Sex/Violence: Lots. More then the usual eps of Xena, and more then my usual stories. This is a tough city, a tough neighborhood where just about anything does and will happen. This story depicts love between two members of the same sex, so if this is illegal or offensive, read elsewhere. This story also depicts an act of rape, but no graphic sex scenes. Sorry folks, just not my style.
Anything else? Don't know about that yet. Guess this story has an R rating because of the violence and potty mouth language. Um, that'd be all now. Go ahead and read. Delve into my twisted mind, if you dare! :)
Feedback most welcome at Tragedy88@goplay.com
In the stale night air, outside of a NYC inner school building, a teenager stood, crunching gravel beneath her booted feet. Moonlight, obscured by various clouds, illuminated her tanned, healthy skin, and her long black hair.
She wore black, faded and torn Jeans and sported the James Dean look of a white T-shirt and black leather jacket. Crisp, spring air wisped from her mouth as she looked up at the sky.
What would the stars look like? she wondered. The bright city lights obliterated all but the strongest of the stars, the northern star. She ceased her wondering as the reverberating growl of a motorcycle echoed up the empty street.
She turned to face the single bright light, blinking against it's glare. Nonchalantly she pulled a pack of cigarettes and a zippo from her coat pocket. She flicked the lighter open on her jeans, striking the flint into a tall, bright flame. She held it to the tip of the cigarette and inhaled deeply.
The smoke coursed down into her lungs, bringing with it the sweet, needed nicotine. The curse of addiction, she grinned wryly. But it sure as hell beat crack, or any other drugs. She wouldn't be making that mistake anytime soon.
Her younger brother roared up on his Harley. He wore no helmet; dark hair slicked back and dressed in the customary dark leather of the biker's he caroused with. Charley cut the engine and waited for his sister Shane to make her presence known.
"Ready, lil' bro?" Shane asked, stepping out of the shadows and down the stone steps of the school, sliding down to her brother with the grace of a panther.
"They're ready," he smiled, his eyes lighting with excitement as if he'd been let loose in a candy store.
"Let's go then." She flicked the cigarette butt out into the street, watching it bounce and send a shower of sparks across the pavement before rolling into the littered storm drain. Then she slid across the seat and grabbed her brother's waist.
He opened the choke and the Harley purred to life. "It's gonna be one hell of a night!" he shouted over the roar of the engine as they tore down the street.
Shane let his excitement roll over her like a freight train, giving a joyous whoop, as the wind tore her hair around her face in a stream of fine silk. Oh yeah, it was gonna be one hell of a night.
Little did either brother or sister know what kind of hell it was going to be…
The parking lot behind the convenience store was dimly lit, two bare bulbs barely penetrating the encompassing darkness. The dumpsters were overflowing with the stench of rotten food.
Charley watched a rat skitter through the trash as he sat in the driver's seat of a '92 Chevy Cavalier that one of the girls had stolen a few hours earlier.
He wasn't in Shane's gang, but he was being allowed to drive the get-away car because he was Shane's younger brother. Shane pulled a lot of weight even if she wasn't the leader. Only two days ago she had told him she would run the gang, that things would be different.
He looked up from his musings and toward the back door of the grocery store. What the hell was taking so long? They should have been-
Bam! Bam!
The shots shook his already racing mind and without thinking he threw open the car door and raced to the back entrance. His older sister was all that mattered to him right then. He knew something had gone desperately wrong.
Charley had to find her and help her.
He ripped open the back door, arriving in a crowded storage room. From there he dashed to the next door, through a freezer department and finally into the store itself.
Someone was shouting. Something was falling. Above it all he searched for his sister's voice but couldn't find it.
He ran around the corner, tumbling over a stack of fallen soup cans. Amidst the cans was a body. Charley shoved through the cans to the dark hair below and breathed a sigh of relief when it wasn't Shane.
Bam! The burning smell of spent shells curled around the shelf tops.
Shit, what the hell was going on? Charley clung to the side of the aisle and peeked around some cereal boxes. Shane!
She was covered in blood. It dripped from her bangs down over her eyes. It was smeared across the front of her shirt and in her limp hand was a sawed off shotgun.
"Wha-" He must have startled her because she whipped the gun up and around in his direction. For one split second fear, terror and shock galloped across his face before it was wiped clean with a slice of pain. He clutched instinctively at its source, stumbling slightly backwards, looking down to his belly.
Slowly he sank to his knees, watching the floor come up to meet him. He glanced back up at his sister one last time. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open in a wide O.
White teeth glimmered brightly in the fluorescent lights before she uttered a sharp, shrill scream.
Oh my God...
Eighteen-year-old Shane Delante rode her brother's Harley-Davidson up the school sidewalk, scattering students and curses along the way. Long hair crested out behind her, sliding over bare shoulders like a dark cloak. Shane's black leather vest, with the metal rings and Indian ties, shimmered and radiated heat in the late days of summer.
She wore torn Jeans, and black biker boots. No smile of anticipation or dreaminess crossed her stoic face. She was a bad ass girl on a bad ass bike and she was damn sure she was going to let the world know it.
B.A. all the way baby, she thought wryly.
With a shuttering growl the bike came to a stop in the back, in one of the teacher's lots. In one fluid motion she kicked the stand down and dismounted. Casually she ran a hand through her hair, untangling and pushing back the rebellious locks. She drew a cigarette and lit it, leaning against the bike.
