Dockingboys

Chapter Three

The train ride was pretty fast. As was all trains in Oakton these days, but dockingboys rarely got the chance to take the train into the city. Well, except for errands.

Declan and the boys sat alone in one train car, as no one wanted to be seen hanging around dockingboys, so they were pretty much alone in that train car. They were told that the train ride would take at least about ten minutes to get to the Crisscross, so they pretty much relaxed on the train. Kane and Toland, due to their alike personalities, were already joking around and laughing, while Jose, sitting across from them, was calmly reading a book and occasionally leaning over to Jamon to talk about something in his book, who just nodded back. Declan didn't get a chance to meet Yangshi before, but he saw that Yangshi and Ivan got along pretty well, and Yangshi was actually a pretty fun guy to hang out with. Wayne had told them before that he didn't want to go because he wanted to have some fun with Marcus, who had also agreed to stay at the docks. Rake had waved them off, saying that some of the cargo in the cargoyard had to be moved, and he had been assigned to do so. Leif had said that he wanted to spend some alone time at the docks and look out at the sunset, or something like that. So, all in all, the eight of them were the only ones going into the city. The other dockingboys were still either eating or sleeping in the Hall.

Of course, everyone had their own reason for going. Rusty wanted to visit his "parents", or so he claims, probably going off to find a girl. Jose and Jamon wanted to go to the library and get some stationery to talk to each other and read some of the books. Toland and Kane wanted to try out some of the many foods Oakton had to offer, and Ivan wanted to check out some of the new apparel some of the new stores had on sale. Yangshi, in the meantime, had told everyone that he was gonna actually visit his parents, unlike Rusty. When they got to the station, before everyone could go their separate ways, Declan told everyone to meet back up at the station at exactly five PM. It was two right now, so they had plenty of time.

You'd wonder what Declan wanted to do, but he didn't actually have anything in mind. He was in the city afterall, so why not visit his old steeplejack pals? On this thought, Declan walked calmly to the city center to find Billy, one of his best friends before Rusty.

As usual, Billy was fixing the old clock tower in Oakton. Someone had reported that the time was off by a whole hour, so Billy had to go up there and fix it. He was second best only to Declan, and the two of them got along pretty well before Declan was transferred to the West Docks. When Declan got to the bottom of the clock tower, he shouted as loudly as he could.

"Hey, Billy!" he yelled, waving and scaring half of the other people away.

Billy looked down, eyes narrowing. At 17, he was a handsome fellow, with blond sandy hair and light blue eyes, but his attitude was a real problem. It was the same with his sister Akuma, who was calmly watching Billy work from a cafe nearby.

"Can't you see I'm freakin' working right now? Meet me in the cafe in five minutes, alright?" Billy screamed, waving Declan away.

Declan grinned, but went over to the cafe shop that Akuma was in and stepped in. The last time Declan saw Akuma was when she was still a toddler at age six, but now she was taller, and more mature. Her attitude seemed to grow too. Currently, she was waiting for a coffee, and she was dressed like a punk. Seriously, could you imagine a ten-year-old having her hair dyed green and dressed as though she was a goth? Declan stepped up to her and waved.

"Hey, squirt. What's up?" he said, sitting down.

Akuma rolled her eyes and leaned away. "Ew, it's you. Ugh, why does Billy hang out with such weird guys?"

Now it was time for Declan to shine. "Says you, goth girl."

Akuma pretended to look offended and smirked. "At least I'm not working at the docks."

Declan's eyes flared, and if it wasn't for the fact that Akuma was a girl and that she was Billy's little sister, he would've punched her. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course I do. You don't know what you're talking about."

At this moment, Billy himself walked in the cafe, and his voice pierced through the friendly air of the cafe. Everyone stopped and looked at him, but then realized who they were looking at, and quickly went back to talking. "AKUMA. Be nice," Billy yelled, cupping his hands.

Akuma rolled her eyes again and started to examine her nails. "Blah blah blah."

Billy walked over to their table and sat down next to Akuma.

"Dude, what did you do to her?" he said, leaning in and whispering.

Declan raised his eyebrows. "Me? I didn't do anything. When did she become so rude?"

"What are you two weirdos talking about? I was always this rude," Akuma interrupted, leaning in as well.

Billy slapped her in the back of the head, and Akuma hit him back. Then they started fighting. Declan made the fatal decision to laugh, and Akuma hit him as well.

Billy slammed the table suddenly, and they both stopped.

"Alright, Declan. Time to declare why the heck you interrupted my fixing of the clock tower."

Declan grinned. "Just here to say hi. And receive the insults of your little sister."

On cue, Akuma tried to look innocent. "I didn't do anything. Your friend was bullying me."

Billy snorted and rolled his eyes. "Aki, if you weren't my little sister, I would bully you every day."

Akuma elbowed him hard in the chest, and Billy winced. "You already do."

"What are you doing in the city anyway? I thought Saint Morales arrived today," Billy asked, turning to Declan and scratching his head.

"Nah. They allowed us the day off for some reason. Don't ask me why. But hey, it's all good, 'cause we all get a chance to do something other than work the docks."

Akuma rolled her eyes for the third time. "Please, you deserve to work the docks."

Billy hit her in the back. "At least he's not lovestruck like you are."

Akuma gasped, then looked like she was about to kill someone. "How did you know I'm lovestruck?"

Billy grinned. "Well, it wasn't hard, considering you're always eyeing that Asian girl at school. What's her name? Yangwei?"

The last name registered in Declan's mind. "Yang? Hey, that's my friend's sister."

Akuma's expression changed from angry to surprised. "Really? Who's your friend?"

"His name's Yangshi. I think he had a sister, but I didn't know you liked her," Declan smirked.

Akuma suddenly clasped her hands together. "Declan, could you, um, tell your friend that you have a friend that likes his sister?"

"Why can't you just do it yourself?" Billy asked, smirking as well.

"Well, um, I tend to be a little rude when I talk."

Declan snorted. "A little? Ha. But hey, since you're my good friend Billy's sister, I'll consider it."

Akuma jumped with joy. "Yay!"

Billy pulled her back down. "Aki, chill. I would've done it too, if not for the fact that you're so annoying."

Akuma's expression turned from happy back to rude. "Humph, you're so rude to your own sister."

Billy laughed, then waved. "Well, I've got to go fix the clock tower, so see you two later. Oh, and Declan, while you're here, could you pay for Akuma's coffee?"