Meteoric Iron - 1. Chapter 1

Vince looked out of the window of his school classroom. The bright blue sky hurt his eyes but it was better than having to pay attention to his teachers. The clouds seemed to form little monsters in his mind. Thank the Gods for his imagination or he would have already have died of boredom way earlier in his life.

The bell rang signaling the end of his classes and the end of school. Last day fever spread like a wildfire. Kids were jumping up and down. Even a few kids who hated Vince came up and slapped his back.

“Thank goodness for summer eh, buddy?” Most of the time he told them he agreed. But he wasn’t looking forward to the summer. All of his friends were either leaving for vacation, relatives, or camp. He was the only one who wasn’t.

He watched as the crowd in the parking lot thinned. He was waiting for his cousin to come and pick him up. He and his cousin got along okay but the kept each other at arms length if either could help it. But since Vince needed a ride his cousin would help him out.

When his cousins black truck pulled in next to the curb, Vince looked back at the school. He was going to miss this hellhole. “Ya gonna get in?” His cousin’s voice said. She was kind of annoying to Vince, but she had helped him out of some really tight spots. Like that time when he was almost caught vandalizing the school sculpture. Or as everyone else put it. The disgrace to the school.

She had her hair up inside of a baseball cap. She was dressed for a day out but her hat totally ruined her looks.

“You should take of the hat.” Vince looked at her solemnly. His expression still void of feelings.

“Why, Vinnie?” She smiled. She knew how much he hated to be called that. His eyes scrunched slightly.

“Don’t. Call. Me. That.” His teeth grinding against themselves. He looked out towards the tree line as it passed by.

“So Vin. What are you doing on the first day of summer. And I do mean tonight. Going out with your friends?” She raised her eyebrows a couple of times to imply something. She just wanted a reaction from the brown haired boy. He sat leaning back, his bag on the floor next to his feet. When she looked closer she saw he had headphones on.

“You bastard!’ She yelled. She reached over and ripped the headphones off his head. He quickly reached for them again but failed when she brought them to her other side. He kept leaning forward, trying to get his headphones back.

“Come on, how else am I supposed to tune you out?”

She quickly and with skill whacked him in the head. He gave up trying to get the unreachable headphones and resorted to talking with her.

“And to answer your question. No, almost all of them are leaving right about now for summer stuff. And the few who are still here aren’t going to do anything.” He turned back towards the trees as he sighed heavily.

She looked at Vince. She felt sorry for the teen. All he had were his friends and without them he went back to being lonely and depressed. She may not have been the closest person to him but that was something even she didn’t want.

“Well, my friends and I are going out to a party. Do you- like- you know- want to come with us?” She didn’t absolutely hate him but she didn’t want him humiliating her. But she didn’t think that he would tonight. “Maybe you can meet someone.” She looked back at the road. It suddenly becoming more and more bleak.

He was going to say yes. She just knew it. “Sure. I gives me something to do.” He looked at her for a split second. Then back to the forest. “And your right. I could meet someone.” He turned the radio on and listened to pop. It was better than country in his mind but since his cousin wasn’t the biggest fan of rock he went to pop. But he didn’t dislike it. He thought that pop music was pretty good.

The rest of the ride was uneventful other than Katarina telling Vince where and what they were going to do. And also that if he embarrassed her then she would painfully rip his lips off, sew them to his hand and he would have to talk from there.

When he got home Vince went into his room and got dressed. He had only two hours till Kat came and picked him up. He had to take a shower, only twenty minutes, straighten his hair, a good thirty minutes, find appropriate clothes for clubbing, forty minutes and to eat, only ten minutes. That left him with twenty minutes to spare.

When Katarina pulled into her cousin’s driveway she could see the TV on through the window. She went up to the front door and knocked. When Vince came out with a jacket she thought he looked like a different person. With his hair styled the way it was now it made him look older than his sixteen years. And he wore honest-to-goodness dress clothes. A nice shirt, nice pants and even a great jacket.

“You clean up nice kid.” She complemented.

Vince looked down at himself. “Really, you think so? I think I look atrocious.”

One of her friends wolf whistled from inside the car. Kat turned towards her. “Oh, shut up!” She turned back to Vince. “Get in the car.”

Vince was eager to go out with Kat and her friends. He didn’t really know them but they seemed nice enough.

After a very awkward drive to town for Kat, they finally arrived at the bar/club. The man out front seemed to know Kat and her friends and didn’t give Vince a second look. Okay, maybe he did but that glance at his ass didn’t count against Vince.

“Seriously, Kat. Why didn’t you tell us about your insanely hot younger cousin. He even got our admission knocked off. And John doesn’t take interest in any guy.”

“Okay, my cousin is gay. So now you can’t fawn over him.” She snipped at her.

“Oh contraire. Now I can try to convert him. That will be my new mission in life.” Eliza said putting her hand into the air like one of those movie heroes.

“You do know that I’m right here, right?” Vince asked from behind Blaine.

After spending a little while trying to get Vince to drop the subject he wandered off further into the bar. Somewhere along the lines someone bought him a drink. He couldn’t remember who or what it was but he liked it and drank it in one sip. But soon his mind fogged up. “So this is what it feels like to be drunk….huh….it feels funny.’ But during all of Vince’s drunk haze he kept seeing the same man. Young about twenty, Black hair and bright gold eyes. The man kept dancing with him and smiling around him. Vince couldn’t even see Kat or even the dance floor anymore. All he could see was that man.

“I hope to see you again….my Iron Prince.” The man said right before Kat found her way over to Vince. The man walking off his golden eyes still on Vince. Vince watched as the man walked out of the club, three men followed closely behind him.

Vince hoped that he would find him again. Vince looked down at the place where he was standing and right at his feet was a small bracelet. It looked like it was made of silver but Vince instinctively knew that it was iron. Kat pulled him away from the crowded dance floor. His mind still reliving those few drunken moments dancing.