"Victory Teller! How many times have I asked you to put your phone away during class?" I cringed at the sharp note Ms. Brady's voice hit at the end of her question. I slid my phone into my pocket and tried out my best Teller smile. If she'd been a man, it may have worked.
"Principal's office, Victory. Now." She snapped and pointed at the door. I groaned and swung my bag over my shoulder before storming out of the classroom. The school resource officer shook his head as I slammed the door behind me. I smirked at him and headed off to the office I'd visited so frequently over the past four years.
As a senior at Charming High School, the principal and I were almost on first name basis. My godfather, Happy Lowman, swore that the only reason I wasn't expelled was the principal had a thing for blondes. Unfortunately for Principal Crowley, he would be the one to pick me up from the office today. My parents were out of town for their anniversary and my older brother Abel was out on a run for the club.
"Victory, why did I even think I'd get through the week without you getting sent to the office?" Crowley looked away from his computer and leaned back in his tall, leather chair. I smirked and hitched my shoulder.
"Don't know, Crowley. It's only Wednesday. I wouldn't ever bet on my behavior until at least Friday morning." I dropped down into the chair in front of his desk and rolled my toothpick between my teeth. It drove Mom crazy that I picked up the toothpick habit from Happy, but it was the only thing that kept me from smoking at school.
"You're grades would be a lot better if you actually stayed in class long enough to learn anything, Victory. Are you not worried about what colleges are going to think?" He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Might be if I was applying. Before you say we'll talk to your Mom about that when she gets here, you should probably know Happy is the only one in town." I smirked as he sighed and grabbed the phone. The color drained from his face as he spoke to Happy. He relaxed a little after hanging up the phone.
"You know there's a whole world outside of that clubhouse, right?" Crowley took his glasses off and pointed an earpiece at me. I laughed and nodded. Little did he know, I'd spent three weeks in Ireland with my aunt, Trinity, over the summer break. We sat in familiar silence as we waited for my guardian.
"I'm busy." Happy growled as he busted into the office. Crowley shook his head and brought his hands up apologetically.
"One week, Mr. Lowman. I can't keep looking the other way for Victory." I scoffed and threw my hands up. Out of all the times I'd been in trouble, I'd only gotten suspended for a fight with a guy in the cafeteria. My dad threw a party for me and Mom actually gave me a pass on that one since the guy had grabbed my ass before I hit him.
"Yeah, can't keep your eyes off her." Happy grumbled as I pulled my helmet out of my bag. I shot him a look and he returned it with a scowl. I turned away first, losing the silent argument with him again. Luckily, Crowley didn't seem to hear him.
"It's fine, I'll have Misty bring my work over." I said with a shrug as Happy and I exited the school. He shook his head silently. Things with the club weren't exactly going easy right now, so I knew he had a lot on his mind.
"You got time to paint a tank?" Happy paused at his Dyna and looked down at me. I raised my brow.
"Yeah, you gonna give me a cut?" I snapped my helmet on and waited for him to get on the bike first. He laughed and nodded.
"You're doing the whole thing. I don't have time. Two hundred good?" He sat down on the bike as I nodded and climbed on behind him. The bike roared to life just before Happy opened the throttle and shot out of the lot. I squeezed my legs tighter and grabbed the back of his kutte.
We pulled into the lot and I hopped off the bike quickly. I'd succeeded in burning my leg on the exhaust and didn't want to hear shit about riding bikes in shorts. Happy followed me into the garage and pointed out the tank I was supposed to paint. I picked it up and looked back at him.
"You didn't even prep it yet? Three hundred and you don't tell my parents I got suspended." He scowled and twisted a ring on his finger as he considered my terms.
"Three fifty and I'll talk to Jax." I groaned and shook his hand. I knew he would never keep it from both of them but it got me more money and Dad was more lenient. It also helped that Dad could choose not to tell Mom or calm her down before I saw her.
I grabbed my painting pants and hoodie and headed into the clubhouse to change. When I was five, I started drawing and painting all over the place. Happy worked with me on design and eventually my art moved from crayon drawings on the walls to airbrushing and painting cars and bikes. My passion was in custom airbrushing or pin striping, but I was still trying to talk Dad into expanding the garage and adding a paint booth so we could start taking on bigger projects.
"Ay princess!" Chibs caught me and pulled me into a hug. I smiled and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. If any of my uncles let me get away with anything, it was Chibs, second only to Tig.
"Get suspended again?" I blushed a little and nodded. He laughed and shook his head before letting me go. "Don't head home 'til Abel gets here, Victory."
"Problems with the Russians again?" Chibs scowled at my knowledge of the club's business but nodded all the same. I sighed and shook my head as I walked down the hall to Dad's dorm. If it wasn't the Russians it was the Irish or some other group of angry men with guns. Dad got the club out of running guns when I was younger and ever since then, SAMCRO has been good with the Mayans and Tyler's crew, but everyone else seemed to pick fights over any little instance.
I finished tying my hair back and headed back out to the garage quickly. A tall, dark haired guy walked through the clubhouse door with his face in his phone, I didn't even have time to dodge him before he walked right into me and I fell on my ass. He looked down in surprise and put his phone away.
