The Rejects

Chapter 1

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Miles Davis was never one for "love."

He knew how harsh life really could be. At only 14 years old and with only a distant mother at home, Miles had taught himself how to live on his own and to take care of himself. Honestly, he really didn't need anyone. But he had friends, his gang, his only source of happiness. While his mother spent the day with her no-good gang member boyfriend, he tried to stay as far away as possible.

Miles was even too poor to go to school, but he taught himself the basic rule of life: Trust nobody but yourself.

He made his way down the street, sending glares to anybody who dared to try to stop them. Rumours flew around about him all over the city. Some saying that he was a criminal, others saying that he steals food from the marketplace. All of which isn't true, of course. Miles was a good kid, he just didn't look it.

Though, everyone just sees him as scum.

He kept his eyes forward until he got to the grassy area filled with boys ranging from the ages from 12-15. They were all shoving each other around and laughing, probably laughing at some stupid joke they made up. 

"Hey, look guys, Miles decides to show up!" 

He smirked and shrugged his shoulders "I didn't have anythin' better to do, so I thought I'd come."

"Aww, ya guys! Miles cares about us! I think I'm gonna cry!"

Miles looked over at his buddies, it looked like all eight of them were there. 

He first laid his eyes on the twins, Mal and Cal. They both lived next door to Miles. They constantly chattered with each other and tried to out weird themselves. They were currently chattering to each other and shoving each other around. Miles couldn't think of a time in which he never saw the two together. If you wanted to be with one, you had no choice but to count the other in too. They both had the same exact olive skin and curly black hair. At around 12 years old, they sure acted like they were younger. But they were good kids, Miles saw them having a better future than the rest of the boys there.

Next, he saw Sam. Sam always reminded Miles of the quiet kid who sits in the corner. Everyone overlooks him for some reason. He's quiet, secretive, and even a little bit scary to people who don't really know him that well. But Miles knew. Miles knew everything about Sam, and to be completely honest, he understood where Sam was coming from. And always offered help to Sam when he seemed most distressed, though he was always shot down. He had extremely, almost deathly, pale skin. He had little to no hair on his head. No one noticed, because Sam always wore a bandana on his head. And refuses to take it off, no matter where they go, he never takes his bandana off.

Standing next to Sam was a kid names Slate. Slate paced around as he wiped clean the knife he had. He was hugely built and his eyes were kind of scary, like they were ready to kill. His light brown hair was cut short in a buzzcut and a vein popped in his read and glistening forehead as he shook with anger. He seemed to be mutturing curses and threats under his breath, and instantly Miles knew that somebody had decided to shoot some rags on Slate. Because Miles knew with his short temper Slate never took a threat fighting back. It was either he gave a threat, or you were gone.

Sitting behind Slate was a small Latino boy named Luis. He was all grins and jokes, that kid. He was always the one to brighten the mood. And man, did he work great with the girls. Sometimes, it made Miles just a little jealous to see that Luis could pick up a girl as easy as breathing. But Miles never really felt anything for anyone before. Except for his boys.

If anybody hurt his boys, they were dead to him. No questions asked.

Sitting beside Luis was Lee, an African-American boy who lived right next door to Miles. Lee was a small kid for being 15 years old. But man, when Lee is worked up, there's nothing that could ever stop him. He will rage and rage for hours and at the end of the day everyone's ears hurt from all the yelling.

Finally, you have the brothers Roy and Todd. They both came from a fairly big family with very low income. They most often spend the nights on the streets begging for food and jumping from home to home. Roy, aged 14, with his built stature and his long brown hair, often stands behind Todd, who is aged 10. Todd had just met Miles a few weeks ago, and Miles could tell that Todd was very scared of Miles. But he didn't mind, really. That's what everyone else in the world thought of him.

What was the difference between an 11 year old and the rest of the world?

 "Ya gonna cry, eh?" said miles, looking over at Luis, Shoving Lee aside and wrapping his arm around his neck in a playful manor. "Hey, boys! Look at Luis! He's gonna cry!"

All the boys laughed as they crowded around Luis. They were each shoving each other and playfully hitting Luis and pinching his cheeks. 

"Alright, Alright!" Luis said, his voice filled with laughter as he finally managed to pull away from the boys. "I get it, I get it! But c'mon, ya guys." He pulled on the straps of his suspenders and held them out. "Ya know ya can't resist me!"

All of the guys whistled and sent cat calls toward Luis, who was definitely eating up all of the attention he was getting.

Miled never admits it, but if anyone were to ask what made him happiest in the world, it was his boys. Yes, he loved his mother. But in all honesty, she was never there for him. He'd take a bullet for his boys anyday. For his mom, though? Nah, he'd always thought there was a reason behind it. 

In all truth, his boys were the closest thing he's ever felt of love. Or a family.