Gangleader Academy

7. Kicked puppy

    The loud sound of a fist attacking the other side of my locked bedroom door wakes me up yet again. These past few days I've been on what my father would call "a losers recovery." Too ashamed to show my face to anyone including India, who out of everyone else would have been the most understanding and she's probably the one causing my annoyance at the moment.

    "Issa. Someone's here to see you and if I tell him one more time that you're busy or asleep I don't think he'll care. He seems like he's ready to beat the door down literally. Open the door please." India begged and rambled. Her voice muffled by the big door.

    There was a pause before I heard Derek's voice on the other side of the door. "Blondie? It's me. Let me in beautiful."

    I made no move to open the door. I just lay under my comforter mountain in silence, rubbing my sore throat.

    "India I promise I'll pay for this to be fixed."

    "What are you-"

    Just as he's about to literally break my door down I throw open the thing and let it hit the opposite wall carelessly. "Leave me alone." I say simply, turning around and returning to my nest of blankets.

    To my disappointment he follows me into my depression cave and sits on the edge of the bed. I feel a hand on my foot and tense up but don't move away. To my surprise he grabs both of my fuzzy socked feet and starts to massage them.

    After a moment he says something I never expected to come out of his mouth. "I didn't see it before until that match. I mean I saw how competitive you were and how aggressively you tried to be the best. But I didn't realize it was because of your father." He says with a sympathetic look.

    "How could you possibly know that?" I snap at him. If my sharp tone had affected him he doesn't show it in the slightest. Infact he simply smirked and shrugged.

    "My mother wants me to take over when she retires..." He doesn't need to continue. I know exactly what he'd say. His words hit me in the chest hard. I feel an alien emotion that I can't decipher. No wonder he's at the top as well. Most of the students at the top are at the top because they have the responsibility of taking over their parents position. But almost none of the parents hit they're heirs. Infact it's frowned upon and goes against the code of the core gangs.

    Rule number 27 don't hurt kids. Especially your own.

    "D-did she..?" I couldn't finish my question as my stupid voice can't come out without stuttering or breaking. He gives me a stiff nod and I sink further into my many blankets as I let it sink in that someone actually relates with me on some level and understands me. Out of everyone I know, no one understands my pain. The pain that I've just been shoving down and trying to forget. Because no matter how much my friends or my brother may love me, they can never get me. Simply because they've never been through what I've been through.

    I stare at him in silence hoping that India had left before hearing anything that was said in our short but meaningful conversation. Meaningful to me anyway. I don't want her looking at me the way people who knew looked at me when I told them or they saw first hand. Pity.

    Hearing those words come out of his mouth changed how I saw him. I noticed the change after I blinked a few times. I now notice the small faded scars on his forearms and neck, almost invisible but there. He's just as broken as I am.

    I don't know why but the thought makes my chest feel heavy and my eyes start filling with tears. Ew Issa fucking stop! When was the last time you've cried? And in front of a BOY no less! I scold myself silently but I can't do anything to stop the tears from rolling down the sides of my face.