Shane inhaled deeply, letting the first sweet lungful of smoke calm her nerves.
Mere seconds later she was flocked by a small group of girls. Shane looked over them dispassionately, absently noting how they'd changed over the summer months.
Casey had cut her auburn hair short and gelled it into mean bleached blond spikes. She'd also acquired a piercing through her right eyebrow. Casey hadn't gotten any taller, still 5'6", but had toned up her body when her stepmom had gotten on the new Tae Bo kick with a vengeance. She looked... mean, with studs in her ears and nose, black Jeans, tight black tank top with the thin spaghetti shoulder straps, and the tattoo of a fang bearing panther peeking out of her shoulder.
Casey silently bummed a cigarette off Shane while Molly and Cadence sat on the concrete curb, shielding their eyes from the sun. The others would be along soon enough.
"Heard there's a transfer comin' today," Casey inhaled deeply with a small smile of satisfaction, then exhaled through her nose.
Shane shrugged. Long as the transfer stayed out of her way there'd be no hassle. "What's up with Mag?"
"Hear she's back in school." Molly crossed and uncrossed her legs impatiently. She was shorter then Casey, with light brown unruly curls and deep chocolate brown eyes. She wore her standard khaki's, cut up a few inches on the sides to fit over her black boots and a ratty flannel shirt with it's sleeves cut off at the shoulder. She seemed to be waiting for a certain something to be mentioned and she wasn't about to bring it up herself.
"Yeah, her step-dad made her come back." Casey had the word on just about everything. "Beat the shit out of her really. She was caught between a rock and a hard place." Casey chuckled at her own joke.
Shane leaned away from the bike, cracking her shoulders as she stood. "Later," she called over her shoulder on the way to the back double doors of the school.
"Hey Shane! What about the new transfer?" Cadence jumped up from the curb, yelling after her. Cadence had fine model features, light creamy brown skin, thin and sharp. She was only two inches shorter then Shane's 6 foot 1 and wore tight, stone washed jeans and a T-shirt that had two cartoon characters arguing whether it 'Tastes Great' or was 'Less Filling.' It was cut to mid abdomen and showed off her gold belly button ring. From her back, looking out at the world with unnaturally purple eyes, was a fang bearing panther.
Shane turned on her heel, hair whipping around her shoulders violently. "What about her?" she growled, blue eyes flashing.
"Um, ain't ya gonna teach her the rules?" Cadence lowered her voice and her eyes against Shane's sudden, unprovoked anger.
"Not today," Shane answered cryptically, saving her anger for other, more immediate matters, then she turned and headed to the school.
When Shane was safely out of earshot Cadence turned to her friends. "Goddamn, what the hell's wrong with her today?" she demanded.
"It's an anniversary of sorts," Casey murmured, fingering her eyebrow piercing nervously. A new habit she'd come by only two days after getting it.
"O-oh, shit. Your right." Cadence's light brown eyes widened in sudden understanding.
"Yeah," Molly agreed, nodding her unruly brown curls and finally sitting still, "feel sorry for anyone who gets in her way today."
Three heads nodded in grim agreement.
"Who the hell are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my seat?"
Antonia looked up from her silent contemplation of the ragged and dog-eared English textbook with a wide-eyed expression. "I-I'm sorry?" she stalled, unable to tear her eyes from the girls' nose ring.
"Oh great, you're that new fucking transfer, aren't you?" Casey swiped the girl's textbook from the top of the desk. It slammed to the floor with a deafening thud, echoing in the sudden silence. "Get up."
Everyone turned to the transfer in her brand new, dark blue jeans and pale green blouse. Some felt sorry, some afraid and one or two expectant, but all eyes looked away as Casey sent a smug glance around the room.
Antonia staggered from her seat and grabbed her textbooks from the floor. The final bell rang and she clamored into the last available seat near the front, glancing sideways one last time at the hostile girl.
No fight, no fun, Casey groused silently.
A few minutes later Antonia began to wonder where the teacher was.
"Excuse me?" Antonia tapped the shoulder ahead of her. The young boy turned to her with a weary expression that turned slowly into a smile.
"What's up?" He sing-songed.
"I was just wondering if this class has a teacher?" Antonia smiled politely, not at all liking the way the boy was leering at her chest. It had slowly developed over the summer and she was still self-conscious.
"Who cares," he smiled, what was supposed to be a disarming smile, but somehow turned out lopsided. "My name's Trey. What's yours?"
She thought for a moment. Antonia was just not gonna fly in this neighborhood. "Tony," she shortened it, instantly liking how it made her sound more grown up.
"Cool," Trey drawled, "where ya from, new girl, Tony?"
"Everywhere," Tony's eyes crinkled in laughter as he turned a confused smile at her. "I'm an army brat," she explained.
"Oh, cool."
That seemed to be about the extent of his vocabulary and she was eternally grateful when the door clicked open and the teacher finally stepped into the classroom. Tony felt eyes staring into the back of her head and she risked a glance backwards. Spike girl was flinging daggers at her. Tony swallowed hard and turned back to the teacher.
This was going to be a long, long day.
The rest of the morning was the same. Out of the corner of Tony's eye Spike girl was constantly there. If she had something to say why couldn't she just say it?
The classes were crowded and the teacher's harried and worn out already. One of her classes didn't even have textbooks and another, science, had nothing for labs.
Tony felt cheated. In Missouri she'd been challenged at school, had learned quickly and shown promise for any career she could dream of. But here... here there were no supplies, the teachers didn't care, and the rowdy students seemed to rule the school.
