Immigrant girl

Chapter 7. Anya.

Alex saved Caleb's life. I definitely didn't expect that. It was probably an intriguing story or, on the contrary, quite a grim one, but I sat there in silence, hesitant to ask any questions. Caleb was also quiet, lost in either memories or deep thoughts. But I mustered up the courage and asked:

"Will you tell me?" Without looking at him, I pretended to fiddle with the couch upholstery.

"We met with Alex during our time at Princeton. He's the son of influential and wealthy Russian 'businessmen,' and I'm just a regular guy from Seattle, the son of a teacher and a police officer," he bitterly chuckled, clearly not his father's favorite choice of friends for his son. "In school, I was quite the nerd, with a high GPA, I played football, and I was the school president. I decided to write an admission essay for Princeton, wanting to test my luck. I thought if I could get a scholarship, my life would change completely. I was lucky. I got the scholarship," he leaned back on the couch.

"That's really great, Caleb," I didn't know what else to say.

"Yes, it was great. So, I went to Princeton, and my father was very proud of me, his son would study on a scholarship at one of the most prestigious universities in the country," Caleb's jaw clenched, and it became evident that his relationship with his father was complicated. "I moved into the dorms, and my roommate was a cool guy, just like me, a lucky scholarship recipient. Princeton wasn't such a pleasant place if you didn't have wealthy parents and didn't belong to the upper echelons of society. Just like anywhere else, there were cliques, the cool kids, the nerds, the poor, and the rich. You can probably guess which group I fell into," he smirked darkly. "Everyone only hung out with their own group. Of course, the rich and cool kids tried to mess with us. Serious fights often broke out, and for someone like me, those fights usually resulted in expulsion. For the rich kids, it meant nothing."

Caleb's story was captivating, and I couldn't help but feel curious about how he and Alex became connected during this time.

"One day after spring break, there was a party on campus, and the whole university was there. Usually on such days all the boundaries were blurred and everyone was just having fun. Me and Greg, my roommate, decided to go too, especially since we both stayed at the university during the vacations and didn't go home, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to have fun. Everyone was drinking, relaxing, playing games, and nothing foreboded trouble, until a company of privileged scumbags showed up, among them was Alex. The son of a local senator, Nicholas Lawrence, was considered their leader. They behaved defiantly, talked loudly, grabbed girls, and generally considered themselves kings of the party. One of these morons, I don't remember his name, picked on one of the girls from my history class, Betty Cooper, a kind, naive girl. He pinned her against the wall in the corner of one of the rooms and they made out. At first, I wasn't even going to interfere, I thought she was okay with the persistent advances, I could see her giggling, flirting with the bastard, but then he roughly started grabbing her arms, groping her breasts, and after a while he decided to drag her into the upstairs room, and I think he would have done it and raped her there and no one would ever know. I couldn't stand by, even though Greg told me to." Caleb took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, as if he was reliving the day right now. 

"I was next to the guy and Betty in a flash, taking her hand and putting it behind my back. With my other hand I pushed the creep in the chest. Betty clutched at my arm so hard it even hurt.

'Get off her asshole, you can see she doesn't want to go anywhere with you' I told him looking him straight in the eye.'What are you, some kind of knight? Protector of the weak? Get out of here before I break your ribs.'He reached for Betty with his hand and I grabbed it and twisted it the other way with such force that the guy fell to his knees in pain and screamed like a little girl. Of course that got the attention of his buddies and we were already surrounded by a crowd. I let go of his hand and told Betty to get out of here. Greg was already standing next to me ready to fight. Nick Lawrence stepped forward and asked what was the matter, I explained to him, as I spoke he looked at me with contempt.