Chapter thirty

What Luz enjoys is that one of the girls heard everything Nick said to Margot; so she will have more reason to pursue her revenge.

It's obvious that the gossip is going to be on the road, literally. Karma certainly exists and Luz begins to fear for herself.

Fear of life was not always common for her; as a child she just wanted to do everything in this life and go through every nook and cranny in this world. As for the boys, she was like Margot and Margot like she is now. Before the popular ones were Luz and Margot, Nick and Alexis were her favorite nerds.

Remembering the quartet of little friends they once formed, Luz sees all that so far away that it seems it was just another dream of the protagonist of a teenage novel. Her eyes water but she refuses to shed any more tears because they serve no purpose except to make her look older than she feels.

"Guys, are we ready for the game?"

Alexis shows up with the typical bad boy look: messy hair, black leather leather jacket and a sarcastic smile that is the very charm of a demon. It's clear that the latter is not at all literal, although the demon hasn't confirmed it yet.

Why has the demon been so silent lately?

Do I need to worry?

Everyone around the campfire shouts in ecstasy at the certainty that they will finally know what the dark brown briefcase is hiding.

"We thought you weren't coming. How could you get out of punishment?"

That girl is Linsy and she plays the role of Margot's best friend although what she wants most of all is to be the popular one. First she finished with Luz and now, little by little, she was going to hunt Margot. No one could suspect her, her two French braids and submissiveness do not make her a worthy rival or so Margot thinks.

"They use me too well not to let me have any fun."

Nick watched him with great scrutiny, perhaps subconsciously he does want to be like Alexis. In his gaze more than envy there is a certain respect and fear at the same time, if that can be possible.

He must be too afraid to dare to admit that he is a toy of the capitalist society but well paid.

"That guy with the mole thinks he's a big deal. He doesn't know that you are the father of the scheming minds."

Nick has just solved Luz's big question about where so much economic abundance comes from. Her mother has managed her father's business well, Luz was never convinced by this public explanation. Last year he was almost sent to jail on money laundering charges.

Luz knows Alexis' mother, although she may be very good at finances now, that doesn't mean that he doesn't smoke and his mother doesn't tell him anything. Before, when they were children, his mother always called his attention and corrected him when she saw that his attitude was reproachable. Both her mother and his mother were a couple of "mother hens".

Now that Luz thought about it: Isn't it strange that Alexis' mother doesn't even show up for the parents' meeting anymore?

Since this year he hasn't seen her on the street, that's why Luz and her mother think that she doesn't speak to them because her pride has already eaten her head off.

What if it wasn't like that? What if there is more terrible behind all this?

Luz watches, and lets the tears fall from her eyes, as Alexis sits on the grass and crosses his legs. He stretches out one of his legs and uses his shoe as a lighter to light his cigarette.

"Somehow I have to stop trying to be like Margot and feel good about being a nice trophy of some guy's conformity whether he's a maniac or not.

Why does the strange, sinister, mysterious and almost terrifying appeal to me so much?"

Remember that whatever disturbs me disturbs Luz even more. She has asked herself the same questions that I asked myself a few moments ago about her beloved Alexis.

Wake up, girl!

That is a vile demon who wants to make you part of his immense harem!

Yes, that's the only thing a demon looks for in lonely girls who "feel too much". He only wants Luz to be part of his stupid harem so he can steal her soul. You don't have to be a genius to know that demons are always after souls to corrupt them and receive a very valuable reward from their regent, Lucifer.

Everything in this story is a diabolical cliché!

Am I making you a spoiler?

I don't think so, or at least it won't be that serious; otherwise Lucifer would have already cut out my tongue and you can see that I'm more talkative than ever.

"Better for me if you underestimate me because scheming minds need time to plan how to introduce that damned chain that saturates your brains and confuses goals with dreams."

Her eyes emit that enchanting gleam and devilish smile that perhaps Luz previously refused to see for what it was.

"And if I tell you that my goal at this instant is to know what's inside this briefcase.

Am I right?"

Margot asks, resting her head on Alexis' right shoulder. She looks at him with rapt and enamored eyes, and all because of the words.

Watching them, Luz remembers seeing that look elsewhere. She traces it back to the time when she sought to be happy and make her father happy. When she tried to sit on his thigh to be petted but he pushed her aside to watch the game. Other times she tried, but her father got annoyed every time so she stopped trying.

Indifference was her best barrier against the reality around her.

"That dazzled look, falling in love is just another barrier and a way to continue the chain.

It's all in my mind but will it really be as I think it is?"

Luz would like to talk to Margot and finally have a true friendship.

