street rats

Rats and Reunions

A year later...

"Cal! Have you found him?" Annie yelled across the packed market, getting stares and glares from the various market goers, before seeing his blonde head pop up in the crowd. He smiled and winked at her, and she rolled her eyes, and tried to manoeuvre her way towards him. Before she could, she felt a tug on her arm, and turned to see Max, his brown hair messy and his brown eyes sparkling.
"Where the fuck have you been, Max?"
"Places." The younger boy answered.
"We were worried, you little shit." She said, grabbing his skinny arm and pulling him in the direction she had seen Callum lurking, weaving through the crowd until she found the tall boy with a wallet in hand and a smile on face.
"Guess we both found something we were looking for." He said, smiling at Max, who smiled back at the boy he so admired.
"You're unbelievable, Cal. Let's get out of here before you get arrested. Again." Annie said, looking around and then taking off in a run, towards the alley they called home. Cal and Max caught up and ran beside her through the streets of Melbourne until they reached their little alley, where the other 4 members of their 'family' were already sitting around, in for the night. The family consisted of 10 year old Max, 12 year old twins, Oscar and Louis, 14 year old Mitch, 15 year old Annie and Nick, and 16 year old Callum.
"About time." Nick said.
"Say that again, Nicky." Cal said, throwing him the wallet as he sat down on the ratty mattress he slept on.
"Sweet."
"Successful day?" Mitch asked Annie as she sat on her own mattress next to his, and the others all continued with their own conversations. Max came and sat between the two older kids as they talked.
"Would have been more successful if this idiot hadn't run off."
"Again, Maxy? Need a leash for you, little man."
"Hey, I'm not that little."
Mitch smiled at him and ruffled his hair.
"How about you, any news?"
"Nick and I think we may have found a lead that Ollie and crew are back in town."
"No way."
"Mmhm."
Max looked between the two teenagers, as Annie gave Mitch a meaningful look, and he nodded.
"But don't stress, nothing confirmed." Mitch finished.
"Yeah, nothing to worry about?" Annie asked.
"Nothing." Mitch agreed.
"Go get Oscar and Louis and go to bed, Maxi." Annie added, as she looked at her watch.
"Really?" Max complained.
"Go."
He groaned and got up, and went to get Oscar and Louis. Nick got up and got the three into bed, whilst Mitch and Annie continued their conversation.
"What do you mean you found a lead?"
"He's back. One of his guys, the curly haired one, he followed Oscar and I all day."
"No fucking way."
Ollie and his boys were a few years older than all of us, and were all street kids like Annie and her group, though they hated them. Sometimes they needed their help, considering they were often a lot faster and a lot smaller than them, and helping them often landed them in trouble, as they meddled in drugs and stuff, despite all only being between the ages of like 17 and 19.
"You know what this means?"
"They're gonna come after Cal."
The last time Ollie had been in town, he had tried to convince Cal to join them, as he was certainly an expert at theft, and was the right fit.
"He was nearly convinced, last time. He's been fighting with Nick and I, even you, I don't know how much longer he's going to hang on." Mitch said.
"We can't do this without him."
"I know."
"Oi, dumb and dumber, come over here." Nick said, getting us away from the three younger boys.
They got up and went to sit with the other two.
"So Nick was telling me you saw Curly today, Mitchy?" Cal asked, as he draped his arm around Annie.
"Saw him? He followed us for hours."
"Mm."
"So this means Ollie is back." Nick deadpanned.
"So we'll be hearing from him any minute." Annie added.
"Any second rather, Annie darling." She heard the voice from above, before he jumped down. They stood up to face him, as his other mates seemed to appear out of nowhere. Annie looked back at the younger three to see them sat up in bed.
"Ollie, what are you doing here?" Cal asked, crossing his arms.
"Am I not allowed to just come visit my favourite kids? I've missed you, Cally." Ollie said condescendingly. "And of course, Annie, it's been too long."
"Or not long enough." Annie replied, earning a giggle from Max.
"We just came to extend an invitation. Cal, you know where you belong. And Nick... It's time to start considering it too." Ollie said, to which Nick whipped his head up to look at the older boy, then looking at Cal, who didn't even glance sideways.
"Skipped right over me, have we Ollie?" Annie asked, diverting the attention.
"You've caused us too much shit in the past, Annie. You're more trouble than you're worth."
"Like for example, I'm still only 2 weeks out of jail after that job you fucked up for me, kid." Ollie's sidekick, Alex, said.
"Makes up for the 6 or so times you've landed me or Max in shit, Alex."
"We aren't here to fight. Just thought we'd deliver a friendly reminder." Ollie said, looking pointedly at Callum, then eyes darting across to Nick. "See you around."
"Fuck you, Ollie."
"Love you too, darling." He replied, as he took off around the corner, his guys following.
"Max, Oscar, Louis, Mitch, bed. Now." Callum said.
"Not happening." Mitch replied.
"Fine. You can stay. Other three, seriously."
They walked away, whispering between each other. Once they were out of earshot, the teenagers broke into arguments.
"You can't be considering this, Cal." Annie said.
"I'm not."
"Yeah, believable." Mitch retorted.
"Shut up, Mitch."
"Cal, you can't do this to us."
"I'm not going to, Anastasia, calm down. And neither will Nick. Right?"
Nick nodded.
"If they're back, it's going to be a lot harder for us. Get some rest, all of you." Cal said, shutting them all down.
Annie walked off, Mitch following, found a comfy place to sleep, and as soon as they closed my eyes, they was out.

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hahahahahaahahhahahahahahah
wanna hear a joke?
this story and it's upload time lol
it's been like a year hahaha
might revive it idk yet
ily Mitch
bye love u vote and stuff
xoxo
DevotedDreamer