"I think my sister knows I'm sneaking out." Kylie stated in the barren food court of the mall during a Wednesday. Taking a drink, she had pulled out her phone and showed me a text.
"Mom said that they are going to be late bc of a flat tire. Hope you have fun tonight."
Kylie had a point. Why else would she have said that last part? Even then, what would she have done? Would she have blackmailed for something, what would she have gained from that? Something had told me that she hadn't been one to rat out another person, especially her own sister. If she had known, and wanted to snitch on Kylie, she would have done it to begin with.
Why had she made it obvious that she knew, then? The answer to that question had been made obvious with Kylie's sudden change of expression, which had went from a small, satisfied smile to a look of shock. Just as I had been about to turn my head, a pair of hands had covered my eyes and literally left me in the dark with nothing but darkness in front of me.
Instead, two of my other senses had perked up - smell and touch.
The smell of what I had felt was peaches invaded my nose, yet another smell had existed within it. It had been a real scent, but had clearly been more feminine than the other, stronger smell. Touch, I hadn't exactly been sure - but I had a pretty good idea of what had been pressing up against the back of my head. It was soft, but somewhat firm, like some sort of padding.
"So, you finally decided to drop the goody-two shoes act?" the blinder had spoken, but the words had exposed her identity. "Sneaking out and ditching? Dad is going to kill you if he finds out."
"He won't, not unless you say something." I could feel a slight laugh come from the girl who had still been blinding me. "Now would you get your boob's off of his head? Such a pervert, I swear."
As the pair of hands moved away, the weight of her chest had left my head as well. Walking around me, she pulled a chair from another table and sat down, her bare knees poking through the holes in her shredded black jeans. Turning her head, she smiled and looked at me as her crystal blue eyes were unafraid to hit me like a truck with a bit of nitrous left in the tank.
"So, boyfriend. I heard you have the good shit." she tilted her head. "My mouth is shut if you can give me some, and if little Kylie here doesn't mind, I'll make the deal a bit sweeter - if you know what I mean."
"Maggie!" Kylie backhanded her arm. "I'm sitting right here."
"God knows you won't do it." Maggie poked back, teasingly. "Anyway, boyfriend. My mouth will stay shut, just smoke me out. That's all. Maybe I can give you some fashion advice so you don't embarrass Kylie, in return."
**
Moments later we had found ourselves in the back of the mall, where it had been entirely deserted aside from a tow truck that was a good distance away, and something told me he had been sleeping on the job. As I grinded the weed down, I sprinkled it onto the Zig Zag wrap, and before long had it rolled up. I handed it and a lighter to Maggie, and watched her light it like an expert.
"Damn. That's smooth." she took another hit. "You sell other stuff?"
"Not really." I sat next to Kylie as Maggie handed the blunt to her. "The Torinos have a monopoly on it, and I don't have a decent distro or supplier. If Nino ever decides to start running them out of here, then maybe I would."
"That sucks." Maggie spoke as Kylie passed the blunt to me.
Maggie watched me as I took a hit myself. Why had she been looking at me like that? Had she wanted harder stuff? If she did, then why hadn't she went to the Torinos, because she was white? Her bone straight, jet black hair had waved with every stop as she walked in a circle. Come to think of it, Maggie could have gone to any of the dealers in the area, I had been far from the only one. So, why had she come to me, because she could get it for free?
"Be right back." Kylie stood and walked back into the mall, seemingly moving as quickly as possible without running.
Watching as Kylie walked through the doors, Maggie took the blunt from my fingers. "So, have you two done it yet?"
"W-...No." I nearly choked, but had appeared to have kept it hidden for the most part. "Why would you want to know?"
"Because she's my sister, and I don't really want her dating a loser." Maggie answered. "I don't know why she chose some sad-boy like you, but she obviously likes you. What she likes about you, I don't see at all. You two remind me of a Toyota and a Ferrari parked next to each other - The Toyota isn't a bad car, but the Ferrari is so much better in every way. You get where I'm going with this, right?"
"I don't know, either. I mean, all of this happened because she caught me looking at her like a creep twice. Then I just decided to say whatever and asked her to hang out. I think my head just about exploded when she said yeah." I answered, unafraid of putting myself down. "I don't understand what she sees, or why she even takes the time to listen to me or be around me. I know that I don't deserve her."
I had been on cloud nine for weeks, and I had only been waiting for the day it would all come crashing down, the day this dream would end. It had all been so good, so fun - it had been too good to be true - all of it. Maggie had only confirmed what I had already known about us. I was the lesser between us, and deservedly so. I hadn't been anywhere close to where she actually belonged.
"Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say you were a creep or that you didn't deserve her." Maggie handed the joint back. "You're a weird choice, is all. I just never expected her to ended up with some emo kid."
Just as I thought of something to say in return to Maggie, the back doors to the mall had rattled open and Kylie had come flying out, quite possibly running at full speed. It hadn't been much later that a pair of police officers came out in chase, only to see Maggie and I. Following suit, the both of us had waited until Kylie caught up before we started to run. As I looked at Maggie, I nodded my head to the right - telling her to split up from us and get away.
