Sofia’s POV

We walk on, as Joel shows me the large lunch hall on passing along with showing me where each of the female toilets were which was also useful to know…

“So why did you say that I might have some trouble with my locker?” I ponder, as he seems to grow somewhat anxious with the mention.

“Oh that… well uh… the eight hundreds are typically off limits unless Vincent says otherwise… can only imagine what he keeps in half of them too!” Joel explains, seeming to lower his voice as we wander through the empty hallways.

“Who is Vincent? A teacher here?” I question, assuming that the guy clearly had a lot of authority around here. But what would he possibly be keeping in student lockers and why would he be hoarding them all to himself in the first place?

“A teacher? Ha, who are you kidding! No he’s a student, but even the teachers are cautious of him. His family basically own the town but they are gone a lot of the time so Vincent lives on a huge estate with his little gang. They are into all kinds of illegal stuff from what I hear.” Joel continues, as my eyes widen more with each word.

Why on earth would the school have to give me of all people an eight hundred locker number when this is the type of dudes apparently ruling over them? Does the Lord hate me that much?!

“Sometimes, whenever students get one of those lockers, if you ask him nice enough then he just lets you have it. It’s like being granted fucking citizenship into the promised land around here!” Joel rolls his eyes, clearly not fond of whoever Vincent was and what he stood for.

We turn a corner at the end of the main hallway, finding the gym halls up ahead as one of them buzzed with activity whilst the other remained empty beside it…

“Just around here, if he’s there then you can just ask him for it, and if he says no then we can try to change your locker number right?” Joel encourages, as I all but nod feeling as though I didn’t have much of a choice on the matter.

Approaching the large metal cabinets, it seems at first that the whole wall of lockers were deserted, but as we grew closer, a group of four guys come into view – all stood in the corner by the fire exit door which was slightly ajar.

The scent of smoke quickly invaded my nostrils causing my face to scrunch, reminding me of my father, as I push aside any dark thoughts straight to the back of my mind.

Joel falls back slightly, giving my back a soft push to signal that it was them…

“The one with the tats.” He whispers, as I gulp and locate the exact guy he was talking about amongst the crowd.

There was no way he was my age, he was huge! Both in height and in muscle! Tattoos covering mostly every bit of skin that I could see except from his literal face itself. All of them were big, but he seemed the damn biggest! I wasn’t sure if it was simply due to the way Joel had played him up to me before now, but I found him terrifying nonetheless.

Dark hair, dark dangerous eyes and an expression that evidently didn’t want to be tested today – however I couldn’t help but admire his perfect features, clearly gifted with good genes… but all of that aside!

I have no choice…

If this is how things run around here then so be it!

I shuffle my way towards them, as they all watch me silently in amusement.

“What do we have here?” The blonde is the first to remark, his tone iced with sheer entertainment as he stubs out his cigarette.

“Another one of your quick fucks before class Vin?” The one with the shaved head sniggers sarcastically, as though it was a ridiculous suggestion that he would ever even look twice at me let alone to sleep with me…

“Uh… I uh… Vincent?” I begin, clearing my throat a little to get the words out.

“Louder? I’m not death but you’re beginning to make me fucking think that I am!” He snaps out rudely, instantly proving himself to be the most confident of the group around him, his deep voice sending jolts of concern through me almost instantly.

I really don’t want to upset him…

“Sorry… I just wanted to uh… ask if I could use my locker… it’s number 804… I was told to ask you first though…” I try to push my voice to come out louder than before, doing a little better, but feeling my cheeks flare red with embarrassment as they all watch and scrutinise me with their eyes.

With that, the group of guys all start laughing loudly, ridiculing me as Vincent himself smirks – probably feeling accomplished that I already respected him enough to ask him to use my own damn locker which was assigned to me in the first place.

“I don’t know can you?” His response nearly kills me, as I shuffle from foot to foot feeling sick to my stomach at the whole exchange.

Why couldn’t anything in my life just be easy? For once?!

“What’s in it for me?” The guy known as Vincent adds, as the others shake their head and snigger beside him like cronies found in a gangster movie.