She still couldn't get over the littered hallways, with their smell of gym socks and body odor, and the graffiti covered lockers. Her own locker had a dent about the size of a human head. She avoided it.
Tony was beginning to understand how kids could 'fall through the cracks' even if she'd only heard of it before, as if it was urban legend.
She heaved a dramatic sigh as she trudged to the cafeteria. As she pushed open the battered doors her mouth sagged in disbelief.
People are suppose to eat here? She was suddenly, desperately thankful that Gram had made her lunch that morning, as some unknown smell wafted pass and left her stomach churning.
Her chest reverberated in the din of hollering students.
Ok, ok I can do this. How much worse can it get? Tony searched through the throng of moving bodies for an empty seat.
She passed a group of young black boys rapping, one dancing on the tabletop. She skirted around two boys scuffling, and detoured around a large group of dangerous looking young women, till she found a table in the back corner and wearily flopped into the last available chair.
The students didn't look up and she didn't bother with a 'hello.' She dug into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich with gusto as she studied her dog-eared math book. It was stuff two years behind what she'd been studying, and was missing close to a 1/4 of its pages.
Tony had decided that a meeting with the principal was in order. This crap was no longer acceptable. As she began to rehearse the speech she'd give to the principal, that had yet to be seen, she didn't notice the cafeteria growing silent and the mass of students at her table abruptly getting up and moving off to safer territory.
Mr. ... wait, what the heck is the principal's name? Nevermind, I'll ask Gram later. In Missouri I was two years ahead of the classes you've placed me in. All you have to do is look at my records-
"Mag, there ya are, chick."
The low contralto voice startled Tony out of her internal speech and she looked to her left, suddenly noticing that besides herself there was only one other girl at the table and the cafeteria had gone strangely quiet. She looked for the source of the voice and landed on a tall, dark haired beauty.
"Been lookin' for ya all day," Shane's voice became threatening, "you weren't... hiding... from me, were you?" Shane arched dark eyebrows, her clear blue eyes glimmering with menace.
Tony watched the dark girl transform from almost friendly to predatory. Tony had the sudden terrified urge to get up and run for her life, but then she was drawn to the girl's face, her high cheekbones, tanned complexion and finally her eyes. Those blue, blue eyes, like the summer sky.
The girl, Mag, swallowed nervously. "I wasn't hiding Shane, honest. Just been busy, ya know, catchin' up on school work." She crammed her utensils back onto her tray, pushing it aside, ready to fight or flee.
Shane gave a sardonic snort. The day Mag did schoolwork pigs would fly. "Of course. But there's a little... matter... we need to discuss."
Tony watched the interaction playing between the two girls, her stomach twisting in knots. Mag was smaller then the dark girl, thin and had fading bruises around her blue-gray eyes and pale lashes. A scar crossed the bridge of her sharp nose.
This is definitely where Tony didn't want to be. Wrong place, wrong time. If she could have gotten up without drawing the attention of those angry, ice blue eyes she would have.
"What matter?" Mag feigned innocence knowing perfectly well what Shane wanted. It wasn't the best or brightest thing to do.
Shane's lip curled up in a snarl and a low, guttural growl trembled behind her clenched teeth. "Don't play stupid with me, Mag," she spit out.
"I don't have it." Mag stood, suddenly pale and trembling, knocking the metal chair to the floor with a loud clang.
The audience that had gathered around the table and the commotion jumped as a collective. Only Shane was deathly still, eyes glinting a darker blue with each passing second.
"Then get it," Shane hissed.
"I-I can't!" Mag stepped backward, right into the wall.
A cornered rat, Tony thought, and here comes the cat. Tony watched Shane advance and corrected that last part. A tiger. Maybe even a panther.
"You can and you will," Shane lowered her voice, sounding all the more dangerous. She towered over Mag, who seemed to shrink.
"I can't," Mag whispered, lips trembling, eyes wide.
Shane hissed and drew her hand back. She wouldn't take no or can't for an answer.
Anger welled up from deep in her belly, a bright red fist that ached to release itself. The anger called to her, flowed red hot through her veins. Shane snarled.
'No!'
Do it. Do it for Charley.
'No!'
As her fist flew into Mag's jawbone with a satisfying thunk her carefully controlled shield slipped, and with it, her anger.
I told you you couldn't control me. I'm a part of you Shane. Just go with it...
Shane smiled a feral smile and jumped on the girl trying to shrink into the wall.
She hit Mag repeatedly as the crowd around them began to chant, "Hammer, Hammer, Hammer!" Shane straightened up only once to haul Mag back to her unsteady feet.
Tony watched horrified, as if in slow motion, as Shane's arm drew back and prepared to hit the bloody girl again. Where the heck are the teachers? Why doesn't anyone stop her?
Before she knew what she was doing Tony had jumped up onto the chair and slid across the table on her butt. She landed on her feet on the floor, inches from Shane.
"Stop!" Tony cried, holding up a hand, not to defend herself but to stop the madness.
Shane's arm stopped in mid swing and she blinked rapidly. What the- Who the hell is this and what the fuck are they doing? "Get out of my way," she growled, trying to stare down intense green eyes.
"No," Tony stood straighter and stared back, unflinching, into angry blue, "leave her alone."
