The Rejects | Joey Trotta

Joey

We were all outside sticking to the plan.
Joey and billy got information about the lethal weapons they use.
And soon, we all stood by a tree. Snuffy and Joey were sitting against it as the rest of us stood.

"We got two guards on the bell tower. Two more in the attic fisher hallway. There's two in the infirmary. And two more in the, the west hall, that's eight" snuffy marked it all with a marker.

"Three in the quad that's eleven" billy said "and the leader in the office, that's twelve"
"His name is Luis cali" Ricky said

"And the three guys in the quad, that's quorhė, Ruiz, and Carlos" he added

"That's right you do speak a little Spanish" I said
"Let's get the American guy with the glasses" Hank said. Joey turned the pages of his notebook to reveal a drawing of him. "Yeah this one" Hank said

---
Next morning

The boys told me what they had in mind. I agreed to it instantly and had to focus on what to do.

We were all in the cafeteria being counted. "...88, 89, 90, 91, 92"
"Take them outside" the man with the glasses said. "You may go outside now. Id like to see the sophomore class by the bench" the headmaster said.

We all walked outside

"You got exactly forty five minutes to get back" snuffy told billy "I'll be there" billy said

"Ready?" Ricky asked
"Ready" billy replied

"Watch yourself" Joey assured Billy.

A guard was walking by us. Damn it. "What are we gonna do?" I whispered
"Let's just wait" billy said
--

The guard hasn't left yet. We've been waiting forever.

"Les, that's wrong it's not like that"
"Ricky, you got it all wrong, Joey's supposed to give him the signal"

Ricky leaned against the brick wall of the stairs and I stood beside him, arguing
"No, yogurt is supposed to kick the ball first"
"No! You're supposed to Kick the ball" I said

"Fuck! No, Hank is-"

"Would you guys stop it" Billy argued. We glared at him.
When he left, Ricky and I started mocking him under our breathes. I just laughed and so did he.

"Les, can I talk to you?" Joey came towards me.
"Yeah"
I nodded at Riccardo and he left. Joey lead me to the top of the stairs.
"Where are we going?"
"Shhh" he said
"There's a guard" "shhh" he shushed me again. "We're supposed to stick to the plan, Joey?"

"Shhh"
"We lost something we need, can we go inside and get it?" Joey asked the other guard. What the hell?

"What did you lose?"
"My watch" I said
Joey looked at me and winked "hurry up" the guard said. He opened the door for us and Joey pulled me upstairs. He made sure no one was at the floor of our dorms, and no one was.

He looked right then left, then at me. We stood beside their room door.
"Joey what-"
"Just listen" "what?" I asked. He breathed heavily. "Are you okay?" I asked
He nodded but he looked tense.

"Joey-"
"Les, I know it's too late for this, or probably too weird, but I wanna do something right now"

I was so confused, what is he talking about
"Joey what are you talking about?"

"I've been meaning to tell you something, for so long" he ran his hand through his hair

"What is it?" I asked
He sighed "I- I, I can't"
"Joey what-"