Seven (Completed)

CHAPTER 6 ~ Victor

CHAPTER 6

Victor

 

The opening ceremony had never been warm like a celebration so the students had lowered their expectations in the past years. Besides, most of them preferred spending time with their families, even if that meant they had to work all day.

Pierre and Lucas had just entered the cafeteria and Carlos did not have trouble spotting them amongst the moving crowd of talking students. They greeted him with restrained nods. All three of them could not wait to leave the place and leave their memories behind too, if they could.

'The girls?' Lucas asked and looked at Carlos but he shook his head to show him he had not found the girls yet.

Lucas walked toward the nearest empty table without saying a word and the other two followed him. The room looked freshly-painted, its colour was a lighter shade of beige than before and some of the tables had been replaced with new ones of the same kind. And that was where the changes ended.

A group of girls stirred and some of them giggled as Carlos passed right by them with a smirk. Pierre pulled him from the sleeve and the three friends sat down. Around them, their schoolmates joined hands, hugged and laughed loudly but to them even the slightest act of impulse seemed enough to risk their whole plan.

'I'm going to tell Victor today,' Lucas announced in a steady voice.

Nobody objected and he turned his head towards the microphone that stood silent in the middle of the room. The principal would walk in the room in any minute to greet the old students and welcome the new ones to the school. Their new home for the next eleven years. Lucas wished he could somehow save the young children from their miserable fortune.

It was surprising how such a big age group could fit within the school's walls but New Earth was only a city and the school was not a single structure but rather a complex of many buildings.

His eyes scanned the horde of girls and boys inside the vast room. Some of them were one head taller than him, sixth-graders, and some of them were standing lower than the height of his shoulders, the juniors. His mind could not decide which age group had it worse. Lucas rubbed the roots of his dark hair with just his fingertips. The juniors where about to abandon any happy aspect of life, push their dreams aside and forget about their family values. And the six-graders were only one step away from adulthood and the tests were that last important yet terrifying step.

Lucas' mind travelled back to his last talk with Alex. He had no idea that Alex had planned to leave earlier. 'It must not have been a selfish act,' Lucas thought. 'There has to be a reason behind his secrecy.'

***

Victor walked carelessly around the halls, carrying his very few books with his left arm and scratching the back of his head with his right one, when a hand pulled him aside, close to the lockers.

He defensively threw a punch and hit Lucas right on the nose.

'Ah! What'd you do that for?' he complained while holding his slightly bleeding nose.

'You ambushed me! Look, sorry, I-'

'It's fine,' he said. 'Great reflexes,' he thought to himself. 'We could use those.' Lucas looked up into Victor's eyes, hoping for a sign, anything to show he could trust him. Realizing he was their only hope, Lucas opened his mouth.

'Sorry I ambushed you like that. I need your help with something.'

'You?' he wondered. 'You need my help? Uh, sure, yeah, I'll do whatever, man.'