Run Away 3

After She Ran (3)

After Two-bit left was the worst for the gang, Sal stayed with the gang but didn’t talk to them much, they found a note on Hot-topics door saying she ran. They haven’t heard from her in a few days and they were starting to get worried about her. They don’t know where she is or why she ran, I know why she ran and who she ran to but not were.

Two-bit called while Sal was crashed at our place she told him were she was and why she ran away. She was in a hotel in Oklahoma, about three hours from Tulsa. The gang got jumped a week after that phone call and they went to go find her, and her dad got more distant with me and my mom forgot about me entirely because of work she got home late at night and left early in the morning and worked all day. Marshall worked all day and most of the night too, so they were never home, I got picked on at school for being a nice girl that lives on a hood side of town.

My cousin Shawn has been texting me telling me about his mom and dad moved away to help his older brother take care of his three kids and he lives by himself in Montana. Shawn and I have always been close, he’s like an older brother to me. Ever since he was 10 he died his hair blond because people used to call him freak for having dark brown hair and blue eyes. His dad was related to my mom so he had Black hair and blue eyes his mom on the other hand was blond haired and blue eyed so he got dark brown hair.

I talked to him about my step dad and my step sister and the gang, telling him about all the bad time and the good times living in hood territory, I mainly talked about Nick and how I look up to her and how she was an influence in my life.

I asked Sal for Two-bits number before they left to go find her in Oklahoma. So I texted her how she was and she replied with good. and that was the conversation that we had, one day my mom came home in tears I couldn’t tell if they were tears of Joy or sadness, but she told me that she was pregnant with Marshall's baby I was psyched I was going to get a baby sister or brother, that night she told Marshall and he was crying with tears of Joy I offered to share my room with the baby when he or she came along because I knew that someday Nick would come back and she would be happy that she had a sibling and we would be a family.

Run Away 2

Truth about Nick Kasye (2)

I have been living here for three days and I have noticed that Nick is hardly ever around, her dad doesn’t even care and my mom has been working to hard to care, she’s always staying at her friend's house, she stayed over at our house last night but with a friend. They already left this morning to her friends house to eat breakfast. I wonder who she’s going to hang out today with is, her dad wasn’t wrong when he said that she’s always seen with those boys. No one was home other than me so I had to find something to do. I decided that I would clean and organize my room.

Nick came home around five thirty this evening and still no one was home. She went straight into her room and locked the door to her room. I tried to knock on the door to see if she was alright but she didn’t answer she just said “go away Jayden”

I didn’t say anything I just left. There was a tap on her window and she opened window and then there was singing and meowing in that room, it drove my dog soda Insane, he hates that sound, the sound cats make mainly because he hates cats.

Eventually everyone left, except Nick, she stayed the night with that cat in her room. And as far as I could tell she slept like a rock no nightmare no nothing she didn’t wake up at all.

In the morning I woke up to knocking on my open bedroom door, I woke up to see who was knocking on my door, it was Nick. I was so scared. “Good morning” I said.

“Morning, come hang out with me today, me and a friend are going into town to go shopping for my cat you can bring your dog if you want to” she replied.

“Sure I’ll come” I said getting out of bed. “Just wait for me” I added.

She nodded and walked off telling something to someone, I think she yelled his name and I think it was Sal.

“Sal I’ma going to go put on some makeup” she yelled.

“Okay I got boots” he yelled back. And then they were quite.

When I was done getting dressed I did my makeup which was only eye makeup. I looked in the mirror to see if I looked okay in my black skinny jeans that had holes in the knees and my black spaghetti strap tank top with my teal flannel on, and from the looks of it I looked good.

I walked out of the room, into the living room where there was a blond headed boy sitting on the couch.

“Hey you coming to hang with me and two-bit today” he asked me.

“Whose two-bit” I asked

“Me” said a voice behind me so I turn around to see it was Nick.

“Jayden meet Sal, Sal this is Jayden” Nick introduced.

We headed over to someone's house and they walked right in no knocking on the door no nothing.

Nick looked like she knew everyone there and Sal was first in the food. She walked over to a guy with a bruised cut on his face and she was talking to him then a tall guy that looked like he didn’t belong walked in and started getting food after Sal.

“Nick why are you always in a rush to get the food” one of the bays asked. When he said Nick I immediately looked and my step-sister.

“Because you guys eat all the food Matt” Nick said.

Was a long conversation, and then someone asked Sal who his girlfriend was.