"It doesn't matter what word you use but how you use it." Alexis turns her gaze from Margot to the rest of the group. "Believe not in my words but in my intentions. In this briefcase is our life insurance. The reason we are not in that absurd championship."

They all look at each other with dread and confusion in their eyes, sweat or a slight tremor revealing the obvious concern.

"What's up?"

Nick asks with a serious tone and Alexis knows she can no longer hide the mystery.

"I should open it but not here." Alexis stands up and frowns. "You all do things and say things behind my back. I never said anything because I'm not one to tell you anything but believe me now our lives depend on change."

Nick jumps up and stands in front of Alexis with a defiant air.

"You can stop with the mystery. Speak once and for all or..."

"Or what? I know you incite violence and you guys play along."

Everyone around the campfire slowly backs away from them.

Alexis takes one last drag before stashing his cigarette in his pants pocket.

"You were in the living room and you were walking away from the group. Yet; even with the attitude of a nerd you were still the go-to guy but only by word of mouth, you left them alone to stuff yourself with wads of cash. You're not immortal, we all have replacement psycho blowhards."

Nick was no longer going to pretend to like Alexis because he considers him, for obvious reasons, a threat to the school.

"At least I'm not a hypocrite."

Margot approaches Alexis to keep her from going toe-to-toe with Nick. Luz knows that would prove fatal because Alexis has studied karate and Nick boxing.

Alexis looks so intensely at Margot that it looks like she is unleashing all her fury in that look. She seems painfully used to it because she looks down at him and Margot turns away.

"Do you seen?, do they see?, he's a psycho."

Alexis just laughs and looks at the others to analyze the situation. A haze of embarrassment invades him because he provokes the same fear they instilled in him. He doesn't do it on purpose; rather, Alexis is accustomed to pouring fury into the weight of his gaze and not onto his fists. All to comply with the most essential rule of karate: force is used as a last resort and only to defend oneself.

"Enough thinking."

Nick throws a slap at his jaw and makes him bleed. Alexis can't take it anymore and gives him a right hand on the so called "triangle of death". With this Nick is left somewhat dazed and sweats like a drizzle. Alexis puts his foot on him and Nick goes down. Alexis flashes a devilish grin. His heart doesn't race, he doesn't tense up; something in him makes him see this scene as normal. Even fear no longer seems to be a restraint against unleashing his lower passions. On the contrary, fear seems to become a fundamental reason for being a very bad boy.

She swims backwards to get away from that scene of violence. Luz can't stand the rancor and rage destroying Alexis and Nick's humanity. She too is gripped by anger; but she does not go against anyone outside her home.

The darkness of the waters makes you feel safe, far from reality, but it is also boring. Luz is someone who needs to imagine and reimagine to see this limitless world.

"Why Alexis, Margot, Nick, Flavia and Esteban... his name is Esteban not Bastian... why are we like this?

Why aren't we like this?

Esteban for Bastian, it would be perfect and that's why it's unreal."

Accepting that Bastian does not exist may be the first step to truly having no limits.

Who is Bastian?

That is the big question Luz has been asking herself since she decided not to be the nerd or the popular one anymore, she just wants to be the protagonist of her own life.

She doesn't remember why she started calling her brother Bastián and he loves it. So much so that he once told her that when he comes of age he will change his name to Bastián on his ID card.

Suddenly she gets a pain in her forehead and is no longer sure that everything she is seeing is real. It wouldn't be the first time she walks in her sleep and talks. What is true is that it is the first time that Luz dreams of her own physical form. Before in her dreams she saw herself with other and very diverse forms of fantastic beings.

"The fantastic being that I personified the most in my dreams were fairies. I would never know that if it weren't for Alexis writing it down in the notebook that I read secretly from him."

That's why her father locks her bedroom door every night.

With Flavia there are no problems at night; because only the spread of her brother's flatulence would wake her up, just as only the smell of Flavia's armpits would wake him up.

You know that sometimes we get depressed and we take a bath after two or three days. Well, I only use my tongue because it has just the right amount of water for my species. But as I say, me and mine also get "an excess of sadness".

Even though this is a dream, Luz has a feeling that when she wakes up another light will shine inside her mind.

Dreaming like she is must be a good thing or not?

She decides to swim upwards; but seconds pass and she still sees the same darkness. Everything never seems to change as if she is always in the same place.

"No matter how much I go up or down, it's always the same purgatory."

Again the muffled voice and Luz hears her heartbeat as if it were the beeps she hears inside her head.

Luz moves her hands erratically because she realizes that she is literally swimming upwards.