The large cozy and luxurious room huddled in silence as the occupants had their attentions and hands fixed to the support of peace, with a sheer volume of contrast going with it. It wasn't agreed to, like it was by force. Eyes fluttered and noses sighed. The curtains were drawn apart and light sufficiently entered the room, with it's cool feel which was tramped by the room's warmth, added by the fireplace's effect that laid at the end of the room.
But the silence was about to be debated for, and their ears were about to be disturbed by an unwanted voice.
"Seriously guys, are we just going to let the sheep eat the lions?" Hector shook his head and looked at everyone else who didn't attend to his lament. But he wouldn't stop.
"Or probably the sheep had just become the Lion, and the existing lions can't do anything about it, even the king..." he directed his rear to Josef who sat with a glass of wine in the clasp of his hands.
"Josef …" he called him. "Josef , Josef Bond? …" But there was no response. "Josef ? Josef Josef Bond Josef ? …" He scoffed. "Maybe the king can't really do anything. "Josef !"
"Damn it Hector! I'm not deaf!" He yelled, and threw the glass at the wall which broke into pieces. They looked at each other.
"I'm just realizing"
"This guy is shit, Josef" Nicholas Snarled.
"Nicholas, What do you know about her?"
He sighed. "Nothing much so far, because there is nothing much about her. She is nobody, Josef. She lives with her dad, and they are from Florina…" but she doesn't look like a Greek"
"She is nobody, Josef. She dares match your tail" Hector said, grinding his teeth like he was the one whom it affected the most. "She is not even worthy to get crushed by your hands."
"We will let the students do the job for us…" they agreed with nods, followed with half partitioned chuckles.
****
It was an afternoon lecture and it got Valentine and Lina going to the lecture hall together. She had gotten admirers already and her ears weren't spared with words of admiration and exaltation.
She crowned her face with a smile and appreciated the girl walking with her. They had become the talk of the school, wings were flapping high, and words were flying from every corner.
»»» "That's the girl I was telling you about" one said… "omg she is beautiful". "She is lucky to have such a good friend.". "Look, there she is. They are even together now". "They might be sleeping together as well. Who knows". "They think they are great now".
"Well, aren't they? Could you have stood up to the big bad boy? Or even the 4DD's just shut up. If you don't have something good to say about someone, just shut up".
"She is really something". "I'm just happy that a girl stood up to that Jerk.". "You dare call him jerk? Pray no one hears it".
"I'm not afraid of him again, I have found a saviour" "she won't be around all the time, you know? Do you think Josef would just let her be after what she did?".
"At least, she has given us hope. She has opened a hole through which light shines through, even if it's small.". "The newest couple".
"I heard they are lesbians.". "I don't doubt that". "The nerd is lucky. She got a nice girl" "She is hot! I might just start wearing her style of clothing"
"eww that cheap dress" "who cares?! After all, many costly dresses are costly just because someone everyone admires was seen wearing it" »»»
They walked past them and was fully engulfed by the student's hall "Whew, that was much. People gossip a lot. They say we are a couple haha" Lina commented with a chuckle.
"Are we not?" Valentine retorted. They smiled. As they lapped into the general lecture hall, a group of four girls sitting together exclaimed once they saw them and pleaded that she joined them…
"Valentine, right?"
Valentine was a bit nervous. "Yes… how about you?" She thought of being nice. She wasn't the type that liked people's attention.
But life was rather changing in a fast lane, and the cute little girl who enjoyed her company more than any other was slowly slipping away, and making a way for the Innocent, strong and inspiring woman.
"I'm Elnadi, and this is…" excitedly, she looked at her friends and brushed them off immediately. "Well, all protocols observed, they will introduce their selves later…" She grabbed Valentine's hand. "Please come sit with us, we are fun, I promise!"
Lina grabbed her other hand… the atmosphere became rather weird. She was attesting that they were really in love with each other. "She is with me" she said, with a blank face.
Valentine giggled and shrugged. Lina took her away to another seat before the girls could succeed taking her away.
"Am I your bride now?" Valentine asked, accompanied with a chuckle.
"Are you not?" They smiled and had their butts rest.
Not long after they settled down, Patty showed up as the lecture was going on, with a smiley face. Valentine and Lina stared at her like she was nothing.
She stood beside them "Hello? It's me, Patty…" Valentine turned her gaze to the lecturer.
"Valentine, I know I was wrong…" she sighed. "And I'm truly sorry. I shouldn't had done that. It was just stupid and reckless of me… please Valentine, I'm sorry mmm?" She touched Valentine on her hand, and Lina gave her a threatening look. She rolled her eyes, and continued begging Valentine.
"Val, I said I'm sorry…" her voice heightened "I'm your first friend, remember? I talked to you first"
Valentine didn't seem to be ready to give her any audience any time soon. But how come the big girl came to beg for forgiveness? It tickled her the most. But Patty seemed to have a way of getting to people.
"Valentine, I'm going to cry now if you don't forgive me" she whimpered, covering her face with her left hand. Lina chuckled, and shook her head.
"Seriously? Wonders shall never end" she muttered.
Valentine sighed. "Okay, okay. Fine, are you seriously crying?" She wondered what was up with her. She didn't look like the type that would act like a baby.
