The Streets

21. Nicknames

Trish's POV

The last few beats of the song echoed throughout the room and then it was silent besides all of our heavy breathing.

We had been practicing all week and we were going through it again to make sure it was better than the first comp. We were all determined to get first place this week. The fact that The Raiders were going to be there only fueled the fire but also made me sick to my stomach. It would be the first time I would see Zeke since he broke my heart. I was a mess for awhile.I wanted to forget that and show him and his crew that I was okay and that we were going to kick their asses.

"Can I get answers now?" Cole asked as he sat down. His white tank top was plastered against his body in sweat. I moved my eyes away, scolding myself. I had meant what I said to him about not doing relationships.

"You've met two of The Raiders." I confessed.

"I know. The two people we stole drugs from." He said, surprising me.

"The guy with tattoos is Javier. He's the leader of The Raiders and the girls name is Jasmine. She seems to be trying to be his second in command."

"Second in command? I find that hard to believe since you swiped that bag right in front of her." He grinned at me.

"I thought Zeke was the leader?" He moved on with his questions.

"No." Theo answered, "He's just their newest member."

"Who are the rest of The Raiders?" Cole asked his next question.

" Five in total. Zeke, Javier, Jasmine, Monique, and Samar."  Theo answered again before he popped a pill in his mouth.

Cole was silent for a moment before he suddenly widened his eyes and snapped his head towards all of us.

"Wait what's our gang name? I just realized I haven't asked that!" He spoke in a panic.

It was dead silence for about thirty seconds until we all busted out laughing. Out of all the questions Cole has asked so far you'd think he would ask that one first.

Cole was flushed a nice red, as I clutched my stomach.

"Mischief's" Paul answered before he let out one last hiccough.

Cole grinned again."I can see why you choose it. Did you have other ideas?"

"Hundreds of them. I remember how much the boys were arguing." Dakota gestured to the boys. "We wanted something with rhythm, or West Coast Chronic, or Street Rebels and all suggestions surrounding the three we thought of."

"How'd you pick Mischief's?" Cole responded as he took a swig of water.

"Good old fashioned rock-paper-scissors." Jacob laughed.

"I won." Paul grinned.

"Funny. That's not how I remember it." Thayer huffed."Jacob won three times fair and square and you kept whining and saying ' again, again' until you finally won. I think Jacob here just let you win because we were all tired of you complaining."

" I have no idea what you're talking about."Paul said quickly.

"Doesn't matter now, we got our name and it stuck." Dakota smiled at all of us.

"One last question. How did you guys get your nicknames?" Cole asked as we continued to relax before going to bed.

"No. The question is how do you think we got our nicknames?" I questioned him right back. I wanted to see what he had come up with.

Cole met all our eyes, before looking back at Paul and Jacob. "You're twins . If it's Mischief twins or Spanish twins, I'm not sure."

"The Twins." Jacob and Paul spoke together."No more, no less." Cole nodded his head, before moving onto Theo.

" I have to say your nickname has to do with the pills. I don't know if it's after a certain pill or not." He sighed.

"You've thought about this a lot haven't you?" Theo asked.

"More than I care to admit." Cole answered and a slight pink formed on his cheeks again.

"Poppers. " Theo answered as he took the bottle of pills out of his pockets and popped one in his mouth.

"Should've known it was something simple." Cole grumbled.

" Okay Jock Boy do me. " Thayer sat in front of him, looking at him and not blinking.

"You have an attitude, your hot tempered, cocky, full of tattoos. I would of thought you as the leader of the Mischief's if it wasn't for Trish. I know your nickname is Blades because she's  said it a few times and you carry one around. I don't know where because none of your clothes have pockets."

Thayer wasn't angry because I gave away his nickname. He grinned at Cole's last sentence before saying "That's the point."

"My turn!" Dakota smiled. "Just don't think too into it. Just go on what you've seen from me." She advised.

"Okay. Well, you're reasonable, you always have something to say back to someone when they say something to you.There's a way you look at us and act. I can't put my finger on it but Its there." He spoke with a bit of frustration in his voice.

"M.B, which stands for Mother Bear. But if anyone asks, its Mother Bitch, okay?" Dakota responded with a serious tone.

"Sure thing Mother Bear." Cole answered, getting a smile from Dakota.

"What about Trish?" Paul asked.

"I know its Taze but I don't know why."

"That's because there's a story behind it. I got it because when Zeke was still with us, we got chased by the cops. We were close to getting pinched, the cops tasered me, that's how close we were. Luckily, we got away. But my side hurt like a bitch for a long time and it left marks. " I summed up the story.

"How'd you get that close to getting pinched?" Cole asked.

"Looking back at it, we came to the conclusion that Zeke probably called in the Fuzz." Dakota spoke up.

"Okay, what about me? What's my nickname?" Cole asked happily.

"Know-it-all, Jock Boy, a few others that I won't say that I've come up with." Thayer smirked, making Cole's face fall.

"Ignore him. Nicknames just come up. You'll have one before you know it." Dakota ruffled his hair as she went to get ready for bed.