Julia Lelieveld and the fifth element

It was mid-November. It was dark outside. You came to school in the dark and almost left in the dark. If the weather was only a little nice during the day, I would always make it through the winter.

It was cold on the bike. It was already quieter in the bicycle shed at school. More and more students came by bus or were taken. I put my bike in the standard. It was dark, the light was broken. I had already seen Eva and Bas standing on the school steps. Behind me I heard the sound of an engine. A sound I had never heard before in this stable. I locked my bike and turned around. A boy with a fast motorbike entered the garage. He had on a black helmet that matched his black and yellow bike. Geez, what were those guys up here with motorcycles? He stopped the bike and took off his helmet.

He ran his hand through his dark hair. In the twilight I saw his hair fall like silk down his handsome face. No matter how dark it was, I could see that. Geez what a treat. He was well built. He wore a black leather jacket over black jeans and black leather boots.

I had never seen him at school before. I walked to the exit of the stable, it was almost time for the first lesson, when I heard something fall. I looked around and saw the boy bending over and groping for the ground.

I heard him curse to himself. It was also just too dark to find anything. I thought of myself. Suppose it was my first day and I dropped my key in a dark garage and no one wanted to help me find it. With that thought I walked over to him and also dropped to my knees to feel the floor for the key.

He looked startled, as if he hadn’t heard me coming at all. He looked at me a little confused and annoyed.

He didn’t seem comfortable at all. I smiled at him briefly. “They could do something about the lighting here,” I told him.

I saw him relax a little more.

“It’s just an old mess in here.”

He had a lived-in voice, a slightly hoarse edge. I think he was about my age.

Okay then, good morning too. I looked at him questioningly.

“You could call it that too.” And I shrugged indifferently.

He probably didn’t appreciate my help. I actually wanted to run away before he got really mad when I felt something cold and hard with my finger. I slid my hand under the open stable door and felt that it was the key. I took the key and handed it to him.

He looked incredulously at his hand where the key was, then folded it shut and looked back at me. I returned his gaze, got up and walked to school.

I don’t know what that boy had, but I think it was bothering him quite a bit.

I saw that everyone was already inside. Shit, I was late. It was Monday so I had math. Fucking professor de Wit. That will be detention again.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind me and I turned around automatically. Of course there was the beautiful new boy. With his jet black hair and dark eyes. I didn’t know what was bothering him or why he was being so mean, but for some reason I felt sorry for him. Maybe it was his look. I don’t know.

“Do you have Mathematics from Professor de Wit?”

He took a crumpled paper from his pocket and looked at it for a moment. He was able to translate it despite the dark sky.

“Right first time,” he said sarcastically.

“Say I don’t know what your problem is. But if you want you can come with me, maybe we only have to stay after today and not all week”, I said to him in a slightly irritated tone. I just saw him draw his eyebrows together before I turned and walked into the school. While I was already at the second flight of stairs, I heard the door below open with great force and someone walking up the stairs with hard footsteps. I started walking a little faster, I didn’t want him to knock me over here in the stairwell so that I could be found downstairs for the next hour.

I was just pushing open the door to the third floor when he was also at the top of the stairs. Without turning around, I walked to the room. Shit, so we were really late. De Wit was already writing assignments on the board. I tried to open the door softly, as if no one would notice that I would be late. Yes, keep dreaming.

De Wit looked up from the board and looked at me with a satisfied smile.

“Look who we have there. Mrs. Lelieveld thinks it’s time to be late for my class again. You know what that means.” He looked at me mockingly and went to his desk to write a yellow note. “You can stay after this afternoon.” And he triumphantly handed the note to me. I took it with a mocking smile and walked to my seat.

“And who are you if I may ask?” I heard behind me. I sat down and saw the beautiful but oh so bitter boy standing in front of the class.

“Renzo,” he said in his hoarse, deep voice.

“Ah, and do you have a last name?”

“Lucifer.”

Lucifer? Could he be related to Lucas? So many people called Lucifer from behind wouldn’t live here either.

“That says enough”, said De Wit, irritated.

“Here’s a detention note. You may stay after this afternoon with Mrs. Lelieveld.” And he handed the note to Renzo. Renzo stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it.