"Get out of my way," Shane growled for the last time. In the back of her mind she realized this was probably the new transfer and the girl had no idea in hell who she was standing up to. Cadence was right, she admitted grudgingly, I should have dealt with the transfer this morning. "This is none of your business."
"You made it my business when you interrupted my lunch," Tony's reply was haunty, full of courage, though her heart raced furiously in her chest. She prayed her body wouldn't tremble and give her way.
"Oh, well then," Shane drawled sarcastically, "go and finish your lunch. I'm so sorry I interrupted."
The crowd giggled nervously and Shane shot them a warning glare. There was instant silence.
"I've lost my appetite," Tony replied, quieting her tone, finding something in Shane's pale face and flashing eyes. She had no idea what it was but she could work with it.
Shane's eyes narrowed at the comment then she looked over the girl's shoulder to Mag who had slouched down to the floor. Mag's nose and lip were bloody and her eye was already swelling. The same eye Mag's father had gotten a sucker punch on. Ok, chill Shane, she told herself. Mag got the message. Just chill.
Bright green eyes followed Shane's movements and Tony clenched her fists, ready, if Shane wasn't going to back down. But Shane just looked back at the new girl.
Tony watched as Shane straightened and her arms came to rest at her sides.
Collectively more then a dozen sets of eyes widened and a few mouths hung open. This, this little girl was going to get away with standing up to Shane?
"Get up Mag and get the hell out of my school." Shane kept her voice carefully controlled.
Mag stood quickly on shaky legs and pushed her way through the crowd all the way out the school doors and to freedom. She didn't plan on coming back anytime soon.
"As for you," Shane studied the young girl standing defiantly before her, "what shall I do with you?"
Cat and mouse... Now Tony trembled at the subtle threat.
Shane smiled, but somehow it never quite reached her eyes. She bared her teeth and leaned in close. "Get the fuck out of here before I have to make an example of you," she whispered for the girl alone.
Tony's nostrils flared in defiance but as Shane straightened Tony decided she'd better get out while the getting was good. With an almost casual defiance she walked to the other side of the table, picked up her books and lunch bag. Then she pushed through the crowd to the lunch room doors.
Shane watched her go, a predatory smile on her face, playing to the crowd. She waved her hand at them dismissively and they scattered like birds.
The decibel level approached near deafening as Tony flung open the cafeteria doors. Once on the other side she sagged against the wall. Oh my God... what did I just do? Her mind stumbled, her stomach plummeted and she raced to the bathroom to lurch up the contents of her lunch.
Shane swaggered back to her usual table in the back left corner where she had a good view of all the comings and goings.
Casey sat beside her. "What the fuck was that about?"
Shane raised a dark eyebrow. "Are you questioning me?"
Casey paled. "Of course not. I just- I just thought you'd knock some sense into the little blond bitch," like you usually do, Casey stammered.
Silence descended as Shane contemplated an answer. Why indeed? Why had she let the blond spitfire stand up to her? No one had stood up to her in years. Maybe she was just bored. "She's a challenge, Case."
Casey's faced screwed up in a question, but before she could ask Shane continued.
"I'm going to break her, don't worry about that," Shane paused a moment, "but I think it'll be much more... fun… to play with her first."
Casey's smile brightened her constantly dark face. Of course. Shane was a master at games and it had been a while since they'd had fresh meat to toy with.
Oh this year was going to be fun!
This year is going to suck! Tony's stomach heaved and her throat burned. It was the fact that the toilets and the whole bathroom stank, that every time she was close to the toilet loosing the contents of her stomach she'd smell the stench and loose it all over again.
Finally it was nothing but dry heaves and she rose unsteadily to her feet. She would have leaned against the door, but none of the stalls had any.
Maybe I can find the nurse and go home sick. She dragged her books and her body down the hall to the nurse's office. The window on the door had been smashed and the office had been vandalized. She felt her stomach lurch and hurried back down the hall to the side exit.
Tony gulped in large amounts of clean fresh air and sank onto the concrete steps, resting her head in the palms of her hands.
"Don't you know it's illegal to leave school grounds?"
The low voice purred right next to Tony's ear and she sat up with a start, her heart skidding to a stop as she fell into blue eyes. "I'm not leaving," she stated defiantly. And you can't make me either, she thought silently.
"What are you doing then?" Shane asked as she sat on the stairs beside the young girl.
"Just getting some fresh air." Tony looked out over the parking lot and blinked in the sun's glare, refusing to meet Shane's eyes.
"There's plenty of fresh air inside."
"Not in the bathrooms," Tony mumbled.
Shane grinned. "They do stink." All thoughts of playing games with this remarkable girl went right out of her head as she found herself engulfed in a shy smile. "What's your name?" she asked abruptly.
"Tony. And you're Shane, right?" I've heard a few things about you.
"I take it you've heard of me then?" Shane's voice was self-deprecating.
"Not much," Tony admitted.
There was silence for a long moment as Shane decided what could or should be said. And suddenly she found herself muttering, "I'm sorry about the incident in the cafeteria."
"S'ok," Tony murmured. From the things she'd heard she'd never expected an apology. A smack on the head, broken ribs... something like that.
"Wanna get out of school for a bit?" The dark teenager stood suddenly and climbed down the steps, not really waiting for an answer.
"I should go back inside?" It ended up more a question and Tony blushed as Shane gave her a sharp look.
"Suit yourself," she shrugged and clomped down the rest of the stairs, hitching her thumbs in her Jean pockets and not blaming the naive young girl one bit for not wanting to come.
