Oakland

Chapter 4

James watched his twin brother walk out of the cafeteria with Nora. Dylan didn't deserve Nora. All Dylan ever done was sleep around and party. James Russo dated Nora Cooke first and Dylan came and took her away, as usual. That made Nora despise James.                                                              " Are you and Dylan still not talking? Man, you and Dylan are twins, blood"  Razi said grabbing his school bag. Zak and Henri looked at each other with a dangerous look. It was always a touchy subject to ask about Dylan. James rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water bottle. The cool water touched his lips and quenched his thirst. " Yeah we're perfect, why wouldn't we be?" James sneered. There was a long painful silence. Most of the people in the cafeteria had filtered out one by one and now there was only James, Zak, Razi, and Henri. "Did ye get tonight's meeting?  I mean it's only an interrogation, we only have to question him don't we? " Zak said uncertainly. Out of all of the gang, Zak was the only one who hated doing the job. James got up and stormed out of the cafeteria.                                                                                                                                  His dad, Marcello Russo is the Boss. James and Dylan are the Underbosses. James hated being in the mafia. He hated that everyone in Oakland knew about his family business. He hated that Razi, Henri, and Zak were in the mafia. We kill people and we purposely kill people. James walked down the long cold corridors. The white marble floors, the dated wallpaper, the ancient chandeliers that have hung for so long, the paintings of Oakland and past pupils. James walked towards the front door and out to the grass area. There were pupils sitting on the freshly cut green grass relaxing in the morning sun. James stormed out past all of them. He walked around the side of one of the tall fern trees that guarded the school against people looking in. James loved that tree because when he first came to Oakland Dylan was a dick and  Zak, Henri, and Razi all made fun of James because he didn't want to be in the Mafia, he didn't want to kill people, he didn't want to do what his father and grandfather had done their whole lives. James would always go to that tree and sit there and just cry.                                                                                    He walked over and stopped in his tracks. There was a girl sitting under the tree, a girl he recognized. A girl with dark soft brown hair that swopped down past her shoulders and hazel eyes that were with so much emotion. She had her knees pulled up to her chest staring at people walking past gossiping. The girl looks up and her eyes twinkle. "James Russo," Erin grins. She doesn't stand up like James expected her to. James looks down at her. She's sitting under his tree, his safe spot. He suddenly feels anger rising up through his body. His hands start to tingle and he feels light-headed.   "Fuck off" James growls. Erin flashes a face of hurt. She looks at him with disgust. "Excuse me ?" she says standing up so fast that James isn't even sure she physically got up. "Fuck off Erin. We had a laugh in the dorm room but fuck off"   "So all the Russo brothers are pricks then?" said Erin walking away. A wave of guilt washes over him. It's Erin's first day she couldn't possibly have known.  James sighs "Erin wait I'm sorry. I just...that tree means a lot to me" Erin stops walking and turns around. She looks at James and he feels almost as if she's looking into his soul. "Woah, James, this is a rollercoaster. First, you're fun to be around then you pissed at me and now you're pouring out all of your feelings. Pick an emotion." Erin laughs. Her laugh is light and airy like a breath of fresh air. She smiles and shows off her naturally white, straight teeth. James smirks. "This tree is my comfort zone. This school isn't what you think it's like and well, the people in it aren't what you think they're like." "Yeah the people here are involved in a secret mafia," she says laughing turning back to walk away. James goes right. His heart is beating 100mph. He runs up after her "Are you serious? Do you actually think there's a mafia in this school." he says so fast that he takes a deep breath. Erin looks at him and walks on "Of course not you idiot." Erin stops dead in her tracks. Her uniform is now slightly creased from sitting down. James breaths in her soft rose scent. James glances at Erin. Her face is frozen and her magical hazel eyes are stone cold. "Erin-" "Do you want to do something fun?"  

"Where are we going?" James stammers as he tries to keep up with her. Erin is nearly jogging down the corridor. "We are going to have some fun." she giggles.  "What type of fun exactly?" James asked. Erin smirks"Don't ask questions, James." She grabs his hand and pulls him close to her. Erin is inches away from his face, his lips. Then Erin runs down the corridor dodging pupils as they laugh until their stomachs hurt.                                                                                                         They reach the lockers. Erin is in the middle of talking about some movie she saw but all James can think about is how fun she is to be around. How even though he only knows her for over an hour he feels like he know knew her his whole life. How nothing matters when he's with her. How this girl is so bright and fresh. "James?" Erin asks. He's snapped out of his daze. He didn't hear what she said. "Yeah?" "Should we do it?". What. Did she just ask me to sleep with her? "Erin, I know we're having fun but if I knew this is the type of fun you were planning I'm not doing it." Erin looks like she was shot. She searches his face for meaning. "James, what do you mean?" "I'm not going to sleep with you Erin. I only met you!" James says his voice raising. He feels his temper going. He can't lose it, not now. We hear people talking. Erin glances up at the people walking down the corridor. Her face goes pale. "I don't want to sleep with you!" Erin shouts. "Why does everyone think I want to fuck them?". She looks at the people walking again and sighs. "Whatever" she mutters. Erin slams herself up against a locker and pulls James towards her. He feels his muscular body hit up against her. She puts her arms around her neck and whispers in his ear "This is the fun I'm talking about". Before James ask her what she's talking about she has her lips pressed against his. Her soft sweet lips engulf him. Erin kisses him passionately. James's head is swimming. What the fuck is happening. Erin pulls his closer and goes deeper into his mouth. He starts to kiss her back when someone punches him in the back of his head. James breaks his lips away from hers. "Who the fuck are you?  Get the fuck away from my sister you prick!" Ronan yelled at him. James didn't feel anything but pounding in his head, shoulder, and stomach. He could hear Erin shouting in the back telling him to stop. "Ronan get off him." Erin cried. The punching continued for a while before everything went blank...