue for him to leave and stepped out of the office.

Leonie Odom sat back on the couch in the office and poured herself a glass of wine from the distillery in front of her. Swirling the cup, she took a sip and as if impressed with the taste. She poured more for herself "Sit" she commanded Lester.

When she noticed there was no reaction from Lester she looked up to see his arms folded and still sitting in the CEO's chair. Realizing he had no plans of sitting with her, she stood up and walked over to his table pulling a chair in front of the desk, she sat down.

Lester decided to ignore her and picked up a file on his desk studying it intently. Leonie seeing her son had no plans of apologizing or even speaking to her made a decision to tell him the reason she came to his office in the first place.

"Hire Joanne into the company as your intern assistant" no response the only sound that could be heard was the occasional flipping of pages. "Lester, did you hear what I just said, hire..." "You already made your point miss Leonie Odom, you can leave now" Lester interrupted her calmly.

Bang, Leonie was so angry she hit her fair hands on his desk. Lester sneered seeing this "Perhaps you are itching to slap me again, but one more thing you can do whatever you want at your place but here when I say you are done it means you are done, please leave" he said all this emotionless.

Leonie grew more incensed at this "You are the worst mistake I ever made in my life, you are definitely no son of mine" Lester tried to put on his signature cold look like nothing could affect him but you could see the hand under his desk being clenched into a tight fist.

"I would advise you leave of your own accord or I will have you thrown out" Lester continued looking at the file in his other hand robotically as he said this calmly. "Then you will have to throw me out" Leonie countered

Lester laughed in a creepy way before replying her with "As you wish" he pressed a button on his desk much to Leonie's horror. Two hefty men knocked on the door to his office a moment later. "You wouldn't dare," she said "Watch me" he replied.

That said he signaled the two men to take action instructing them to never allow her into his company again. "Lester Stuart Alexander, I am your mother. Why are you committing such atrocity against me" Leonie screamed as soon as the men grabbed her roughly.

"Estella is more of a mother than you could ever be, take her out now or you can kiss your jobs goodbye" he spoke to the two hefty men. He watched as they threw her out of his company, his heart constricting. "I am sorry, mother, " he said after he knew she was no longer within ear range. This was eating out his heart but he didn't dare stop them for fear of going soft for her. He knew he said such hurtful words a mother should never hear from her son to her but after all, she has said and done all these years, what he said was just a little of the pain she had given to him. No, it could not be compared to a little. It was a tiny fragment.