by Karla Luna
Yeah sure, we did other things like rob banks and stuff. But that was just for the fun of it, it’s not like we brought guns in and threatened to shoot people down. Well, we did bring guns, but they never really held actual bullets.
“And then with the drug dealing… well, it was just something Drake did for a little extra money. We can’t always rob banks, you know.” I chuckled, but Zavier only nodded and looked down. It was one of those times when I wished I could look inside his mind to see what he was hiding in there. He’s always been that mysterious and it wasn’t very fun trying to figure him out.
Well, it kind of was actually – but at times like these, not so much.
“Did you ever think any of that stuff was good?” he asked without looking at me. And even though he wasn’t, I knew that from the corner of his eyes he could see me shaking my head.
“Of course it’s not. I know that. I know the drugs and the crime stuff are all bad. And I understand why I got sent here for help. But it was just something that happened to me. I had a bad life so I thought it was okay for me to be that bad in life, you know?”
He licked his lips and nodded, understanding what I had meant.
Then, I had my own question to ask; “How did you find out about everything? With Davne, I mean.”
“A video was sent. It was the two of you… just…. well, together.”
What the fuck? Why would there be a video of us? And if so, did he send it to others? I wanted to kill him more than I already do. Damn that asshole!
I tried to act as calm as I could when I gave Zavier a reassuring smile – just to make sure he didn’t know I wanted to murder someone right then… really badly. “Do you actually have the video?”
“I… yeah, yeah…” He then searched in his pockets for his phone. He seemed a little nervous, too. I watched him frown while he was scrolling through. It didn’t look good to me. “Wait… I… it’s not in here. I swear it was right here.”
“He…” I groaned and gripped my hair. “Okay, he’s that kind of smart.”
Zavier scoffed and turned his phone off before putting it back into the pockets of his pajama pants. “Didn’t think he was smart, at all.”
I stifled a laugh at his subtle insult. “You can be a bad person and be very intelligent at the same time, you know. It could be with the typical academic stuff or…”
“It could be with sophisticated high-tech crimes?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
He chuckled and sported a smug smile. “Do you know how to do that?”
“Well, I um…” I cleared my throat. That grin of his just did funny things to me, I swear. “It was mostly Drake, he was the technical nerd and all. I could only open locks and…”
“Well, that explains how you opened my door at random times.”
I laughed, making his smile grow wider.
“Hey, you don’t lock it so much now. I’ve noticed.”
He shrugged and then slightly bumped his arm with mine. “There’s no reason to keep it locked.”
“Even when…”
“… I’m changing?” He playfully rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Yeah, Evelyn. You can enjoy the view.”
Even though he seemed to be joking, I still winked at him and replied, “Damn right, I will.”
• Zavier •
“Is Evelyn gone?” I asked Darrel when he walked back into the kitchen. He looked at me and then frowned as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. But then his mouth formed an ‘o’ shape as he remembered.
“Oh, yeah! Her bike’s not in the driveway. Damn that Ducati, Drake should’ve stolen it for me.” Well… okay then.
“Awesome, how’d you get her to leave?” Ian asked.
“I told her they were giving out free fried chicken at the market.”
“They never do that here,” I said to him.
But Darrel just shrugged.
“Better hurry up then, because she’s gonna be mad.”
The three of us froze then. But after a second or two, Ian and I got right to work and moved twice as fast. We were pretty much all over the place, but Darrel was just watching us while eating some sweets he found somewhere in the cabinets.
He and Evelyn. They’re both so in love with food, I swear they were really related.
“Well, all right. So I sort of have a plan,” I told them, once we were back in the kitchen after half an hour. “Already told Jesse what to find, he’s smart with these things, so I’m just waiting on…”
“Got it, bro.” Jesse came back into the kitchen with a stack of papers, a pen between his teeth as he slapped the papers on the counter. “Davne apparently goes to street races right around this time. It’s usually at night but us having no school today, he’s probably already there even though it’s still daytime. It’s in an abandoned street. It’s not far from here actually. Maybe from there, we can follow him? I also checked out what other places he may go to, I can’t find anything else. Like where he lives. The guy’s too good at covering up his tracks.”
“I guess that’s good enough then,” I said as I inspected the papers he had printed out from his computer. They basically had some basic info about Davne – some maps, records, and other stuff. “Just please, please don’t tell Evelyn that I told you guys this,” I told Ian and Darrel, “she would kick my ass rather hard.”
Ian nodded at me. “That’s true. She’s got some pretty strong feet. But we needed to know. That guy’s already a huge dick and he’s not getting away with hurting her like that. So what’s the plan then?”
That’s when I walked back and forth with my hand on my chin, thinking hard. They were all standing next to each other in a straight line, watching me think. I sort of felt in charge, too, and it felt rather nice… like I was in complete control.
I might’ve looked a bit smug, too.
