The Angel with Papery Wings [prequel]

ch.18

"So where do you go to school?" Zayn asked. I assumed his name was "Zayn," since that's how the other guys pronounced it, but he had an accent. And it definitely wasn't the Queen's English.

"I don't," I answered honestly. Niall squinted at me curiously. I wasn't sure if he was impressed or disappointed.

"Well we go to Middleton. You should probably sign up before the cops throw you in foster care or somethin,'" Tony huffed. He took a drag of his cigarette and tapped the end against the stained brickwall.

Middleton? That name sounded a little familiar...

Niall leaned closer to me. "So why exactly do you live with Danny and Angie now?" he raised a blonde brow. He was suspicious, which was natural. Here I was, some random, raggedy looking teenager booking with Danny, his best friend, not to mention Angie.

"Well," I mumbled. Zen held out his cigarette pack. I reached for one and light it, trying to buy myself some time. I also haven't smoked in a while. I know I probably should have never started, but I also should have never killed a man. Can't go back now.

Niall paced around me casually, but still with purpose. Something in my gut told me that he already knew everything about my past, but he was having too much fun beating around the bush.

"I um-- I ran away from home," I told them bluntly. They were quiet for a minute, not in a solemn or pitiful way, but in mutual understanding. I looked up at each of their faces.

Danny leaned his arm against the brick wall. Zayn snuck his hand in his pocket while he gazed out at the horizon. Tony scrunched his nose up as he took a whiff of all the smoke.

"My dad was a bastard, too," Zayn spoke up. He didn't even need to ask; he knew running away had to do with Sergeant, whom I never even called "dad."

"Don't even get me started on my pops," Tony laughed nervously, holding his hands up in front of him.

Danny was the only one of the group that wasn't poking fun at his dad. I never asked him details about his parents because I didn't want to share details about my family with him. It was a mutually exclusive decision that we both have been comfortable with for the past three months we've known each other.

"My dad was a slick Sicilian man with a thick cigar and a phrase: You can only win by making your own rules-- or lose by following someone elses'," Danny told us in a hushed whisper.

The other boys must have known the "daddy" subject was sensitive for Danny. Hell, it was sensitive for us all, but the way Danny became almost ghost-like when he thought of his dad made it clear that he did care about his father, regardless of whatever it was that killed his dad...and his mom.

***

The boys were alright. back home, though, it was sitll just me, Danny, and Angie. Danny seemed to answer the phone weirdly. Telemarketers always called, but I started to get the idea that someone else was calling, someone for me.

"You have the wrong number," Danny told the person on the other end. I shifted in place, leaning my weight against the kitchen wall.

"Another survey?" I spoke up. Danny quickly lowered the phone back to in place.

"What?" he mumbled. "Oh, yeah, just an ad," he brushed off. I nodded carefully, avoiding his eyes. There was no way anyone at the prison could track me down to this house, unless they had spied on me. 

Even so, I'm supposed to meet with Sheperd once a month and be assigned a parole officer who's supposed to stalk me from now til God knows when.

"I'll --um go pick up Angie from practice," I offered. I always do that: I offer things when I know full well that I'm going to follow through, regardless of whether or not the other person wants me to.