Tony looked up at the darkened school door and the nausea rose in her stomach again. "Wait!" she called as she skipped the stairs two at a time and stepped up beside Shane. "Where are we going?"
Shane blinked at the bright smile then shrugged. "Dunno, feel like an ice cream?"
"Mmm, I love ice cream!" Tony bounced along beside the stoic, darker teenager, not letting Shane's silence bother her in the least. "Oh, wow, is that yours?" Tony's eyes came to rest on the shiny black Harley.
"Yup," Shane said proudly. It is... now. "Hop on and I'll take you for the ride of a lifetime."
Shane hadn't been kidding. Tony was breathless after the desperado flight down the busy city streets after recklessly swerving in and out of traffic. More then once Tony wished for a helmet, but she thought, wisely, that it was a comment better kept to herself.
As the bike came to a screeching halt Tony pried her fingers off Shane's leather vest and slid off the bike. "Hot dang," she breathed.
Shane chuckled. "Never been on a bike before, have ya?"
Tony shivered as she stood and shook out the shakes. "Not unless you count the bicycle I had once." She rifled her fingers through her hair and finally gave up on the snarls when she found Shane watching her with a bemused expression.
"Been to Coney Island yet?" Shane had the oddest desire to push a stray wisp of Tony's hair behind her ear. She shrugged the feeling away nervously.
"Coney Island?" Tony swiveled on her heel and got her first good look around after the whirlwind ride. "Wow. No, no I haven't been here yet. Gram promised we'd go as soon as-" There's that expression again. Tony vowed to keep her mouth shut as long as possible. It lasted all of three seconds after they'd started for the gates.
Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled in the late summer warmth. Suntan lotion and moving bodies swirled around Tony in an awe filled daze.
"They've got clowns and everything!" Tony called over the crowd of people. Most of them were tourists with cameras hung around their necks and sun block on their noses. "Hey, wanna go on a roller coaster?" Tony swung back around. Shane was gone.
Tony turned again to find Shane striding purposefully off the wooden deck and onto the crowded beach. Tony raced to catch up, hoping that she hadn't angered the older girl. Hoping she wasn't back where she was in the cafeteria with the threat of a black eye.
"Hey, Shane," she reached out and tugged on Shane's arm, trying to pull her to a stop, "I-"
Shane turned so suddenly that Tony took a startled step back. "Don't do that," she hissed.
"W-what?" Tony stammered, unable to comprehend the depths of Shane's eyes; the anger, the fear and pain she saw there in the split second before Shane's face once again became a mask. "Don't do what?" she asked as the silence stretched between them.
"Don't ever come up behind me like that." Don't ever touch me, Shane left the threat unspoken.
"I'm sorry," Tony withdrew her arm and hid it far behind her back, as if she'd been burned. She turned her gaze out to the sea of bodies. There seemed to be nothing to say, yet so much left unsaid.
Shane followed Tony's gaze out across the sun-dappled beach and skipped over the lotioned bathers, resting on the cresting waves. Something deep inside her hurt today. Was it just for Charley?
Tony cast a curious gaze up to study Shane's profile. She was lost in thought, farther away then the next edge of the ocean. There was a tiny scar below Shane's ear that ran from the underside of her earlobe an inch down her chin.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Tony asked, and held her breath as Shane's jaw tightened. The scar tissue whitened as Shane flexed her jaw.
"Ain't worth a penny," Shane replied coldly. "This was a bad idea. I'm taking you back," she said abruptly, and turned, heading back to the boardwalk.
"Shane?" Tony hurried to catch up. "Shane! Wait!"
Shane didn't stop till she was at the top of the wooden stairs with people bustling noisily by. She arched both eyebrows as if daring Tony to defy her.
"Did I do something to upset you?"
The hesitant question was so totally unexpected that Shane lost the growing coil of anger in her belly. "No," she watched those bright green eyes carefully, "I'm just in a bad mood."
"Oh, ok." Tony had been so sure that her rambling mouth and tendency to say whatever was on her mind had caused Shane's anger. "Do we really have to go back?" she asked quietly.
Shane had to strain to hear her over the crowd of tourists. Ahhh, what the hell, right? A small part of Shane's mind still toyed with the idea of playing games and messing up this young girl's naive little world. Then she sighed. What was the point? "How 'bout a ride on the coaster, then ice cream?"
The bright, full of teeth smile Shane got right then was enough to crumble any lingering thoughts of hurting Tony. Funny, she thought, the bad assed bitch is going soft, and over some pretty little blond.
Riding on the Harley behind Shane and holding onto her waist felt so familiar yet so odd at the same time, Tony reflected as she walked up the cracking cement stairs to the rundown apartment she now shared with her mom and Grandmother.
They hadn't bothered going back to the school since it had been out for well over an hour by the time they'd headed back.
Tony had given Shane her address and watched silently as Shane's shoulders tensed and her eyes became dark once again on the race here. Was Shane disgusted by where she lived?
She shrugged now as she jogged up the two flights to the apartment. She still hadn't got use to the moldy smell in the hall or the way the stairs creaked ominously beneath her feet. And she certainly didn't like the broken lights and the shadows lurking in every corner.
Tony hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. Mom was gonna be mad.
Sure enough, she'd barely gotten a foot inside the doorway when her mother stormed out of the small kitchen and invaded her personal space.
"Antonia, where have you been?" Her mother leaned down, hot breath right in Tony's face.
