little bird // r.keene

xvi. unmarked territory part two.

"Officer Williams to rec centre." A voice on the PA system called over the room, Robby sat alone on a circular table pretending to read something he picked up from the side. He wasn't even sure what it was. But still, he kept his head down and eyes low as he listened to those around him- he was too anxious to go about asking where to find Will Larson and he didn't even know where to start. After all, he had only arrived that morning.

There were boys scattered all about the room, some chatting, others playing cards. Some sat by themselves like him, Robby did his best to blend in. "Angel. My sweet, sweet angel." Someone said from behind him, addressing another boy who had been sat by himself.

"The care package your mom sent was dope." Said a boy, Robby's eyes flickered ver his shoulder to see a tall, well built boy, with two other friends behind him. "Empanadas? Next level shit right there. Be sure to thank her for me, alright?" He asked, tucking his hands in his pockets.

The boy, who had been sitting down, finally looked up, "Still," the tall boy continued, leaning down slightly, "empanadas, no empanadas, this is our table, homie." The boy sat down remained silent an so the older boys began to laugh.
"Kid must be deaf." One of his friends chuckled, the leader sucked through his teeth before slamming his hands on the table's surface, making a large bang.

"I said that's our table homie!" He shouted, pressing his knuckles to the table, "You ain't deaf, just dumb as shit." He snapped before grabbing the boys head and slamming it down on the surface violently. Robby was out of his seat in a second, his eyes fixed on the three bullies two tables away.

"What are you looking at, newbie?" The leader fixed his eyes on Robby, but before he could talk, another boy strode into the room. He was tall and lean, his arms pale with a mop of messy blonde hair that looked like it needed cutting.

The blonde boy paused in the doorway, took one look at the quiet boy, who was now bleeding and then at Shawn. "You really can't go five minutes without making someone's life miserable, can you Shawn?" He asked flatly, shaking his head and tutting like a scolding mother.
"Ah, I was wondering where you were, brother." Shawn turned on the blonde boy, his words insincere as if the pair were used to each other's antics. And yet there was a certain degree of hostility that told Robby the pair weren't friends despite being well acquainted. "I can make you're life miserable of you want."

The blonde boy scoffed, walking further into the room. Most of the loud conversations had simmered down now, Robby noticed, as if this was some sort of entertainment. The quiet boy had moved to sit at Robby's table. "This normally ends in a fight." He told Robby in a low voice, as if warning him to stay back.

"But I feel bad for you, you've been sulking for the past few weeks now, jail bird." Will clenched his teeth at that. Shawn had heard in the visiting room Will call Wren 'little bird' and had taken it upon himself to dub Will 'jailbird'. Will pretended it didn't get to him. But it did. "Ever since your girl stopped visiting you." Shawn teased, "Looks like we've got a heart broken jailbird on our hands boys." Shawn and his crew laughed.

Robby's eyes slid to the blonde boy, he wore a sleek smirk, as if looking for a fight. "Yeah, well I'm done sulking," he lied, "and I'm feeling frisky today so why don't you quit picking on newbies and start picking on me, Shawn."

Shawn looked Will up and down, he held a book in his hands- knowing full well it had been a gift from his girl. She brought him a new one every week, but because she was MIA because of that fight they saw on the news, Larson had been stuck reading 'Lord of the Flies' over and over.

"Don't hesitate now, brother." The blonde boy smiled, holding out his arms as if to say: Here I am.

At that moment, everyone else in the room let their eyes slide to a guard, now standing in the doorway.

"You won't pick on someone the same size as you, huh?" Will asked, "You know you'll lose, same as last time and the time before." And it was true, whenever there had been a fight, it had been between Will and Shawn 2 times out of 3 and in their long time spent together in those white walls... Shawn could count how many times he had won a fight against Will on one hand.

Shawn stepped closer to Will, there were mere inches apart. "Stay out of my way, jailbird." He sneered, looking him in the eye before turning away.

"I don't take orders, Shawn, common you should know that by now... I barely take suggestions." Will smirked as Shawn left the room, his friends following swiftly behind.

Robby turned his head to the quiet boy, who had now cleaned the blood off his nose with a tissue, still sitting next to him. "Is that normal?" He asked, letting his eyes flicker back to the blonde boy who had found a small group of seemingly his friends in the corner of the room.
All of them were playing cards around one of the round tables but instead of joining in, the blonde boy sat down next to them, put his feet up on another chair and began to read.

"Yeah, Shawn thinks he's the top dog around here but everyone knows it's Larson." Robby scoffed, knowing that was the boy Wren told him to find. Of course she was friends with the most feared and or admired boy in a juvenile detention centre- Robby couldn't help but smile slightly, slightly shaking his head as he let the boy continue.

"They used to scrap weekly but they haven't in a month or so- no one really knows why. I reckon it's because they kept getting months added and their families finally want them out of here... Tensions are high between them, don't cross either of them." The boy told Robby.

"Okay, thanks." Robby said gently, looking back down at his book, not even reading a single word of it as his mind spun out of control.

Robby kept his head down as he walked into the bunk room that evening. He was wearing a white t-shirt and had a towel slung over his shoulder. It would be a lie if he said he wasn't nervous.

He scanned the room for Will and surely enough, spotted him lying on a bed in the corner of the room, reading the same book he had been earlier that day. And as luck would have it, there was a clean made, untouched bed beside his.

Robby made his way over, licking his lips and tucked his hands in his pockets. Casually, Robby stopped at the end of the bed and fixed his eyes on Will, who didn't even look up as he spoke.

"Hey man, this bed free?" Robby asked, nodding his head at the bed.

"Been saving it for you, Rob." Will told him and Robby was taken aback, he walked around the bed and sat down on the edge, facing Will. Will finally looked over at him, his expression was flat and unwavering.

"You know who I am?" Robby asked, leaning his elbows on his knees. Will set his book down on the bed and pushed himself up, mirroring Robby's body language on the bed opposite.

"Sure man, you're Robby Keene and you've got a lot of fucking explaining to do."