Every Planet We Reach Is Dead 《short stories | oc edition》

◇ Naïvity ◇

(Quick A/N, there's a bit of South London slang in here, but ya'll should be able to infer its meaning.)

"Empty your pockets, skank!"

Roslyn winced in pain as the messy, blonde-haired year eleven in front of her shoved her into the wall, the girl's followers all gathered around, snickering and whispering like an onlooking crowd at a circus. The fourteen-year-old did her best to keep her calm. At this time she was actually concerned about getting another call home to her parents from the Principal. "Already told you. Don't have any pocket money," she replied, her tone blunt as her rage was beginning to boil up.

The blonde kissed her teeth. "Liar. Saw you with twenty quid earlier, so empty it out," she snapped, hitting Roslyn against the wall again.

Roslyn's temper didn't stay levelled for long, as she started shoving at the year eleven, having the temptation to give her a black eye. The crowd of girls watching all shouted like barbarians as the two eventually started fighting and throwing hands.

"Oi, you two!" A male voice called.

Roslyn caught a glimpse of her brother, Mason, quickly come over and pull the blonde off her. "So this is you, yeah, Holly? Fighting youngers?" Mason snapped at the year eleven.

Holly kissed her teeth again. "If she gave me her money she would've been fine."

Mason rolled his eyes in annoyance as he looked at Roslyn's face, seeing a forming black eye and a bleeding nose. He tured to Holly again. "Touch my sister again, and you'll get jumped Friday night," he growled, his anger similar to that of a threatened dog.

Mason then looked back at Roslyn. "C'mon. Nurse's office," he said, putting a protective arm around her shoulder, but not without casting a last dirty look at Holly.

Roslyn wiped some blood from her nose with her jumper sleeve. She didn't care too much about staining - not like she ever showed up to class anymore, so why should she care?

They got into the school building through a main door leading in from the playground and headed down the hallway to the nurse's office.

The office smelt a like floor cleaner and Febreeze - It was the only part of the school that was really kept clean and sanitary, since the school did kind of need to stay on good terms with the school governors.

Mason led Roslyn over to a seat while she held her jumper sleeve to her nose. He knocked on the door, a short, aging woman opened it and peeked out. Upon seeing Mason, she sighed. "Jaxon or Roslyn?" She asked.

"Ros. She got punched up by a year eleven girl," Mason replied, nodding over to his little sister.

The school nurse sighed and went to a door at the other wall of the waiting room, most likely where the icepacks and the like were kept. The nurse went into the room and come out with a box of tissue for Roslyn's nose and an icepack for her now bruised eye. "Help her clean off that blood, Mason," the nurse said, handing the box and icepack to him.

Mason sighed and sat down beside Roslyn. He placed the icepack near her eye. He snorted when she winced at the cold of it. "Calm down, Drama Queen. It ain't the return of Holly," he joked, making Roslyn grumble as he placed the icepack back on her eye.

It was obvious this happened several times before, Mason was too good at the medical routine for a lad that didn't ever listen in, well... Any of his classes.

Mason stayed in the medical room with his sister for the rest of the afternoon, knowing one of their parents may have to pick them up. They sat beside each other in silence. Roslyn had put the icepack down and her nose had stopped bleeding, though the bruises on her face were very clearly visible. "...You have to stop getting into fights," Mason said through the silence.

Roslyn laughed slightly. "Easy for you to say, you had a fight this morning," she said, grinning a little.

Mason sighed heavily, suddenly becoming aware of the bruise on his cheek from break. "Rosie, you've got to stop moving like me. The shit I do is, well - shitty. We both know I'm failing GCSEs in six months," he said.

Roslyn's grin faded, and she looked up at her brother. "Yeah, well... Looks like we're both ending up behind a Tesco's checkout," she said bluntly. She already knew her grades were as fucked as Mason's. Mason rubbed his eyes. "You're not hearing me, sis. You've still got a little over a year to catch up and get a decent grade. It's a little late for me, but you can still get decent GCSEs if you tried," he said.

It was no secret Roslyn wanted to be like her brother, and it was no secret that the things Mason did were a bad influence. If he smoked, she smoked. If he got drunk, she got drunk. If someone insulted him, she'd fuck them up and put them in their place. She was like his guard dog.

Roslyn cringed for a few moments before she looked up at him. "Yeah? Six months still gives you a bit of time, yet you don't do shit," she retorted.

Mason sighed loudly, not sure how he was going to get his point across. Roslyn was like a mini version of him, and neither of them liked seeing sense if it meant they were in the wrong. But for once, Mason wanted to do some genuine good, because this was one of the rare things he gave a shit about. "Roslyn, you've got potential. If you keep trying to get into this gang shit we'll both end up selling crack to addicts in the alleys and street-corners of Brixton," he said, his mood getting very serious now. His brows were furrowed and he was looking hard at his younger sister.

Roslyn had bit her lip nervously. In her mind, she knew she'd let her grades drop drastically. After the summer holiday of year seven, she came back into year eight and became one of the most troublesome students and building a reuptation any college would turn up their noses at. But, still, she refused to come to the conclusion that she should start trying to educate herself. "If one of us ends up on the street, the other stays with them. We made a promise to each other that we'd have each other's backs, didn't we?!" She said, her tone boiling with anger.

Mason rubbed his forehead. He knew at this point Roslyn wouldn't listen, and it was best not to test her temper into extremity. "Alright, alright. You won't listen, so I won't continue," he shrugged, putting his hands up. Both teens lifted their heads when they heard the medical room door open, and a staff member from the school office stood there. "Your dad's here to collect you," the man said in a bland tone, clearly deprived of energy from all the sick and injured students he had to keep signing in and out that day, since Mason noticed there had been a lot, and the office looked a mess.

The two siblings rose from their seats, and Roslyn snatched up a piece of tissue from the box set on the table by the door, in case her nose began to bleed again. She was lucky it wasn't broken.

As they walked out of the school building, they saw their dad stood there by the car - his stance and expression displayed a whole collection of emotions. Mason could clearly see anger, tiredness, disappointment... Nothing new, though. His dad was a tall man with a regular head of curly brown hair. The grey hairs weren't concealed and up for all eyes to see. He had gained a little weight due to stress from work, but he still looked strong nonetheless. He could tell what his dad was thinking by his annoyed expression: "I work endless shifts at a shitty job to keep the family on its feet, and this is the thanks I get?"

They all got into the car, Roslyn in the front seat and Mason sat in the back. Their father then started up the car, saying nothing. Mason was scared for his sister. He remembered the promise they'd made to each other very clearly - he was twelve and Roslyn was eleven when it was made - and they made a firm promise to each other that they'd have each other's backs. Though, they were young, and the cruel realities and unfairness of life hadn't dawned on their innocent minds. That promise still seemed securely fixated in the centre of Roslyn's mind to this day, while Mason was distracted with parties, gambling and gang deals. He was already stuck in that gang loop, he didn't want Roslyn dragged in as well. He hated the thought of his little sister becoming a gang member.

Slowly and slowly, Mason was starting to fear that dreading thought was starting to twist itself into the flow of reality.