Tony backed up a step. "I walked home," she lied, suddenly remembering Shane's tense shoulders and her subtle disgust.
"Antonia!" Her mother cried, horrified, and spun her daughter around to check for any signs of mortal injury. "You are to ride the bus, girl. I never want you walking home in this neighborhood. Is that understood?"
Tony shrugged off her mother's frantic arms. "I'm fine mom," she replied through clenched teeth. "I can take care of myself."
"Not here you can't." Alice bored icy eyes into her daughter.
"Mom," Tony wailed, "I'm not a little girl anymore!"
"You are the only thing I have left Antonia and I will not loose you too." Alice latched shaky hands onto her daughter's shoulders and held tightly. Her eyes were filled with a deep pain.
Oh mom, when are you going to let me grow up? Why is everything about death now that daddy is gone? Tony flashed belligerent eyes at her mother. "You're not going to loose me, mother."
"How do you know that? How?" Alice cried, shaking her daughter.
Tony's eyes widened with alarm. "Mom?"
"How, Antonia? How do I know that? Your father-"
"Mom, stop, you're hurting me." Tony tried to shake off her mother's latching, panicky hands.
"Alice!"
Two sets of eyes riveted on the gray haired woman who walked through the open door of the kitchen.
"Let Antonia go, Alice. She's a big girl and it was her first day of school. How will she ever make friends here?" She touched Alice's shoulder with gentle understanding. "Come on, help me finish dinner."
"But-" Alice let her daughter go reluctantly as her mother's relentless gaze raked over her.
"Go on, child, go do your homework," Gram said gruffly.
Tony raced through the small living room to her even smaller bedroom. She slumped onto the single bed and stared out the barred window. Oh mom... she felt tears threatening and angrily brushed them away.
I wish we'd never come here, she screamed silently out the open window. She laid her forehead on the cold metal bars.
A knock came at her door.
"What do you want?" Tony couldn't stop the anger that seeped out of her voice.
"Can I come in?"
It was Gram. "Yeah, sure." Tony slipped from the window over to the battered desk on the other side of the room where she hastily began pulling books out of her backpack. She didn't have any homework but she certainly didn't want to face her mom right now either.
Gram stepped inside and shut the door behind her. "I'm sorry about your mother, sweetheart," Gram began sadly.
"It's all right Gram, she's just angry." We're both angry but mom can't see that.
Alice hadn't seen anything since she'd blindly stumbled by her husband's graveside screaming, 'Don't leave me here, Rob! Don't you dare leave me here all alone!'
"I know honey, but things will get better, you just wait." Gram sat on the bed and patted the space beside her where, after a moment, Tony sat, smiling tiredly at her Gram. "So, how was your first day of school?"
Tony just screwed up her face and gave a small snort.
"That bad, huh?" Gram chuckled, wrapping an arm around Tony's shrugging shoulders.
"It could have been worse," Tony admitted after a silent moment. Gram was so easy to talk to and before she knew it her whole day came pouring out, minus skipping school, of course.
"You be careful around that one," Gram finally said, after the story was complete.
She was referring to Shane but Tony already knew that. "I will Gram, I promise." Was it a promise she could keep? Every bone, every cell in her body cried out that she could trust Shane, that Shane would never hurt her. Another part cried out, just as loudly, that Shane was dangerous, a loose cannon.
"Dinner will be ready soon." Gram stood and made her way wearily to the door, watching as her granddaughter stared out the window, apparently lost in thought.
"Mmm," Tony mumbled in reply.
Gram closed the door behind her, shaking her head on the way. My little dreamer, she smiled. The smile faded as it always did because reality was reality. Dreams grew and died here in the slums. Alice had been lucky enough to get away, to find a dream somewhere else, but now she had returned and brought Antonia with her.
To the place where dreams died and innocence could be shattered in the blink of an eye. Not for the first time Gram feared for the safety of her naive young dreamer.
Shane catapulted herself across the ditch and climbed up the rusty fence. She threw her leather jacket over the barbed wire at the top and climbed on over, jumping off the other side.
With a narrowed glance left and right Shane trudged down the worn dirt path to her favorite place in the world. Her only place really. One that was safe. Somewhere that even Casey or Cadence didn't know about.
It was an abandoned train station, mostly overgrown with weeds now, and the occasional snake. Transients lived here, took over a few of the old rusted out cars, but there was a place that she was sure they didn't even know about.
She waded through a thigh high patch of weeds to the back of the train station. There was a small patch of overgrown asphalt and a sewer drain. Shane stole a quick glance around. Satisfied that no one was looking she heaved the drain up and hauled it over to the side.
Then she climbed down the rickety ladder and pulled the grate back over the opening. Once at the bottom of the ladder she turned around and headed straight for a few feet then blindly turned left. Here she flicked open her zippo. The bright flames danced across the slimy stone wall and illuminated the long tunnel.
She followed the tunnel to the end and hooked a right, down another tunnel. Here there was another opening in the ground. She snapped the lighter shut and followed the ladder down.
Cold, moldy smelling air assaulted her nostrils. She resisted the urge to sneeze and flicked the lighter on once more. Ahead and to the left was a door.
Her safe haven.
Charley had played here with her. They'd been kings and knights defending the castle, traveling through the dungeons and mazes. They'd never been too old for this place. Time meant nothing here.
Shane opened the door and flicked the switch for a generator that she and Charley had smuggled down here one summer long, long ago. It struggled to life with a groan and the smell of burning kerosene.
