Shadows In Durango

Chapter 6

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

I sat at the back of my English class, tapping my pen absentmindedly on the desk.

Mr. Thompson's voice droned on about Shakespeare, but my mind was elsewhere. Tonight would be my first night of training at Intensity, and I couldn't shake the nervous excitement coursing through me - grateful to have finally landed a job. What would it be like? Would Tito be patient with me or a nightmare boss? I had never worked in a bar before, let alone one with the kind of reputation Intensity seemed to have. He even mentioned something about me working upstairs in the VIP lounge whatever that meant...

Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed the hum of chatter from the other students whispering around me. The classroom, with its faded posters and rows of wooden desks, seemed distant.

I was so engrossed in imagining what the bar would look like in full swing that I almost missed the scrunched-up piece of paper that landed squarely on my desk in a swift motion.

Startled, I glanced around and saw Vincent smirking at me from across the room. He gestured for me to open the note, his eyes twinkling with mischief as I opened and closed my mouth dreading whatever was on it.

My heart sank. The last thing I wanted was more attention, especially from Vincent, who already seemed to enjoy making me the center of unwanted jokes.

I was hoping that he would have meant to pass it to someone else, but judging by his thrilled expression I had guessed wrong...

With nervous fingers, I unfolded the paper, aware of the curious stares from the other girls in the class, some of which not looking so pleased with the interaction.

My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I smoothed out the crumpled sheet. Inside, I found a quick comic-like sketch that Vincent had drawn. The first panel showed a girl, clearly meant to be me, carrying a lunch tray towards two guy characters.

featured one of the guys with a speech bubble that read, "Meh" as the character seemed to judge the lunch with a

panel depicted the girl tripping over a foot and falling flat on her face, a comical shriek emanating from her

parody of my encounter during lunch yesterday. Embarrassed and hurt, I quickly scrunched the paper back up and tucked my head down, hoping to hide my blushing cheeks from the many stares I

glanced over at him briefly to see his smug arrogant look plastered across his

Why me?

few stifled giggles from nearby - clearly having peaked at the paper as I was inspecting it. Vincent chuckled softly, clearly pleased with himself, as I checked the clock on the wall and prayed for time to

deep breath and tried to

it. He evidently put a lot of time in to it

my seat, Daryl, a guy I only knew thanks to the register at the beginning of class, leaned over and whispered, "Ignore him, he's just being an ass to get a reaction. You're his new play thing it seems." He explains, seeming openly comfortable to

the other guys

to melt in to Daryl's kind sky blue eyes as he offered me a lazy

build and great height on his side. Maybe

likes toying with females... in a fucked up way, it basically means he's fascinated by you!" Daryl laughs loudly at his own statement, earning

Vincent's hot gaze landing on us both every once in a while which causes me to squirm and shift in my chair.

a living nightmare. Daryl leaned back in his chair casually with

Daryl at least seemed somewhat decent compared to his

I forced myself to concentrate on the lesson, knowing that dwelling on Vincent's antics

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focus on my new job since that was all that truly mattered to me right now. Despite my nervousness, the thought

signaling the end of class as I gathered my things up quickly, eager to escape