“She is not his girlfriend” my step sister said.

“Ooh is she your girlfriend” one of the brown headed boys said.

“No she’s my dads wives daughter, her name is Jayden” Nick said

“Jayden this is Hot-topic, Mad-dog, Jayson, Jayce you know Sal and over there is Nick also known as Princess boy” she introduced.. “Sit down I’ll get you something to eat”

“Um okay” I said sitting down. She walked over to the cereal boxes that everyone was getting and she poured me special K cereal. She handed it to me with milk in it, then she poured herself Coco Puffs and sat down next to Jayson and Sal.

“So Jayden, how do you feel about hoods” asked Hot-topic.

“Eek, I don’t know I just moved into hood territory, and I’ve noticed that there Kinda distant” I explained.

“Thats funny you live with Two-bit and she will usually talk your ear off” Mad-dog laughed.

“Mad-dog I will kick you butt” Nick said.

“Nick when do you start school again” I asked.

“Two weeks from now so two mondays from now” she answered.

“My name aint Nick thats his name call me Two-bit” she sassed me.

“Okay sorry” I replied.

“Don't be you didn’t know” she said.

We just ate our food in silence and then me Sal Boots and Two-bit walked out of the house. Two-bit was in front pickpocketing with her cat in her hands “she's really good” I complimented her to Sal.

“Well she wasn’t always that good” he said.

“She used to pickpocket the gang we always caught her in the act so she had to get good at it” he explained.

“You know that stop sign by Hot-topic’s house” he asked.

“The dented one” I asked.

“Yeah that was from her pick pocketing Nick's Car keys and Driving off with his car and using him money for Hot topic’s grocery shopping. She also took his cigarette pack and got him in trouble by Hot-topics dad” he told me.

“Oh okay” I said, we walked the rest of the way in silence until we got to the pet store. I left my dog at home because he hate cats. She went alittle crazy picking out a collar she put her name and number on it. She bought him a carrier a bed and a litter boxes. Treats, food two bowls and some toys. We put everything into the carrier except the food because it wouldn’t fit. Sal carried the food and the litter and I carried the carrier and the litter box and she carried the cat. We walked home and she continued to pickpocket people until we got home. Sal and I followed Two-bit into her room and I placed the stuff down and I went into my room, and went to bed because I was tired from all that walking I did that day. Sal spent the night and I know that because Two-bit started crying last night but stopped soon after she realised that she wasn’t alone in that room she fell right back to sleep.

In the morning I woke up to a faint knock on the front door. So I got up to answer it. When I came to the door and opened it Jayce was standing there waiting. I let him in and he walked into Two-bits room and slammed the door and woke them up. I guess Jayce got mad at Sal because there was a whole argument and that ended up with Jayce running out of the house and Sal yelling “i’m not that kind of person I wouldn’t do that to someone especially my best friend I know how you feel about her man”

I guess that he didn’t like what her herd from Sal because he kept running. Sal and Two-bit didn’t come out of that room until the other kids came home and they were mad, the next thing I knew Sal was being dragged out of Two-bits room at six thirty in the evening when the sun was setting. They were dragging Sal to the front yard, when they got there they were beating him up. Two-bit came out of the room in tears and grabbed her dad's truck keys off the coffee table. She went outside to stop the fight, but couldn’t when the fight was over it resulted in Sal laying there in the Lawn passed out, and Two-bit coming back inside she came back into the living room with the cat carrier and the cat stuff first she loaded that into her dad's pick up and then came back in for her backpack and suitcase on the phone with her aunt, she loaded up the bags and Sal and didn’t come back. I’m guessing she dropped Sal off somewhere safe because I saw him the next day.

Run Away 1

Run Away

By kassie peterson

Dedicated to:

People who feel unhappy (I don't suggest doing what this character does)

You can find happiness if you look hard enough.

My New Life (1)

Hi my name is Jayden Marshall oh wait dang it I did it again I mean my name is Jayden white., today we are moving from one side of salem to the next, my mom just married a guy named Marshall white, he’s helping us move, If I remember correctly he has a son named Nick Kasye or something,

“Marshall can you tell me about your son Nick please” I asked politely.

“My son” chuckled Marshall.

“More like my daughter, and she keeps to herself so I really can only tell you that she’s almost sixteen years old just a bit older than you” he said. That was the last thing I said to him the whole car trip, I just put my earbuds in to listen to my favorite song which is New York State of Mind by Billy Joel.

