Escapade

Chapter Fifteen: Vinny's Vandetta

School should have been the last thing on my mind.

In fact, it should have been so far removed from my thoughts that I should never have spared a thought to it. And yet, there it was, consuming my thoughts throughout the two days I had been living in the Warehouse.

There wasn't really much I was able to think of that didn't leave me feeling helpless. After my Taboo had settled in to the Warehouse, there was nothing to do other than wander around aimlessly. We brought no furniture or clothing with us, so there was nothing for us to unpack. Richie managed to bring us a couple of blankets from his apartment, but otherwise the only things in the room we occupied were piles of cigarette butts and discarded beer bottles.

Gabriella and Rafael were considered missing. Michelangelo took permanent residence in the bar, and his nicotine addiction was getting worse. In fact, every one of his addictions was getting worse. He was going through women even faster than he was going through cigarettes, and he was drunk more often than he was not. When Mike was not gambling in the poolroom, he was spending all the money he won recklessly on more girls, more beer, and more cigars and cigarettes.

Carlos and Liz had already made up long before our first night had passed. I, unfortunately, knew this all too well from the sounds they were making under their blanket every night.

All in all, I was not very happy with the situation I was in. Although I didn't find it useful to me, going to school felt like a reprieve to me. Richie offered to take me to school on his motorcycle, and then later go shopping for all the necessary things I needed (namely, a good bath.) His offer felt too good to pass up. Liz and Carlos declined his offer of getting them to school, muttering something about having better things to do, which left me to wait alone Monday morning.

The humidity in Miami was unbearable. It felt as if the air was choking the breath from my lungs, and the leather jacket I was wearing was not helping me. I tied my jacket around my hips, wearing the same outfit I wore since Thursday: a loose white tank top, black shorts, and my Taboo's signature leather boots. I've abandoned my family's expensive clothes with only a tinge of regret; I could have sold them for money.

I was waiting for Richie in front of the Warehouse, searching through my phone to see if I had any incoming texts from Gabriella or Rafael. Of course, it was only wishful thinking. I kept fooling around with the cell phone, though, since I had nothing better to do.

It wasn't long before I started to hear the sounds of a motorcycle approaching at an obnoxiously fast speed. In an instant Richie had stopped his motorcycle in front of me, and I couldn't help but feel my jaw slacken at the sight of it.

"Is that the new Kawasaki?" I said breathlessly.

"Yep," Richie said proudly. His voice was muffled from his helmet and the only part of his face I could see was his eyes, but I knew he was grinning from ear to ear beneath it from the tone of his voice.

I circled around his motorcycle in amazement, slowly touching the black gloss of the bike as if it was going to disappear if I touched it. "This is the new one, isn't it? The Ninja?"

Richie took his helmet off and, sure enough, was grinning so widely smile lines appeared around his mouth. "You know your bikes. Michelangelo must still be obsessed with them, huh?"

"Mike got over bikes the moment he discovered girls," I replied, smiling at the thought. "How'd you get this?"

"Won it," Richie said. "With your brother's help. Michelangelo's really great, you know? I gotta find a way to thank him sometime."

"Did you play against another Taboo?"

"Oh, man, those guys didn't even have a chance against us," Richie said, beaming. He was fiddling with his helmet, and then decided halfway to leave it behind him, crossing his fingers in front of him seriously.