Forest Fire

Broken Windows

"Here", I said, handing Lilly a crowbar.

I took my crowbar out from my backpack, I positioned it in my hands like a baseball bat, then swung. It wasn't a baseball I was aiming for, I don't play sports, it was a car window.  As the window shattered and fell, I began to laugh and watched as Lilly took out the other three windows.I looked at her and laughed as we darted into the shadows.

"Good job", I said, congratulating her with a high-five. "Told you it would be fun."

When I first met Lilly she was shy, but had that same subversive spirit as I did; she just hid it. Then she started hanging out with me. I wouldn't of guessed she be the one doing this with me. The first time I met her, I was sitting on the bleachers, skipping class as usual, while waiting for my friends to come meet me. I saw her walk over and sit below me a couple rows, a stream of black tears running down each side of her face. She had long brown hair that went down to her mid back. Her face was narrow and she had deep green eyes. I remembered seeing her around school a few times. I wondered why she was skipping class, she seemed to be the goody-two-shoes kind.

"Hey, you're Russell, right?" she asked, looking up at me and wiping away her tears.

"Ya", I replied barely giving her a glance.

"Don't you like...go and beat up people for other people", she asked me.

"For a price..." I reminded her.
She walked up to me and sat next to me.

"How much would it cost for you to beat my ex up?" she asked with a dangerous smile.

I reflected her smile then said, "Who is he?"

"His name is Hunter; kind of tall, has short brown hair, loud and has a big ego", she explained.

"Oh, he's the popular one, right?"

"Ya, how much", she asked again.
I thought for a minute, he isn't that good of a fighter, I've seen him lose a few times before. I could just catch him off guard as well.

"What'd he do to you?"

"He smacked me in front of all his so-called friends...and they laughed", she explained while rolling her eyes.

"You want him to have like a broken nose, want him to get thrown down and kicked a few times or?"

"Umm", she thought for a minute, looking up with a smile across her face. "What about, you punch him, get him to the ground, then kick him like once or twice?"

"Maybe...35", I suggested.

"Works", she said. Then she handed me over some cash, "He is in the cafeteria I believe."

"Pleasure doing business with you", I said winking at her.

Thinking back at that day made me smile. Only a couple weeks ago I beat up Hunter for her...

"What time is it", she asked.

"Uh", I waited for a ray of light or even a glimpse so I could read my watch, but it was dark, "I don't know."

"When do you have to get back to your house", she asked.

I gave a small laugh then said, "Ok, I don't follow the rules. I skip class, break the law, and beat up people for money. Now why would I be home by the time that my mom tells me to be home at, Lilly?"

"That was a stupid question", she laughed.

"I noticed."

I was getting tired, though. I didn't feel like going home and having either mom or her boyfriend, Jim, yell at me for coming home late. Why did they care? Its not like I cared about them. They were just wasting their time, staying up and worrying about me all the time, and yelling at me.