I watched the trees go by until we hit the highway, it took a while because we lived in the country on a three acer land with sheep goats and chickens, we ran out of money so we had to sell all of them I got to keep my dog which is a corgi and his name is soda because I love to drink soda.

It took an hour to get to the new side of town, and I was supposed to meet new people so I checked myself out in the camera of my Iphone to see if my hair was okay, I moved my jet black hair into a position that made me look some what decent and I put eyeshadow on my eyes which makes my blue eyes pop out like no ones business.

When we finally got to the house I was shocked that the neighborhood was nothing like I expected it was older, I looked at the house and realised that we lived in an apartment. We walked in there was a bunch of people on the couch with a girl laying on a blond guys lap with an Ice Pack on her face. All of the people sitting around or on the couch were boys except the one girl.

“I swear Nick you need to stop getting into fights at school” I hear Marshall yell at her.

She wasn’t even listening to him she was just flipping her switchblade in and out like he wasn’t even standing there. When she finally got up she said “by the way i’m suspended from school for two weeks I’ll be out of your guys hair, come on guys let go”

“I swear she is a hood but I’m still not sure who caused it them or the way I raised her or if it was her not having a mother around” he said

We took a tour of the apartment and it was the biggest one there was three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The two biggest ones were the master bedrooms and those were already picked out, Nick had the smaller master bedroom, it looked like she didn’t have much in her room other than a dresser an bed a desk and a bookshelf with CD’s and S.E Hinton books on them. What I could see is that she kept her shoes and shirts in her closet. What I could see was that she had a leather Jacket and Leather pants that looked like she bought them at the goodwill. She also had a lot of converse and knives by her bed stand that had a lava lamp on them.

After that he showed me were I’ll be staying which was a room right across the hallway from the bathroom that was right next to the kitchen, and the opposite side of the hall way was my mom's room that she slept in with Marshall. I unloaded my stuff from the U Haul and I moved them to my room where I unpacked them. I made sure that I put my furniture in there first. By the time I was done unpacking it was dark, my mom and Marshall were making dinner and NIck wasn’t even home.

“Marshall is NIck coming home tonight” I asked out of curiosity.

“I have no clue, she ether comes home late or not at all she’s always seen with those boys I wouldn't’ be surprised If she’s pregnant with one of there babies” he said “but we will find out later if she comes home” he added.

Nick didn’t come home that night, I didn’t see her all that weekend. I looked through some of the picture frames in her room one looked like she was a fifth grader with bruises and one for every year after that. All gave by the same people Jayce, Jayson, Sal, Mad-dog, Hot-topic, Tito and Jessie. The newest one was on her night stand. She had close ups from when she was a baby on her wall, she had green eyes and light blond hair like her dad's but now her eyes are ever green and cold, she had reddish blond hair. She had a picture of her dad her mom and herself on her dresser when she was a baby, I could tell that she got her mother looks. There was another picture of two children playing on a blanket with those big blocks that you buy at toy stores for babies, the kids looked about six months old. Where the other kid now. Then I heard the door open and I thought that I was okay because my mom gets off of work around this time but then I realised that she still has the same job back in south salem so it's going to take an hour to get home. Nick walked into her room with me in there.

“What are you doing” she asked.

“Looking around sorry, your dad said you kept to yourself so I decided to get to know you by looking at your pictures” I explained. She cocked an eyebrow.

“I am actually very open and outgoing Marshall has never actually paid attention to me, I never caught your name new girl” She said.

“Oohh my name is Jayden” I introduced myself.

“Well jayden do you know what day it is” she asked.

“Tuesday morning, now get out I need my space” she said as she went over to the window opened it pulled out a cigarette and light it took a drag and was away in her own world. that's when I left I can't stand the smell of smoke. I went into my room and took a nap. There was talking in the other room it sounds like they were talking about jumping people whatever that means they are now both talking about smoking and why the originally started smoking it turns out she started smoking that pack yesterday after she pick pocketed someone named Nick, “I’ve decided that I hate Hoods all they do is smoke steal and Jump people whatever jumped means” I thought to myself.

