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Chapter Four:

Vincent was sitting at his desk, his head down. He was still feeling woozy from last night. Cloud had took him home, and Vincent spent half the night throwing up in the toilet. "You almost fucking passed out," Cloud had told him before they went to school. Vincent didn't really remember last night too clearly. His head was still pounding. "Attention everyone," the teacher, Professor Tseng, said. Everyone quieted down. Vincent sighed and pulled his head up lazily. 'Thank god I sit in the back of the classroom,' he thought to himself.

"We have a new student in this class. Everyone please welcome Lucrecia Crescent," said Pro. Tseng. Vincent looked towards the doorway, his attention fully adjusted towards seeing this new girl. And when he did, something seemed to implode inside him. Her golden brown hair was pulled up, some of it falling down the side of her face. Her deep brown eyes seemed beautiful, but a little lost. She looked around before walking to her seat, two rows from Vincent and two seats up from him. Vincent tried not to be seen looking at her, but he couldn't stop looking. 'She's beautiful,' he thought.

"Hello, Lucrecia," said Pro. Tseng. She nodded her head and smiled slightly. 'A broken smile,' Vincent thought. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear, and looked down. "Okay, we'll start now," said Pro. Tseng. Vincent sighed. 'She could never fall for a guy like me..'

Vincent hardly ate at lunch. When it was time for lunch, he just went into the bathroom to smoke and think. Pulling out a cigarette, he sighed. He knew that smoking was one of the things keeping him away from relationships with others. But he did it anyway. He lit it, and stood against the wall. The bathroom filled with smoke. Then, someone walked in. Vincent looked, and it was Cloud. "Saw you looking at the new girl this morning," he said, walking into one of the stalls. Vincent didn't say anything. "You had this big dreamy look on your face," Cloud said. Vincent stood there, inhaling the smoke, then breathing it back out again. He tried to imagine himself with a dreamy look on his face.

Cloud came out of the stall. "You alright from last night?" he asked, squeezing the soap dispenser to get the remainder of cheap soap. Vincent shrugged. "My head hurts like a bitch," he said, throwing his cigarette out. "Why is there never any fucking soap in this bathroom? I need to wash my hands after I take a piss!" Cloud said. Vincent smiled slightly, shaking his head. Cloud sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Oh well.." he said. Vincent rubbed his head, dreading the next class. "Maybe you should eat something," said Cloud as they walked out of the bathroom. "If I eat something, I think I'm gonna barf," he said, walking to his locker and opening it. He took out a bottle.

"What's that?" Cloud asked. Vincent opened it. There were pills inside. "Headache medicine," he said, shoving two pills in his mouth and downing them without water. "Oh," said Cloud. Vincent put them back and walked away to his next class.

"Attention, please!" Professor Elena said, clapping her hands. Vincent looked up. Lucrecia sat in the row next to him in science class, but was five seats up. "Thank you," said Prof. Elena. Vincent closed his eyes, rubbing his head again. It was pounding. He glanced over at Lucrecia, gazing at her delicate skin. "We have a new student. Not only do we have Lucrecia Crescent, but we have another one. His name is Hojo. Please welcome him," said Prof. Elena. He walked through the door. He wore glasses, and looked like a madman. He wore a white lab coat. 'Well, it IS science,' Vincent thought. Hojo seemed kind of weird. Vincent saw something in his eyes that seemed... strange. Hostile.

It was then that Hojo glanced at Lucrecia. 'He knows her,' Vincent thought. He could tell by his eye contact. Lucrecia blushed slightly and looked away, but didn't smile. Vincent glared at Hojo as he took a seat right next to him. He saw something 'bastardlike' about him. (I hate Hojo more than anything) Vincent sensed something wrong. Hojo looked like a nerd, but strongwilled. The way he looked at Lucrecia let Vincent know that something was wrong. And the way Lucrecia had looked away let him know something was very wrong. Vincent sighed, shaking his head. 'Stop thinking these thoughts, ass! You don't even know them!' he thought to himself.

Even though Vincent wasn't looking, he could feel the heat of Hojo's glare burning into his cheek. The lesson began.

"You can all go now," Prof. Elena said, sitting at her desk. Vincent sat for a moment, waiting to see what Hojo would do. Hojo got up, and nearly ran to Lucrecia's side. She wouldn't look at him. He seemed angry as they walked out the door. Vincent got up, and went towards the door. "Vincent," Professor Elena said. Vincent sighed and turned. "Yeah?" he said. She motioned for him to come over. Vincent walked over to the front of her desk.

"Lately you've been doing bad with your work. I mean, your quiz percentage dropped by 19 percent. You haven't turned in your homework, and your grade is slipping. We might have to have a meeting with your parents." Vincent sneered. Didn't they know? "You're gonna have a hard time doing that," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"Hasn't anyone told you people? I HAVE no parents. I'm living on my own, working as a mechanic to make a living, okay?"

"Oh... I'm sorry, Vincent." Vincent shook his head. It seemed like no one cared. Prof. Elena sighed. "Well, we've got to something about your work. You've gotta clean up your act, and work harder," she said. Vincent threw his arms to the side. "What ACT! My life isn't a act. Look, you teachers don't know anything about my home life," he said. He was sad. No one understood. He sighed. "Look, I'll do my best, alright?" he said, and he walked out, not caring if she had more to say.

He looked around the hall, looking to see if Lucrecia was there. He wanted to meet her, bad. But he knew that he could never have her. No one would want a breakdown. Still he looked, but couldn't see her. She had already left. He was too late. He sighed and walked out of the school.

Vincent laid on his bed, his arm over his forehead. His long black hair fell onto his shoulders. Thoughts ran through his head. His room was dark, the only light was the moon shining in. Sometimes he even closed the curtain to keep the moonlight out. Pitch black darkness. "Lucrecia, Lucrecia Crescent," he said. He liked saying her name. It sounded like an angel's name. "Lucrecia Crescent..." He looked over to his nightstand and pulled out his headache medicine. He opened the bottle. There were still a good amount of pills inside. He thought. Then, he put the bottle up to his mouth, ready to take all the pills at once, like he had done with the shots. Then he thought about talking to Lucrecia. What if it got better? What if she liked him? 'That'll never happen, Valentine,' he thought to himself. But he sighed and pulled the bottle away from his mouth.

He thought of her face. Her golden brown hair fallen over the side of her face, the form of her gorgeous face, and her beautiful eyes... All of it made Vincent want to know her. Maybe she was beautiful on the inside, too. He thought of her smile. Her broken smile. It was gorgeous, but something was wrong. He remembered Hojo. He seemed mean. The way he looked at Lucrecia made Vincent notice something was wrong. Just in one expression, he saw a million things.

'But she could never fall for a guy like me,' he thought to himself as he allowed himself to fall into the arms of sleep.