High-quality wifi, massage chairs, and mints pellets in the armrest of the seats; it was definitely an expenssive trip.
Since he had refused to come back to Boston by plane and wanted to make the return trip by bus instead, Lana had surely wanted him to be as comfortable as possible even if it means overspending.
Lazar sat down at the back of the bus, in the only available individual seat. He didn't want to be disturbed by a too talkative neighbor when he will be looking at the news he had missed after having been deprived of his phone and internet for a month and a half.
His training requiring no distractions, the only thing that linked him to what was happening outside the base was his postal correspondance with Lana, but the contents of her letters never taught him much on the actuality in general.
In her letters, she was only talking about whoever was her boyfriend of the moment and was asking Lazar's opinion on him without even following it afterwards.
She always ended up realizing that his advices were good, but that didn't stop her from repeating her mistakes, 'Anyway, how can you not doubt the ability of a woman supposed to be mature to manage her sentimental life when she asks this kind of advice to a teenager with no experience in this area? To be completely honest, it's easier for me to imagine her becoming an old lady with thirty cats for only company rather than married and fulfilled. If she was as lucid in her personal life as in her investigations, she wouldn't be so lost…'
The bus was on the road for two hours now. Lazar had the time to review all that was important and nothing out of the ordinary had happened since his departure, 'Unnecessary wars, political scandals, and so on. In the end, nothing unusual.'
The only thing that was preventing him from relaxing right now was the girl who had wallowed earlier.
She had placed herself in the row just to the right of his and was looking at him insistently in a particularly obscene manner.
***
Since arriving in the United States he always had this kind of unpleasant experiences with girls.
It started with Lana's sick desire to play matchmaker between the daughters of her friends and him and more recently that was the girls of his high school.
They were, for the most part, all attracted by his mysterious and cold side.
At that time, a lot of them had taken the fact that he wasn't talking to anyone and that he was staying in his corner all the time for shyness or other dumb reasons fueling their fertile imagination while it only came down to the fact that he didn't like anyone in his high school.
The problem in this kind of situation was mostly that Lazar often attracted the wrong girls.
It happened that they had a lot of suitors and in high school, when something doesn't please a boy, he could quickly come to think that the best thing to do was fight to solve his problems.
'When someone falls in love with you, you can't prevent it.' What Lazar could prevent on the other hand, was that anyone may think that he was bullyable at his entry to high school.
For that, he thought of making an example, an example violent enough so that he became instantly untouchable, because from his height of 1,56 meters at that time and with his reputation of nerd coming from middle school since he skipped a grade, Lazar passed for an easy target.
The very first week, he noticed that another freshman was already very interested in him and that she was also very successful with boys, to the point of being constantly surrounded by them.
In Lazar's eyes, it was the perfect opportunity.
The name of this girl was Katelyn Sullivan. Blonde, the same size as Lazar, an angelic face, sparkling blue eyes, and a chest large enough for absolutely every boy in the high school to have wet dreams of her.
On top of that, she had a certain pedigree, she was the daughter of a politician who coveted the town hall of Boston according to Lazar's memory.
The typical profile of the young and naive schoolgirl who doesn't care at all about the consequences of her actions and who never accept responsibility for them.
Clearly one of the types of people that Lazar hates, 'She liked to draw attention, thinking about it, maybe was it precisely for this reason that she was interested in me since I was the only one who paid her no heed.'
He wasn't wrong, but it was even worse than he thought, he had became her obsession!
At first, the situation was manageable, Katelyn only asked questions about Lazar to her 'friends', "Why is he always alone?", "Do you know him?", "I heard he won the chess tournament of the state, he must be very smart, right?", "Is he a member of a club here?"
The only reason no one had tried to beat him up so far was that it was bound to come back to Katelyn's ears and she was going to take it badly. But the situation changed when she tried to speak to him directly.
When he wasn't in class, he was reading a book or was on his phone, either leaning against his locker between lessons, or in the refectory during lunch. Katelyn knew it by dint of observing him, so one day, she decided to sit right next to him during the lunch break.
You should know that Lazar was purposely one of the first people to arrive in the refectory and the first gone since the tables fill up quickly and that he didn't want to speak to anyone. Every time he saw that the table he was on was filling up, he would go somewhere else.
