Rivals (or nah)

xiv | fourteen

"Jade." Natalia's struggling breathing could be heard from where I sat on the bench. I looked up to see the petite girl rushing towards me, almost tripping over the shoe laces of her sneakers.

"I hurried over here as soon as I received your text, are you alright? What's going on?" Her panting didn't seem as if it was going to stop any time soon as she pulled the sleeves of her heavy jacket further down her arms. "It's freezing out here, can we go inside?" Nodding, I stood up and we walked inside the mall until we found another bench in a more secluded place.

"You okay, J?" Natalia was wary of staring me down, but she still held a caring gaze.

"He didn't tell me," I finally spoke up, and I was scared at how small I sounded. "Nats, our gangs are enemies and he didn't tell me. Do you know what that means? That once we take down the twins and their prat gang, we'll have to hate each other."

Eyes bulging, her body shifted towards me as she took my hand, "That shouldn't, it shouldn't be that way. That's not fair."

"That's life. When has it ever been fair?" I couldn't help but clench my jaw at how these things always seem to happen to me. A twist of fate making me despise the world, or more appropriately, a fuçking storm.

"Jade," Natalia's kind, chocolate coloured eyes show compassion as she takes a deep breath. "I know life is tough, but sometimes, you just got to fight. And I'm not referring to fighting as in beating the shit out of idiots with daddy issues. If you have something you care about a lot, you're gonna do all that's in your power so you can keep it. So why not fight for Lou?"

Laughing to ease the seriousness of the conversation, I said, "So now I'll be saving him, that's not your typical fairy tale."

"Yes, but you're no goody two shoes princess either," she offered a small smile while the warmth of her tiny hand left mine as she let go. "I just want you to know that there's no need for you to give up what you and Louis just started."

"How on earth do you think that's gonna work?" my arms intertwined in front of my chest.

"You could always back out of the gang-"

I interrupted her, "No. Not a chance, gangs aren't really treated like flimsy decisions that you can fling away after you've decided you've had enough, it's complicated. Besides, I love it and the lads." She gave me a pointed glance before she decided another way to steer the conversation.

"Or you could always see him secretly, live even more on the edge then you ever thought." She winked, standing up before pulling me to my feet before I could blink, my thoughts jumbled. "Du wanna drink? A lemonade, or an ice tea? Maybe a pretzel, I know you like 'em. We could grab one and then shop, I have absolutely no shoes to go with my fave red top." She continued to ramble on as she dragged me, my head stuck in the clouds.

_

Since Natalia left me to buy fruits and milk, I walked back home alone. I was playing this game where I saw random people and made up a story of them. My next victims were two boys a few years my junior. One was tall with light scruff on his chin and was moving his hand in gestures violently with an excited look on his face. The other, a bit shorter, listened with wide eyes, tagging along with his feet dragging in a pair of ridiculous, furry brown boots.

"I'm telling you Jack, her tits were the size of Jupiter," my mind mocked in a boyish voice. "I mean, I know jupiter's a dwarf planet, but like, huge knockers, the size of a planet!" His friend stated a remark as he zipped his jacket all the way up.

"Doesn't count if you didn't see a nipple," he crossed his arms and stood expectantly next to the first boy as they halted in front of a bus stop. A twinge of sadness stirred in me as I realised the boys' fairy tale had ended and I'd have to pick new stars. Quite a bummer as they seemed silly and were fun to puppeteer and make a script for.