She left after that conversation I heard an old truck engine, but then my phone got a call from my best friend, Alex., she was talking about how since I moved her life has gotten worst and how she’s being bullied again by all the boys in the mechanic class, so I told her that they were just jealous that she is beating them all in that class. When I finished talking to her on the phone I painted my nails and wondered if I could maybe get to know Nick a little better, when I was done getting ready for school next week Nick came home, quietly but you’ll have to be pretty quiet to get past me because I can hear the faintest of sounds. She went into her room, then about an hour after she went into her room I heard her open the window then there was a guy voice, then all of a sudden the lights clicked off and she got in bed. By the time I heard another noise was when I heard her wake up around three in the morning. I really wanted to go in there to see if she was okay but I decided against it, I thought about what her dad said about her probably being pregnant with one of there kids and then I thought that if I went in there I would see they naked. But I could tell she went back to bed, but she got up to get a drink of water. That's when I turned my light off. And crawled in bed.

Trouble Calls, No Time to Waste 12

Salem gang and Tusla gang (12)

Jayson finally woke up around midnight they day he got there. I slept on the ground next to him and Sal took my bed. Dallas took the floor next to me and the rest of the gang took a hotel room by the house. I woke up as I got a Jet stream of question. So I told him the whole story about where he is why he’s here and why his face hurts.

“So you knocked me out after you gave me a shot of whiskey” he whispered.

“Yeah I had to give myself a shot of whiskey or a few to do it but I eventually did let's just say my head hurts from it because I felt bad after punching you so I took shots till I was boozed up” I explained.

“Oh, you shouldn't have felt bad I would have liked you to knock me out before Mad-dog or whoever stitched me up to have you knock me out before I saw the needle” he went on with drowsiness in his voice.

We eventually woke up Sal and he woke up Dallas and that wasn’t a pretty site to see, he had major bed head and his sky blue eyes were no longer sky blue they were ice blue and looked angry. So I told everyone to go back to bed. Dallas snuggled closer to me and put his arm around me as well. It was weird at first but I got used to it mainly because he was warm because he still had on that over sized zip up hoodie and he put that over me to keep me warm.

I woke up the next morning with everyone from the gang watching me and Dallas and then everyone from Dallas gang Ohhhing. Before I figured out what was going on I realised that Aunt Lily was there holding Jayce back and he looked angry sad even maybe even Jealous, why would he be Jealous of Dallas even. Then I looked at Dallas and he was still holding me I moved his arm to the side and got up I moved passed Aunt Lily saying good morning and telling Jayce that nothing happened. Again he didn’t believe me. He still looked angry and that sight reminded me of the night I left the way he looked the morning he found Sal in my room and me hugging him, then I got mad glared at him and walked off into Keith and my room got changed and then went into the bathroom where I put on my makeup and by the time I was done and walked out the door both Jayce and Dallas were sitting by the doorway glaring at each other. I walked past them both and they followed me t0 the kitchen where everyone was eating there favorite kinda cereal my gang left towards door Sal told me that they were going to go out to eat at mcdonalds or something. (somewhere cheap I suppose) I said “okay” and sat down at the table eating my Cocoa puffs and drinking a coca cola.

Dallas was staring at me confused like and that was making everyone else mad and staring at him. I am really good at manipulating facial expression so I returned that same confused look and continued eating. When I was done I pulled Dallas away to the other room. When I did his confused face grew into like what the heck is going on look.

“Do you have a boyfriend” Dallas asked while I was looking out the not paying attention to that question. When I didn't answer he asked it again.

“Do you have a boyfriend”

“What no” I replied.

“What's his problem then” he asked.

“When you figure that out you can tell me because I have no clue. He did the samething with Sal when he slept over at my parents house” I answered.

“Ohh?” he said.

“I had a nightmare that night that brought me to tears and she soothe me back to sleep, so I hugged him and we fell asleep like that then Jayce found us like that and he thought all wrong. Then he brought the whole gang into this and that's why there is bruises on Sals face.” I went on.

“Keep going” he said.

“The fight was so bad that I couldn’t sleep at Hot-topics because he was so mad at me and Sal and everyone left Sal in my yard knocked out. So I left that night and brought Sal over to his house to recover from the fight then they got jumped this week and came here to find me then he saw me with you and…” I must've started to tear up because before I knew it I was in his arms.

“Shh it’s okay” he cooed.

“Dallas I don’t know what's going on, and I sure as heck don’t what another fight like that again it was horrible even for me to see, I don’t know this fight was different from other fights this fight was four against one, Jayson Jayce Hot-topic and Mad-dog against Sal, I tried to stop it but before I figured what was going on they were already outside punching him and by the time I got outside they were punching him while he was lying there on the ground” I was sobbing.

