The Substitute (A Natasha Romanoff Story)

Chapter 10

After school, Jasper's driver, Claude came and picked us up. The two of us changed into normal, more comfortable clothes in the backseat, turning away respectfully. We reached Brooklyn after almost an hour, passing the time by scrolling through Instagram and updating our stories. The driver dropped us off on the corner of the street, not wanting to get caught in the heavy traffic which was understandable. And after a short walk, Jasper and I were met with a huge crowd holding posters and singing.

"We're probably gonna get arrested," I told him honestly, both our eyes fixed on the crowd. "Maybe it'll be fun,"

"We should stay at the back and keep our distance, just in case." He said.

"Pussy," I smiled cheekily, grabbing his arm and dragging him into the group of protesters.

The air immediately got hotter and everything got louder. Sweaty, angry bodies in every direction, pushing Jasper and I back and forth until we couldn't see where we were going. The two of us started yelling, hoping that we could do some sort of damage while we were there. We made our way closer to the front where we were separated from the building with metal barriers. Cops were lined up, ready to make things ugly. We saw news reporters and their vans parked on the sides of the road, trying to document the protest. As long as Jasper's dad didn't know we were there, we would be fine. So all we had to do was not get recognized, until there was a moment where Jasper and I both ended up accidentally staring directly into the camera. I was mortified, Jasper was still trying to keep his composure, instinctively smiling when he saw the camera.

"Oh man, my dad's gonna kill me!" Jasper yelled to me with a fading grin on his face.

"I don't even think he saw, just chill out!" I shouted back to him over all the noise. "Is he still in the building?"

"He should be!" Jasper replied.

And with that, we saw the man himself, Julian Riggs waltz out of the giant office building. He wore an expensive light gray suit with black sunglasses, a bored, careless expression on his face. The news reporters ran up to him and started asking questions about whether or not he changed his mind about knocking down the apartments.

"What are you planning to do about the people that live in these apartments?" One news reporter asked.

"These animals can find a different place to live." He answered sourly before pushing the reporter out of the way.

"Mister Riggs, are you aware that your own son has attended this protest?" Another one asked.

Julian stared at her with a bewildered look on his face, before shrugging it off, pretending to look unbothered. Fixing his blazer with a scoff, he got into the backseat of his car, and instructed his driver to get them out of there. And just like that, he was gone. All that protesting for absolutely nothing.

"Do you think you could try and get through to him?" I asked Jasper.

"I doubt it, but I can try." He responded honestly.

After that, the protesters started getting angry with Julian's cowardliness. The shouting got louder and fights started to break out. About thirty minutes after Julian had left, the police started using force on the protesters. The cops used zip ties and handcuffs, trying to arrest the people in the front and eventually started using teargas. Jasper and I tried our best to try and get out of there, but there were so many people in our way. A teargas canister was thrown just a few feet away from us, which made the protesters start shoving each other as they tried to run away from it.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur. My eyes were shut as tightly as possible, trying not to get any teargas in them. Of course, it was unsuccessful and the burning sensation was quite unbearable, but I wasn't going to get arrested, so I ran. Jasper took my hand, guiding me through the crowd and following the fleeing protesters, hopefully to a much safer place in Brooklyn. His eyes were also glued shut, but he was determined to get out of there too, so he forced them open to see where we were going.