Like all children with forts or playhouses it had beds, chairs, things snuck from home and stolen from the junkyard.
She sat on the edge of one of the beds, sinking slowly and painfully into more memories.
"Shane," A young, eight year old Charley raised his wooden sword, standing by the door, "bet you can't catch me!" His laughter followed him down the stone tunnels, echoing happily as his sister chased him."Can't catch me, " he taunted, knowing that she would and always did.
He'd rounded the corner and there she stood, hands on hips, wooden sword grasped easily in her hand.
His mouth gaped open. "How do you do that?"
Shane had laughed. "I have many skills."
Charley laughed too, it was a joke between brother and sister.
"I have many skills," she repeated sarcastically. "If I have so many goddamn fucking skills then why the hell are you dead Charley!" she screamed.
But that was the ironic thing, her skills and her intuition had heard him coming around the aisle even though she hadn't known who it was. Her heightened sense of awareness had allowed her to kill him before he could cause her any harm.
He was my brother! He would never harm me... For the first time in two years she allowed the tears to gather and cling to her eyelashes. "Oh God, Charley, I'm so sorry," she curled into a ball on the bed and cried silent tears for her lost brother.
There was Spike girl again, leering at her. Don't let her get to you, a voice that sounded like her Grandmother's advised her. Tony smiled at Spike girl. It turned into a real grin as Spike girl blinked rapidly and looked away.
Then it was Tony's turn to blink as Shane came at Spike girl from the side and said something close to her ear.
Spike girl replied and they started towards her. Tony gulped. They're together? Hesitantly she smiled in Shane's direction, but the teen didn't even look her way.
A strong disappointment shook Tony. What had she expected? Her shoulders slumped and she headed towards her next class. Not like there was any point in going there since the teacher was rumored not to have shone up at all today.
Shane's face was masked around a grimace. I caused that hurt look in Tony's eyes, didn't I? She had to keep walking, Casey expected nothing less. Since when did I give a fuck what anyone thought?
"Hey, Tony!" Shane called over her shoulder, watching as the young girl stopped in mid stride, paused, then turned to face Shane.
Tony's face was unreadable. "Yes?" Two can play at this game. You don't know me. I don't know you.
"Ehh, c'mere," Shane demanded, but it wasn't a harsh demand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Casey smile. Shane hid a frown.
Tony took a few steps toward Shane, being bumped by the crowd on her way. "What?" she asked coolly.
"Tony, this is Casey. Casey, this is Tony."
Tony's face brightened visibly. "Hi Casey, nice to meet you."
Casey scowled. "Yeah, whatever."
Shane turned a withering glare on Casey. "Find Cadence and the others. There's something we need to discuss."
Casey paled at the ominous tone and nodded silently, sinking into the crowd and moving off, apparently to find Cadence and the others.
"Morning," Tony said shyly, after Casey had disappeared. "Is she a friend of yours?" Tony sighed as that inpeneratable shield went up in Shane's eyes once again.
"I don't have any friends, Tony."
"That can't be true," Tony's shock was evident in her voice. "You must have some friends. What about all those girls you hang with?"
"My posse," Shane said dryly.
Then it's true. "And out of all of those girls not a single one is your friend?" Tony persisted.
Shane thought hard about that one for a moment. Her comment had been snide at first, to throw Tony off balance, maybe even scare her, but it was true. "Define friend," she replied wearily.
As they began to walk down the emptying hallway Tony considered the statement carefully. Shane confused the heck out of her, scared her a little even, but so far the best course of action with the troubled girl had been outright honesty. "A friend," she began, her tone light, "is someone who stands beside you when no one else will."
The gang would stand beside Shane, not out of friendship, but loyalty and fear.
"They don't judge you for your actions, or hate you for what you've done."
The gang had never said one word about Charley's death, had simply followed her when she'd given the challenge for leadership. How did they really feel about her?
"They know you, better then anyone, even your parents," Tony finished softly in the empty halls. They now stood outside the door of her classroom.
"Then..." Shane began, "then I don't have any friends."
Tony's heart ached for this girl. I'll be your friend. The sentence was close to passing her open lips but she looked back up to Shane's face and into her cold eyes, realizing that Shane didn't want or even need a friend. She snapped her jaw shut and shifted her backpack awkwardly from shoulder to shoulder.
Shane's heart was beating like a wild beast against her ribcage. It felt like she'd said too much, revealed too much. She wanted to take it all back or slam her fist into the wall, but those green eyes weren't filled with pity just sadness. Did Tony understand? Could Shane even begin to hope?
"See ya 'round," Shane called instead, pivoting on her heel, rushing away from Tony and the emotions the girl brought out in her.
"Yeah, see ya," Tony murmured, but Shane was too far away to hear. With a sad sigh she opened the door to the nearly empty classroom and went inside. With no teacher most of the students found other places to go. Some of the quieter ones stayed behind where trouble was less likely to be found.
Tony sat by the window and pulled a notebook out of her backpack. Till the bell rang she lost herself in writing the story of a young girl, her best friend, and their adventures around the world.
"So, what's up?" Cadence asked.
They were all in the parking lot, gathered around Tish's hot red Corvette with the vanity plate '1Tish1' painted in bright pink letters.
"Mag's gone," Casey began when it seemed the silence would go on forever and Shane would say nothing.