“Shhhh” he said.

“He looked dead but I felt his heartbeat and I knew he was alive so I hurried grabbed my stuff that I had packed in my suitcase threw that in the cab and I walked back over to Sal and put him in the passenger seat and took him home” I said.

“That was you, I mean I thought that it was another person from another gang not my own” he said.

I broke fee from Dallas's hug. “I thought that I pissed off my gang enough that they didn’t care if I laid out there all night” he added he started to cry so I went over there to hug him. He broke free from my hug and walked into the other room where the rest of the gang was I followed everyone was there except Jayce I wanted to ask where he was but I really didn’t care I sat down and talked with the two gangs.

“Cola are you and Dallas thinking about going out” Johnny said.

I was really shocked I didn’t know what to say so I just stood there with my eyes wide open and my mouth Dallas looked as surprised as I did except that he was bright red and blushing and I was just shocked.

“Well what's the answer” he went on.

“I….I...I don't know” I stuttered.

After I said that I was blushing and I couldn’t stop so I went outside to smoke, but little did I know that Jayce was on the front porch when I light the cancer stick Jayce said something scaring me. But I was still blushing nervously from the question that Johnny asked me and the way Dallas looked at me when I answered. It was the look of hope but he doesn’t like me how could anyone like a hood like me. A tear was rolling down my face, I hate being a hood, I forgot Jayce was standing there when he said something along the lines hey how are you but I just looked at him and walked off not trying to be rude but I was pissed and needed some space and it wasn’t going to be the front porch because Jayce was there.

I started going down the street smoking my cigarette and just thinking, why do hoods have it hard, why did he look at me like that when I answered that question, do I like him. Why is my life so crappy. Is my dad and stepmom doing alright. Hell what do I care they hate me anyway. I wonder what happened to my mom did she just get up and leave or did she die giving birth. I believe that she left but I’m going to pretend that she died so I can feel loved by someone, my parents don’t care for me I bet they don’t even care that I’m gone Jayden hate’s hoods and I hate people who don’t take kindly to hoods but Jayden is and accepting she doesn't hate me or the gang just our kind and I don't even know if she hates hoods it's just the way she looked at me and the gang with fear.  I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even realise the group of hoods approach me they all look familiar but I couldn’t place my finger on it, then started circling around me like a bunch of hound dogs and that’s when it hit me, they were the kids I pick-pocketed they remembered me “OH, Crap what did I get myself into” I said.

Trouble Calls, No Time to Waste 11

Keith’s gang (11)

“Hey kasye” the toughest one said “who's this”

“My name is two-bit i’m keith's cousin” I said while drinking a coke that I pulled out of my pocket a while before.

“My name is Dallas” he said. I looked at him I mean really looked at him. “So he’s Dallas” I thought

I could read Dallas like a book he was a big trouble maker, mainly because his parents paid no attention to him. His blue eyes told a disturbing like my green eye’s did. He had dark hair that screamed trouble and his scars on his shoulders whispered pain.

“Why are you looking at me like that” Dallas said.

“Trouble” I whispered

“What” he asked.

“Nothing who’s the rest of the gang” I asked.

“Keith she’s adapting to the hood slang already” Dallas noticed.

“I was a tough hood before I came here I ran away” I said.

“Okay then over here is Jake, the one next to him is Jack, the blond is Mason and the one behind me is Johnny” Dallas introduced.

Dallas took me under his arm and Johnny in the other when another gang came in front of us.

“They organised” I asked.

“Yes stay away from them” Dallas warned.

I walked up to them introduced myself talked to them a bit and walked away with there wallets and blades. As soon as the gang passed us I giggled as Dallas was lecturing me about why I didn’t listen to him.

“Why are you laughing this is a serious matter” Dallas said.

I laughed some more which caused keith to laugh.

“What’s so funny” mason asked.

“I pick pocketed every single one of those guys without you noticing or them” I said pulling out the wallets and blades.

“You missy are trouble” Dallas said.

“So are you” I told him.

“What” he asked

“A good hood I hard to read hon you're so darn easy to read when I first met you I could read you like a book” I explained.

“Ohh is that so you're easy to read but go head tell me my story” he nagged.

“You have parent troubles you steal and you have a police record that's a mile long, you’ve been locked up by the age of 12 and get hauled in every time something bad happens here” I went on.

“Tell me my story” I said

“Your spoiled, parents loved you dearly they bought you a cat for your 16th birthday don't get into trouble with the cops am I right” he asked.