“You can sit here in the front.” He pointed to the front table of my row. There was only one person among them. In front of me was a girl with red fluffy hair who was almost a head shorter than me, so she was really small. Renzo walked uninterested to the table and before he sat down our eyes met for a moment. He looked just as his attitude was.

“And Mr Lucifer? Strict rules apply in this class. You are not allowed to say anything until you have received permission to do so and you only address me as Professor de Wit. Is that clear?”

I saw that Renzo nodded his head briefly and looked at the book he already had in his bag.

“Oh, and if you’re not in the detention room this afternoon, I’ll personally get you suspended.”

Renzo hadn’t even responded to this. I saw that he was still holding his head down as if he saw something very interesting in his book.

Well, luckily he hadn’t made the same mistake I did on my first day, when I totally screwed up at De Wit. But I had the feeling that if Renzo turned out to be the top of the class, he would still be in a bad light at De Wit just because his name was Lucifer. I don’t think Lucas was a sweetheart. He already had a big name with the headmaster and the teachers didn’t really like him either. He didn’t go out of his way to make friends, except with me. But if I compare Lucas to what would probably be his little brother, Lucas was still a good boy. I just shrugged and opened the math book and got to work. Bearing in mind that I would have to stay in detention with Renzo this afternoon.

After class Eva was already jumping up and down with curiosity about what I was doing this morning with Renzo.

“Tell, tell! You like the Lucifer boys”, she said with a big wink. Oh Jesus, were we going to get this again. Yes, of course. Cozy threesome with the Lucifer men. I rolled my eyes.

“O my god, Eva. I only helped him find his key to his bike this morning in the garage. So that’s why we were late.”

“Oh, so no juicy gossip?” She looked at me a little disappointed.

“No, no juicy gossip.”

“Well, at least I want to know all about that angry, but very handsome boy!” she said delightedly.

And with a trot she walked to the next lesson.

After lunch we had history. I still had this lesson to work on my paper, because I would have to hand it in soon. I really needed the next hour. Because a class had been canceled, I had been given an extra week to work on it.

We walked into the classroom, I stood by the door for a while, until Ivo had counted all the students. Then I could go to the library afterwards to finish my assignment.

“Good afternoon everyone. Ah look, a new face. Lorenzo if I’m not wrong?” And he looked questioningly at Renzo.

“Renzo.”

“Oh, excuse me, Renzo.”

“I’m Ivo Groothuizen, you can choose what you call me, but everyone addresses me as Ivo.”

Renzo nodded briefly and looked around questioningly where he might sit, Ivo probably saw it.

“No Renzo, you can work on a piece of paper during the history class for the next three weeks. A piece of work about the history of this town.”

He looked around for a moment until he saw me.

“Aha, Julia can also work on her paper during this lesson. I would like to have it handed in at the end of this lesson, so that you can come by after school for the assessment. Will you show Renzo the way to the library?”

Just say no.

“Yes.” And I just smiled. I saw Renzo look at me, as if he would rather have a root canal at the dentist than go to the library with me.

“Fine, then that’s setteld. Good luck.” And Ivo turned his attention to the rest of the class.

Renzo walked past me through the doorway toward the stairwell. He didn’t seem to want anything to do with me. I don’t know how it happened, but I didn’t want to let it go. He treated me like a monstrosity, and I didn’t deserve it.

Eva looked at me questioningly. I shrugged and headed for the stairwell. He would probably know where the library was, but he wouldn’t be quick to find the cupboard with all the information. I stepped into the stairwell and heard Renzo one floor above me. I didn’t see him in the library anymore, probably he was already looking or had asked Rob for help. But I didn’t think so, because he didn’t seem the type to ask for help.

The library was extinct. Probably everyone had lessons. I looked around, but didn’t see him. I didn’t see Rob either, would he still have asked for help?

I walked up the old stairs and through the high rows of cupboards filled with books. At the end I already saw the table with the old computers.

I walked around the corner to the large closet where I still had some reference work to do and there he was. Like a statue, he was engrossed in reading one of the books. Surprised that he had managed to find it so quickly, I looked at him for a moment. He didn’t look up from his book, as if I wasn’t there at all. I threw my bag on the desk and picked up the last volume of Esmeralda’s diary series.

