The Marx Brothers

Chapter Three - 'Guilt'

"He could have killed me Penny!" I screamed as I paced my living room.
She bit into her nails, guilt clearly strewn across her features.

"I'm sorry Eden, I didn't know!" She defended as she rubbed her forehead "I spoke to Brad about it, and even he had no idea what a maniac he was"

"If Phoenix hadn't shown up who knows what Jaz could have-"

"Wait" Penny interrupted narrowing her eyes at me as I stopped pacing "Phoenix, as in that guy that keeps showing up at your door for you to stitch him up every week?"

"What difference does it make Penny?" I snapped

"It just... surprises me, what happened between them exactly?" She edged curiously

"They got into it, started threatening each other" I shrugged

"So, they know each other?" She mused

"It seemed that way. Jaz threatened that if Phoenix wasn't careful, a man named Gonzales would be after me" I informed her, sitting on the edge of the lounge

"Um, that's weird" She sighed "But it sounds dangerous, whatever they're going on about"

"If it wasn't for Phoenix, I could be dead, I need to at least go over there and thank him" I told her as I pointed a finger towards across the street

"Eden, something sinister is going on, even you know that, they're both dangerous, you said it yourself, somehow they know each other, that can't be good" She began "If he turns up again on Wednesday, we need to call the cops, something is fishy" She argued

I supposed in common sense, she was right. Something was completely off about it all, but Phoenix had saved me, he had helped me and defended me, despite knowing nothing about me. Maybe he thought he had owed it to me after all the late night stitch-ups.
I wasn't entirely sure.

Staying away from them all was the right thing to do, the responsible thing to do, but I knew I had to say thank you for what he had done. He didn't have to do it, he wasn't obliged to help me, but he did.

"Besides, we have bigger things to worry about right now" Penny continued

"What could possibly be worse than me nearly getting attacked?" I sarcastically threw

"We have two major tests coming up this week" She reminded me

"No Penny, that's something you have to worry about, not me" I sighed

"Ouch" She held her chest, pained "Fine, I admit it, I need help. Preferably from you, because you're so super smart and I don't really want to fail" She corrected herself as she pulled me into a hug, twisting my hair with her fingers as she spoke

"Of course I'll help you Penny, you know that" I told her, giving up on putting her down for setting me up with a psycho. It was over now, and I was okay, I had Phoenix to thank for that.

"So what are ours plans for today and tomorrow?" She jumped energetically sitting with her legs crossed on my black couch

"I don't know" I shrugged "What about shopping? I got paid last night" I smiled, eager to do something I actually felt safe doing

"I don't have any money.." She looked down at her hands, embarrassed

"I need to get out before my brain explodes, so how about it's my shout, now let's go" I told her as I stood up straight and beckoned her up off the lounge with a wave.

Despite the walk to the local mall, and the shopping, I still couldn't stop thinking about what had happened last night and what had been said. I felt a pull to find out, to dig deeper into what was going on, and that was out of character for me. If something seemed wrong or bad, I usually remained clear away from it, especially when it came to boys - boys in any position I stayed away from - but now, it felt as if I wanted to get involved. Yet the smarter part of me told me to steer clear, to stay far away from all of it, but I couldn't..