"So?" Tish asked, flipping her blond hair behind her shoulders, swaying her hips and chomping bubble gum, all at the same time.
"So," Shane said coldly, "we can't collect."
"Word is Mag skipped town." Cadence was leaning on the bumper of the Corvette, much to Tish's annoyance.
"Checked it out myself," Casey confirmed. "She hasn't been home. I talked to her friend, what's her name, and she said Mag had called, said good-bye from the bus station."
All eyes turned to Shane to see what she would make of the news and if there was any retribution to pay.
Flock of sheep, Shane grumbled to herself, unexpectedly annoyed that they all turned to her for the answers when half the time she didn't have them. "Fuck her," Shane replied offhand. "I don't give a shit about Mag, or the money she owes."
Casey scowled. What the hell is wrong with you, Shane? Ok, so yesterday was the anniversary of your brother's death. Get fucking over it already. "Well I care," Casey said recklessly.
Shane raised one eyebrow. Oh really... "Do you care more about the money Case, or your posse?" Shane's tone deepened and her lip curled up in a snarl.
"I-" Casey took a hesitant step back, "um..."
"Well Case? It's a simple question." Shane bore her eyes into Casey's, enjoying as she squirmed. "Answer."
"Fine, the money doesn't matter, Shane," Casey finally answered.
Shane backed down and leaned once again on the VW bug parked beside the Corvette. Her demeanor was suddenly back to its usual casual grace.
Casey sighed and backed down, for the moment.
"What about that new girl? What's her name? Tina?" Cadence asked, trying to relieve the tension. Maybe it was the wrong question because Shane's eyes narrowed on her immediately.
"Her name is Tony," Shane's voice was cool. "What about her?"
Cadence forgot her question as Shane's icy eyes drilled into her.
"She's working on it," Casey smiled knowingly, "aren't ya, Shane?" She turned expectantly to her leader.
"Working on what?" Shane asked dryly.
"Breaking her... uh, playing games with her mind." Casey looked away quickly, puzzled. "I think we should all harass her-"
"No," Shane cut her off.
"What?" Casey demanded and stood full height, angry at this new turn of events.
"I. Said. No." Each word from Shane's mouth was tight and controlled. "She's mine."
"Yours?" Casey yelled. "Why the fuck is she yours? Everyone here is bored out of their minds! We want fun too!" She had stepped closer in her rage, hurling insults like Shane hurled fists.
"If anyone touches Tony you'll answer to me." Shane's gaze swept the rest of the girls and turned back to linger on Casey's reddening face.
"Why the hell should we leave her alone?" Casey was right up in Shane's face now.
"Because I said so," Shane's voice was a low growl and collectively the group shrank from it.
Casey was either too enraged or too stupid to notice. "Because I said so," Casey mimicked.
Cadence's eyes widened. Shit Casey, what the fuck do you think you're doing? Do you want to get yourself killed?
That little voice inside Shane surfaced again. Are you going to let her get away with talking back to you like that? it asked incredulously.
No, was Shane's undeterrable answer.
Casey didn't even see the slap coming. It impacted across her face so hard that her ears rang and she staggered backwards. Stupid bitch, think you're so hot? I'll show you!
A free for all began and the other girls stepped back out of the way of Shane's wrath.
Casey landed a good, solid right hook on Shane's lip. Shane just smiled, wiped absently at the blood and came back with a jab at Casey's middle.
The air in Casey's lungs expanded loudly and she groaned, but she wouldn't let Shane make a fool of her.
They punched, jabbed and blocked. Shane's power was carefully controlled and it angered Casey. Come on, get mad at me! Fight like I know you can.
"You like the little puta?" Casey asked.
Her answer was a fist slamming past her defenses and landing on her jaw.
"You do," Casey worked her jaw and cracked it, "don't you?"
"So what if I do?" Shane hissed.
Uh huh! Casey lunged at an opening on Shane's right side, getting in a quick jab in her ribs.
Shane just gritted her teeth against the pain and took a wild, angry swing at Casey. She missed.
That's it, fight! Casey hit again, drawing a long scratch down Shane's face.
Enough, the anger in Shane cried. Flatten her. She punched past Casey's defenses and pummeled her senseless.
Casey collapsed to the ground in a heap of pain.
"Enough!" Cadence summoned up some remote amount of courage and stepped in front of Shane, much as Tony had done in the cafeteria.
Shane stopped, disconcerted. Do I see a pattern emerging here? "She started it," she said snidely, looking down on Casey's crumpled, bleeding body.
"Then end it," Cadence replied softly. The others were far enough away they couldn't hear the soft, imploring undertone.
Shane's anger-dark eyes riveted on Cadence's face. "What if I don't want to?"
"Someone has to end it, Shane." Cadence glanced at Casey struggling to her feet. "They look up to you."
Shane looked out over the crowd of girls. Her girls, her posse. Cadence stepped back as Shane extended her hand to Casey.
The rebellious teen looked at Shane's proffered hand then up to her face and was surprised by what she found. Anger, yes... but pain and sorrow too. She sighed and accepted the offered truce.
Shane hauled Casey to her feet and offered up an apologetic and rueful grin.
"So," Casey drawled, wiping at the blood dripping from her nose, "it's hands off the newbie then."
Shane chuckled lightly and clasped Casey around her shoulders. "Come on, you need to wash up. It looks like you got hit by a freight train."
"Nah, just the Hammer." Casey smiled and it seemed all was forgiven. "You don't look so hot yourself."