Verse - 8. Chapter 8

So, Luka gets ambushed by Soren and friends, then Noel gets some sweet revenge.
Pretty slow chapter, I guess.

Luka raised an eyebrow, his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his jeans as he stood awkwardly across Soren’s friends. His eyes shifted steadily from one to the other, looking that the four pairs that were focused entirely on him. “Just, picking something up,” he said steadily, his eyes glancing to his jacket pockets.

Raquel sent a look to Soren, who avoided her eyes, instead giving his attention to Luka. “Ah,” he muttered; he didn’t actually need to look at her to know she was giving him that look. “So I take it you can’t join us today?”

His words immediately brought Luka’s attention back and practically forced a smirk onto the boy’s face. “Join you?” he questioned. He glanced over them again; when he’d left home to pay Jase a visit, he hadn’t expected to run into these guys. Not that he minded—he certainly enjoyed getting a look at Soren’s cute face. “You seem occupied,” he continued, nodding towards the backpacks and notebooks spread across the table.

“We have a test Friday,” Evelyn inputted. “We’re studying.”

Luka snickered slightly. “Friday? I think I have one too.”

“Nationals?”

“Yes,” Luka answered, scowling slightly.

"Aren’t you homeschooled though?” Cody questioned.

“Yeah,” Luka replied, shifting to send a coy smile at the taller boy. “I have to take the national exams too, though… taking ‘em at your school, actually.”

“Serious?” Soren asked. “Whole half-day, right?”

“Mhm.”

“Cool,” Soren beamed. “Why don’t you stick around afterwards? We’re going to the theater.”

Luka’s lips broke slightly, splitting into an oval as his mind worked quickly to digest Soren’s question. “Wha?” was still all he managed at the end. “Theater?” he asked, quickly recomposing himself. Blushing slightly, he kicked a pebble that lay on the floor, knocking it into the wall of the pizzeria and sending it ricocheting into the plants; he didn’t like dumbing out.

“Yeah,” Soren answered excitedly. “We’re gonna watch that new horror flick—what was it, Raquel?”

The girl shrugged, taking a sip of her soda. Among their schoolwork was also their lunch, a couple boxes of pizza, one lying empty, the other well-eaten.

"Well, whatever,” Soren murmured, rolling his eyes before turning back to Luka. “Point is, movies Friday?”

Luka scowled. Movies. With Soren. And the other three, of course. He could do without the latter, but he’d manage. His smirk manifested, and his body shuddered lightly in a giggle. “Sure.”

“Cool. School’s a big place though… got a phone?”

“Yeah….”

“Your number?”

Luka drew his hand from his pocket, sending it to massage his neck awkwardly; so much progress in such a short timeframe. He smiled, reciting his number as Soren—and the rest of them—tapped it into their smartphones. A few moments later, he had his own phone out, returning the favors. The silliness of it all got to them, and they broke into a fit of laughter midway.

They stopped giggling a few minutes afterwards, and the awkward silence that accompanied Luka descended upon them once more.

Luka noticed a couple of pizza slices left, and turned towards Raquel. She shook her head almost immediately; “Don’t even ask, bro. If you’re gonna hop in with us, pizza’s all yours.”

The boy couldn’t help but snicker, though he gladly accepted the treat with a nod.

"You’re taking the same tests, right?” Evelyn asked, meeting the boy’s blue gaze.

Luka nodded, swallowing his mouthful before responding, “Yeah, I think so; national standards and all that fun stuff.”

The girl returned the gesture, and her hair took advantage of it to slip out from behind her ear. Sliding it back, she glanced towards the open book on the table. “Do you understand this stuff?”

Smiling thinly, Luka looked over the page. It was the exact same book he had on his desk at home. It was a Physics book, a recent model too. Hers was well maintained, much like his own. The other three books were roughed up somewhat, their corners folded and pages wrinkled. Luka wasn’t sure if it was their doing, or if they’d been issued it as such; teens were notorious for being terrible bookkeepers.

He looked over the page, reading around the lines Evelyn’s thin finger pointed to. He’d covered it was Mark earlier that day, spending almost good hour on that chapter.

The formula was written on her sheet, as well as a few numbers he could see were salvaged from the word-problem above it.

Ah, gravity; one of the weakest forces in existence—yet a key one in enabling their lives. Its power grew several-folds, however, when it came between a teenager and their grade. “Come now, child,” he said, in a voice deeper than his own, “this stuff is elementary. Well within your comprehension.” He giggled, as the four around him stared at him questioningly. “Sorry,” he said, balancing his voice. “That’s what my tutor said to me this morning.”

He sighed lightly, taking Evelyn’s pencil with his left hand before scribbling a few notes on her paper. Even upside down, his lettering showed neatly and fluently, as he rearranged the formula. “It’s all in the formula,” he whispered, “or so he tells me. I think he reads it the day before I do, the bastard.” He gestured to Evelyn’s calculator, before pointing her mechanical pencil at his final formula.

“This stuff’s really easy, honestly,” he went on. “At these levels, all you really gotta do is manipulate the formula; kinda lame, really.” He leaned back, standing tall against their table as he took another bite of his food, entirely oblivious to the worshiping looks he was receiving from Raquel and Soren.

Cody and Evelyn, however, nodded easily. Both had earned their A’s in the class, unlike their two mates, who trudged along with a B and a C—Soren and Raquel respectively.

