The following day.
Isaac rolled in the bed before standing up energetically. Then he did his usual morning activities: showering, brushing his teeth and changing clothes.
After that, he grabbed a vacuum cleaner from the closet and cleaned his whole room. That took him several hours, and even though he could have asked for a servant to do it, he didn't want anyone to enter his room.
Especially because there was certain cloth hiding in his wardrobe. The Grand Priest's robe. The one that gives the user almost god-like strength.
After Isaac stomped down on the vacuum cleaner and the everlasting humming sound stopped. He returned it to the closet and cleaned the window frames with a drenched rag.
''Isaac!'' A rigid-sounding shout came from downstairs. Isaac stopped the cleaning and tossed the rag back to the cleaning drum. Then, he left his room and skipped down the stairs. Soon, he was walking down the last pair of stairs and could already see the front door.
However, at that moment, his feet stopped like he had come across an impenetrable wall.
Across his mother and father was a person he never wanted to see again. Oliver, with his genial smile, shook hands with his father. His mouth kept moving up and down, and Maxwell nodded with the corner of his lips curved up slightly.
''Isaac, look who came to visit!'' His mother, Isabella, motioned for Isaac to come closer. However, he didn't move an inch from the stairs. His face slowly turned from shocked to cold.
''Hello, bro!'' Oliver's grin stretched the corner of his lips upward.
Isaac's lips twitched until a somewhat forced-looking smile was seen on his handsome face, ''Oliver, what a pleasant surprise…''
''I was on nearby, and decided to visit my best…'' Oliver's face turned slightly greenish like he was about to puke when he finally uttered the last bits of words, ''Friend…''
Isabella and Maxwell didn't seem to notice anything odd in the way they acted. They returned to the living room to allow the two youngsters to catch up.
Isaac's face instantly turned ice-cold, and Oliver's grin widened even further.
''Well, best friend…'' Isaac showed an innocent smile, but his eyes showed endless waves of rage, ''Shall we go to my room?''
''Of course…'' Oliver's whole face twitched.
They slowly walked up the stairs. Their faint footsteps echoed in the empty hallways. After reaching the fourth and final floor, Isaac opened the door to his room and entered, followed closely behind by Oliver.
Oliver grabbed the door handle and slowly closed the door. Once the lock gave a gentle clang sound, instantly, a swift hand moved across the air, grabbed Oliver's expensive-looking collar, and slammed him against the wall!
Bam!
''Ugh…'' Oliver's back crashed against the corner of the bookshelf, and a slight utter of pain left his mouth.
However, then his tongue licked his dry lips, a grin creeping back on his lips, ''Heh, calm down.'' He placed his hand on Isaac's chest and calmly pushed him a step back.
Oliver casually patted the dust off his arms and asked with a laughing tone, ''Where is the strength you used to break my friend's arm? Did you use some steroids, hmm?''
''Why are you here?'' Isaac asked with teeth grinding against each other. The blood was boiling inside him, and his pale face changed shades with the hue of redness spreading across his cheeks.
''I came to offer a proposition!'' Oliver said while letting out a tiny chuckle. He casually walked past Isaac, brushing past his shoulder, and looked around the room without any care in the world.
''Proposition?'' Isaac's gaze followed Oliver.
''You Vs. Me…'' Oliver stopped before reaching the bed, ''Let's decide this like good old days when we fought who would get the last piece of cake…''
Isaac continued staying silent. There was an itching feeling at the back of his skull, and he immediately knew that something was hiding behind that calm facade Oliver displayed. Something evil.
''Tonight… In the High School building… The whole building will be our battlefield… We can hide, use tricks, and cunning ways to try to defeat each other… What do you say?''
Oliver spread his arms wide and let out a warm breath, ''This is what you want, right?''
''Yes… That's exactly what I want!'' Isaac smashed the door open and pointed out, ''I will be there, now, get out.''
Oliver gently smiled and left the room while humming a merry tone. Then, the door closed, and his footsteps grew distant.
After the footsteps reached the stairs, Isaac dashed across the room, rummaged through the drawers, and soon found the USB stick. He placed it on the laptop and saw his edited video appearing on the screen.
He quickly went to the VideoKing website while his heart pounded and his hand shook. Then, he pressed publish, but before that, he also placed a timer. The video would be published around midnight.
''You think you can trick me into walking into your trap…? You were never the brightest guy in the room.'' Isaac snorted and browsed through the Internet. That was only one of the backup plans he had.
After the street fight, he didn't stay idling around, doing nothing except running the shop. No… the amount of backup plans he had couldn't be counted with two hands.
As his fingers danced on the keyboard, Isaac wrote several hundred-word essays addressed to nearby News Stations. He also added the video file to each email. Then, he pressed send.
Why was he sure that the News Station would release the news of Oliver and his friends?
It was rather simple. Isaac was popular, extremely so. Being the Second Son of the Whitelock Family brought him a lot of status. Since he only sent the files to Snowstar news stations, they were sure to react in one way or another.
Whitelock Family was highly respected. Since Isaac's incident was covered by his parents because Isaac wanted, he didn't want unnecessary drama in his life. Otherwise, the News Stations would have replayed his incident for weeks to come.
The amount of status his family had was immense. Now, knowing that the son of the Whitelock Family was almost murdered by his classmates, that was also big enough news to spread across the Winterland, maybe even cross the pond, and reach other Continents!
As Isaac sent the last email, he closed the laptop and smiled, ''Tomorrow… Every News outlet will show the video… I could have done this a long time ago, but I also have my own pride…
''The pride is a strange thing, and makes people do foolish things… But, I want to fight against Oliver… He won't fight fairly, but neither will I!''
Isaac went to his wardrobe and opened its doors. Behind his fancy suits, a beautiful purple coat was hanging from the hanger.
''The Grand Priest Robe… Is my secret weapon.''
