NomiDomiLight: The Good Girl's Blood Boy

Ecstatically Eleven

Nicotine drove us back to his and Molly's house before parking the car. He went inside to feed all the kids, while Molly and I got out the three rustiest bicycles I had ever seen. "God," I said, prodding the orange gears to make sure they wouldn't dissolve. "Is this how you get to school?"

Molly snorted. "I don't go to school."

"You dropped out?"

Molly looked offended. "No. I fast tracked ninth and tenth grade, and I'm taking college courses online."

"Oh," I said, glancing away. "No offense, but you don't seem..."

"Smart enough to do that?" Molly interrupted. It was true. With choppily cut black hair and pale brown, almost golden eyes, Molly seemed more the type to ditch school for a modelling career than to get through it faster. She tossed me a helmet and kicked a deflated football halfheartedly. "Yeah, sure. Must be because I don't have the glasses like you, right?"

"Sorry," I said, sincerely. I'd been to at least three parties where drunk boys had informed me that "I was too pretty to be so smart", which, in their minds, was probably a god-tier compliment.

Molly sighed, blowing a stray hair out of her tanned face. "No biggie," she said, flashing a weak grin. "Someone's gotta be home when the littles come back, and Nick's always out working."

"What does he do?" I asked.

"Oh, he's a dealer," Molly chirped. She let that hang for three full seconds before snorting. "Pfft, nah, I'm messing with you. Nah, he waits tables, and does a damn good job, because he brings in tips like no other, let me tell you."

"What do you want to do?" I asked, straddling the bike. Molly opened her mouth, but the door opened again, and she closed it just as Nick strode out. He took a bike and nodded. "You ready?"

Molly nodded, narrowing her eyes again. "Hope we're not distracting you from something! What took so long?"

"Benny needed help with math homework and Wendy needed to tell me about that bitch Vanessa at school," Nick replied.

Molly's face went from annoyed to that face you make when you eat a slice of lemon. "I hate Vanessa," she muttered. "Her mom is awful."

"All of the moms are awful," Nick agreed. His voice went up an octave and he put his hands on his hips. "Oh, Barbara, you wanted to run the carpool? I don't think that's a good idea... not all of us have minivans!" His voice went back to normal as he spat, "disgusting, the lot of them."

"The lot of them?" I snorted. "You've been reading too much Harry Potter."

Nick glanced at me, surprised, as though he didn't know I knew how to sarcasm. I swallowed, suddenly apprehensive. Then he started laughing, and Molly joined in. I felt myself relaxing. "Okay," Nick said, serious again. "Let's go. Your boyfriends will want you back in time for supper."

"They're not my boyfriends," I informed him, pedalling out to bike beside Nick as we coasted down the street. "They're my friends who are boys."

Nick scoffed, but didn't press it anymore. We didn't chat much on the bike ride. The power siblings saved their words for telling me what all of the different places were. I'd been over here a few times- back in elementary school, I had a friend that I met at summer camp who had lived over here, but she moved away.

By the time the day was over, I had a map of their side of the city drawn in my mind, which I had expected, and something I hadn't quite thought I would find- new friends. Molly and Nick were decent humans, despite the fact that they spent their spare time pumping lead at my boys.

We pedaled to the swap point, where Jordan, Declan, and Bennett were waiting with Dusty. Bennett was making polite conversation with Dusty, and he barely spared me a glance when I greeted him. "Anyway, man, good talk," Bennett closed, shaking Dusty's hand. I saluted Nick and Molly before confronting Bennett.

"What's with the 'man'? Why are Declan and Jordan in the van?"

"Because they were being idiots."

"No, Bennett, I need a real explanation."

Bennett snorted, ruffled my head affectionately, and motioned for me to get in the car. "C'mon. We need you to draw out their side of the city back at the base."

I nodded, sliding into the car. "You know, they're not bad people. In fact, as the kids say, they're pretty dope."

"Yeah, Dustin wasn't too bad either," Bennett commented.

"His name sounds like mine too much," Declan snarled from the back.

"Shut it," Bennett said emotionlessly. He cast me a glance that says, "I've been dealing with this all day."

"I'm glad that one of you is seeing sense. You know, they're good people. They're just trying to stay to their own. They have their reasons as much as you have yours," I said, buckling in. Bennett pulled the van into reverse, giving me a side eye.

"What reasons, Naomi?"

"I can't tell you," I said pointedly, glancing at the window.

Jordan barked out a jealous laugh. "What, you've known them two days and now you're best friends? What, did you and that chick have a sleepover, paint one another's nails?"

"Dammit, Jordan, I can't! Not now, anyway. They have a mission that they're trying to complete, much like we do."

Declan frowned. "Who's we, short stuff?"

"Us! My God, you'd better not start the whole Naomi can't be a musketeer rant again."

The atmosphere in the vehicle was prickly to say the least. Bennett pulled over by my house, and I got out of the car frostily, not saying a farewell to the boys as I marched up to my door and slammed it behind me.

God, I wish I had.