which combined with her usually either detached or cold demeanor, created a very powerful, and intimidating image for her. Her popularity within the school was summed up perfectly by one particular hormone-addled teenager.
'I'd let her step on me.'
Anyway, it didn't take long for Irina to turn around to face her friend. Her chair twirling back to face the front of the class as she grabbed her back in a shockingly acrobatic display.
"See ya around, Vinny!" Irina smiled, as she reached into her collar, pulling out a rosary hanging around her neck, "If you have any questions about the Lord, don't be afraid to ask! Amen!"
Xenovia simply nodded, before the two of them left the room.
Did they… know he was an atheist?
It only took another ten minutes of waiting before a text came in from his mother, letting him know she had arrived.
"So sweetie, how was your day?"
"It was fine, Mom."
"C'mon, let me know a bit more."
"Nothing happened today, Mom. Same old same old."
"Hmmm…" Vin's mother smiled, "Really? I find that hard to believe, given the beautiful girl waving at you."
"What."
"Seriously, look!"
Vin looked up from his phone, and sure enough, there in the parking lot stood Irina waving with an exuberant amount of energy. Behind her stood Xenovia, along with a handful of other students who he didn't really recognize at all, who were all milling amongst each other in the back.
"She's quite the beauty, I guess that you do have your father's charms, after all."
Vin gagged, "Really Mom?"
"Come now, I fell for your father, and I considered my standards pretty narrow back then. It's not out of the realm of possibility that if you stopped looking down at your phone, and started chatting with your classmates, you could find both friends, and a girlfriend."
"Look, she's not my girlfriend, nor will she ever be my girlfriend. End of story."
"Not with that attitude, she's not. We're pulling out, but say bye to her."
"What? Mom, it's not like that!"
"Sure it's not! It's at least proper courtesy, she's waving you bye, so I'm going to roll down this window, and you're going to say bye back when we pass them."
"Are you kidding me?"
"Nope! Now get ready!"
Sure enough, the passenger side window rolled down, just as the car began to pull out of the school parking lot. This was non-negotiable.
The car began to pass by the group, Vin poked his head out the window, shut his brain off, and hoped for the best.
"Uh...Um… See ya."
Yep, real 10/10 response.
Vin slipped his head inside the car as the window shut, cheeks ablaze. Without being prompted, Vin grabbed the car's aux cord, plugged in his phone, and proceeded to blast the heaviest metal music he could to drown out the wave of embarrassment sloshing around in his body.
After a few blocks of driving, Vin's mom turned down the music to a volume where they could hear each other.
"She seemed nice."
"Mom…" Vin growled.
"Hey, stop trying to shrug this off, ok? You'll never get a girlfriend if you can't listen."
"I'm not interested in getting a girlfriend."
"Hmmm… Are you gay?"
"No."
"Asexual?"
"Mom, no I'm not. I'm straight, can we stop the interrogation please."
"Geez, alright, alright. Sorry for being a caring mother who is interested in what's going on in her only son's life."
"..."
"Let me guess, you like the blue-haired one."
"MOM!"
"I'll be honest, when she had her back turned, I thought she was a boy. But wow, she's got some massive boobs; just what are they feeding you kids these days?"
"Oh my god. I actually can't believe I'm having this conversation with my own mother right now," Vin thought aloud in horrified disbelief.
"I know how men think, she's built like your anime wife-somethings, right?"
"I'm never talking to you again…"
"Alright, I'm just teasing you, sweetie," She said as she pulled into a parking spot.
"Here," Vin's Mom rummaged around behind her for a second, before pulling out a lunch bag, "Here's dinner all packed away for you. When do I come pick you up?"
"10:30."
"Alright, either me or your father will come pick you up then. We'll call you when we get here," Vin's Mom gave a soft, caring smile, "I love you, sweetie."
Vin sighed, as he got out of the car, "I love you too, Mom."
With that, he slammed the door to the car shut, and began to walk towards the entrance for The Vatican.
"Ah geez, you 'ave no idea how much we needed help like 'dis kiddo."
Rizzo Warshaw, or simply Rizzo, as he preferred to be called, was his father's best friend, a born and raised Brooklyn kid from a family of Italian immigrants, who moved back to Italy to reconnect with his ethnic roots. He'll tell you the full story if you ever ask.
In addition to all that, he was also the head of the janitorial staff for the Vatican, at the very least, Vin thought, he could count on having a familiar face be his boss in a place like this, after all The Vatican was beautiful, but it had a certain… aura to it. Like how despite the fact that he's supposed to clean it, he should never, ever touch anything.
"Alroight' 'ere's how things are gonna go. Eight d'irty, we have the final sermons of 'da day. 'Round 'den, we go 'round cleanin' 'da other halls and rooms, basically, we do everything we can while stayin' outta people's ways. 'Round ten, everyone's gone, so we come 'round, and clean 'da dirt an' grime in 'da main hall and cathedral 'den."
Rizzo then handed Vin a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, he found a basic floor plan of the Vatican, with certain rooms marked with highlighter, and times next to them.
"I's made you's a map to help getting' 'round here. 'Old onto it, will ya?"