Vincent did not offer to fight back. He promptly let himself swing on the hands of the security guards as they strolled out of the premises.
With one final swing of his head backwards, he was able to steal for what he felt was the last time, the view of the University.
‘So just like that,’ he thought within himself, he was about to lose the only shot he had at gaining an education and making it out of the pitiful penniless life that he had been leading right untill now.
He fought back tooth and nail against the tears that were about falling right across his face. He wished for a second that his eyes had the suction power possessed by his nose to pull back on whatever it had excreted.
He has worked hard in getting an admission there. He had to work twelve hours doing multiple jobs everyday in order to pay for his bills. Now everything had gone down the drain and all for what? All for nothing but a girl who was ready to betray him at the mere sound of money.
Again, he let his head dangle over his chest in total hopelessness and surrender.
Towards the road a car was parked that drew his head and attention upwards in the car's direction.
An old man stood before it. The car looked good and quite a catch for a ride, but in his twenty-five years of living on earth, he had learnt to be wary of old men. Starting from his landlord to the VC, he had only had bad encounters with them.
There were always either demanding something from him, accusing him of something, or kicking him out of somewhere. So, though Vincent was a lover and fan of everything that would seem to have a wheel on it. Everything he perceived to be a vehicle, he turned away.
For some reason the old man followed his eyes, and whether or not, the old man was instead made curious by the sight of two muscular men holding a man on both of his arms, or were really for some strange reason thought that he had found himself some engineer to fix their car engine, he began calling out to them.
"Hey you, please I need your help." He said to them. “Our car broke down here and we really need the assistance of a car repairer.”
Both security guards looked at them in askance at first, but with more straining of their eyes, they suddenly glittered with much excitement.
"It's the La Mecs," one said to the other. "What are they doing in a place like this?"
"I don't know," the one said. "But I am sure we would be able to make quite a fortune out of them." He smiled, showing off very big teeth.
Vincent looked back to see what the ruckus was about. He saw that the guards were going dangerously close to the car and the old man. So close that he could see that the old man wasn't entirely old himself. He was middle-aged. Also he saw the car's door was open and that he was not the only person there. There was also a woman. A middle-aged woman.
He heard something about them being the La Mec family. He did not seem to believe that. Not only did he not watch enough TV to have actually known from their faces who they were, he also did not believe that any family could possibly be the richest in the world and wind up there on a street just close to his university.
"Thanks for coming," the man said. "We have a problem. I don't know if you can help me get a car repairer around here. We would appreciate very much. Our car broke down and we are trying to call our driver to get down here with one of the other cars at home, but we don't want to leave this here."
"Ah, is that it? Well you have met us. We'll be of good service," the security guards said grinning. Vincent rolled his eyes. He wished to be any other place but there, even though the only other place he could be apart from there was in jail.
"Are you sure?" Mr. La Mec wanted to say but got cut short by both men who kept giving themselves a vote of confidence.
They got right away into trying to fix the problem, but not right away did they fix it. For two hours did they frustrate themselves thinking they were doing something useful.
Vincent watched them and the comedy show they were putting on. His eyes would go from them into appreciating the beautiful specimen that the car was. Occasionally it would clash with both couple who would look at him interestingly but not say a word.
"Are you two done already?" He asked trying to dodge the uncomfortable aura that was oozing between him and the couple.
"Hey, shut up, kid!" Exclaimed one of the men.
"I am just trying to help. I think I can help you with a thing or two," said Vincent as he proceeded to go down under the vehicle like the two men were doing.
"Okay, kid" one of the security guards began. "No more word from you. I really hope you can help fix this as you claim. Because if we find this is a waste of time, we will have your head."
"I studied Mechanical engineering," Vincent said confidently, "What on earth do you take me for?"
With some hostile glares they left him to do exactly as he had said. He found out the problem in no time. Cars had always been something he was immensely loved to glare at and dream of. Fixing things had also been a talent of his. Certainly, this would not be as hard as his bike.
In a few minutes he was done and the car was up and running, leaving everybody else in shock.
"What did you do?"One of the guards asked.
"I fixed it," he said confidently.
"That's not—"
"What a delight, young man." Mr. La Mec said. "You have such gifted hands."
The woman sitting in the car came out to the light herself to congratulate him. He shook both their hands. They both stared at each other's eyes for a while before Vincent broke out of it by staring at the floor.
"We would like to know you more." Mr. La Mec said in excitement, taking away a cheque from his pockets and writing down a whooping sum of 20,000 dollars. " Here, take this."
Before Vincent would be able to take it, he was obstructed by the security guards who took him by his arms and said, “We'll take it from here, kind sir and ma'am. We have an unfinished business to deal with this young man."
Mr and Mrs La Mec stood and watched as the young lad who had just done nothing short of a magic trick for their car disappeared out of their view. The security guards took him to the police station and spared him not even a bit of the money given by the kind family.
But the La Mecs did not seem happy letting this slide. They made sure to find a way to get to Vincent no matter what. Immediately Mr. La Mec made a call to someone on the phone.
"Hello Frank, there is something we want you to do."
