Breaking Chains

The sun streamed through the doublewide windows as Nathaniel took some notes on his notebook. He was in his last class for the day, which was History of Traditional Art. The professor was explaining in front of the class when Nate finished his note and looked out to the window. The news of him missing already made it to international news and Marcus woke him up violently when he saw the news this morning.

His parents sent out rewards to whoever found him, so he predicted that his parents thought he was still in Europe. He contacted Hector earlier and he said that the king was about to interrogate everyone in the palace except him because Hector was the most trusted one in the palace.

When the bell rang, he jumped a bit in his seat and shook his head to clear his mind up. The girl who sat next to him chuckled and got off from her seat. Nathaniel blushed because he was embarrassed and got off from his seat too before rushing out the class. Marcus was leaning against a pillar right across the class and waved his arm in the air when he spotted Nathaniel. “Dude!”

“Hey.”, Nathaniel smiled and they walked together as they decided to go to a Mc Donald’s to get some supper. “Is that your sketch book?”, he asked as he eyed a fat, thick black book that was in Marcus’ hand.

“Yeah, this is my life.”, he chuckled as he waved the book in the air. “Anyway, man, do you mind if we go to my friend’s gig tonight?”

Nathaniel knitted his brows. “What’s a gig?”

“A show. My friend’s in a band and they’re having a show tonight in a club tonight not too far from here. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
A smile appeared on his lips. Because he was royal, he didn’t have much freedom to go out with his friends to clubs or even outside the palace, so it would be a new and fresh thing for him. “Sure.”
**********
The club was half packed and Marcus got the best table in the club, which was on the balcony so they could see the crowd that was in front of the stage. They got drinks and Nathaniel took a sip of his when suddenly, the band got on the stage. The crowd cheered and the girl, who apparently the vocalist.

“We are VersaEmerge, hailing from Florida to bring good music to your ears.”, she said through the microphone and gave a count for her band mates to started the music.

There was something about the girl that caught Nathaniel’s eyes. How she moved on stage, how her voice sounded, and how she looked in general. Her brown with blonde streaks hair still looked amazing to Nate even though she head banged or bowed down.

Look at us shake the sky.
Pulling the whites from my eyes...
and as the hands are spinning
they're waving you goodbye.
A test for more is what you're striving for.
As we sleep we walk.

I swear, I felt you crawling under my skin...
I swear, oh I swear.
Towers won't fit our view...
forget the man in the mountains follows you...
he follows you.

After a couple more songs, they ended the show and the girl waved to everyone in the crowd. Marcus chuckled at his friend and shook his head. “You like her, huh?”

Nathaniel looked over to his friend who was already a bit tipsy because too much Heineken beer. “No, she’s just… pretty.”

“Hey guys!”, the “pretty” girl who Nate just complimented appeared behind Marcus and grinned at both of them. “Hey, Marc.”

“Sierra.”, he hiccupped and waved his hand, motioning her to sit down. “Join us?”

She chuckled and sat next to Marcus. Her eyes went to the stranger who was sitting across from them and she smiled warmly to him. “Who’s this?”

“This is my foreign friend who just transferred yesterday, Nathaniel.”, Marcus introduced him drunkenly. “And he has a crush on you, Sie.”

“Dude!”, Nathaniel hissed at his friend who was laughing until his head lunged back. Sierra giggled adorably and nodded her head.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nathaniel. I’m Sierra.”

“Nice to meet you too. You were amazing on stage.”

Even though it was dimmed in the club, but Nathaniel could see that she was blushing. Marcus was already passed out on the couch, so it was only Sierra and Nate. She moved to his couch and they got into a conversation really quickly. They had so much in common so their conversation flew amazingly.
“So, where you from? Your accent’s kinda funny.”, she giggled after taking a sip of her drink.

Nate took another swig of his beer and licked his upper lip. “Have heard of Simedia?”

Sierra wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “No, where’s that?”

“Near Greece, in Europe.”

“I bet it’s a pretty country.”, Sierra looked up to his face and smiled. Nathaniel grinned at her and thought of something cheesy to say, but suddenly, Marcus coughed and woke up from his “sleep”.

“Get a room!”, he slurred to Nate and Sierra. They looked over to the drunken guy and chuckled.

“I think I should get him home.”, Nate scratched his nape and glanced over to Sierra. She nodded and shook her head because of the view of her friend. “Nice talking to you, Sierra.”

“Nice talking to you too, Nate. See you later.”

She helped him up carrying Marcus to the car and said goodbye to the only sober boy. Marcus was mumbling and slurring some words that Nate couldn’t even distinguish but one thing for sure, he couldn’t get the girl out of his mind.