Patty parted her fingers and peeped through the hole made with the adjustment to meet with her eyes "You don't want to see me cry, do you?"
"Defining not" she answered.
"So?"
"So, I forgive you"
She removed her hand from, and lightened her face with excitement. "Oh! Really?"
"Yes, dear"
"Patty and drama" Lina scoffed.
Patty hugged Valentine from the side "wh- wha…" Valentine stammered, Lina didn't approve of it and wished she could slap her off. "Thank you, thank you, thank youuuuu"
"Hey is okay" Lina tried to seperate her from Valentine.
"Aish, Lina. You're not going to share her alone. Don't be stingy…"
"Trust me, I would"
Valentine chuckled. "Guys, please. There's a lecture going on before us…"
"Oh! That's true. Let me join you guys" she rushed to get a sit and sat beside Valentine. But Lina grew uneasy.
"So tell me more about you?" Patty asked in an excited tune as her face became engraved with curiosity.
Valentine dipped her hand inside her bag and brought out an ear phone which she immediately fixed to her two ears. Lina smiled, proud of what she just did.
Patty's face became riddled with annoyance. She tore out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. She passed it to Valentine openly and got up.
Valentine removed the earphones once her eyes set on the paper's contents. "What is this?"
Patty chuckled. "You must think that you're now a star, huh? Wait till you get shut down, you can't fight the authority, can you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You think Josef would just let you pass. You just stepped into a line you shouldn't had stepped into"
Valentine chuckled. "Josef, Josef, Josef, you all just keep talking about Josef. Honestly, I'm tired of getting fired about it, why don't you just get out of my face!" She snarled at Patty. No more word was spoken except an action; Patty walked away smiling.
"Hey…" Lina caressed her back. "Take it easy, don't worry about it…"
"No, I'm not worrying about it. I just keep thinking, who is Josef really?"
Lina sighed. "Josef is Josef Bond, and his aunt is the Vice Chancellor, and he's pretty famous and you know. But there was a rumour sometime…"
"What rumour?" Valentine asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, but something about respecting Lady Ganja just because his father made it so…"
"Made it so, like how? I thought his father is dead?"
Lina's eyes widened. "Dead? Wow I'm just hearing that"
"Oh really. Then don't tell anyone about it…" she looked around her. "Her aunt said it while I was in her office. So I think it's best it stays between us"
"No worries. I can keep secrets"
"But why keep it a secret?"
"What if it isn't a secret? Just that not everyone knows? Because aside from the 4DD's not sure if anyone else is close to him. And Jemima too, well, he only rolls with the business class, you'd be surprised."
"Patty seems to know everything about him…"
"Of course she would. I mean, some people will be in the know. Besides, one of them is her boyfriend, so…" Lina shrugged.
"You said he has graduated three times already, right?" Lina responderd with a simple nod.
"So why is he still around?"
"I don't know. But he barely comes to class. Maybe once in a week"
"What if that's because he has nothing else to do…?"
"Or many things to do…"
"Right… and what if there's nothing like a secret, is just that is nothing to announce? Like is just a normal thing, so no need to talk about it like it's a big deal?"
"You have a point. Even the 4DD's are all Europe's youngest multi millionaires…"
"And then there's Josef. The leader"
"Yet, they come to school and do as if there's nothing much going on with them"
"Nothing much? …" Valentine chuckled. "Do you see the clothes they wear? The cars they drive? The first day I saw Josef, the car he came to school with is the most expensive car in the world, and look at his clothes"
"Well…" Lina locked her eyes to the rest of the class, and tapped Valentine. "Val?"
"Yes?" She answered abruptly.
"Do you know that the lecture had since been concluded…"
Valentine was just realizing it. "Oh my god, and we are the only ones in the hall"
Lina got up and packed her stuff. "Well, we call it a wrap. Tomorrow's another day"
They left the lecture hall and immediately they went out of the door, they bumped into two girls and all of their bags and books met the ground.
"Gosh, I'm so sorry, what was I think!" One of the girls lamented as she bent to pick the books.
"Is okay…" Valentine dropped to pick hers. She motioned to take her bag, but the girl's hand was on it first. "Oh sorry…" Valentine said.
"Don't worry, I will help you with that."
"Thank you very much" they smiled as everything got packed and they went their separate ways after numerous sorrys' and thank yous'.

They got back to Lina's room and was about keeping their stuff and undressing when Valentine noticed that her bio card was gone.
"Did you see my bio card?" She asked Lina who kept her books on the shelf and hanged her bag.
"What's wrong? …" She walked closer to her. "You didn't go to school with it or what?"
"I- i can't find it, I kept it in my bag, I know. This is where it has been" she said worriedly.
Lina's face seemed troubled "We just bumped into two girls not long ago, what if it has been misplaced."
"Oh my God. They took my card?!" She dropped down on the bed Lina sat beside her.
"If they find out they will bring it back. I'm sure it was a mistake"
Valentine grew quiet for a while. "No… it was planned, the girl took my bag instead of hers… what would they do to my card? Who sent them?"
"Um your bio card is basically your info… but don't worry, it's only the school's systems that can read it. None of them can do that… they would have to hack the school's system, and that's impossible…" she laid back down on the bed. "Don't worry, Val."