“You were not even close, my parents didn’t even know I’m around my gang bought me a cat and you're right I don't get in trouble with a the cops because I am smart about the crime I commit” I corrected “was I right on you life story”

“Yes every single detail it kinda creeped me out” he said as he put is arm over my shoulder again “you're tough I like you Two”

“I ain't calling her Two-bit” Johnny said “It don’t fit a pretty lady like herself”

When he said that I almost spit out my coke “what would you call me then” I asked.

“Cola” Johnny said.

We got to where we were going which was Dallas house. We got inside and sat down at the table. I looked at each of the people sitting at the table the first one I looked at was Mason who was sitting right across from me. He had blond hair that almost looked white, he had pale blue eyes and a scar on his left cheek. He was harder to read than Dallas but readable, he had a family that cared enough to make him not want to run somewhere else and this gang seem’s to be taking care of him.

Then I looked at Jack he had blood red hair and brown eyes I could tell he dyed his hair to look that way he was super readable he hated fights but was good at them his mother died and his father drank to much to care where he is and he was super easy to read.

Then was Jake, he had brown hair that reminded me of Jayce's hair and a blueish tinge to his black eyes that was unlike Mad-dogs he was by far the hardest readable person to read. He hated being a hood he wishes to be somewhere where there wasn’t people differences where we all were treated the same.

The there was Johnny, he had a darker skin tone than the rest of the group and had little labrador puppy eyes to him he had a scar on he wrist, and his black colored eyes had a reddish tinge to them and he had jet black hair he looked like Mad-dog but wasn’t “Mad-dog” I whispered.

“Kid you need to stop whispering no one can hear you when you do that” Dallas said.

“Okay I need a second” I told him and walked into the other room and pulled out my phone. I dialed Sal who is always hanging with Mad-dog. “Hello” sal said.

“Yes sal this is Nick” I said.

“Who’s that I know a two-bit but not a nick” sal teased.

“HaHa very funny hey you hanging with Mad-dog today” I asked.

“No his dad is taking him fishing today” he said

“Ohh okay” I said shocked

“Whats wrong” sal asked

“Nothing I never said goodbye to him that's all and I think it's coming back to haunt me” I explained.

“Nightmares again” he asked.

“Yeah, I gotta go love ya by” I said and quickly hung up and walked over to the nearest window and climbed out and walked to the side walk. Took out a cancer stick and lit it and took a drag.

“You know you shouldn’t be smoking” said a voice from behind me.

“It clears my head this past week has been stressful sometimes I need to clear my head” I explained.

I finally found out whose voice was talking to me it was Dallas “it's like you had that answer prepared for someone to ask you that” he sounded surprised.

“You weren’t the only one who commented something like that” I said.

“Ohh really who” Dallas asked.

“My friend Jayson he was in my gang when I lived in Oregon” I said as I took a drag of my smoke.

“Keep telling me about yourself, ohh and can I have a cancer stick” he asked.

“Yeah here” I gave him a smoke.

“No finish telling me about your life story. You ever got Jumped? What's the hoods like in Salem? What was your ranking? Have any skills that make you a hood”

“Yes I have gotten jumped before the last time I got jumped was also the first time I was jumped, and that was when I was in fifth grade on my way home from math club with a friend, we had just entered Hood territory when a whole bunch of Princess boys as you call Soces came up and started beating me and the other kid up I was half conscious when Jayson Jayce and Sal found me and the other kid was unconscious Sal picked me up and carried me to his house, and Jayson picked the other kid up. He gave us a place to recover, when I was fully conscious I started Crying I didn’t care if it was a sign of weakness to cry in front of other hoods I was scared, Sal came up to me and soothed me telling me that everything is going to be alright, but after that day I was in that gang and I was no longer socially awkward and I was super out going, that was the secret of not getting jumped and that's how I got my reputation and my ranking at third” I said telling him my life story as he asked me to.

I could tell by the look on his face that he had more questions about hoods and myself and that last gang, but he could see that I didn’t talk about that story to often because hoods never talked about there past jumps and stuff and he knew I knew that he just stood there as I looked at the sky.

