“Thanks.”

Claire casually walked over and took her seat.

Immediately, someone chuckled and called out, “Claire’s late! She owes us three penalty shots, right?”

It was one of the guys in the class.

He was sitting near Tabitha Prince and Lily Lowell, and the group of them had been talking animatedly just moments before.

Now that he had publicly challenged her to drink, everyone’s eyes locked onto Claire.

Some were just enjoying the drama, while others were genuinely curious to see how she would react.

“Am I late?”

Claire settled into her chair, looking at the guy with cool composure.

The guy was caught off guard by the pushback. “We’re all here. Everyone’s been waiting for you. Doesn’t that mean you’re late?”

“The agreed time was seven. It’s six forty-five. I’m not late; you guys are just early.”

The guy choked on his words, pausing before retorting, “But we’re all here. We’ve been waiting on you.”

“Three penalty shots isn’t asking too much, is it?”

“It is,” Claire said, meeting his gaze directly.

“If you want to drink, drink. You don’t need to use me as an excuse.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, so why should I be penalized? If you love penalties so much, why don’t you down thirty shots yourself?”

The guy was entirely speechless.

“I was just making a joke. Are you seriously getting mad over that?”

He tried to backtrack and save face.

Lily chimed in from the side, “Yeah, Claire. There’s no need to be so dramatic.”

“We’re all classmates here.”

Claire shot her a half-smile. “Then you take the three shots.”

Lily looked offended. “But I wasn’t late!”

Claire nodded. “Exactly. And neither was I. You were all just early.”

“Lily, let it go. Claire’s right, we were early.”

Macy Wade interjected, her tone gentle as she tried to play peacekeeper.

Lily’s expression softened just a fraction.

“Since Claire is here, let’s just eat.”

With Macy leading the charge, the rest of the table murmured their agreement.

Macy cracked a couple of light jokes, slowly bringing the lively atmosphere back to the room.

She looked over at Ethan. “Boss, Claire’s here now. Can we finally order the food?” That single sentence immediately drew more irritation toward Claire.

They had all been sitting around starving, waiting for her, and she hadn’t even shown an ounce of

appreciation Sure, the guy

demanding she take shots was out

of tine…

But Claire’s unapologetic, high-and-mighty attitude rubbed them the wrong way.

It was hard not to form a negative opinion of her.

Claire was undeniably smart, but her personality left a lot to be desired.

A decent portion of the class was already holding a grudge against her.

Another faction thought Claire was awesome. She hadn’t done anything wrong, nd the guy’s “joke” was just a thinly veiled attempt to bully a

female classmate.

fo

What was with the penalty shots anyway? They were students. What was wrong with not wanting to drink?

Not to mention, they were medical students. Clinical majors, especially, were better off avoiding alcohol altogether.

The guy throwing around drinking ultimatums was just pushing toxic drinking culture. That kind of nonsense needed to be shut down immediately!

Thank God Claire didn’t put up with his crap!

“Let’s eat, let’s eat,” Priscilla urged, quickly passing a fork to Claire.

To say the meal was bland would be an understatement for Claire.

The food was mediocre, and she hardly knew anyone in the class.

To make matters worse, the guy who made the joke earlier started aggressively toasting everyone halfway through dinner.

The girls were too embarrassed to say no. Some forced down a sip of beer, while others opted for water.

Claire reached for her glass of water.

“You’re really not going to give me any face, Claire? You can’t even take a single sip of alcohol?”

“I’m not asking you to down liquor. Just one glass of beer.”

Claire slammed her glass back onto

the table.

“I don’t drink alcohol.

water isn’t good enough for

хой

then won’t drink anything at

She wasn’t willing to humor him in the slightest.