The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 4 Infatuated Cristos It was already a Friday. The last day of the school week. I was looking forward to some free time, so I could go over my research on Joy Taylor. Actually, I didn’t have much to go by. “Cristos, have you found anything?” Xavier asked. He was so impatient. He thinks digging up the past was so easy. 

“Nothing yet. I told you it’s as if she doesn’t exist,” I said. “Let me rephrase that. It’s as if whatever happened to her didn’t happen.” “You know that’s only possible if someone can control all the people in town, including law. enforcement. 

Who in that town is the richest and most powerful?” Xavier asked. We were outside the library, seated on a bench under a tree. We noticed Joy would go directly to the library between classes and so to keep an eye on her, we would usually sit here and wait for her. 

“I’d say the mayor,” I answered. “Then I say focus on him,” Xavier said, checking his watch. “S hit! My next class is about to start. Keep an eye on her for me, will yah? Text me where she goes. I’ll see you later.” He ran off to his building, leaving me behind typing on my laptop, continuing my research. I really hated it when everything leads to a dead end. There were no newspapers or any video mentioning Joy Taylor’s assault. 

I went back as far as five years and I still didn’t find anything. All I found was how the good mayor Thedore Cohen was making New Salem a town of the future. Maybe Xavier was right. 

It had to be someone powerful enough to block the media and intervene with law enforcement. If it wasn’t the mayor, then who? I was looking into information about the Sheriff of New Salem when at the corner of I saw Joy exit the library heading towards the students’ cafeteria. I didn’t notice it was already lunch time. 

I qu y laptop and followed her. She forgot shr my eye, many of our fellow schoolmates began pointing at her as every one of them a dirty look. How dare they laugh at rough so much! I sighed and shook my head as I walked. Such immature minds. They would never know what Joy has been through unless they walked a mile in her shoes. 

I actually doubted if they would survive if it happened to them. I rushed up from behind her and quickly held the door open so she could pass through. She looked up at me, surprised to see me holding the door for her. She smiled shyly at me and nodded her head gratefully. 

I noticed her eyes were a stunning shade of blue and green… very beautiful. “Uhm, thank you,” she said. She had a really sultry voice. No wonder Xavier liked her. “No problem,” I replied. She entered the cafeteria and fell in line. I fell in line right behind her. 

I never noticed how tall she was. Standing straight, she reached up to my shoulders. She was slender and had long legs. I noticed how graceful her hands were and that she had clean fingernails.

When she flipped her long chestnut brown hair, I could smell the floral scent of her shampoo. When we reached the cashier, I thrusted my money at the cashier before she could pay. “I got this,” I said, smiling at her. “You don’t have to,” she said, pouting her lips. 

She actually looked adorable. “You can buy me lunch next time,” I told her. When I said that, she grinned and nodded her head.

“Okay, next time then,” she murmured sweetly. “Thanks again.” She was picking up her tray so she could find a table to sit at when a familiar voice spoke from behind us. 

“Cristos, I was looking for you at the-” Xavier suddenly stopped when he realized who I was talking to. “S-Sorry…” Joy smiled at Xavier which made him blush. “Uhm, hi! C-Cristos here was so kind to pay for my lunch,” she said. “Thank you, C-Cristos.” She took her tray and found a spot all the way in the corner away from all the students. 

I smiled. I liked how she said my name. “Da mn it, Cristos! You should have texted me you were here. I could have bought her lunch!” Xavier exclaimed, utterly irritated at me, as we seated ourselves just a few tables away from her. 

“Sorry! I was so engrossed in studying her. She has really beautiful eyes,” I mentioned. He raised an eyebrow, surprised I had noticed her eyes. Then he leaned back on his chair, sulking. 

“I saw her first!” Xavier mumbled, like a child. “We all saw her at the same time, Xavier. Hey! I’m invested on whatever this is too, you know. Just calm down. Sebastian and I, we want to help her too. 

Together, we’ll find whoever did this to her and make them kneel in front of her. I swear it,” I told him, trying to cheer him up. He sighed and leaned forward. “I’m just protective of her. I don’t want to see the sadness in her eyes anymore.” 

Xavier’s voice had a tenderness in it that I have never heard before. Was he in love with her… already?. “Don’t worry, Xavier.” Sebastian suddenly appeared and slid into a chair beside Xavier, giving him a sandwich and a drink. “I already talked to my mother. 

She’s arranging for our medical colleagues to help Joy.” Xavier turned around to glance at Joy who was reading a textbook while finishing her lunch. “Whatever the costs, Sebastian, I will pay. Just tell them to make her beautiful just like her heart.” 

I glanced at Sebastian whose eyes were also on Joy Taylor. I sighed. All three of us secretly watching her. s were It was so weird. We haven’t even formally met, but the three of us were already infatuated with Joy.