Midnight City

Chapter Three

    Walking the familiar streets of Midnight City was like second nature to me. I knew where all the best coffee shops are, where the best music venues were, where not to walk at night, where not to go at all. You'd think I mapped the place out myself. My best friend Maggie always shuns me for spending so much time outside in the city; she's ridiculously afraid that one night I'm going to get mugged or lost. But I never get lost, and I'm not afraid of my city.

       I took a shortcut through an alleyway and appeared at the other end by a popular news stand.

"What’s shakin these days, Kenn?" Sal yells to me as I walked up to join him. Sal was the newsstand owner that I befriended in my early days of high school.  

       "Same ol’, same ol’," I responded walking up and handing him a coffee that I picked up at the local bistro just a few minutes before.

     "How bout you? Anything new in the land of news?" I asked picking up a copy of today's newspaper. He finished selling a copy to a stuffy looking man in a suit and turned to me with his hands on his hips.

     "Actually, if you turn to page 6 they have a new story about that rebel group wrecking havoc all over town. Bunch of misfit teenagers, no better than that ridiculous religious following no doubt," he muttered shaking his head.

        "Hey now, don't hate on the teenage race. We'll be paying for your social security fund one day." I smirked up at him.

        "Ah whatever," he muttered, taking a sip from his coffee. "Get outta here kid, you're gonna be late for class again."

    "Yeah yeah, see ya later Sal."

Putting down the paper, I turned to leave for the school but am interrupted by Sal's voice,  "Hey Kenn!" I turned my head to look at him "Happy birthday" he yelled, letting his smile take up his aged face.

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        As soon as I walked into the halls of Harlem Academy, I was greeted by the familiar scent of teen angst and white tile, which, believe it or not, has a very distinctive smell. Before I could even process the overwhelming stench, I was quickly engulfed in a hug that none other belonged to Maggie Banks. Maggie and I have been best friends since 7th grade, when her parents made the move from Ohio to MC. Maggie was the new kid and I was the outsider; it only made sense for us to gravitate towards one another.

       It wasn't that I was unpopular or that people didn't like me, I think me being an outsider just had to do with the fact that no one wanted to be on my bad side. In 10th grade I found Brad Kellen, resident bad boy, and some other guys picking on this kid outside one of the science buildings. I told them to lay off and when they didn't listen I kicked Brad in the groin so hard he didn't show up for school for an entire week. When he got back he tried telling everyone that him and his parents had taken a surprise vacation to Jamaica, but by then everyone had already heard the story. No one really liked Brad at the time so his status got knocked down a few pegs after our incident, and I was a legend. Nowadays he had his new title of residential heartthrob. Not that I cared, as you might have guessed, he's not really my type.

       "Happy frickin’ birthday, girl!" Maggie practically screamed, swinging her body back and forth, almost taking me down in the process.

       She released me from her arms, and I took a step back to look at her. Her green eyes beamed at me giving her ginger hair the extra oomph it needs to look like it belongs in a shampoo commercial. Grabbing my arm in hers, we proceeded down the hallway to our shared homeroom.

       "So listen Kenn, I know you're all gloom and doom about your birthday every year—"

       "I am not!" I cut her off.  "You know I'm a pro-birthday advocate."         

       "Whatever," she says cutting me off. "Bottom line is I have an extra-exciting proposition for you tonight to officially celebrate your evolution into adulthood."

       We stopped outside of the classroom, and I stared at her in curiosity. "Well Ms.Banks, call me intrigued. What do you have in mind?" Maggie usually doesn't ever come up with any really "exciting" things for us to do, that’s usually my job description.

       "Well you see, I heard Ashley Carly talking to Jessica Mills yesterday in the bathroom, and apparently there's some huge rager being thrown at Old Miller Barn tonight, ya know the one out in the woods? Anyways, it seems like practically everyone in school is going, and apparently Brad has got some hook up at the station, so there's no way it’’s going to get busted. What do you think?"        

        Maggie was talking so fast that it took me a second to process what she was saying. Of course the people in our school would think its a good idea to throw a rager in the middle of nowhere. I guess that's what you have to expect when you go to some rich-bitch academy instead of a normal public high school. Who needs brains when you have daddy's money?

       Nevertheless, booze and music didn't seem like an awful idea. And besides, we never attended parties like this, maybe this is all I need to make my birthday actually seem special.

       I turned back to Maggie with a mischievous grin on my face, "I'm in.”

A/N

Hey! So i hoped you liked this part of the story. I'm excited to write the party scene, not to spoil anything but lets just say its going to be a blast. Let me know how you're liking everything so far!

Xoxo,

JasmineAmbry