Chapter 5
981 Words
Elena Cortes POV
The day I met Esther was the luckiest day of my life. I was just sitting on a bench during break when the bubbliest girl I'd ever seen walked up to me.
"We're going to be friends," she said. And we were ever since.
When school got out, Esther and I walked home together. We liked to take the back roads, both to make things last longer and for a little privacy. Esther stopped at a corner and bent over.
"Hold on, I dropped something," she said. I stopped to look.
"What is it?" I asked.
"A kiss," she said. She straightened up and pecked me on the lips. I blushed and held my hands to my mouth.
"I think I found it," I said. She took my hand and we walked the rest of the way home. Her house was closer, so I left her there and walked the rest of the way by myself. Sometimes I wished I could tell my parents that Esther wasn't just my best friend, but I didn't know how they'd respond. Maybe they wouldn't even care. All they ever talked about was my brother Miguel. He got another good grade or he got promoted or whatever it was he did recently. I stayed home and stayed quiet, and it was easy to forget me.
I slipped into the kitchen to do some dishes. After a while Mom came in. She tutted at me.
"You're home late. You always take so long. Miguel already has half his homework done," she said.
"I was just walking with Esther," I said.
"You should spend less time with Esther and more time at home, where you belong," she said. I didn't know what she wanted. Should I keep washing dishes or do schoolwork? I decided on the latter and headed toward my room. When I got inside I saw Miguel poking through my dresser.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I was just going to take that old necklace you never wear and show it to Marie," he said. He held up a hand and I saw the key charm necklace Esther got me on Valentine's Day.
"What?! Put that back!" I said. He tossed the necklace onto the dresser and I scooped it up to make sure it didn't tangle.
"I was just going to let her see it," he said.
"Get out of my room," I said. He grumbled and stomped away. I laid the necklace out neatly and hid it under a book after he was gone. I used to be so jealous of him. Suddenly it didn't seem so bad to not be like him.
Logan Quinn POV
Blazers don't forget. Violence means violence, and we always repay blood. The Zetas hit our turf and brought the Peacekeepers down on everyone. We couldn't stay quiet.
"Let's go," I said to my boys. Kev, my second-in-command and only real friend, took three of them and skirted around the building that housed the Zetas. The plan was that he would make a diversion and draw the Zetas out. They would think only a few members were attacking and wouldn't realize it was a full-scale hit until too late.
After a few minutes I heard a crash, and then cries of alarm and pain. I signaled to my group and ran to the front of the building. We found Kev and the others falling back as eight Zeta boys chased after them with crowbars and baseball bats. We each targeted one of them and ran at their backs. I saw that their leader Slice wasn't there. It would be a contained hit, then, and not a protracted battle. I picked the largest boy and charged at him.
He didn't see me until I was on top of him. I swung my machete at his back and he fell forward as blood started to flow. He flipped himself over and smashed his crowbar into my stomach. I reflexively dropped my machete and I grabbed his crowbar before he could strike again. We grappled as the other fought around us.
It wasn't always like this. I didn't always have to be a calculating, ruthless leader. My parents used to do it for me. They always wanted me to take over the Blazers for them, and when a rival gang rubbed them out in front of me four years ago, they got their wish. Until that moment, I hadn't wanted to be part of that life. I never understood why they wanted to hurt people and fight. After that, I saw there wasn't any other way.
A gunshot rang out, and we all froze. The gangs didn't have that kind of firepower. Only the Peacekeepers had guns. They were here to break up the fight, and they'd take anyone who didn't leave in seconds. The other boy and I both dropped the crowbar and we shoved apart and ran. Kev caught up with me and I saw all my boys were alive, some more wounded than others. I looked back at the Peacekeepers as we ran and saw one Zeta boy bleeding on the ground. We'd left our mark.
We didn't have to run far. The Peacekeepers knew about every one of the gangs. They just didn't care. As long as we made trouble for the people and not the Capitolites, we were on their side. They broke things up when they got too tough and pretended they were upholding order for Panem. They rarely made arrests and usually looked the other way.
"You did good," Kev said when we stopped to catch out breath. The Zetas would go crawling back to Slice and no doubt they'd start planning their counterattack. We'd be ready for them.
Logan's form wasn't entirely clear on whether he was still in the gang, but it was more interesting if he was.
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