Worlds Apart

Chapter 13: Protector

East Bay High always offered a Senior's field trip. It was different every year but the trip was usually overnight. That year it was Boston. 

With the fire and the cutbacks from the city, I knew it was unlikely for me to be able to afford it. But I asked anyway. "So, there's this senior trip that's coming up soon and I was wondering if there was any extra money that I could get to go towards it." Charlie was leaning back on the couch with a cigarette between her fingers, watching Doug with some of the kids on the floor in front of her.

"We just don't have the budget for something like that. The state doesn't pay enough for you kids to do anything besides survive." She was waving the cigarette around like a conductor, throwing ash all over the carpet. "I'm sorry, Jordan."

"It's fine. Honestly. I knew it was a long shot." I accepted defeat and went back up to my bedroom.

There was never a good outcome when I got bored. And that day, I did something that I didn't expect to do, something I didn't plan to do. 

I walked down to one of the local bars, Alfonsi's. My father would often spend his evenings in that bar to get away from my mother. He wasn't much of a drinker so he would sit at the bar with a soda water and talk with the owner. Tomas had a certain influence in the neighborhood. He may have appeared to be a small-time bar owner but you couldn't allow yourself to underestimate him. I hadn't gone back to that bar since before my father passed. 

Tomas was a slender man. He carried himself well, he never slouched. His dark hair was slicked back and he always wore a white shirt with a navy vest. He leaned against the bar counter as I sat down in a seat. "Well. Well. Well. If it isn't the little Marcano girl who used to sit on her daddy's lap at this bar all those years ago." He stood upright and clasped his hands together. "So. What can I do for you? Whiskey? Scotch? You like a scotch kinda girl."

"No, thank you." I leaned forward and spoke quieter. "I need a favor." I didn't ask for much. All I needed was a car. In any normal situation, I would have borrowed Emilio's car but I didn't want him nor Laurie knowing about any of this. 

"Car's round back. Key's on the tire." I knew that he would want something in exchange at a later date, but I didn't care.

I drove for a while. Driving through Dumbo and into Brooklyn, I knew I was close to where I needed to be. I stopped a couple houses down from the door I ended up knocking on. It took a few raps on the wood for the door to finally open. And there he was. He recognized me instantly. "Yo, Seth. Come check this out." Then his friend stepped into the doorway. It was them. "It's that bitch who kicked you in the balls and stole our entertainment."

"What are we gonna do with you sweetheart?" Seth said, biting down on his lower lip. 

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There was a StarTac in the glove box of the 1995 Chevy Impala so I called Natalia. "Hello?" Her voice was grainy from the poor signal. 

"It's Jordan."

"Did you get a new phone?"

"No. Just listen to me." I turned off the road and onto a dirt trail, parking the car behind a line of trees. "I need you to come to North Forty Natural Area now."

"What? Why?"

"I can't tell you. Just hurry up." 

About thirty minutes later, the phone rang again. She followed my directions and the expression on her face was nothing short of irritated. "Why the hell have you dragged me out to the middle of nowhere?"

"Who gave you a ride?"

"Viktor."

I nodded and dug around in my backpack, pulling out a ski mask. "You're gonna need to put this on." 

"I didn't see a bank around here." I rolled my eyes and popped open the trunk. The two guys from before were laying opposite ways to each other, both with their hands and feet tied together. I duct-taped their mouths for safe measure. "What the fuck is this?" she whispered but it was controlled by frustration. 

"Take a long look at their faces." Then she realized. 

"Are you crazy?" I slammed the trunk shut and pulled Natalia a few yards away from the car. "What did you plan on doing?"

"Well... I thought I'd leave that decision to you." 

"I'm going to say this again because I don't think you heard me the first time." She looked me dead in the eyes. "Are you fucking crazy?" 

"No. You told me that you wanted them to pay for what they did."

"Yes, I did. Like taking them to the police. Those guys knew what they were doing. Which means there is more than likely other girls out there. We could find them." She was delusional. She had absolutely no idea how all of this worked.

"And, how many of those girls do you think remembers what happened? Who they were? And those that do, how many do you think would even come forward? My guess is nil."

"So, what are we doing?" I stayed silent and thought about what we could do with them. I had come too far now. I made sure they didn't see Natalia's face with the ski mask. I couldn't risk her going down again for another one of my stupid plans.

"Help me get 'em out of the trunk."

"You need my help? How did you get them in there in the first place?" That was a story for another day. 

"That doesn't matter. Just help me." We dragged them out and threw them onto the dirty ground. They squirmed around trying to get to their knees. After that I didn't know what happened to them because we left. If we did anything else, it could've resulted in far worse consequences than kidnapping. 

"What the fuck did we just do?" 

"You can take that mask off now," I laughed but she didn't find this funny. "Oh, come on. That's what they deserved. They learnt their lesson." Natalia sat in complete silence the rest of the way back.