Shadows In Durango

*****Sofia's POV*****

"So how was it? Chilled and calm compared to what your old class was?" Emma skips towards me giddily, as I exit the storage room looking and feeling somewhat disheveled.

"Whatever it was... it looks like you've been working hard!" Emma suddenly laughs, as I force out a smile - with my mind doing overtime trying to catch up with everything that had just happened. On that note, the door opened from behind me, revealing Vincent as he emerged from the same room causing Emma's eyes to grow the size of saucers, instantly stepping out of his way. Vincent dusted off his large hands, squaring out his shoulders from behind us, looking somewhat amused with himself as usual.

"Don't sweat it about bringing me lunch Sofia, it seems that I'll be making you work hard in other ways now." Vincent winks, as some nearby girls begin to whisper and take notice of our exchange. Crap... that's all I need... rumours about me coming out of the storage room with Vincent! As if people would believe it anyway right? He wouldn't go near the likes of me...

"O-Ok..." I respond, licking at my drying lips as he laughs and shakes his head in amusement, tossing his black jacket over his shoulder and beginning to walk off: causing every female in passing to almost collapse at his feet.

"No way! Was he seriously the only other student assigned to work in the storage room out of the whole school?! What are the damn chances of that?! Are you ok? Was it torture?" Emma rambles the second he walks off out of ear shot, as I finally feel as though I can catch my breath.

Taking a moment, I close my eyes over, exhaling slowly before opening them back up again to find a concerned Emma staring back at me.

"I just don't know what to do when he's around me... he loves tormenting me in every single way! At first he seemed annoyed that I was even there and then he said that he doesn't want me to change to laundry when I offered to switch! He even made comments about my ass at one point just to humiliate me!" I rant to my friend, as we walked towards the lunch hall together in a hurry.

Emma was shocked but also engrossed in my experience, as I confided in her to hear me out.

It took off a lot of anxiety and pressure, knowing now that I had someone to rant to when I so desperately needed it.

"He's awful!" Emma shakes her head and grits, as I somewhat oddly feel bad at her words.

He wasn't all bad though...

Sure, he seemed to make my life a living nightmare at school, but he also gave me a job when I desperately needed it and defended me when the girl in my gym class attacked me...

"He can actually be ok sometimes... when he wants to be... I just can't predict him and it stresses me out!" I huff, as we join the queue for food.

"You have serious guts for even engaging with him in the first place! I would have bolted out of there the second that I saw him! Even Daryl too, you approached him to ask him to switch seats as though it were nothing this morning!" Emma states in disbelief, still struggling to understand my awkward relationship with the pair.

That was the key word: awkward. There was nothing else that suited. I seemed to always find myself stuck with them both, particularly Vincent, ever since my first day here...

"What's the deal with them anyway? Why is everyone so on edge around them? I mean, I can understand Vincent, but Daryl seems sort of... sweet?" I admit, feeling my cheeks blush ever so slightly when hearing the word out loud.

We trudge forward as the queue shortens, as I glance over today's choices - grateful that I hadn't been reposted as Vincent's private lunch service once again. I feared earlier that he was going to demand that I bring him lunch again, telling me to ignore what Daryl had told me to do, but thankfully he never. Instead, he stated he would 'make me work in other ways'.

The thought alone sent a shiver down my spine... knowing that his evil little brain would be doing overtime to come up with a number of ways to torture me either through the bar or in the storage room.

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But time would only tell and right now, it was useless to worry over...

"If they aren't busy running the school then they pretty much run the rest of town! I've heard rumours that Vincent's parents are big time gangsters... but they are rarely ever in town which is a good thing. Vincent lives in a huge house with Daryl and a couple of other guys. They've done some bad things you know?" Emma explains, her voice hushed as I listen eagerly to find out more about the pair.

Vincent's family are gangsters?! Crap... if things weren't bad for me before, then they were now!

That explains his arrogance... and explains why everybody seems to either cower or swoon before him!

But maybe it was just rumours? I know first hand how damaging a false rumour can be... being a 'gangster' isn't a title I would wish upon anybody and for his sake, I hoped that it wasn't true.

"What sort of bad stuff?" I push further, as we approach the queue and are next in line to be served.

"People talk, and a lot of the time I'm just in the background listening, but I heard that they sell and beat people up for not paying..." Emma nods as she informs me, causing an audible gasp to escape from my lips.

"Sell what? Drugs?!" I panic, as she hushes me and looks around to ensure that nobody nearby had heard our rambles.

"Yeah... well so I've heard anyway!" Emma confirms, as my heart begins to pound from inside of my chest.

"Not Daryl! He wouldn't be involved in something so dark!" I shake my head in disbelief of what she was telling me, pushing back the sickening feeling growing in the pit of my stomach.

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Vincent most definitely could pass for a major drug lord in town but not Daryl... he was different... too approachable and kind.

But, they were best friends after all...

Therefore they must have something in common!

"That's just what I've heard, I don't know any of them personally and never have been around them in a close way either. They always throw major parties but as you can probably guess I've never had an invite! I'm not sure I would even want to go though if I'm honest..." Emma trails off, before the lunch lady greets her and asks what she wants.

As Emma orders, I ponder over everything she had just said.

If Vincent's family are actually 'gangsters' like she claims, then Vincent could most definitely be involved with drugs and could be even more dangerous than what I thought. That explains the masses of money they seem to have and how everybody states they 'run the town'.

One thing was for certain, and that was that I had to stay on his good side for my own safety. I also have to keep him at arms length, because now my life here was threatened in more ways than one.

I have to be cautious and clever if I plan to stay here, for it would be a shame to move on once again when things were starting to look up for me.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I have a job, a friend and I hate to admit it, but something about this place felt addicting.

I didn't want to leave anytime soon, I was eager to do anything it takes to stay.

To make a new home.