Free Web NovelChapter 145: Chapter 145
"Nael?" Valentin called when they got to the crossroad, they needed to decide what path they would be taking.
Nael pushed off from the wall to sling an arm around Valentin, still nursing his bottle of wine. "That’s what Errol used to call me."
Valentin pinched the bridge of his nose and took another drink from his bottle, Nael would singlehandedly make him finish the entire bottle.
"Maybe because that’s your name?" He said with patience he wasn’t feeling, "You know what, let’s go this way." He made the decision himself, going in a different direction from the path that Audie and Jacques had taken. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
It all led to the same exit so they would be fine but they didn’t know that yet.
"Let’s pick up the pace or we’ll end up spending the whole day down her-" Valentin said after a while of walking silently,
He barely had all of his words out before Nael was sprinting past him, moving a little too fast for someone who couldn’t walk straight.
"Nael!" Valentin called after him, dashing after him. He couldn’t lose the drunk idiot.
-*-
The two pairs met up sooner rather than later, the secret underground passageway was a crisscross of random turns that all led to an outlet behind Marble Park. It clearly served no purpose and seemed to be added for fun - or for if students wanted to ditch classes.
Audie and Jacques had been walking in tense silence while Nael and Valentin were the stark opposite.
When they bumped into each other, Valentin let go of Nael to stomp over to Audie, the other immediately tumbling against a wall
"How dare yo- hiccup! - you just run off... hiccup!" He berated his friend, poking him with his empty bottle.
Audie had a sheepish expression on his face, "Sorry that I..."
"-hiccup!- I don’t want to hear it!" Valentin slashed a hand, lifting his head haughtily.
Audie struggled to keep a straight face, Vale’s hiccupping was very distracting but it did a good job of taking his attention from Jacques.
By the time they came out of the exit, Jacques was single-handedly pulling his friends along. Nael and Valentin already had a hard time walking by the time they met up and although he seemed to be fine, Audie had also emptied a bottle of wine.
They all gave up on walking by the time the passageway led to a different set of stairs, none of them wanted to go up the stairs.
Valentin did make an effort to start up the stairs; he slowly got down to his hands and knees, and only made it to the third stair before gingerly sliding down.
Audie and Nael didn’t even make an effort, the final leg of the journey was filled with them bursting into raucous laughter whenever Valentin hiccupped so right then it didn’t take a lot for them to start laughing again at his failed attempt to get up the stairs.
Jacques just stood with an exasperated expression wondering if he could just walk away and leave them behind. He had to settle for gingerly guiding them all up the stairs like they were geriatric patients.
He opened the exit door when they got to the platform above the stairs to find out that they had spent far more time in the secret passageway than he thought. Students were milling around again to signal the end of classes for the day, ’How many hours did they spend down there?’
It was easier to handle the three of them at that point, Jacques taking them straight to Errol and Nael’s shared room. He had no interest in leading around a bunch of drunk teenagers like toddlers while he took them to their separate dorm rooms.
Besides, there was no way they would get into any trouble if he just locked them in. He still had to return to the passageway to grab the souvenirs they left behind.
-*-
By the time lunch rolled around, Louis had come to the conclusion that there was no prying the two Alphas off Henri.
"Will there be an opening competition for the Horse racing club?" He asked Henri, planning to pretend that the two intimidating Alphas were just a part of the fixtures.
"It’s not much of a competition," Henri shrugged. That practice was abolished not long after it was introduced. "It’s just the new club members riding for the fun of it."
"Will you be going?"
Henri actually had no intention of going, he just wanted to return to the privacy of his dorm room. While it would be boring, it was far better than being in the presence of both Claude and Alexander while the entire school stared him down.
His peaceful plans were cut short by the very last person he wanted to see - Rex. A classmate of his that was also in the Horse riding club, the energetic Alpha was always trying to get Henri to teach him how to ride better.
"Henri! I was looking for you," He bounded over, leaning too close like he always did. "The president said to tell you to please show up to the opening competition, apparently, there’s a lot of new members that are looking forward to seeing you." He added the last bit in a conspiratorial whisper, leaving just as loudly as he came.
Henri just sighed, there went his plan of finding some respite.
To no surprise of his, Claude and Alexander trailed him down to the Field. He didn’t bother questioning them anymore, knowing that they would just use the excuse that he was showing them around.
"Neither of you is interested in joining the Horse riding club, right?" He asked politely to make small talk, they couldn’t keep walking around in deathly silence like they were his bodyguards.
Henri knew that he would end up spending the rest of his years at college with both of them dogging his steps, he knew this yet he had a hard time accepting it.
So he wasn’t at all surprised when they both expressed interest in the club. Although he knew well that Claude would probably prefer to join the wrestling club and Alexander, fencing.
