Missing ↝ ÉLITE ²

FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lost Objects

Guzmán

          GUZMÁN CLENCHED AND unclenched his fists to test his dexterity. His knuckles still hurt from socking Miguel hard in the face an hour ago and he was too annoyed to feel any sort of satisfaction from doing it.

Due to the circumstances, all boys were given a warning and were luckily, not expelled. But at this point, Guzmán didn't even care anymore.

Ander sat next to him in the chair, his head buried in his hands on the table. He had hardly muttered a word since the fight.

"Fucking assholes." Guzmán grumbled. He turned to Ander, pushing down his anger. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Ander responded. "Just pissed."

Guzmán huffed. "Yeah, me too. I'm going out of my fucking mind. I just need to know if she's okay."

"Me too." Ander murmured, his voice muffled by his arms.

The door to the classroom opened and Guzmán looked up to see Valerio and Carla walking inside. The two sighed as they sat on either side of the boy.

"Heard there was a cat fight." Valerio mused. "Sad I missed it."

"Shut up." Guzmán retorted. "Miguel was asking for it anyways."

Valerio scoffed. "Seems like everyone's always asking for it with you."

Guzmán licked his lips and buried his face in his hands like Ander did not too long ago. "They're probably dead."

"We don't know that." Carla said stoically.

"His bike was smashed up and she crashed her car. Maybe Arlo had lost control or something, but someone definitely wanted to get rid of Samuel."

"Someone like you, for example. No one wanted him dead more than you did." Valerio reminded.

"If I had done it, I'd give myself up to the police today with my head held high, don't you think?" Guzmán retorted. "And are you that fucking stupid that you've already forgotten that he and Arlo were last seen with each other? Do you really think I'd hurt her? We may not have been on the best terms, but that still doesn't change the way I feel about her. That doesn't matter now anyways. No one deserves this less than she does."

He felt both Ander and Carla tense uncomfortably at his last sentence.

"Don't you remember what the Inspector said?" Valerio countered. "Samuel's bike and Arlo's car were found in different places. Maybe you found a way to separate them."

"Do you want me to punch you too, Valerio?" Guzmán snapped.

"Will you stop it?" Carla hissed. "You guys are being ridiculous."

Guzmán rolled his eyes as he stood up and left the room, not in the mood to talk anymore. He licked his lips as he ran his hands over his face with an aggravated huff.

"You okay?"

The boy looked up to see Nadia and he nodded. "Yeah. I mean, as okay as anyone can be. What about you?"

"I'm worried about Samuel and Arlo." Nadia exhaled. "Where would they be going in the woods that late at night? And why were their vehicles in different places?"

"Wish I knew." Guzmán huffed.

Nadia scanned him and suspected he was trying to hide how stressed he was over Arlo's disappearance, but anyone with eyes could tell he was stressed. She couldn't imagine losing both a sibling and the person she loved all in the duration of a few months.