Guns and Roses

Eighteen ~ Rya

I can still fucking smell it.

I've stripped the beds and sprayed every surface in the room with anything that promises to rid me of the smell but last night, I had to sleep with the stench of weed creeping into my lungs.

I'm actually surprised Quinn didn't get high off of the amount of smoke that was in this room at one point.

I run my fingers though my hair before someone knocks on my door. Matthew sticks his head in with that stupid grin of his.

"Morning" he says cheerily. His hand is wrapped up and should heal over the next few weeks. The bullet scraped his knuckles and gave him a fright more than any serious injury.

I grumble something that could be 'morning' but also could be pretty much anything else. "Am I driving or are you?" I ask him as I grab my bag.

He walks over and wraps his arm around my shoulders. "I don't have my car" he tells me as we walk into the hall. "I need to pick it up after school. You still need to go to Angels?"

I nod "If I want paid I do. Crow's away for the week with his wife so if I don't go today then he can't pay me until next week" I wouldn't have to worry about this shitty wage but my uncle's make me pay to fill up my car.

I don't understand, they pay for everything else but I've still got to give up my weekends cleaning up blood and puke. If I wanted to do that, I would clean out the basement at the weekend instead.

I find Quinn wandering down the hall like some sort of zombie. His eyes aren't really open yet and he's frowning at me. "Your house is confusing" he mutters.

I nod "Great for hide and seek though"

He seems to think about this for a second as he docks his head to the side and then makes a face that shows he agrees.

"Ready to go?" I ask him "We've got Modern Studies first and their setting up project groups"

In that class at the moment, people seem to be fighting over me. We're studying organised crime and in particular - my grandmother, Natalyla Petrov.

What are the fucking chances?

Apparently, they have to do it because it's in the course but they told me that I didn't have to do anything or talk about anything I wasn't comfortable with.

He nods and the three of us head down to the car. I grabbed breakfast earlier but I'm still hungry. I'll have to get something at the school.

At school, we're only a little bit late - traffic was a bitch and a half. We miss registration and head straight to Modern Studies after parting ways with Matthew who has double Maths.

We hurry in and take our seats, neither of us anywhere near eachother. I sit right at the front and Quinn sits at the very back.

The girl that sits beside me already has all of her stiff out. Her name is Kira and I don't think we've ever spoken.

Our teacher, Miss Turns, has been off on maternity leave for the past month so a substitute walks in. He doesn't introduce himself and drops himself into her chair without a word.

He picks up the sheet that tells him what we've to do from the desk and sighs. "I take it you already know what you're doing for your assignment? The group's are as follows:"

He reads out a whole load of names and then, a few groups in he calls out mine. "Rya Guerreiro, Kira Foxx, Quinn Prescott, Reginald Gregory and Mika Petrov"

"What?" I hiss under my breath.

At that very moment, Mr Timms appears at the door with Mika at his side. "Sorry for being late, I had to get Mika here set up with her timetable"

She smiles at me and I glare back at her. She doesn't react and turns to the class "Hey, I'm Mika and I'm Rya's cousin. I've recently moved over here to be with this side of the family"

"Since when?" I blurt out.

She turns back to me with that stupid smug smile. "That was always the plan. Didn't you know?" She's speaking in Russian now and I can see the look of confusion on everyone else's faces.

So I decide to speak in Russian too "I already told you. School and work is mine. You stay the fuck away from those places. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

Mr Timms gently pushes Mika into the class "Girls, why don't we discuss this later"

I can feel the anger building and force myself further into my chair to stop myself jumping across the class, wrapping my hands around her flimsy little neck and breaking it.

Unfortunately the only empty seat is next to me. She sits down and unpacks a notebook and a pen. The class starts to move around as everyone gets into groups and Quinn and Reggie make their way over to us.

When we're all seated, Quinn grabs my hand under the table and squeezes it. "So, what are we doing?" Mika asks in a sickly sweet voice.

Kira pulls out her notes "Organised crime" she looks at her notes and then back up at Mika "Did you say that your name was Petrov?"

She nods and rolls her eyes. "Yes I know. I was a little bit luckier than Rya in that my family got out long before I was born. We kept the name but nothing else"

Bullshit.

Reggie nods, believing her lies. "So, I was thinking, since we have an ex mafia boss at our disposal, why don't we go to Rya's house tonight to study"

They all turn to look at me and my jaw drops. "You want to come to my house? Like, the one with my parents in it?"

Kira shrugs "Natalyla was Viktor's mother, maybe he could she's some light on why she was the way she was. He would also tell us what it was like to be part of the mafia. Your mother could also tell us how she got into it"

They're all looking at me. Truth is, we would get a great mark on this assignment.

"Fine" I say "But you have to come with me to my work after school to pick up my wage. Ok?"

Mika grins "Yay! I can't wait to see where my cousin works"

"I'm not your fucking cousin" I mutter.