Lilly

Chapter 4

The next few days, Lilly spent almost all of her time in her shared room. Lilly knew Sylvie was unhappy with her continued refusal from her looks. Sylvie tried to persuade her, often, but Lilly continued to refuse, with silence. Eventually, they'd do something bad to her if she didn't join them, and she knew it. She felt alone, and helpless.

Still in the summer. Still don't know when. Sylvie tried to get me to join the Fangs again. She's on drugs, and I don't want to mess with that crap, and I think I would end up doing drugs if I join them. I'm tempted though, just to get this nightmare to end. I'm really scared of what they'll do to me, but I don't want to get near their drugs, no matter how good they might be. They're not good though, and I know it.

Lilly hadn't realized how much of her free time she spent in the park with Horace, until she couldn't. School was about to start again, which would change everything for her.

"Yo' goin' ta six grade?" Sylvie asked, Friday morning just before Lilly made it out of the room. Sylvie's way of talking had become much more getto over the summer.

"Yeah" Lilly wasn't sure why Sylvie was talking to her.

"It be time fo yo' initiation." Sylvie confused Lilly, and she could see it. "Yo' get initiated when yo' be one o' da Fangs."

Lilly could take no more. Although she still didn't understand what Sylvie was talking about, she was sure it was bad, and walked out as Sylvie was talking. She kept looking over her shoulder the entire way, scared Sylvie would come after her.

"What's wrong, Lilly?" Horace asked, before she even saw him.

"Sylvie told me they want to initiate me into their gang. I don't know what that means, but I think it's bad. What will I do when they initiate me?" Moisture formed in her eyes.

"There is no when, because it won't happen. Do you understand me?" His voice forceful and clear. She nodded her head, but he put his hands on her shoulders with a firm grip. "Do you understand me?" He lifted her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Yes," she replied, but there was doubt there.

He drew her to him, and held her. "It'll be okay, princess."

When she drew back from him, she had a curious frown. "Why did you call me princess?"

"Because you are a princess, and if I would've been lucky enough to be a dad, I'd want to have a daughter just like you."

"Why do you talk like you're drunk, or maybe crazy, most times, but then sometimes you talk normal?"

"Kids never mince words, do they?" he asked with a smile, then he got serious. "I talk like I'm drunk, or crazy, because I don't want people knowing I'm normal. I like my life, and if they think I'm normal, they might make me go back...'there'." There was pain in his expression, in his eyes. "But sometimes, you need me to be normal, and I want you to have a safe place, and someone you can trust." The pain in his eyes disappeared in a flash.

Sylvie told me it was time for my initiation into the Fangs. I'm scared. Horace told me to tell Mrs. Rafferty, and the principal, if something happened. Maybe I will Monday, but I don't know.

Lilly hated when summer ended. She'd felt safe, and almost happy, for the first time since before her mother died.

Her first day of sixth grade wasn't what she expected, or hoped for. Her friends avoided her, but she didn't know why. It wasn't even subtle. They'd walk away when she approached, a look of disgust on their faces. When lunch came, she'd had enough and found Sarah. Although they weren't as close as they'd been before her mother became a druggie, they were still friends, or so Lilly thought.