Chapter Text
Two days later, it was his first school day. Already when he got out of his car, he noticed people staring at him. However, he didn’t mind it all that much, because he liked attention anyway. The morning was mostly uneventful, with the principal’s showing him around the school and telling him about rules and class structures. In the hallway to lunch break, he was met by a beautiful girl with dark hair and huge earrings, and a wide array of rings around her fingers, who asked him if he was the new student. After responding in the affirmative, she quite literally pulled him by the arm, and led a flabbergasted Andrés towards a table near a corner of the cafetaria. There, a tall and sturdy boy with dark hair and a beard (as much as an 18 year old could have one, that is), was talking to a similarly built bald boy, who had a beard as well. Apart from them, there was another tall boy with brown hair and a growing moustache, who seemed to be petting a pet ferret in a red shirt. The girl spoke, introducing the little group of friends. “I’m Agatá, that’s Santiago, Mirko and Jakov. The ferret is Sofía, she is technically the school pet of a certain class of first year students, but Jakov is usually one who cares for her at this point. I wouldn’t advise you to speak bad about her, because Jakov will murder you, and I am very much serious there, cariño. Now, please tell your new friends about who you are, because we only know so much from the rumours in the hallways.”
The four were a bit strange, but Andrés always loved having an audience to talk to, so it didn’t matter much. After he’d spoken, the four friends also introduced themselves (though Jakov barely said anything, really, except that he was born in Croatia and that he liked animals more than people). Agatá had started to tell him about the other people in the cafeteria, whom he could befriend and whom he shouldn’t, who was dating who, everything he was supposed to know, when a group of five students walked in. Based on the amount of faces turning towards them, they were important. “Who are they?” Andrés asked, still staring at the group of five. “The Marquinas,” Agatá spoke, and the contempt in her voice was clear. “They’re the five adopted children of Doctor Sergio Marquina and his wife Raquel. The girl with blonde, curly hair is Mónica, and the boy with the black hair with an arm around her waist, that’s Daniel. They are a couple, it is kind of weird. They’re not really family, and I don’t want to judge or whatever, but you can’t deny it isn’t normal. Then the short girl with the black hair is Silene, she is absolutely ,em>batshit crazy and she is dating Ánibal, the boy behind her who looks like he is in pain. Really, once you become a part of the Marquina family you’d find a lover, both a family and a free dating platform at the same time, it’s super weird.” Santiago chuckled, “You just say that because you wanted to date Silene and you’re jealous she’s taken. already” Agatá slapped Santiago, “Fuck you. No, Andrés, you really should stay away from them.” Andrés, however, was staring at the fifth Marquina child. “Who is he?” he asked Agatá, without looking away, something drawing him in towards the brown haired boy. “That’s Martín Marquina, and he thinks no one is good enough for him. He’s a horrible misogynist, and he attempts to fuck about every man in the city of Toledo, or like, the whole of Spain, but he only ever spends one night with them, talking about some dumb ‘Boom Boom Ciao’ theory about how he thinks relationships are dumb -really, he is the only dumb one- and how much he hates women, as well as saying he believes he could turn every man gay, or something. Really, Andrés, you should stay far, far away from him.” Whilst Agatá gave her small hate speech about Martín, Andrés himself was only listening with half an ear, instead staring at the man in question, and noticing him staring right back. Andrés believed it important to always establish dominance over his potential dangers and enemies, or, if that was not possible, at least impress them, so he made sure not to break eye contact. He heard Agatá sigh, and then: “Andrés. Andrés, don’t waste your time on him. I was not kidding, really. He’s just some stuck up asshole who has this horrible distorted version of reality. I know, he’s good looking, but he is not worth it. He is never interested in men for more than one night, and I might have known you for less than an hour, but I already know that you are someone who would literally propose to someone after them for two hours because you believe it’s true love. Don’t waste your time on him, there will just be heartbreak, cariño.” “I wasn’t planning to,” Andrés said, not breaking eye contact with Martín, “I really was not planning to. Also, if the stories about my past girlfriends weren’t enough to confirm my heterosexuality for you: I am not gay, so I’m not interested in him romantically either way. He looks intriguing, like he believes he runs the school. I was just curious, don’t think more of it.” Agatá chuckled loudly, “Cariño, I have a gaydar right here in my eyes, and it beeps really fucking loudly whenever I see your face. You know bisexuality is a thing, right? That you like women doesn’t exclude liking men…” Andrés sighs, “I’m not dumb, of course I know that’s ‘a thing’, as you so eloquently put it, but I am very much sure that I am only interested in the fairer sex, thank you very much, cariño.” “Then why the fuck, I beg you, are you still staring at that idiot?” “Hmm, I think I like that, hearing you beg… And I won’t break eye contact until he does, I need to establish dominance.” He heard Santiago’s roaring laughter and Agatá’s whispered “Men. What the fuck,” just before the school bell rang and Agatá quite literally pulled him - once again, this girl really had a thing for manhandling him, apparently - away and towards the hallway, just when Tokyo said something to Martín, clearly cruel, or teasing maybe, because he heard him swear at her with a very prominent Argetinian accent.
