Bad Reputation||Brooklyn Winston

Chapter 1

I walked down the street, holding Tommy's hand. My friends, Martha, Suzanne, and Kristy were walking next to us.

"I had a good time tonight." I told Tommy.

He had taken my friends and I bowling. I had never been bowling before. I couldn't afford it.

Tommy stepped in front of me and looked down at me. "You did?"

I grinned, turning to my friends. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

They giggled and kept walking.

"You wanna have an even better time?" Tommy asked, leaning in to kiss me.

After we kissed I said, "You know I can't. I have to get home. My dad's probably worried about me."

Truthfully, I was not ready for a "better time". Tommy was older than me. He was sixteen. I was only fourteen. Usually he understood that I wasn't ready, but sometimes he got kind of pushy.

Tommy sighed. "Alright. Do you want me to walk you home?"

I shook my head. "It's an extra three blocks. You don't have to do that. I'm walking home with the girls anyway."

"Ok. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

I kissed him again. "Bye."

As I walked to catch up with my friends I thought about how great things were going. Not only did I finally have friends, I had a boyfriend!

It took me a long time to get friends. Not because I'm shy, or anything like that. I'm actually really outgoing. But my brother was a thug. He was in a gang and had been in jail by the time he was eleven. People were really scared of him around here. But four years ago he left New York. It's just been my dad and I ever since. Even though my dad's an alcoholic, him and I get along fine. The problem is that everyone thought that I was like my brother. I hope I'm never like him. It took me until this summer to prove to everyone that I was my own person. I made friends with some of the girls in my apartment building, and I met Tommy at a diner when I was with my friends. So yeah, everything's going great.

I sniffed. I smelled smoke. Weird.

"Brooklyn!" Suzanne called.

I ran to the corner where they were standing.

"Oh my god!" I cried.

Our apartment building was on fire.

My friends and I ran down the street. There was a crowd of people standing across the street from the building.

"Someone call 911!" I shouted.

"They're on their way." Someone told me.

I looked at the building. It was blazing. The fire department would never make it on time. I looked at window on the sixth floor, second from the right. There was someone standing at the window.

"Dad!" I yelled. I lunged forward, but someone grabbed my arm.

"It's not safe." They said.

And then the building collapsed.