Second Hand [manxboy]

Chapter 4

"Good morning, Mimi. I didn't think you were a chauffer," Nico said as he came down the stairs in his uniform. True to his word, he had one black lace in his Converse, and the other one was neon green.

"Not that name. Please just forget it. And did you have trouble matching your shoe laces? I thought that only happened with socks," Miroslav retorted.

"Hey, it's intentional." Nico glanced down at his feet with a smile. "I also got a few braided bracelets, in which boys aren't allowed to wear jewelry." He held up his wrists and showed off a few simple looking leather bands.

"Scandalous. And what about getting your ears pierced?" Miroslav asked.

"Ears pierced?" Yakov echoed, coming down the stairs and checking his watch. "And we need to be going to get Nicol... Nico to school on time."

"You're the one that came down the stairs last," Nico grumbled.

"Nico mentioned getting his ears pierced. It's quite common among teenage boys nowadays," Miroslav answered more formally.

Yakov grunted. "Among gangbangers."

"And plenty of regular teenage boys," Miroslav stated again.

"I want to gauge them out. You know, stretching them," Nico said, pulling down the lobes of his ears.

"Oh those giant holes? I don't want to see you with those," Yakov whined.

"I won't go big, but they look cool," Nico complained.

Yakov groaned and checked his watch again. "Oh. Well... we'll talk about it. I spoke with your Russian teacher on the phone, when she gives you the text book we'll be working on chapters one through six here at home, but I figure we can do that easily in a few days. The chapters are quite short. Miroslav, let's go."

Yakov led the way out to the car with Miroslav and Nico in tow. Yakov sat in the back with Nico. "Now you have your schedule, yes? We'll be picking you up after school as well. Let me know how your Russian classes go."

Nico just nodded deftly and leapt from the car at the first chance he got. Yakov leaned forward in his seat. "What? Why did he leave so quickly? I thought he didn't like school."

"You also talk a lot for it being before eight in the morning on a Monday," Miroslav pointed out.

Yakov grunted thoughtfully. "Am I being overbearing?"

"Somewhat, yes," Miroslav tried to answer gently. "At least that's how Nico sees it."

"Well... lets get to the office then," Yakov grumbled.

Miroslav nodded and started up the car again.

***

"Yakov," Miroslav said yet again.

"Yes, hold on," Yakov grumbled, going on into the phone. "No, I'm not going to pay that. Then we just won't give you—"

"Nicolai," Miroslav raised his voice slightly. "Will be out of school in thirty minutes. Are we picking him up?"

Yakov turned quickly, realization on his face. "Oh. No, I refuse. We'll discuss this later. I must go now." He quickly ended the phone call and tucked his cell phone away. "How bad is the traffic?"

"We can make it, but lets go," Miroslav urged.

Miroslav took the car with Yakov in the back. They hit minor traffic but Miroslav worked his way around it. He parked outside the school, across the street with the line of other cars waiting to pick up. Yakov cracked his window and watched out for Nico. "Before I ask him anymore bothersome questions, do you think he made any friends? Should I even ask him that?"