Walking towards the classroom for his art history class, he realised Agatá had to go to a different class than him, and so did Jakov, Mirko and Santiago. Oh well, it wasn’t a big deal, he was sure he would make other friends: he just moved here from another country, he knew he was easily the best looking boy in the entire school, and apart from that he knew he also was very intelligent and an amazing storyteller: what was there not to love about himself, he mused. With a smile on his face, he introduced himself to his teacher of the hour, señor Pérez: in his former high school, he had been the teacher’s pet, and all his teachers had loved him (one so much that she had had a quick sexual affair with him. Whoever knew about it, thought it was weird, unhealthy and gross, but Andrés didn’t get it: they both were adults, they found each other attractive and wanted each other, what was wrong?), and he was keen on once again becoming the favourite, even if it only was for one year. Señor Pérez seemed easily charmed by him, and Andrés was quite sure the man liked him already. That is, until he was pointed to his chair, seeing who was sitting at the same desk: Martín. Why? Andrés sat down next to him, without a word and noticed Martín turning away, which he thought of as extremely rude. To spite him, Andrés didn’t say anything back, and when Martín had to hand him a few sheets of paper, he simply pushed them to the side without even looking at Andrés. What an asshole, Andrés thought, yet he still was intrigued: if he had stared at him for so long in the cafeteria, why didn’t he want to look at Andrés at all now? Had Andrés had a better sense of reality, and of his own actions and character, he would have concluded this was one of the most awkward situations in his life, especially because during the discussion, neither of them said a word to each other, not even when the teacher was looking at them in confusion (which bothered Andrés, because he felt like he had to impress señor Pérez, but he also wasn’t going to be the one to give up and be the first one to speak). When the bell rang, Martín had already packed his bag and quite literally ran out of the door. Andrés found that really, really weird, but he also kind of saw that as being the winner in this situation: Martín apparently was very bothered about the whole thing, and he himself wasn’t bothered about it at all (of course he wasn’t, that was why he was still thinking about why Martín ignored him, for days).
That was the last time Andrés saw Martín that week, and he didn’t come back to school the week after either. Señor Pérez asked him to make the group project on his own, if he could, told him he also could join another team, because Martín was away for a bit due to personal reasons. Andrés assumed he would be more impressed if he handed in the group project on his own, so he spent the next few days on the research project, much to the dismay of Agatá, who had wanted him to join her group due to the fact that he, unlike Santiago, her actual project partner, actually did have knowledge about art and art history, whilst Santiago had recently asked if Bernini was just a misspelling of Borromini, or that it was the other way around (it was so saddening, Andrés thought, and had proceeded to give Santiago an impromptu art class, during which his new friend had drifted off to sleep, because of course he did). He finished the assignment, and got the maximum grade as well as the position of the teacher’s favourite, he officially became part of Agatá’s friend group, and even the conversations with his father - rare as they were, because Antonio always worked until late in the evening - became less awkward, if not just slightly so. He would almost say his life was perfect now, but there was still one thing haunting his mind, or rather, one person: Martín. He had promised himself to talk to him in the parking lot, knowing he drove to school alone in his shiny black Range Rover and hence they wouldn’t be disturbed by the four other Marquina siblings. However, Martín’s parking space still remained empty every morning, and during lunch, only four Marquinas sat at the one table that was claimed by them, and that no one else ever sat at.