I sat down in one of the discarded chairs and began to read. I had actually already largely finished the paper, but wanted to give it some more depth by incorporating the storyline of the diaries. I was amazed that as such an independent woman she could find her place in the culture of that time.

After adding the final notes, I was done. I put the booklet away and made another layout on the computer for the assignment. In the meantime Renzo had just stood there by the cupboard, completely engrossed in the stories of the past.

When I had printed and bound the piece, it was ready. I looked at Renzo again. Could he really be Lucas’s brother?

He looked even taller than Lucas and had a slightly different build and features. At least, I had only seen him look angry, confused and indifferent.

Lucas was a bit wider. Renzo had a slim but muscular body. I could even tell through his clothes. Just because of his way of moving. His facial expressions were stronger. But I had the feeling that he could keep them very well to himself, as if he were wearing a mask to the outside world. He couldn’t just be bitter, could he?

I shook my head quickly before he realized I was staring at him. I packed my bag and got up to walk to the history room to hand in the paper.

“Watch yourself, I don’t trust that guy.”

Where did that suddenly come from? I turned and looked at him questioningly.

“Which guy?”

I wasn’t even able to ask why he suddenly said something to me. And that he was worried about me. I guess I was just too amazed that he said anything to me at all.

“Ivo,” he said in his dark, hoarse voice. And he looked at me intently. Only now did I really see the color of his eyes. They were dark, but not brown, as I thought. No, they were a deep dark blue, like the night. I had never seen such a beautiful eye color.

He looked back at his book, which I saw as a sign to leave. I handed in my paper and luckily the rest of the day went well. I hadn’t spoken to Renzo again, but I probably couldn’t put it off much longer, because we had to stay in detention together.

The door to the history room was closed, I knocked and opened it carefully.

Empty.

“Mr. Grotenbos? Ivo?” I still thought it was weird to call a teacher by his first name.

Renzo’s words still haunted my mind. Why had he said such a thing?

I got no response. Then I should quickly return to the detention room, before they realized that I was not there and that I will be allowed to stay in detention for a whole week.

I turned and had the door handle in my hands again when I heard Ivo say behind me: “Julia, you’ve come, how nice.” And he motioned for me to come in.

“Come on, shut the door behind you, will you? That speaks a little more calmly.”

Cautiously I closed the door and walked slowly towards him. He was standing in the doorway of the room’s adjoining office.

“Come in, I have to tell you, I’m surprised,” he said in a cheerful tone.

“Surprised?”

“I have rarely read such a lively essay on the history of this town. My compliments.”

“Oh um, thanks.”

Then all that work wouldn’t have been in vain.

“Look, you deserve it.”

He gave me back my essay with a big A+ on the front. Geez, and all thanks to Esmeralda’s diaries.

I took the essay and glanced at the A+. It had been a long time since I had gotten such a high grade. After Mom’s death, I couldn’t have focused properly. Maybe this tells me that I’m getting back to my old self.

I turned around so I could go to the detention room. I couldn’t believe he couldn’t tell me this in the next lesson.

“What a rush Julia. I’d like to talk a little bit more about the content.”

He looked at me a little authoritatively. I didn’t like that at all. No one is in charge of me.

“Well, I actually have to stay in detention and I don’t want to be late.” I shrugged and turned around again.

“Oh, but everyone knows they don’t check for half an hour, otherwise you know now.” As if that was everything.

I didn’t like the tone in which he continued.

“I don’t want to risk it anyway.”

I tried to be calm and turned around again. At that moment he grabbed my shoulder. I turned around in an instant. I looked at him startled.

“Take it easy.” And he held up both his arms as if he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“I really have to go now,” I snapped at him.

Before I could turn around, he grabbed me hard by my left wrist. The pain shot through my entire arm. My wrist was still sore from last week’s fall. Now that he gripped it so hard and roughly, the pain was almost unbearable.

I automatically slumped to my knees a bit to keep up with the movement so that I had to move my wrist as little as possible. I tried to break free, but he had me so tight.

“I was really trying to ask nicely,” he said in a laughing sarcastic way. As if he enjoyed this.