On a windy evening the next day around the school premises, another luxurious car came parking just close to the school's gate. A Rolls Royce. It brought forth the attention of students who all crowded around it with their eyes all lit up in awe of its beauty.The door was flung open and a bald man with pitch black glasses, well framed cheekbones and jaw line and a muscular build, stepped outside of it wearing a white suit.He looked around, as if selecting for a student. His demeanor was nothing short of intimidating, but this did not stop the students from admiring from the distance that they were perched on."Hey you," he called out, pointing at one of the students, a tall lanky boy with glasses and a bulb haircut. The boy walked foreward although his eyes were filled with uncertainty."Take me to the Vice Chancellor of this school," the man demanded, his voice was hoarse and as intimidating as his looks were."Y-yes." The boy replied, his tone shaking.In a few minutes there were
It took them thirty minutes to get to their destination. At that time, Vincent finally broke out of the surprise bubble that he had found himself. He was finally back in the real world, in a car with a one-eyed bald stranger that had just paid a huge amount of money to the VC like some sort of trade to get him.His chest vibrated with the thumping of his heart. For all he knew the man in question could be some sort of organ trafficker that he had just been sold to. Sweat dripped down his face as he bit his lip."I'm sorry, Monsieur driver, sir—""The name is Frank." Frank cut his sentence short, his eyes still focused on the road attentively. "Frank Guillaume. But just call me Frank.""Okay, Frank. I'm genuinely happy to have met you. You took me away from jail so I infact am very happy. But where are we going to?" Vincent sounded unsure and nervous. He had every reason to. Frank was still very much just a stranger to him."Well, no need to panic. It seems you have had a little encoun
Monsieur Dubois stood waiting with a scowl on his face in front of Vincent's apartment waiting for him. He finally saw him with a look of happiness on his face. His eyes possessed what Monsieur Dubois would casually call a fool's glimmer.Today was the day the rent was supposed to be due, why on earth did he look so happy? Monsieur Dubois asked, his hand grasping hard to the walking stick that he held, shaking with tremendous annoyance at the young fool's behavior, prancing into the hall way like he owned the place.Once he got closer, Monsieur Dubois fired off with his question. "Where is my money?" It caught Vincent off guard, but in no time, he returned the scowling look on Monsieur Dubois with a smile.His behavior was shocking, but not any more than it was annoying and provoking to the man's anger. But before he could say any other word, Vincent was with a wad of cash that Monsieur Dubois' eyes were not fast enough to see from where it was that he pulled the money."Take," Vince
For the next few days the entire school had been covered by wallpapers and fliers all depicting the so called party by Henri."I heard there is going to be a pool party there too," Denis said, inspecting the flier as it perched just right there on his locker, "I get it's going to be all big and boujee by the "infamous and rich" Henri Matisse, what I don't get is why they have to put it on our faces. Why are they trying to get us to go by all means?"He ripped off the flier from his locker, his face ridden with an annoying disgusted look."Because they want us to come. It's that simple," Vincent said, tearing the flier off his locker too, "So they will be able to embarrass and make fun of us there. That's his plan. And it's low."Speaking of the devil, there were approached by Judee, a very huge man with a considerable muscular frame. He was known as the most fearsome student in Mattise University de Paris."Oh great." Denis retorted, about to leave with Vincent when Judee blocked them
The forced invitation was a problem as Vincent had thought it to be, but there was another equal issue that he had to face if he really was going to go to the party. On the day before the party, he was standing in front of a mirror again when he found out this one thing, and even felt gobsmacked and stupid that he had never thought of it before: he had absolutely no clothes to wear to a party. The clothes he has bought on the day he was supposed to be on a date with Rory were worn out and spoilt from the fight he got into with Henri and the subsequent events that happened."I have to get myself new clothes," he finally said to himself as he looked on his reflection. With that thought he ran across the house, grabbed a bag and his trustee bicycle, and off he went. There were several boutiques in Paris that were well said to be of impeccable quality, but one, only one of them did he fancy in entering. The large boutique de Gentry. It was the most beautiful according to him, and the onl
In the boutique once again Vincent was greeted with condescending eyes. He could not only see it, he could also feel it; deep resentment resting in the heart of the staff as they saw him strolling behind Marie."Hey, who let you in here?" One internal security guard hallowed in a thunderous tone at Vincent who paused like a man frozen in time. "He's with me." Marie said, touching Vincent by the shoulder. A mere touch from her was enough to make him melt inside. "But Madame, look at his dressing. He looks like a street urchin. Why would you let him here?" The security guard's eyes were still focused on Vincent."Because this is a boutique and I can bring anyone I want inside here," she said, her tone like a fiery sword made from the coldness of ice."No, you don't—”"If you have further complaints you should take it up with my mother."The security guard kept quite and decided to leave, but he gave one look at Vincent that made his blood freeze. Vincent has decided in his mind that
He arrived home that day with all the goods he had bought. His hands full, his pockets empty, and his heart full of shame, thinking about what had happened and how he could have been so stupid and careless.He remembered the face he saw on Marie as the Cashier told her everything. She was not just disappointed, she was also embarrassed. He made way to his room and crashed on the bed like a meteorite crashing into the depths of an ocean. He could feel the stress at that point in time dissipating out of his body. He had sweat all getting drenched out of him and being soaked by the bed sheet.One move of his head to the side and he saw the so-called premium card lying just right next to him. His head spun around as he thought about the problem he had gotten into just for forgetting itHe got up, picked it up, stood up from the bed, grabbed his bag and shoved it into one of its many pockets. "That would do it,” he said to himself. "I would never let this out of my sight again." He had l
The party was on full swing as the students flooded into every room in the house. Neon lights fluttered through the air in their luminescence as heavy music boomed out of the speakers.Vincent and Denis were seated on a table. Both of them were silent, watching each other's back, totally convinced that somewhere somehow, Henri must have made up a plan to embarrass the both of them."So what are we going to do now?" Asked Denis to Vincent who had his palms clasped together right before his face as though he was deep in thought."We just have to wait it out here till whenever the blasted party stops," said Vincent. "I'm tired already."Henri came around with Rory holding drinks on their hands. They dropped a cup each with Vincent and Denis while laughing silently as though there was some inside joke that they were not telling anybody else. To Vincent there was an inside joke. He was the joke. But he did not want to give the impression that he cared. His eyes danced downwards to the tab