“Okay, first I need one of you to distract Evelyn when she gets back. Just until the other three of us return home. If you would like to volunteer, please step up.”
That’s when Darrel and Jesse stepped back, letting me know they definitely did not want to do the job. Ian looked bored but when he saw Darrel and Jesse behind him, he looked back at me in panic. “Nooo! But… wait! I didn’t…!”
“Thanks, Ian, you’re a great man,” I said while giving him a pat on the back, right before getting back to the stack of papers.
“You fuckers! I’m not good at distracting her!”
“She’s gonna beat my ass for the friend chicken thing, you think I wanna die today? Hell, no!”
Darrel chuckled and Ian growled at him, making him step next to me and stick his tongue out.
“Uh… did Ethan call?” I asked Jesse, making him sigh.
“He’s not that angry with you anymore so maybe he’ll show up to help. Who knows?”
I nodded. Ethan had good reason to be mad. I was being, well, not myself. And I guess a part of him just wanted one of his friends back. I’ve wanted to talk to him, to find out why he’s been the way he is since Evelyn arrived. Each day he just got more and more quiet, and it really made me wonder.
Right now though, I wanted to focus on Davne.
And I couldn’t believe the amount of courage I had in me this time. After hearing that he had hurt the one girl I truly loved, well, I guess it just got me angry enough to do something about it.
This. This was only the very first step though.
“You’re actually a really brave motherfucker.”
I looked up at Ian once he said that, and frowned – my eyes darting from side to side, not really knowing what to say.
“Um… thanks, I guess?”
“No. I mean, the guy almost killed you once and you want to do this for your girl. I have to say, nerd boy, I’m very impressed.” That one made me smile and look down, feeling a bit of blush come up to my cheeks.
My girl…
My bad girl…
Wow, that sounded real kinky, didn’t it?
Right then, Jesse
smirked and grabbed his car keys, swinging them around his index finger. “Let’s get this show on the road then, bitches.”
39: The Jail Breakers
• Evelyn •
“Darrel!!” I shouted as I slammed the front door closed and walked in with a murderous look on my face.
Oh yeah, turns out no free fried chicken at the market. Was it my fault that I actually believed that fucker? Probably. But come on, I had to at least go check! In case they ran out! And if they did, I would’ve taken it from someone else. I could care less.
He’s going to pay. You do not play around with a girl and her love for food. Hell no! Seriously, how dare he?! But, he’s a brave boy, I’ll give him that.
“Evel—”
Right when I saw someone coming out from the kitchen, I punched them right on the neck and then fixed the collar of my jacket.
“Okay, I guess I had that coming,” they said, their voice cracking horribly due to the pain they were probably feeling in their throat.
I frowned when I saw the head full of brown hair instead of the head full of blond hair that I was expecting.
“Ian?” I asked, as he sank down all the way to the floor to lie on his stomach.
“Yeah,” he barely whimpered out, clutching his neck as he coughed out.
“Dammit,” I whispered as I crouched down and tried to get his hand away from his neck. But he wouldn’t budge. He was still whimpering while tightly closing his eyes and that made me feel extremely bad. “That was meant for Darrel. And on the cheek, too, but you’re too tall. I’m sorry… where’s Darrel?”
“Yeah, thanks for your concern!” he groaned, since it probably hurt to even speak.
I got up and licked my lips. Damn, why did I have to punch so hard? “I’ll get you some ice or something. Do you need anything else?”
“The hospital, maybe.”
“Oh, don’t exaggerate. You’ve been punched in worse places.”
“True… But still! Goddammit… have you been working on your punches?”
I shrugged yet almost smirked when I remembered punching Joss. That one was good. “More or less.” I then quickly went into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of ice that Stormy kept in there, in case of emergencies. And, well, I guess this was kind of an emergency?
I came back and held up the bag of ice for Ian. He slowly began to reach for it, so I just gently took his hand away from his neck and put the ice there. He hissed but then put his head down.
Mind you, he was still on the floor.
I looked up when I heard someone coming down the stairs. Stormy was walking down the glass stairs wearing her dark red robe, which I actually found quite charming because it had her last name in cursive on the back… in gold letters, too. Fucking rad!
“Guys, what’s going on?” she asked in a sweet voice, seeing Ian down on the floor. But I just gave her the sweetest smile I could muster. “What happened? Why is Ian on the floor unconscious?”
I faked a laugh and looked down at Ian again. “He’s not un… oh fuck, he’s unconscious! Shit, I said a bad word! Fuck! Okay, sorry, three dollars in the jar, got it!” I faked another laugh as she gave me a look full of disappointment. “I’ll get them later, just help me put him on the couch please.”
She gave a deep sigh and we both grabbed Ian by his upper arms, placing him on the couch. I made sure to sit down and put his head on my lap so that I could conveniently hold the ice pack to his neck.
