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 from passing by him.
"Are you two going for the party?" He asked, looking at them in the most terrible manner one could be able to imagine.
"We are not." Vincent said in the most honest way possible, staring at him right in the eye shocking himself, Denis, and Judee.
"What did you say to me?" Judee growled holding Vincent by the arm. Denis looked concerned, wanting to put an end to the debacle that was occuring right before him.
"Hey stop that you two!" A security guard reprimanded, walking closer to them with hid face as stiff as the iron bar that he was holding. "What's going on here?" He finally asked as he reached them.
"Nothing," Judee said. "We were just getting along with one another. Socializing, isn't that right, Vincent?"
Vincent did not say a word. His lips were contorted in a frown.
"You kids better mind yourselves. You know that the price for fighting on school premises is expulsion," the security guard said at once. "Especially you Vincent. You were just nearly expelled last time. Be extra careful young man."
After that incident, Vincent and Denis found themselves in a Cafe eating on a free period.
"The whole school has gone mad I tell you," Denis lamented as he shoved a burger into his mouth. "How on Earth are we being threatened to go to a party we do not even want to attend? I fail to see the rationale behind it. What is so cool about going to a party?"
Vincent seemed not to be listening to him at the moment. His mind was on something else. His eyes were observing the looks of the student around them.
"They're all looking at us," he said to Denis who also began to look around.
In a short while all the students, whether sitting or standing before, were all on their feets, staring at Vincent and Denis who wondered what it was there might have gotten themselves into now.
The students began crowding around their table. Vincent found his heart beating, and so was Denis whose eyes kept scanning the surrounding for an escape.
"Who do you think you are, Vincent?" One of the students began. "Do you think you're too good for us?"
"Why are you not going to be attending the party by Henri?" Another one also began. "Do you think you're too good for him too? Is it because he stole your girlfriend?"
A round of laughter began among the swam of students that surrounded them. Of course hearing that stung Vincent, but he still did not say a word to them, and neither did Denis.
But too bad, his silence hurt more than any word and come back he could have said, and so, the crowd began raining a hoard of abuses on him. It went on like this forever until a voice louder than any other, came forth.
"Look Vincent, I'll try to be reasonable with you by all means possible. Even though you don't seem yourself to be so much of a reasonable man," the student with the loud voice said, causing another roar of laughter from the crowd. "I am sure that you do not intend to be troubled, but I assure you, if you do not attend the party by Henri, you will forever be haunted by us. We will make your life even more miserable and a living hell, and not just you, Denis as well. You both want to be idiots and good for nothing, then so be it."
Denis did not know what to feel about it. To him the school had gone entirely mad. In his whole life in college he had never been the one being invited. From middle school to the University, he had always found himself being rejected by the cool kids. But now there he was being forcefully invited to a party, and he was, surprisingly, saying no.
Vincent was not entirely so psyched about the situation. He knew exactly what Henri was trying to do. He had heard of it all. Every student in the school was promised by him to be given a brand new phone if he managed to attend the party.
It was by all means a very funny thing to happen, but he learnt something about it. People would do a lot of things for money, and these students, on a normal day, would typically brag about being better than him financially, but then, same students were losing their minds on the count of a phone.
"I've always been living in hell," Vincent whispered to a confused Denis. "These students cannot make me suffer anymore than I have suffered. But I would not want you to suffer with me."
While Denis was trying his best to figure out what it was Vincent was trying to say, Vincent stood up immediately.
"Okay I will go to your party," he said with total resignation.
The entire crowd cheered for a while before finally leaving.
"What are you doing?" Denis asked Vincent looking at his face as he drank calmly coca cola from a rubber cup.
"Just being a sacrifice," he said.
"A sacrifice for what? If you go, I go."
Denis could not place it, but he knew that there was something totally new and different about his friend.
At the end of school, Vincent went home in his trusty bicycle, and spent the weekend overlooking the whole of Paris from his cozy penthouse. He would stay there for the entire weekend before the party.
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
Once more, Vincent dipped his hands into his pockets as though by chance or by some magical luck he would be able to grace some cash in it. Cash that he knew for sure he did not have. But again. Again and again. He shoved his skinny fingers returning back up with nothing but air and dust. A cry almost escaped from his lips as he looked right up to the ceiling.His eyes flickered down, casting a gaze on the mirror that stood before him. His reflection looked at him accusingly."What on earth are you looking for?" He asked, speaking to himself. His hand slid up covering his face in a face palm. "This is stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"No it's not," he said once again to himself with a mouth full of conviction, clearing his palm off his face to stare at it with much scrutiny. "You look good. Remember you're going on a date. A date with the most beautiful girl in school. You're dating a total baddie for god'sakes. Be proud. Stand tall. Don't disappoint her. She is, after all, Rory McIlroy. The R
The VC of Matisse University de Paris was an old man. Vincent and nobody that he knew could ever confidently say that they knew his real name. Everybody referred to him as Vice Chancellor Mattise, and if Vincent did not know any better, he might have thought for certain that even his son, Henri, did not know the name of his father. That would have been a terribly comedic thing if it were really true, Vincent thought within himself, having once again one of those inner monologues that he usually had as he was held on both arms to the office of the VC by two security guards.He nearly let out a chuckle as he got thrown into the office immediately, with the view of the old VC staring at him with a face full of scorn; his son just standing beside him, quiet, his lips and parts of his face still swollen.Vice Chancellor Mattise was said to be in his fifties, but his head was already so crowded with white hair, his face, always with a frown reeking of wrinkles, had people guessing that he
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 dan
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