Business And Hopelessness

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Ashamed

Valentina counted the money she received from a student in the bathroom, then went to find Luca on the rooftop, buttoning up her blazer against the cold. Apparently, he had some news about the mysterious paper disappearing, so she was anticipating the explanation. Odette was still quite a bit pissed at her, but she kept quiet, but Valentina didn't expect anything else from her friend.

As she opened the doors leading to the rooftop, the cold wind hit her instantly, making her shiver. She hugged her torso as she looked around to find Luca, who was sitting on a bench in his coat. At least one of them was smart enough to bring a coat to get out into the freezing weather.

"Hey gate climber," Luca greeted, patting the bench next to him. Valentina kindly shook her head.

"I should be calling you that. You looked like you've done that before..." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but he just shot her a mysterious smile. "And you should get up from the bench. You are going to catch a cold."

"Val, don't worry," He shook his head lightly. "You are the one catching that cold."

He stood up and unzipped his coat, shrugging it off before going over to Valentina and offering it to her. At first, she wanted to refuse, but he was insistent on it, so she let him put it on her. He zipped it at the front, then even adjusted the hood. She felt like a child.

"Now, back to the less important stuff," Luca said, satisfied, then sat back down on the bench. He was only in his shirt and the jacket that came with the uniform.

"The less important stuff means the papers?" Valentina cocked her head with raised eyebrows.

"They are obviously less important than you, love," He grinned, then cleared his throat. "So, I got word that they were moved to the principal's office."

Valentina's smile dropped immediately, her expression turning from confused to devastated. She knew there was no way they would be getting their hands on those papers. How could they get into the principal's office undetected? It was borderline impossible. Luca saw the doubt in her eyes and stood up, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"We can do it. Let's head down and check the place out, then we can see what we can do about it, okay?" He stated the plan reassuringly, so she took a big, deep breath.

"Fine. But this is impossible," Valentina whined, running her hands through her hair in exasperation.

"Nothing is impossible. Remember that!"

So, Valentina and Luca walked down the stairs, side by side until they reached the bottom floor, acting like they were casually taking a stroll as they neared the area where the offices were. Luca came to a stop at the corner and held out a hand to stop Valentina too, so she took a few steps back along with him, and they looked around the corner together.

Ray was standing there, knocking on the door of the principal's office. The door opened a couple of moments later and the principal walked out, his face lighting up upon seeing Ray. He clasped a hand on his back, and as Ray began talking, he pulled him with him to take a walk down the corridor. They were going in the opposite direction from where Luca and Valentina were standing.

Looking at each other, Valentina slowly strolled up to the door and Luca followed her wordlessly. She touched the door handle, glancing at Luca before trying to open it. She couldn't believe her eyes when the door opened effortlessly. The principal left it open. Valentina exchanged a wide-eyed, meaningful look with Luca, then hurried inside, hoping that Luca would be an efficient guard outside.

She looked around the room and stepped up to the principal's desk immediately, hoping that the papers were hidden in one of the drawers. With a sense of urgency, she began opening the drawers one by one until she came across the one with a bunch of papers inside. Taking a deep breath, she leaned closer, seeing that the top ones were indeed the answer sheets for exams.