Poor guy, he didn’t deserve that. It was just me getting freaked out over having no free fried chicken. Darrel is slightly shorter than Ian, so it would’ve been easier to punch him in the face. But now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t have – even if he was a sneaky little liar.
I just feel like something’s going on here. I know Darrel, and he wouldn’t be found in the same roof as I am if he did something. He joked around but he wouldn’t just do this for the fun of me kicking his ass.
Come on now, the guy is… well he’s a dumbass like all the rest of us, but he could be a pretty smart guy, too.
Stormy huffed and sat down on another couch, moving her blonde hair away from her face as she looked at me with serious eyes. “Where is everyone else? Is Zavier here?”
“I know for a fact that Darrel is gone. But I don’t know about Zavier.”
“Zavier isn’t upstairs and he wouldn’t be in the basement right now,” she said while looking down at her watch. Then she put her hand back on her lap. “I think he’s with Darrel then.” She paused for a moment and bit her lip. “He wouldn’t get him into any trouble, would he?”
Oh… like I have? Well…
I squinted my eye a little, as I thought. Darrel was a big goofball, but he was still trouble. Now, that fact would also get Stormy worried. But he wouldn’t want Zavier to become bad now, would he?
The whole time we’ve been living together, Zavier has changed. He’s become different. But deep down inside, the shy, nerdy and sweet Zavier Coin was still there and I loved him. He was the one I had fallen in love with and I knew he wasn’t the type to hurt me like my first love had done.
I thought about it – and it was stupid. One love made me block out my feelings for Zavier since the beginning. But now that I’ve let them in, I knew I’d have to tell him soon. I had to tell him already. I couldn’t keep blocking it for fuck’s sake.
I felt so happy though.
He felt the same way. He felt just the same way when I thought he wouldn’t. The whole idea still surprised me and it does seem pretty crazy.
I guess they were right. And Jesse was right, most of all.
I had fallen for the dorky good boy. And it’s been long enough keeping this damn secret.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t,” I replied to Stormy. “I bet they just went out for some ice cream.”
• Zavier •
“Yoooo! I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want!”
“So tell me what you want, what you really really want!”
“I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want!”
“So tell me what you want, what you really really want!”
“I wanna.”
“I wanna.”
“I wanna.”
“I wanna…”
“Can you two please stop?” I yelled as I turned the music down, making both Jesse and Darrel groan in unison.
“Zavier, this is a classic song, of course we’re going to sing along,” Jesse said as he turned it back up. “If you want my future…”
I turned it back down after hearing his horrible high-pitched singing voice again. “Seriously, Jesse. I don’t need this.” That’s when I snatched the cup he had in the hand he wasn’t driving with. “And really? You just had to stop at the ice cream shop.”
He took the cup back and drank from it before speaking again. “You can’t just pass by Dairy Queen and expect me not to get something from there.” He scoffed and then laughed. “If you wanted some, you could’ve just asked. I know how much you love cookie dough.”
At this point, I was very close to losing my temper as I rested my hand over my forehead in irritation. And I hardly ever lost my temper, but this was pretty serious and important to me… and he was just joking the whole way.
I get that he’s Jesse, and that he also tends to joke around and try to make everyone laugh by the stupid things he says – and does. But at the moment, it was sort of making me a bit nervous and annoyed, even if deep down, he thought it was helping me calm down or something.
“Sorry, Pouty,” he said, making me take a deep breath and turn to him. Alright… well, I tried.
“Jesse? Can you stop the car for a bit?”
He chuckled and slowed down. “What for?”
I shook my head once as if it were no big deal. “Just for a bit.”
He shrugged, and once he pulled over, he turned to look at me and I just smiled. “What do you want now, Your Highness?”
I kept smiling and nodded, but then I
suddenly got very serious. “Now, get out.”
He chuckled and put his hands back on the steering wheel. “I am not getting out! This is my car, and I’m your best friend. I’m helping you.”
I inwardly groaned but then nodded. “Alright, fine. And I appreciate it, but I really need to concentrate on reading these papers.” I held up the papers he had given me earlier and he eyed them with a frown.
“I told you everything there is to know,” he said as he started driving again, but a little faster now, so as to not waste any more precious time. Thank you.
“There’s more, you have to read them more carefully.”
“Well, that’s fun.” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice, but I chose to ignore it as I bit my lip and started to read the papers again. Darrel was in the middle of the backseat and he was talking a lot before they started singing. Honestly, he didn’t seem so smart but I’m sure he was. He just seemed goofier than anything else. But I sort of felt a little bit safer with him around – seeing as he’d probably done stuff like this before with Ian and Evelyn.
I shook my head to clear away those thoughts and concentrated more on the research Jesse had done on Davne for me. I frowned when I found something interesting. Then I turned to Jesse who seemed to be head banging to a Fall Out Boy song that was playing. But at least he didn’t choose to sing this time.
“I didn’t know he had a sister…”
He kept on head banging. “Oh, yeah. She was barely four years old when she was killed.”
