House of Cards

Brooke

First thing in the morning I threw some clothes on, but this time it wasn't my black cape. It was a simple brown dress, mid-calf socks, and some torn mary janes. Tossing my curly hair up into a pony tail, (which was beyond my capabilities by far), I made my way to the door. "Ah, ah, ah." Mama stopped me, looking me up and down, "Who are you out to see at this hour?" Dusting off my dress, I replied, "Jagger. Now could you move," Mama sighed, giving me permission to leave.

Treading down my street, I tried my best to miss every muddy water puddle on the dirt road. This is my only pair of white socks, and there's no chance i'm going to ruin them. I cautiously walked up the stone staircase to Jaggers house, but stopped myself before knocking.

"Dammit, Jagger! Going out again?! You should be inside with Conrad and preparing yourself for the House of Cards! You'll never survive at this rate. Why can't you be more like your brother, Jagger? He came out as King of Hearts when he graduated three years ago. I expect you to do the same."

I heard through the wooden door, but it continues.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I think I will survive just fine, without any of this 'prep'! It's a battle for crying out loud! Look at Conrad, did him coming out as king do anything good for him?! No! There's no point in preparing myself."

"Well maybe I shouldn't have had another kid, huh?! I would've been perfectly happy with the one who does everything right, is successful, and listens to every damn word I have to say! Leave! Be my guest! Don't expect me to come weeping at your funeral!"

So this is what Mama was talking about. His mother seems absolutely frightening. Why would she say that sort of thing to Jagger?

"Hey, Bumblebee." My thoughts were interrupted as I saw the familiar face of my best friend, Jagger Zayn Wells. He was a little taller than me, with shaggy blonde hair thrown back into a pony tail. He had ocean blue eyes, and a smile that made the world spin. He was dressed in a brown bomber jacket, faded white shirt, and black jeans with lace up black boots. "Hey Jaggie." I snickered.

"Didn't I say no more of...J- that name" He smiled, looking at me. It was like he had wiped off everything his mother said to him, like water with a towel. "Hey...heard you and your mom got into a pretty nasty argument. You all good?" He sighed, "Yep. I'm perfect. You know...I did happen to snag a little somethin' while she was distracted with yelling at me." What a change of subject. "Oh yeah?"

He held up a handful of bronze coins. "You hungry?" I nodded, and we were off. "There's this great place I know of, called GoldOre Tavern. You up for it?" I looked at him, tensing the muscles in my brows, "We are 15, Jagger." "Kidding! I'm kidding!...unless-" "no." "Fine."

"How about we just go to Franken's Place? They have mouth watering pastries." After a lot of convincing, Jagger finally agreed. We traveled down the alley, but were abruptly stopped by a group of kids, roughly our age. All of course, were hearts. The leader, it seemed, was a tall, dark haired kid with bloody, chapped lips. Like everyone else, his suit was tattooed under his left eye. He didn't pay much attention to me, but his eyes sure were fixed on Jagger.

"Heyyy, Jaggermeister!" called the boy, in a taunting tone, "Is this your girlfriend? Where you two goin? GoldOres?" Jagger looked at me and sighed, "Jax, first off, not my girlfriend. Second, I'm personally not in the mood for this bullshit. So if you'd excuse me, we'll be on our way." He started walking, so obviously I followed. I didn't like the way this group was eying us. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." scolded the blonde girl. "You owe us, Jag. Do you not remember the last time we ran into eachother? I still have a scar!"

"Uh...Jagger, what are they talking about?" Jagger looked at me, "I might've got in a little trouble with this here gang a while back..didn't think they'd find me, honestly. Kind of why it took me a while to agree to going to Franken's Place. It's their 'territory'."He whispered to me. 'oh god.' i thought, 'of course he would have gotten in trouble with a gang. It's Jagger.'

"We can talk this out, guys. It was just a small misunderstanding. A little while ago. You aren't seriously holding a grudge over a little fight, are you?" Before he could say anything else, Jax swung a slick punch right into Jagger's jaw.

"Nevermind." he mumbled, "Brooke, go! I'll catch up with you!" He called, the two girls that were with them grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. I bolted, like Jagger had asked, but stopped in my tracks to make sure he wasn't getting himself in more trouble, like the dumbass he is.

"You think that you can just humiliate me in front of my father?! Tell him about everything I do behind his back?!" Yelled Jax. Then, a dull smack. The kind where skin hits skin.

Jax had punched him.

The sound was repeated, and a droplet from blood splatter landed on my shoe. Frantically, I looked for something hard, something..something like a metal rod. Carefully, I snuck up behind Jax, and used all my strength to smack him upside the head. He stood for a moment longer, and I was worried I hadn't hit him hard enough. Suddenly, he collapsed to the ground, and the two girls let go of Jagger.

"Let's go." He blurted, and we both ran in the direction of Franken's place. Eventually, we were far away enough to start walking. "Jagger, who were they?" I asked, entering the metal doors of Franken's Place. "That was full house, a gang I ran into a while back. His dad owns GoldOre Tavern, and I'll admit, to get away from my mom I went there to drink. Me and them, full house, we're friends for a hot minute. I wouldn't participate in much of the violence, but occasionally I'd go have some fun. This one time, my mom had hit me pretty hard for sneaking out the night before. I went into GoldOre, and drank a bit too much. Drunk, I said things I shouldn't of, and got Jax in a shit load of trouble with this old man. You see, he didn't know about Jax's gang or anything like that. So, we fought. That diamond girl? Yeah, her name is Francine."

"That Francine?"

"Yeah, that francine. Back then, me and her were still together. It caused a huge fight in the group and that's when she left me for Jax. It's all a ton of drama though, nothing to worry about."

"I guess not. I'm just glad I got you out of there in time. Otherwise you'd be bloodier than you already are."

Jagger laughed, his face bloody and bruised. Wincing, he said, "Yeah...it takes a special kind of idiot to pull off what you did back there. I'm proud, Bumblebee. Usually I'm the one doing dumb shit."

I threw my napkin at him playfully, as we ordered our food. "Seriously, Jagger. You don't have to buy me food. I can go eat an apple or something at home-" Jagger rolled his eyes, "Just except the fact I'm a good person." he teased.