I walked down a back alley at random, trying to get myself lost. My mum, brother, I had just moved from New York to San Fransokyo and I wasn't happy about it. It seemed like every time I got used to living somewhere, gotten comfortable with the area, mum moved us somewhere else. We'd mostly been jumping around the east coast, but now we were here, in San Fransokyo, and I was sulking.
It wasn't that I didn't like the area, in fact, it was a beautiful city, it was just that I wanted to settle down. We'd been living in New York for a little over a year and I was starting to think that we were there to stay. I knew the streets by heart and I was starting to feel comfortable in school, hadn't made any friends though. I thought, 'since summer's starting, why don't I try and make friends with some of the neighborhood kids?' But a thirteen-year-old high school graduate didn't roll well with the eighth-graders. Of course, as soon as I thought I might be able to make friends with some of the other high schoolers, mum sat us down for a family talk and announced that we were moving…again.
As soon as we had finished unpacking I left our apartment and walked around a bit. I was walking through a back alley when I came across a group of bot-fighters. I had heard about them from my mum. She said that people built robots and fought them against other people's robots. I knew that betting was illegal and I could get in huge trouble if I got caught, but I was drawn to the group of people huddled around the arena. I walked up and slipped between two people so I could see the fight, and for once I was glad I was small and skinny. What I saw in the arena surprised didn't really, there was a bulky man with a dangerous looking robot to my right and a woman who looked only a little younger than my mum with a big black-and-pink robot to my left. I watched, engrossed as the man's bot totally pounded the woman's bot.
I turned to see from a different angle and ran into a kid who didn't look much older then me. I yanked my hood down, mumbled a 'sorry' and tried to walk away but he stopped me. "Hey, who are you?" he asked me. "Why are you here?" I spun to face him, careful not to look in his eyes.
"Better question is, why are you here? It's not like I'm going to fight," I said, nodding to the small black robot in his hands. He shrugged, then, as the winner of the next match challenged someone to fight he stepped up.
"C- can I try?" he asked, turning to me and saying, "Just watch…what's your name?"
"Bird. I'm Bird," I lied, not wanting to tell him my true identity.
"Watch me Bird. I'll pulverize him," he made his way to the ring, ignoring the other people's laughter, and sat down. His little black robot was in three pieces by the end of the fight.
"But, that was my first fight. Can't I have one more chance?" he begged. "I've got more money," I sighed and started to turn away but he turned back towards me and winked. I raised an eyebrow but stayed to see the mystery boy totally pound the former-champion's bot.
That kid had skills! I looked him over as he turned away to grab his money. He had messy black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. He looked about fourteen and was wearing a navy-blue hoodie over a red shirt. My first thought was, Wow, he's definitely smarter than he looks. But then I realized he was actually pretty cute and looked away, embarrassed. I looked at my shoes and heard sirens off in the distance. I looked up in horror but no one else seemed to have heard. I looked around frantically, trying to catch someone's eye. I eventually caught the black-haired kid's eye and he flinched under my emerald green gaze. I sighed and slipped into the shadows, ignoring the roar of a motorcycle behind me.
But where are my manners?! I just went straight into the story without an introduction, didn't I? Well, in case you don't like sad stories, I'll just warn you now. This is an insanely sad story with a very happy ending. It's worth your time, believe me. And it took me forever to write this all down so it would be awesome if you could read it. This story starts three years ago, when I was ten. Enjoy…
