6. The Gambler

Elena

I bet on more fights. It wasn't like I was completely discounting the advice of the old man. I just needed the money.

Pablo had called me twice, asking for small change he could use to buy groceries. Of course, I knew this was a lie, as Pablo had a pension that he used to keep himself going.

The only reason why he wasn't comfortable was because he had a gambling problem. I learned that the problem had been with him long since before his wife died. He married again to my mother, and then once she died, the gambling addiction returned.

I didn't know whether to feel bad for him or to chalk it up to a complete lack of trying, but I had to do something. I appreciated the man for keeping me safe and making life fairly easy for me, and so no amount of money would make me stop.

I was able to bring in some cool cash from the latest battle, but I didn't see Damon again. I wanted to tell him thank you for giving me a ride, but he seemed so elusive, and judging from his demeanor from the phone call that he received, I thought it was best not to call him. He sounded, after all, like he had received bad news, and I didn't want to pry.

And more than the thank you, I also wanted to apologize for behaving so strangely. But I came to realize that ever since he showed up, I was having more of those flashbacks.

It was a memory that I'd rather forget, but it didn't seem like I could separate it from my life entirely. Another call from Pablo came, pulling me out of work.

"Your phone has been ringing for an hour now," Estella said as she thrust my phone harshly into my hand. A quick glance at the screen told me that Pablo had been calling for over 17 times. "I'm in trouble," I muttered to myself.

Mortified, I didn't want to listen to another round of Pablo threatening to come here or telling me that I should send him money. Judging from the number of calls, it would be a mixture of both.

I chose not to call him back, not because I didn't want to listen, but because I was 100% sure that Guiseppe would have a field day yelling at me, especially since he was disgraced by Damon the last time. I turned off my phone and hid it in my apron pocket before getting back to work.

***

The remaining days of the week came by in a blur before coming to a pit stop on Friday morning.

I remembered that I hadn't done my assignment. Perhaps if it was another professor, I could have easily wiggled out, but it was my dreaded Professor Giovanni.

I had no choice; I had to come up with something fast, otherwise, he would flunk me from his class. I needed his class as it was the one with the most credits for my semester. I made a frantic call to my classmate-turned-friend Paula.

"Yeah, totally," Paula said. "You can copy mine." With a sigh of relief, I thanked her profusely.

"But why didn't you do yours?" she asked me.

"I've been so busy all week. You know I didn't exactly stay till the end of his class last week before I ran out," I explained truthfully. He released us, but in normal Giovanni fashion, he would drop a snippet or two or maybe an assignment after a few people left.

According to him, it was his best way of catching people who were unserious with his class.

"Why did you run?" she asked. "My job, remember?" I replied. "Oh," she said. "Yeah, it's okay, it's fine. When are you going to come to campus?" she asked.

"Right about now.”

“Professor's class starts in three hours. Hurry!" she urged.

Feeling grateful for having a friend such as Paula, I ran into the shower and got ready for the day. After throwing on a random t-shirt and a random pair of jeans, I rushed out of my apartment. I was only halfway down the stairs when I realized I hadn't picked up my bag and that I was still wearing my fluffy house slippers.

Blessed Virgin! 

I rushed back up the stairs and quickly changed my slippers, making sure to grab my bag. I double-checked and triple-checked to see if my laptop was inside so I could avoid any funny stories or business. Getting to school was easy, as was finding Paula.

"Here it is," she said as she opened the file on her laptop.

Hers was a sleek silver gadget, while mine was a black, boxy, ruggedly old one that was no less than 20 years old. Updating the software was a constant pain, but I decided that when I had more money, I would buy another. Hopefully, I would do it under Pablo's nose, as the moment he found out, he might probably sell it and use it to gamble.

In no particular order, I transferred the file to myself and began work on changing some of the words. I worked on it for almost an hour before I was satisfied that the professor wouldn't flag it for plagiarism. Paula herself breathed a sigh of relief once I was done and leaned her head on my shoulder.

Two hours later, Professor Giovanni called me as he went through my email that contained my assignment. My heart thundered in my chest as he kept silent and slowly scrolled through the pages of my altered work.

"It's fine," he said in his thick Italian accent. "But it's not remarkable." He looked at me. "I expect more from you with the next one," he said as he dismissed me.

I had a spring in my step as I closed off from class and made my way to the arena. There was no work for me that day because somehow, in a stroke of luck, the restaurant had suffered a mini fire outbreak.

I was glad that I wouldn't hear Giuseppe's voice yelling at me to do something that was not in my job description.

Just as I was about to turn into the alley that I was familiar with I spotted from my Periphery a black car that was moving slowly by the roadside. The alley was too deserted so I made the call to take a longer around by sticking to the main room.

I had walked for about 20 minutes and still saw the car moving slowly. I was certain the car was following me, so I broke out into a light run prepared to turn off at the next alley.

 Just as I broke out into a run I bumped into a wall that sent me falling on my butt.

“Ouch!” I said I rubbed my ass I feel like pain in my elbow.

“ I'm so sorry Mia Bella.” I had a familiar deep voice say. I froze a bit hearing Isabella until I looked up defined him looking at me with concerned eyes.

He stretched out his arm and held me get up even though I didn't take it pulling me to my feet as though I weighed nothing.

“Baby who is this?” I heard a female voice ask behind Damon and soon the source of the voice came out to reveal a tall blonde woman. Damon smiled down at the woman before looking at me and offering me a small look. 

He leaned over to the lady and whisper something in her ear causing her to laugh as I saw his freehand disappear behind the girls ass.

I rolled my eyes and side stepped them preparing to leave.

Suddenly I heard it again. It was definitely the sound of the name. Isabella! I heard him shout in my direction.

 I stopped frozen and fear and trepidation as a cold sweat broke out over me.

Was I found out? I asked to myself as I prepared to run.