...
That day, Katelyn had finally managed to muster her courage, the words she was going to say were going to seal her future with Lazar, "Hello, I…"
Lazar was already gone before she even opened her mouth.
Whatever approach she tried afterward the result was practically the same.
Of course, she didn't took it as rejection but as self-preservation and an inferiority complex from Lazar. She had inquired about him and knew that he didn't come from an influential family, unlike 80% of the students here.
After so many rejections, it didn't take much more time for Katelyn's suitors to find a pretext to attack Lazar.
The fastest was Ben Wilson, the only freshman to get a starting spot on the high school football team this year.
When Lazar saw this mountain of muscles with at least a head taller than him close his locker while he was taking his classes stuff, he couldn't help having a smirk, the situation seemed so cliché for him...
"Walker, right? I couldn't help but notice how badly you behaved with Katelyn while she was just trying to be nice to you. Can you explain?" Lazar let Ben starts the speech he surely had to go over hundreds of times in his head to look as cool as possible. After all, he needed as many people as possible to witness what was about to happen for his plan to work, destroying Ben right away wouldn't have the impact he wanted.
'Oh, he is rather polite for someone who came to beat me up. I will try to not break him something if he continues like this.'
"I don't want anything to do with her, this is the best way I have found to show her." Said Lazar following the script Ben must have had of the conversation they would have.
"I see... To be honest, I prefer it to be like that."
'Stop acting already, bullies aren't interested in logic.'
Ben suddenly reopened Lazar's locker and grabbed one of the books there, "But the damage is done and you have to pay!"
Ben was hanging it up in the air, presumably so that Lazar ridiculed himself trying to get it back jumping. But Lazar's reaction wasn't as he expected, "For your information, I have already read this book. Moreover, at this height, I can largely take it back"
Lazar put his backpack on the floor and raised his fists up to his face to show that he wanted to fight, "Sorry for you, I didn't intend to break you anything at first."
According to the plan, a crowd had gathered around them and waited for only one thing. That Ben crushes Lazar.
Some boys who intended to do the same if Ben hadn't been faster than them were already regretting not being in his place. None of them took Lazar seriously, neither did Ben, "Little Walker is a terror now? What are you going to do? Tell me."
'Sigh... The easiest targets are definitely the most confident.'
Lazar is a person you really shouldn't underestimate, he has a lot more strength than you might think.
"Stop kidding me, you didn't come here to chat from the start." The crowd could only admire Lazar's courage, but it ended there, no one thought he had a chance of winning.
Apart from two people who attended the same close combat course as him in downtown Boston. They were looking at each other whispering, "Go Lazar.", "Kick his ass."
They didn't clearly show their support for Lazar since Ben was very popular, but they couldn't help but encourage him.
Not because they liked him, they just wanted to see someone other than them being smashed by Lazar for once.
Ben saw nothing coming, Lazar successively kicked him on each knee and he found himself on the ground without even understanding what had happened the next moment.
Now it was Lazar who was looking down at him.
He recovered from the shock and tried to hit Lazar in the face with a direct right fist which he intercepted with his left hand.
A duel of strength followed which Lazar won by clenching Ben's fist until the pain was unbearable, 'FUCK! FUCK! Why did I have to come across a monster, shit!'
He had already lost but he told himself that he could still avoid humiliation by an apology, "Stop! I was wrong, I'm sorry!"
"You should spend more time training, you don't know how to hit. No real strength in your arms, I hope you're not a quarterback."
He was...
"Son of…" Lazar didn't let him finish his sentence, a bad habit.
He gave him an uppercut that sent him to sleep, then he retrieved his backpack and his book.
He put the book back in his locker and left before a teacher noticed what had just happened under the eyes of the other students who were all still in shock from what had just happened.
All but two, they let their joy burst when the crowd dispersed, "Damn! That was so enjoyable!"
"You know, we are only at the beginning of the year, he will probably do that again!"
They were wrong, overall Lazar's plan was successful, no one reported what had happened and no one dared tried to get in trouble with Lazar after that. This did nothing to stop Katelyn's interest in him, her temperament had led her to believe that they had fought for her but at least everyone now avoided him, apart from the girls who found his bad boy side more attractive than dangerous.
***