Snow Space

Link Up

"So me and Welby were absolutely bennin' man, tears streaming down our fucking faces at this drunken prick, man. No hype at all, just pure jokes, innit  -"

"Yeah, cause I give as many fucks as the next man, don't I -"

"Lay off the fucking crepes, Omar!"

Fragments of his mates' conversations reached Khamil's ears as he made his way towards the convenience store railings - it had been a good few days since he'd really hung out with the Bateson lot, having spent all his time at school. Therefore, it was no surprise when, at the sight of him, there were almighty hollers, and Khamil grinned, jumping up onto the railings to fist-bump Pikey. 

"Look, it's our local schoolboy!" Omar chortled, leaning over his bike to clasp Khamil's hand in greeting, who happily received the rowdy pats on the back from the other boys in the group - even Gaz, who's house he was staying at. 

"You a try-hard now?" Pikey grinned, as Khamil winked at him cheekily.

"Been converted, haven't I?"

Pikey winked back mockingly, before cupping his hand around the ever present cigarette between his lips to light it. The tip glowed orange, shavings of ash sprinkling to the pavement as he sucked in on it. 

"What you been up to then? Learning the alphabet?"

"Innit, A, B, C - I could go on" Khamil smirked, though there was a little bravado beneath the joking exterior. Something in his tone told him Pikey was a little jealous of his new drive for education, though he couldn't be too sure, and besides, he could only blame himself if that was the case.

"You sorted out that Ronnie thing then?" Omar asked, looking at Khamil questioningly, as he leant back on his bike. 

"It's calm, man." Khamil nodded with a smile. "Reason why I'm back at school, alie."

"How does it feel to be behind bars," Pikey grinned, a cheeky look in his eye to show Khamil he was kidding. 

"Take the piss" Gaz called over teasingly, a bottle of coke in his hand. "You got locked up just last week."

"That was a piss-take!"

"Yo, Khamil," came a voice, and Khamil looked over to see Harrison, from the year below, looking at him curiously as he leant on the brick wall. "I heard some shit about you and two Sutherlands from year 13."

"Yeah?" Khamil replied, prompting Harrison to continue.

"What happened?"

"It's bullshit man, they think I ratted out Raff Lewis for that whole coke deal."

"For real?" Omar said, his eyebrows raising in disbelief. 

"Yeah, for real. If he goes down bro, I'm dead. Someone else must've leaked, but swear on my life it wasn't me."

"Nah, fam, like you'd snitch," Pikey scoffed shaking his head as he took out his cigarette. "Remember year 2 when I broke that chair?"

"Yeah, man," Khamil grinned. "Course I do, you pussy."

Pikey touched his tongue to his teeth with a chuckle. 

"Don't worry, Khamil, we'll fucking destroy Sutherland. If they're starting gang war shit over this, that's their funeral, innit."

"Yo, we need to recruit those G's from Peters Lane, they got beef with Hade too!"

As the gang began to delve into war-talk, Gaz leant over to Khamil. 

"You still chirpsing that girl from the video store, man?"

Khamil sighed. He'd done his best to push Poppy to the back of his mind, but the thought of her was like a firefly in the midst of a world currently dark as hell. 

"Nah," he replied, the regret crystal clear in his tone as he looked out at the others, laughing and declaring war in the dusky light. "I can't at the moment."

Not only was there the deal with Ronnie, the two of them were now staring a far more perilous possibility: gang war.