My thoughts had been confirmed when the first left-right split came up and they had completely ignored Maggie. They had been after me or Kylie, or had it been the both of us? As I reached back to grab Kylie's hand, I had been given the sight of a huge smile. It had been almost as though she was having fun - while being chased by the cops, of all things.
Speeding around the corner, I had pulled Kylie along at full speed. "When we get to the next corner up ahead, I want you to keep going straight. I'm pretty sure they're after me, so if you keep running, you should be okay."
"No." Kylie answered. "If you're going to get in trouble, then I am, too."
"If I get arrested with you, then do you really think there's any chance we'll be able to see each other after?" I asked. "If it's just me, I'll be fine. I pro-"
Before I had been able to finish, I had been nearly tackled into a wall, causing Kylie to trip over whoever had ran me into the wall. Writhing and struggling as though my life had depended on it, I look back to see an older guy in a security uniform holding me against the wall - leaving me unable to run. Of all times, and of all people, we just had to run into the one guy who had cared about his job way too much.
Slamming my foot down onto his had forced him to somewhat loosen his grip, which in turn had allowed for me to swing my elbow back into his rib-cage. Finally forcing myself loose from the old man, who had probably only been in his late thirties, I grabbed Kylie by her forearm and ripped her along with me once again. I had almost thought we were home free, which was foolish as the cops had more than enough to time catch up with us thanks to that security guard.
We hadn't been home free, at all. Instead, I had ran right into the police car that slammed on its brakes right in front of us - which had pretty much meant that we were caught, and even worse, caught together. I had a pretty good idea of why the cops were after me, and I had been pretty sure they weren't after Kylie at all, but she had made herself look bad by running from them with me.
"Put your hands on the car, both of you."
As my hair curtained my eyes, I sighed. The outcome of this entire situation had been predictable to anyone with objectivity, but I still had to try. "She didn't do anything, she was just trying to protect me, that's all. Just let her go."
"You turn off the Dashcam?" he asked his partner as I felt the cuffs get latched to my wrists. I had only heard a slight chuckle before I was roughly thrown to the ground. "You punks are ruining this place, even girls like her are being ruined by you."
His partners speaker went off, speaking in what had been the equivalent of gibberish to me. It was then that I heard a small, pained whine come from Kylie as I heard his partner repeat the process of putting her arms behind her back and cuffing her before taking her to the back of the police car.
"Durr. I smoke Marijuana. I'm so cool." he stepped on my head, chuckling. "We're going to make you stop it with that shit."
"He sells it, Martin. I mean, he smokes it too, but he's been caught selling it before." he walked around the car. "Doesn't that make him cooler?"
Kick. Kick. Lifted, and then punched. Kick. Stepped on. Kick. Kick. Spit. Kick.
I had been thrown around like a ragdoll, beaten senseless by men twenty years older than me. Defenseless, I had no other option than to just take it all. Why had I been their target, because I was younger and less dangerous than the rest? Or had they been there for another reason, but decided to add another? They hadn't relented, nor had they slowed. Had it been that fun?
Maybe it had. Maybe beating a defenseless teenager was the most fun anyone could ever have, and I was just missing the point of all the fun? Could it have been a little known game between the citizens and police? It was funny to me, honestly. I had been like a young boy in a Catholic Church; consistently molested, but goes untold because the boy knows nobody will believe that such a 'good' person could ever do such a evil thing.
Cops had been the same, in essence. They could do no bad, and every word they had said was considered fact. Even more, who would believe a punk kid who sells pot? Who said I would even snitch? Around here, snitching meant getting stitches, and stitches had been slang for getting shot in the head. Nobody had ever told the truth around here. It was all fake.
"How about the girl?" he asked.
"I'm not into that, Martin..."
"No, shit-stick." he mocked his partner. "How are we going to keep her quiet? You know who her parents are, right? What we do may decide if we have our jobs tomorrow."
My entire body had been throbbing rapidly, and I had barely been able to feel my arms. It had been as though my was turned into Jello, able to move - just not very far, if anywhere at all. I had been stuck at every angle, and I had been about to lose everything, yet I could do nothing. Nothing at all, and I hated it. I hated myself for allowing this to happen, but all I had been allowed to do what bathe in my own blood and sorrow.
"That's easy. The Torinos mark their members with an X, right?" he asked. "We'll just carve a small one in him and write the report, saying that we found him after what we think to be an initiation. Once they look into it, they'll see that the X's are typical for their members."
At that exact moment, I had heard a small clinking sound and then came the sharpest pain I had ever felt. Diagonally, the blade cut through my skin like butter. Then came the second, sending a shooting pain through my left arm. What could I do to help Kylie? Just lie down and take all of this? Had that really been my best choice, had this been my only choice?
Why couldn't I think anymore, and when had everything gotten so blurry?
"Perfect."
ns 15.158.61.46da2
