Shadows In Durango

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

It was fair to say that this mornings journey to school was a little different...

I clutched at my backpack strap on my left shoulder, keeping my head low and my eyes fixed on the pavement beneath my feet.

Vincent had insisted on taking me to school and I wasn't prepared for the amount of students whose eyes I would greet just by getting out of the same car as Vincent and Daryl. "Ignore them, they do this to us every morning." Daryl laughs, hauling his stuff out of the trunk of the car while Vincent gets out - not bothering to even bring a bag with him. "Why do they always stare and whisper? It's awkward." I mumble, and within seconds, Vincent whistles loudly and waves his arms in a signal for everyone around us to move off somewhere else. To my shock horror, the students actually begin to shuffle their feet away from our area of the parking lot, as my mouth hangs open and I look between them both.

"That was a little rude!" I comment, as Vincent groans and gives me a weird look.

"Make up your mind? Are you uncomfortable with them being here and staring or not?" He snaps, as I grow flustered.

"Well yeah but..." I begin to say, before he cuts me off again.

"Well then I did you a favour, they are gone? You should be saying thanks!" He deadpans, as I realise in that moment that it was useless to argue with him.

I learned quickly that he also wasn't a morning person, unlike Daryl, who was a lot more chipper and normal.

Without another word, Vincent turns and walks off, almost as if our presence alone was now pissing him off.

"This is what he does, he eventually comes around after ten." Daryl shakes his head, as we both stand and watch Vincent's back as he walks off.

"He's a delight." I nod, causing Daryl to laugh which makes me smile.

I almost felt guilty, knowing that Daryl had kissed me in his car only days ago and that Vincent had also kissed me again last night...

I couldn't explain the feeling, being caught between them both, but in the heat of the moments I couldn't think straight.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I decide to ignore what had happened with Vincent and I only hours ago, knowing that to us both, the kiss really meant nothing.

"So it's Friday today!" I turn fully to stare up at Daryl, no longer being able to see Vincent amongst the crowd of students waiting out front for the morning bell. "Correct, it is sweetheart." Daryl jokes as I roll my eyes and proceed on.

"Well I was thinking that since I basically live with you guys now, I could invite Emma over again and we could do something fun later?" I suggest, before noticing Daryl's gaze grow awkward. "Maybe not tonight, Vincent and I have important plans, but you can invite Emma over still if you want to?" He explains, as I squint a little.

He's acting odd...

"What sort of plans?" I allow for my curiosity to overcome me as I watch him pause for a moment to think on what to say.

"Just some business stuff that Vincent has to sort out, I always go with him for an extra set of eyes and ears, you know?" He tries, as I slowly shake my head not knowing what he meant by that. He sighs a little, as we both know there was something he was very evidently trying to avoid talking about.

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Could this be the illegal stuff Emma had warned me about? The rumours of the gangs and the illegal set ups?

Not Daryl... he wouldn't be so involved if it was.

"It's nothing interesting, trust me." He finalises his words, before the bell rings out - saving him from the conversation as he motions for us to head inside. After that, I shrugged it off and we met Emma at class, as I sunk down into my seat and offered her a tired smile.Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

"You good?" Emma leans towards me and asks as I nod and eye Daryl from over my shoulder.

I couldn't tell her about the kiss yet...

"Yeah, do you want to come over again tonight? Daryl and Vincent are going out somewhere so I'll be there on my own." I ask, as Emma perks up and smiles.

"Yeah, there is actually a new place in town that's just opened - we could try it out?" Emma trails off, as I giggle at her wild side with wanting to go out.

Why did this girl not make any friends before I got here? She was a lot of fun and wasn't shy... it made no sense! I would have to ask her about it later...

"Yeah let's do it! What is it?" I hum, growing excited once again knowing that I wouldn't be left alone at the house now.

I imagine Vincent's place could get really lonely real quick. It was far too big to live in alone! I understand now why he has people living there with him all of the time, though I hadn't seen Reid since being there - thankfully. Maybe Vincent kicked him out after what happened at the bar?

"It's called Maggie's, it's basically a western themed night! They let you in to dance and eat if you are sixteen or older but we would need fake ID to get served alcohol at the bar which sucks... we had so much fun getting drunk last weekend, well we did until the end of the night anyway!" Emma jokes, as I cover my face at the memory.

The way I had run off in the middle of the night crying... how ridiculous!

"Yeah let's not do a repeat of that again! But that sounds fun! We could always just chance ordering a drink and if not, I'm sure we will have fun anyway!" I shrug, as she claps her hands suddenly excited.

The teacher violently shushes us both, as everyone continues to write their essays.

I chew my lip to avoid laughing as Emma's face flushes bright red having gained the attention of the whole class now.

We waited five minutes, before our class begins to quietly chat amongst themselves and we feel safe enough to talk again.

"I'm just thinking, we don't have anything to wear?" I squint, knowing I couldn't just turn up to a themed night without an outfit.

"Oh don't you worry! There's a dress up store at the mall, we could go after school?" She suggests, eyes perking up at the thought of shopping as I think on it.

It felt wrong to spend my money so openly, but then I also figured that I would only need to start paying money to Vincent to live at his place now, although he had refused it last night, I wasn't willing to become a freeloader. Vincent had also returned the money that my neighbours had stolen from me, even adding extra which he didn't need to do...

"Sure let's go to the mall!" I smile, as she grins and nods.

"If you want to, we could even get our hair done after school? My Mom works at the mall in a salon... she would give you a great discount!" Emma also rambles, as I love how she says whatever comes to mind when she gets excited about something.

I think on that too, knowing that my once bright blonde hair had now grown drab. It would be nice to have it all lightened up again...

What do I have to lose? I have some extra money to spare so I should probably treat myself like old times - I think after everything, I deserved it.