“Every since then you had a taste for trouble i’m guessing” he asked

“No my taste for trouble started way before that when my dad and stop paying attention to me and started drinking again, I was five years old when that trouble tasting feeling came into me that's when my mom left then my dad married another woman and then I had a step sister. Before then I taught myself how to pickpocket people and that’s how I got my money all the time that and family would give it to me for birthdays or christmas or something hoods in salem are really good at sirten things for example i’m good with pick pocketing and fighting I guess fighting is in every hoods nature by the way your looking at me but I fought a little different that every other hood I fought for people not to hurt them, I don't know I guess i'm different that way, that's what makes me a hood” I said with silent tears.

“You okay” he asked.

“Yeah i’m fine my past is hard that's all” I said as he wrapped me in a hug then from behind me there was a whole bunch of “ooh Dal’s got a girlfriend” the gang said.

“Ohh you shut up” Dallas said

By then I was done crying so I tried to pull away but Dallas didn’t notice till I said “um Dal I’m not a big hugger can you please let me go now”

“Ohh sorry, thanks for opening up to me, you're the first” he said.

“Okay” I said, I don’t know why I opened up to Dallas I just did something about him was different like I could trust him or something. It's kinda weird for me to open up to someone including my gang it felt kinda weird that I opened up to someone. My Phone was ringing again It was Tito I answered it “this is Nick” I said,

“Two-bit me and Jayson and jayce and Hot-topic just got jumped, you know how I said that you beat up that big time soces and there was going to be conflicted yeah there looking for you” he explained

“Did they pull a blade on you” I asked.

“Yeah they cut up Jayson real bad, the rest of the gang caught them buy them by surprise we are headed to a place but Sal won't tell us where the rest of the gang is in the bed of the truck wrapped in a blanket wrapping up Jayson cuts wait sal wants to talk to you” Tito said.

“Hey two-bit I know you made me promise not to come find you but it's too late we are just at the border of california we are leaving california to be exact…” Sal said.

“Sal it's okay the only thing is that I didn’t want the whole gang to know where I’m at but that's already too late there all in the truck with you and even Tito’s with you” I said.

“And Jessie and Nick” Tito yelled.

“Okay how far are you away from Tusla” I asked.

“I’m taking back roads so about a day and a half of no stop driving except for gas stations and that's where I’m going to get some coffee or something” he said.

“I need to got bye” sal said.

“Bye” said and hung up, I must've looked worried because before you know it Keith came running up to me and gave me a hug.

The got jumped I thought, they got jumped and I wasn’t there to help then this is all my fault I started this mess when I beat up that kid, I started the conflict I needed to end it but I left because I couldn’t take being bounced around like a bouncy ball so I left I shouldn’t have left.

“I left them” I said.

“You left who” Dallas asked.

“My gang I left them and because of it they are taking the hits and now there on there way to find me, because of Jayson he’s hurt real bad” I explained.

“You saying that they got jumped” Johnny asked.

“Yeah they got jumped and they didn’t play fair, darn Jayson why didn’t you take you blade out” I said silently crying.

When you're a hood that's one of the skills you have to have is to silently cry or not cry at all, that's what most hoods do but I taught myself to silently cry. The only time it's okay to cry is when your hurt real bad like Jayson other than that you were weak if you cried noticeably and I wasn’t weak.

After my cancer stick was gone I went to join the rest of the gang in the house. They were still sitting by the table eating Tacos and playing poker. It looked like Keith was winning because of how much wallets and watches he had. I sat down between Johnny and Dallas.

“There's tacos in there if you want some” Dallas offered.

“Yeah I would love a taco” I said as I was sitting up but Dallas jumped up and started making me a Taco. He added beans and salsa sour cream cheese hot sauce ground meat guacamole lettuce tomatoes olives. Then he brought it to me on a plate. I was shocked no one has ever treated me like that to be honest with you I was alittle scared.

At 10 o’clock me and Keith walked home I had a cigarette in my mouth trying to keep myself warm, on our way home we walked by an open drug store where I bought a pack of cigarettes a new lighter and a monster. We didn’t get home till eleven that night, keith and I were just catching up on six year of not speaking to each other, trading stories about being a hoodlum. Family stories, I apparently didn’t have many the last thing I remember talking to him about my family was the time three years ago and talking to my cousin, and hanging out with my cousin lizzie I love hanging with my cousin’s there like my siblings we all get along real well. I mean we all show are diffrent point of views and stuff but we sometimes put them aside but when we don't it's a war zone that I always win in.

