The Streets Call

Chapter 1: The Start

Joey walked through the halls of his school keeping his head down. He didn't want anyone to notice him.

Joey was a normal teenage boy. Well as normal as one could be at his school. Ainsfield Academy of the Arts. It was a preppy art school with a bunch of kids with rich parents who thought they were the best musicians, actors, and artists around. Then there were the kids like Joey. The ones who passed the test to get a scholarship.

He only had two friends, who were also skulls. That's what the scholarship kids were called. Susie and Chris. They were meeting him at the student lounge. Joey checked his phone and saw Susie's texts asking where he was.

He hurried and stepped inside the lounge where some greats were. It was a joke the skulls had. They called the rich kids greats because their parents thought they were.

Joey quickly moved to the table his friends were sitting at. Susie grinned and said, "Took you long enough." Joey rolled his eyes. "Mom dropped me off late." Chris just smiled and looked between them. Susie smirked and shoved his shoulder asking, "Is she going to see that Bill guy again?" He chuckled. "It's Barry and probably." His expression darkened. "I don't like the guy. Something seems fishy about him. Like he's hiding something." Susie raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become a judge of character." Chris snorted and Joey glared at him. "Don't take her side in this like you always do." Chris just shrugged and said, "if a woman's right a woman is right." Susie threw her arms into the air as if to say, "See he gets it."

Joey knew the true reason Chris had agreed with her. He'd had a crush on her since they'd all met. Joey finally relented and looked between his friends. "OK maybe I'm not the best judge, but something just seems off." "You just don't like your mom dating again," Chris replied. "ever since that one punk was a jerk to you." Joey shrugged. "I guess. Now who finished their essay?" Both were silent and Joey sighed, pulling his out and starting to write.

After a few minutes, his phone buzzed and he checked it. There was a message from an anonymous number saying, "Come to the parking lot now or your mother dies." Joey immediately closed his notebook and walked out of the room, despite his friends protests. Once outside he saw a black car with tinted windows idling at the entrance to the driveway. He walked up and knocked on the window. It rolled down to reveal a man with a fedora on pointing a gun straight at Joey's face.

"Get in," he hissed. Joey frowned. "But-" "No questions get in." Joey sighed and hopped in the backseat, hoping he didn't die. As they drove off he heard the man speaking into a phone. "We've got him." He wondered why he was here. What made him so special.