"Sorry sweetheart, I didn't see you there." He smiled and offered me a hand up. I scowled and swatted his hand away as I climbed off the floor. His smile faded a little.
"It's hard to see where you're walking with your face in your phone. Watch where you're going next time." I growled as I pushed by him to get out to the garage. I had never seen him around the club or anywhere else for that matter. He couldn't have been much older than Abel and his green eyes were striking against his dark hair. If he hadn't been so infuriating, I may have thought he was kind of hot.
I rolled over to the paint table and put the tank down in front of me. According to the paperwork, the customer wanted a red demon over matte black. I grabbed a permanent marker and started sketching out a design on a piece of poster board. As usual, I got so caught up in my work that I didn't even notice someone standing behind me.
"Cool sketch." I jumped and spun around on my stool. The idiot that had walked into me had apparently snuck up on me in the garage. I picked my marker up off the floor and snapped the lid on. He moved closer and smiled as he looked at my work.
"Who the hell are you?" I growled with my arms folded across my chest. The guy's eyes flicked over to mine.
"Name's Brent." His eyes warmed and he gave me a half grin. I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips.
"That's your name. I asked who you are, as in why are you here?" His grin spread into a full smile and he leaned forward, propping a hand up on the paint table and invading my personal space.
"You're talking to the newest member of the Sons of Anarchy, sweetheart." He wagged his brow at me and lowered the pitch of his voice. I smirked and covered my mouth in mock surprise.
"You're a Son? Oh my gosh!" I fluttered my eyelashes at him and added a sickening sweetness to my voice that I'd picked up from croweaters. He nodded slowly and leaned closer to me.
"Don't worry, you didn't know. I forgive you, doll." He was getting closer and closer to my face. I reached a hand up and pressed it into his chest.
"Can I see your vest? They're sooooo sexy." I bit down on my lip and felt bile creeping up my throat. Playing dumb disgusted me and calling a kutte a vest was sacrilege for a girl that grew up in the club. He hesitated for a second before recovering.
"It's at the cleaners." He lied as smoothly as he could. I dropped my fake smile and smirked.
"The cleaners? You realize that kutte is sacred, right? If you can't take care of your leather, then you don't deserve to wear it." I snapped as I pushed him away. He floundered and shook his head.
"You aren't a Son until you've got that top rocker, prospect. A good way to lose that is pushing up on the president's daughter." Happy snapped from behind Brent's shoulder. I watched as the color drained from his face and smiled.
"Victory Teller. Have an awesome year or two, prospect." I laughed and shook my head as I turned back to my sketch. I heard feet scuttling away quickly followed by heavy boots heading in the same direction.
I finished my sketch, sanded the tank down and called it a night. Moby waved bye to me from underneath a car hood as I headed back to the clubhouse. Abel's bike was parked between Happy's and Chibs'. I picked up the pace and jogged into the clubhouse.
"Vic, Mom's going to kill you." Abel said with a laugh as he wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled me to him. I groaned and tried to push away.
"Get off, Abel. Hap is telling Dad first so maybe he won't say anything to Mom." I said hopefully as I finally got free from the headlock. Abel laughed and shook his head.
"Good luck with that, Vic. You ready to head home? I'm beat." I nodded and hurried back to Dad's dorm to grab my stuff. Abel normally stayed at the clubhouse, but recently he stayed at home more often than not. He tried to say it was because he missed me but I knew it was the heightened alert that the club stayed on these days.
I banged my fist on Happy's door and yelled goodnight before meeting Abel at the end of the bar. I strapped my helmet on as we walked out to his bike. I smiled at the sight of his Dyna. The very first rendering of Mr. Mayhem I ever airbrushed on a bike covered the right side of Abel's tank. It always meant a lot to me that he was so proud of it.
"So, what'd you get busted for?" Abel asked as we sat down on the couch in the living room. I sighed and lit my cigarette.
"I was texting Misty about the party on Friday. Her mom doesn't think it's a good idea for her to come." I said with a pout. Abel shook his head and popped the top to his beer.
"Should have told her mom it was just dinner and cake." Abel couldn't even keep a straight face at the thought of Misty's mom buying that.
"Yeah, right. I'm turning 18 and I'm just going to have dinner and cake. Her mom isn't an idiot." I blew a trail of smoke at him and smirked when he waved it away. Misty had been one of my best friends since middle school, but her Mom grew up in Charming. So, anytime we wanted to have a sleepover it had to be at Misty's house. It irritated me because Mom told me not to take it personally, but personal is all it was.
"Whatever, she'll just sneak out if her mom says no. I'm going to bed, Vic. You should too if you want to get that tank done by Friday morning." He ruffled my hair as I groaned. Sometimes my perfectionism and creativity bit me in the ass. I could have sketched up a much simpler design, but that wasn't who I was. If I was lucky, that damn tank was going to take me about twelve hours.
"Goodnight, Abel." He scrunched his nose playfully as I kissed him on the cheek. I just laughed and headed upstairs to my room. As I laid in bed, I couldn't help wondering what it was going to be like to finally be an adult. Hopefully being legal would make the club realize it's perfectly normal for me to date. No one was as bad as Dad, Abel and Happy but all of my uncles were overprotective. I drifted off to sleep with a smirk at the thought of introducing them all to a guy one day.
