The Doyen

Chapter Six

Victoria's favourite thing about her school was the library. It was the quietest place to be, and being surrounded by her studying peers was one of her biggest sources of motivation.

     Unsurprisingly, this was something that Victoria and Nile had in common.

Victoria's eyes drifted away from her novel and landed on the one and only Nile Cadsmith. He sat by the window, sipping on a cup of coffee that he had bought from the school cafe. His eyes were trained on a piece of paper–presumably something that the YWLA had written.

Victoria's gaze was fixed on him, as she remembered the state he was in the other day. She had told herself that she would casually check up on him, but not too often that she would become a bother to him. She hesitantly packed up her things, as she made her way towards his table.

     "Hey," Nile looked up at her, "Uhm.. mind if I sit here?"

Nile slid his cup of coffee closer to him and nonchalantly nodded in response. Victoria considered the fact that she might be bothering him, but Nile just didn't seem like the type of person to do things he didn't want to do willingly. So, she sat down and figured that if he didn't want her to sit there he would have just said no.

Nile placed the newspaper down on the table, and the two teenagers stared at each other awkwardly.

Nile cleared his throat. "About yesterday.."

     "Oh, we don't have to talk about that.", she quickly interrupted. "I was just wondering what you were up to lately.."

Nile stared at her blankly before he looked down at the papers she gestured towards. "I'm proofreading the edited copy of one of our latest editions," he told her, "You know that the Halloween carnivals soon right? We're compiling reviews from last year to help advertise."

     "Really?!" Victoria leaned towards the papers, "That's so cool!"

Victoria loved the Halloween carnival held in her town once a year. She went with Ben every time it was hosted, and they both had a collection of stuffed animals that they had won each time they went.

Nile's lips slightly pulled upwards at her burst of excitement. "Yeah.. actually, Julia's been busy babysitting her sister so she doesn't have much time to edit lately which is why I've been doing that as well."

Victoria hummed in thought. Maybe his breakdown the other day was due to stress? Sometimes she found herself crying when she was overwhelmed as well.

"Uhm, not to sound rude but I think you already have too much on your plate can't someone else work on editing as well?"

"Actually, I've been looking for someone to temporarily fill that position." He took another sip of his coffee. "Would you be interested?"

Victoria sat straight up and her eyes widened. Me? Apart of the YWLA? The group was notorious and popular. Universities knew of them, and the connections that came with the position would be life-changing. This wasn't the only thing Victoria thought about in the moment, she also thought about her father. Maybe, he would finally support her desire to get an English degree because he too knew how big of a position in the YWLA would be. They were famous in their city.

"Well I-"

"Nile! I don't know how you can handle sitting with Jayson or Michael!"A familiar girl with long, black sleek hair complained. "They literally drive me crazy!" Her eyes were focused on Nile, completely ignoring Victoria's presence.

Nile sighed, "Just sit here then, Anika."

Anika's eyes finally fell on Victoria, realizing that Victoria had been staring at her. She looked at Victoria from head to toe, and her eyes travelled back and forth between the two teens. Victoria averted her eyes, and tried to look anywhere she could to avoid the situation of an awkward staring contest.