AllFreeNovel
Share Us
19
Sleep evades me. I’m too wired to even contemplate sleeping. Instead, I pull out my tobacco and papers and roll up a cigarette, then sit on my window ledge looking out at the view. Below us, Hastings is lit up with twinkling lights from the houses and hotels peppering the valley below. Nearer the shoreline are the multicoloured lights of the funfair, a permanent fixture along the promenade. A Ferris wheel moves in a slow circle, each seat adorned with different coloured lights whilst a rollercoaster whizzes around and around. I’ve never been to a funfair; actually, that’s a lie. I’ve been, I’ve just never had enough money to go on any of the rides. Sighing, I lean my head back against the wall and smoke my cigarette, enjoying the way the smoke fills my lungs and the rush I get from it. I’m addicted to nicotine but at least that’s it. I can give or take marijuana. I don’t need it like others do. Tonight, however, I wish I had some. It might have helped me to sleep, given it’s almost midnight and I’m still wide awake and full of restless energy.
Breathing in the briny smell of the sea, my eyes catch movement below. Sitting forward I squint into the darkness. Someone is jumping off the flat roof of the equipment store at the back of our building. Pooled in darkness it’s difficult to see who. So, I watch and wait.
Then a spotlight flicks on from the movement and I see Sonny backing up against the wall, evaporating into the shadows of a doorway. He waits a beat for the light to flick off, then makes a mad dash across the asphalt of the carpark behind our building, before squeezing through a gap in the fence and disappearing into the copse of trees beyond it.
Seconds later, I see more people sneaking out of the back entrance of our residential annex. I’m pretty sure I see Red and Bram and some other members of the No Name Crew. Another couple of minutes pass and more kids appear, this time from the HH crew. My breath catches when I see Camden. He looks up at my window and grins. His teeth bright in the darkness.
What the actual fuck?
Knowing I should ignore the temptation to follow the stream of kids breaking curfew, I throw my cigarette butt out of the window and slam it shut. Whatever they’re up to, I don’t want to get involved.
Five minutes later after spotting two familiar girls sneaking out the back entrance, I follow suit and head outside myself, curiosity and a sense of adventure getting the better of me.
“Wait!” I whisper, running to catch up with Pink and Kate. Part of me feels a little pissed off that they didn’t think to invite me to wherever it is that they’re going, but then again I’ve no real right. I’ve turned down their offer of companionship numerous times already today.
“FUCK ME!” Pink screeches as I tap her on the shoulder.
“Shhhhh!” Kate hisses. “Do you want us all to get caught?”
“Mother of freaking God, Asia! You scared the shit out of me!” Pink clutches onto Kate, her free hand pressed against her chest as she struggles to catch her breath.
“Fuck, sorry!” I exclaim. It’s pitch black in the woods and if it wasn’t for the occasional light from a mobile phone (that hasn’t been fucking confiscated) I wouldn’t have seen them at all. “I was having a smoke and I saw you all heading out this way. Where are you going?”
“The Tower,” Kate and Pink respond simultaneously.
“Bobby?” I ask.
“Too fucking wasted on Mary-J. He’s passed out cold. The bastard won’t be waking up any time soon,” Pink explains with a shrug.
“Yeah, I bet,” I retort, knowing exactly who provided him with the stash andwhy. Trying not to think about Monk and his pack of wolves, I walk in step beside Kate.
“What about those two security guards?”
“They leave at 9pm each day. Bobby is the only adult in charge.” She smothers a laugh at that fact.
“But he’s such a dick. I’m surprised Mr Carmichael hasn’t sacked him already,” I remark. Mr Carmichael doesn’t seem like the type of guy to miss a trick. He must know Bobby is up for bribery, surely?
“You’d think so, right?” Kate responds in agreement. “But maybe Mr Carmichael isn’t as clued up about shit as he makes out.”
“Maybe,” I agree. We fall into companionable silence for a while, holding onto each other as we traverse through the woods. Eventually, curiosity gets the better of me and I break the silence.
“So, what exactlyisthe Tower?”
In the gloom I can see Pink look at me with excitement. “Apparently it’s where shit that goes down at Oceanside gets settled…!”
“Yeah, I heard Ford wants to challenge Monk,” Kate adds, her eyebrows lifting. She gives me a curious look as if I should know something about it.
“What?” I ask, then swear loudly as I bump into a tree trunk.
“You never did tell us what happened on the field after we left that day,” Kate says. I might not be able to see her clearly, but I know what she’s thinking, and the giggle from Pink tells me she’s thinking the same thing. These girls are nothing but idle gossips, like a pair of curtain twitching nosey parkers. Normally I hate anyone getting all up in my business, but I kinda like that about them. We’re just three girls having friendly banter.
“That’s becausenothinghappened. We ran around the field, got sweaty, then went inside. That’s it,” I lie, not willing just yet to give them the details of what actually happened. I’m pretty sure they’d be giving me shit for days if I told them that Ford had tackled me to the ground with a raging hard-on. I’d never live it down. My cheeks flush at the memory; it’s just as well it’s so damn dark.
“Hmm, whatever you say,” Pink giggles.
We fall silent again for the next few minutes as we traverse through the forest. I’m on full alert mode, more than ready to deal with Monk should he decide to pounce. But something tells me that Monk and his cronies expect me to be hiding in my bedroom, so I think I’m safe. For now, at least. That’s if he has even come along, given the fact that Camden knocked him out. Perhaps he’s laid out in bed, a couple of sad cases from the HH crew looking after him.