“You’re a god,” Raquel blurted out suddenly. Science was not her strong point, nor was Math, or even Language Arts. Gym, however—she dominated the playfields, often creaming the boys at their own game. She also excelled at her elective, Drama.

Evelyn, on the other hand, was a studious child. Her grades were a line of A’s, the line only breaking for a B in Drama—and even that was due to Raquel’s help—and a C in Gym; she was too lightweight, according to her teacher. She didn’t quite often get involved, instead opting to stay as far from the ball as possible.

Similarly, Cody juggled the core fields adequately, and excelled at Varsity Baseball. He’d influenced Soren to the team, where the lad did enough in to earn a B, and do his share. More often than not, though, he blew off his other classes. It was a common joke among them, that Soren was the luckiest guy alive—managing to pass his classes, despite how attention-starved he left them.

A well-balanced group, overall; though, none of it showed, as Luka looked them over again. He had finished his pizza and taken the drink Soren had offered, and was now watching awkwardly as the four argued amongst themselves over who excelled the most in school. None of them admitted their shortcomings, though they all gleefully jumped on one another when one’s were pointed out.

Before Luka could slip away, however, all eyes returned to him simultaneously, with Raquel leading the inquisition. “What about you?” she nearly barked out. “What are your grades like?”

Luka smirked, recalling Mark’s grading and rewards system. It was sex, regardless of his actual grade. Harsher games denoted disappointment—Luka was almost tempted to sacrifice his pride for those games. “You’re no comparison,” he answered, flashing an arrogant grin.

Raquel gasped, though the rest of them broke into a fit of laughter. “You’re overconfident!” she exclaimed.

“Aye,” Luka returned. “Pride makes a man.”

The girl rolled her eyes, as her own teeth flashed. “Let’s make a bet, then. Whoever scores lower buys the other their choice of dinner.”

“Don’t accept!” Soren shouted, still laughing. “Raquel will eat your pockets dry!”

“Damn right I will!” she returned. “No one questions a Turner’s intelligence!”

“And no one challenges an Oniroyov,” Luka returned, grinning slyly as he took her hand.

“Oniroyov?” Cody asked. “You’re—“

"Yes,” Luka answered immediately, adding a tint of an accent to his voice. “I hope that’s not a problem,” he continued.

“None at all,” Cody said cautiously.

Luka nodded, nonetheless sighing and stepping away from the table. “Anyway,” he began, “I had a nice time, these last few minutes. Maybe I will join you Friday.”

“You better,” Soren replied, “else I’ma hunt you down.”

The boy across him smirked, his face glowing. “Alright,” he whispered. “I’ll text you after the exams. See you guys then.”

Soren nodded, joining in the near-synchronized wave his friends gave as Luka left. Despite the encounter’s success, a silence fell over them, as Luka disappeared down the darkening streets.

~.~.~.~

“Lea drives now.”

Luka watched himself on the onscreen playback, playing with his face as he noticed how silly his raised eyebrows look. “Cool,” he replied, both of them breaking into giggles. “Glad at least one of you is successful.”

"You asshole!” Noel replied, laughing. “It’s not my fault my family sucks!”

“Your family doesn’t suck, Gold,” Luka returned, rolling his eyes. “Hell, I’d take your family over mine any day.”

“Yeah, no,” Noel snickered.

Luka smiled slightly, though it failed to reach his eyes. GoldenNymph was one of the few people in his life—hell, pretty much the only one—that Luka really trusted with his secrets.

"Sorry,” Noel whispered. “Didn’t mean to bring it up.”

Luka grinned, the emotion turning genuine. “No worries. So, Lea drives now?”

“Yeah, she bought a car yesterday. It’s old though, like, super old, lol.”

“Least you won’t have to walk,” Luka returned, rolling his eyes at Noel’s quirk. “Hell, I’d like to have a friend with a car.”

“Can’t you get one yourself?”

Luka shook his head. “Not without my parents… and that would tell them a bit too much about me.”

“Mm… then enjoy your exercise, love!”

“I don’t walk to school, Gold,” Luka sneered. “Never have, never will.”

“Indeed,” Noel pouted. “You have Mark.”

“Jealous?” Luka questioned playfully.

“Maybe,” Noel muttered. “I mean, that pedophile‘s only touching my Beloved.”

Luka smirked, sighing as he leaned onto his desk. “I feel loved now.”

“And you should,” Noel replied awkwardly. “I love you, Luka.”

“I know,” Luka answered, blushing slightly, reeling in confusion. “I know, but… I don’t know.”

It was Noel’s turn to let out a sigh, and he followed it was a grunt, as his hands stretched into the empty air above his seat. “Don’t strain your head too much.”

Luka snickered, regaining himself and giving his camera a weak smile. “You’re as terrible as I am sometimes, you know.”

“I do know,” Noel laughed. “But, anyway, this time I’ll be ditching you, ya bastard. Ciao.”

The window suddenly closed on Luka, before jumping back up with an error message complaining about the signal’s sudden loss. Luka couldn’t help but grin widely, before closing the conversation window and diving into his video games.

As he ignored the children playing Army Men, his mind worked overtime, running conditions, scenarios, and outcomes as it tried to make sense of its body’s actions.

It always did that late at night. Though, now it had to take into account that its Nymph didn’t like Mark, which added immensely to the guilt that hung over Luka.

He’d have to distract himself, before bed.