As he exited the tube station he couldn't get the cigarette out of the packet quick enough. He hatted getting noised up. He would have been lying to himself if he said he wasn't scared. If it had happened when he was on his own manor, as a matter of coarse he would have given them back as good as they gave him and more. But he wasn't on his own manor; he had no friends to watch his back in this corner of the jungle. Back in his own manor he would have beaten the shit out of fat boy who elbowed him in the side of the head as they got of at the last station. He knew fine that he only did it to act the big man in front of the other two he was with.They had all made eye contact as they all sat opposite each other in carriage. But it was fat boys eyes that showed the most fear-a fear of his own timidness. If he had been on his own he could not have had the bottle to try anything like that. The tall one who was the mouth piece of the three of them. Who kept taunting him with '' where you from dick head'' He knew instinctively to keep his trap shut and not to bite back at their taunts. Like fat boy he didn't really worry him either.On any given day he would have beat him easily in a fight. He remembered his mothers favourite saying about empty barrels making the most noise.There was a ring of truth in her wise words. These two homeboys didn't really faze him. But he was outnumbered 3-2-1. It was the shortest of the three youths that worried him the most. He had that look about him that look that made him think that he was invincible. That nothing could scare him, not even the police. He was the immortal one. The Alfa male. The top dog in the yard.He who demanded respect of others, and for whom disrespect was not an option he was prepared to stand for.And showd it when he pulled up his Tommy Hillfinger top, just enough to reveal the grip of a small hand gun that was tucked into the waistband of his baggies.
' 'To walk this Manor will cost you ur phone ur cash and dat fine loo-kin watch on ur and.''
The watch was a birthday present from his younger Autistic brother Kashan. He love the watch Kashan had given him, but he valued his own life even more. He handed it over without protest. His money he was keeping, It was well hidden inside his sock.. The phone was a cheap one with a £5 top up on it.He had already been mugged for his Iphone two days earlier. He was gutted as all his top tunes were on it.. There had been two of them, Somali boys . He knew they were Somali by the way they spoke and by their defining facial features. And one thing he knew about Somali Hommies was that they would kill you like it was no big deal. One of them had held a Stanley knife to his face and threatened to give him an extra smile. While the other one wasted no time in emptying his pockets of the £5 coins and his oyster card.
''That's all I got man '' he told them before they ran of with his stuff. For the first time in his life he had been scared to the point that he actually pissed himself as he watched the razor sharp blade retract back into the handle.
He looked up at the light polluted sky and drew heavily on his cigarette. He was glad it had stopped raining.It would be easier to get a taxi to where he wanted to go. It wasn't really that far only about 10 minutes away. Normally he would have just walked or ran there. But this was Saturday night and walking through an unfamiliar hood was out of the question for an 18 year old black boy. ''Taxi'' He jumped in the fifth one that decided to stop for him. ''I need to go to the Mambo Club man,'' he instructed the driver as they took of through the rain soaked streets.
''Yeeeees,'' he whispered to himself ,as the taxi pulled up out side the club.She had turned up. He had lost her number when he was mugged for his I phone, so he could'nt call her. He had sent umpteen messages to her face book page.and he had been checking his constantly for a reply. it hadn't come. But he had a good feeling she would turn up. It was the way they had clicked.There had been something special between them from the moment the started eye flirting with each-other in the cue at Burger King, to their farewell kiss she gave him before she got on her bus.