When we got home I changed into PJ’s and went to bed, Keith did the same. We talked some more about his school and such to tell me what to prepare for, and then we finally fell asleep. I woke up later that night in a cold sweat and cussing, then all of a sudden I was in tears why I don't know. All I know is that I woke up Keith, and he walked over to my bed to comfort me. I ended up falling asleep hugging him like I hugged sal when I had my nightmare in Oregon.

Keith was up before me again I woke up at noon hearing voices coming from the kitchen I got up and changed into leather pants and my mickey mouse tank top that my friend Jayson got me last year. Then I went into the kitchen where I was met by Dallas, Jake, Jack Mason and Johnny. I wasn’t awake so I went back to my room to get that monster that I bought yesterday and Boots was sitting on the bed so I picked him and walked back to the kitchen.

“Good morning Nick” Aunt Lily greeted me.

“Good morning” I said in return. Then I sat down at the table with the rest of the gang sipping my monster and petting my cat.

“Who got you the cat” asked Dallas.

“My gang” I replied.

“Oh tell me about them” he asked.

“No, I will not tell you anything about them till you meet um” I said.

“What” Keith asked.

“There coming to find me because they got jumped they should be here tomorrow at Noon” I said.

“Fair enough, can you at least tell me there names” Dallas asked.

“Sal, Jayce, Jayson, Hot-topic and Mad-dog” I said taking a sip of my monster.

“Some of the out of gang friends are coming to” I added.

“Whats there names” Keith asked.

“Tito and Jessie they are brothers, and Hot-topics cousin Nick he’s really fun to pick pocket” I said.

“How do you kids feel about waffles for breakfast” Aunt Lily asked.

“Yeah” Me and Keith said almost jumping up and down.

“You guy’s really love waffles” Dallas said.

“Yeah we do, Um. Aunt Lily i’m a go and finish getting ready Okay” I said.

“Okay sweetie” Aunt Lily said.

I went into mine and Keiths room and I grabbed my Makeup bag. I went into the bathroom and I went to turn on some music when there was a notification that I had one miss call from Sal. so I dialed the number and put it on speaker phone the Phone rang for a little while I put on my make.

“Hello” asked some one on the phone.

“Hey is this Sal” I asked

“On this is Mad-dog, Sals driving” Mad-dog said.

“You called me earlier” I asked.

“Oh yeah Sal was going to tell you something hold on” he said and then asked Sal what he was going to tell me.

“Okay Sal was going to tell you that we made it to Oklahoma but now we are about ten minutes away from your address.” Mad-dog explained.

“Okay let me finish something then I’ll tell my Aunt you’ll be here in about ten minutes alright” I said.

“Alright bye” Mad-dog said

“Bye” I said.

Then I hung up. I finished up my make up and went to the kitchen. “Aunt Lily my friends from Oregon will be here in about ten minutes” I said

“Oh why are they coming all the way out here” she asked.

“They needed help” I said

“Ohh do you have hoods in salem too” she asked totally oblivious to the fact that there was a room full of them.

“Yes” I said looking at Keith who gave me she doesn’t know look. And they got Jumped. Which was the truth but it wasn’t the full truth. They got jumped by princess boys not hoods because we are hoods and no one would mess with my gang. Even if they wanted to because we would always win because we are all really tough.

“Aunt lily can I eat my waffle outside please” I asked.

“Yes sweetie you may” Aunt Lily accepted. Gave me my waffle and I went outside to wait for my friends. Five minutes later Dallas walked out and we just stood there in silence until a red pickup just like mine except this one was a Chevy,  I knew whose it was when they pulled up. I put my now empty plate down to help get Jayson out of the tailgate, but when I got there His face was pale like a ghost.

“Sal why didn’t you take him to the hospital” I screamed.

“I didn’t think, you were the Brains of the gang and I panicked” Sal said.

“Well there's no time to take him to the hospital now we are going to have to clean up the cuts and stitch them up ourselves. I said as I jumped up on the bed of the truck grabbing Jayson and waking up everyone in the process. They all followed me into the house I put Jayson on the couch and took off his shirt and asked Aunt lily where the peroxide. She showed me as Sal took off Jayson bandages off and I cleaned the cuts, we gave him a shot of whiskey that I found in my aunts wine cabinet and I punched him in the face to knock him out before Mad-dog started to stitch up the cuts, I felt really bad because it was Jayson who I had to knock him out and he did nothing to me, I felt so bad that It brought me to tears. Sal hugged me and that stopped me from crying a little bit but I ended up drinking Half of the bottle of whiskey and boy was I boozed..