Effy's POV
I woke up early so I can pick up Pandora. I picked up Panda from her house. Then I drove to the community centre. We parked in the car park. We entered the locker room. Panda was complaining there wasn't a separate one for girls.
"Why isn't there a separate one for girls?" She asked.
"I really don't care." I said.
"Of course you don't care. Every bloke fancies you." She said.
I can tell she was uncomfortable because she would change into her orange overalls. I opened one of the lockers. I immediately started to change. I was not fazed by the fact that we had to change with the boys. There might be some perverts staring at us while we change. She wouldn't stop yakking. She knows I'm not a huge talker. I just nod and act like I'm interested. I continue to change. Then other people started to enter the locker room. I can tell that all of the blokes were staring at me. I noticed that Panda was still not changed.
"You should start to change Panda. We're going to be late." I said.
"Alright. It's not like any lads are staring at me. They're all staring at you." She said.
"Don't shit yourself, Panda." I said.
Then I complete changed into my orange overalls.
"I look so horrible in these overalls." I said as I sat down on the bench.
"I think you look fit in everything. You would look fit in a paper bag." She said.
Panda is very insecure about herself. She always says that I'm beautiful. Then we exited the locker room. There was other people there as well. The probation worker was waiting for us. I looked at the other offenders. There was a weird kid, a chavvy looking who had weird hair, a beautiful mixed race girl who looked like a bit of diva, a tall and lanky boy who was rather fit, a athlete, and a gangster looking kid. I never seen any of these people my life. I wasn't in the mood to make any more mates. I stock by Panda.
"This is it. It's your chance to do something positive; give something back. You can help people. You can really make a difference to people's lives. That's what community service is all about. There are people out there who think you're scum. You have an opportunity to show them they're wrong." The Probation worker said.
"What if they're right?" The tall and lanky boy said. He had an Irish accent.
I didn't like that he just spoke shit about us. He doesn't even know us. I didn't even know him. I already don't like him. He seemed to me like a huge twat.
"No offence. I'm thinking that some people are just born criminals." the tall and lanky boy said.
He's very annoying. I wish he stopped talking. All of us seemed offended by his comments. The gangster with the cap spoke up
"Are you looking to get stabbed?" He asked.
"You see my point there." The tall and lanky boy said.
Then a phone started to ring. It was the diva answered it.
"Hey..." Diva said.
I didn't listen to the rest of the call. The probation worker looked completely miffed.
"Hey end the call. Hello? Excuse me. I'm still talking here." He said.
"Well I thought you finished." The diva said.
"Do I see my lips moving? That means I'm still talking." The probation worker said.
"Well you could've been yawning or chewing." The tall and lanky boy said.
I had to speak up. He's driving me bonkers.
"Can you be more of a dick?" I asked.
"She speaks. She has a mouth. I like that." He said.
I flipped him off.
"I think she likes me." He said.
"Call you later." The diva said.
"You alright weird kid?" He asked.
I don't want to know these people. I just want to be mates with Panda.
"Look we need to work as a team here." Thee probation worker said.
Tony had to talk over some guys who were talking. I had no interest to see what was happening. The boys started to get rough.
"That's enough!" Tony said.
"Can I get another group? This isn't going to work for me." The athlete said.
I didn't like him either.
"Uh what makes yeh fink you're bettah than os?" The chav asked.
Her accent was thick. Her words were unrecogoisable. I began to laugh at how ridiculous it was.
"What is that accent?" The rough housing stopped.
"Is that for real?" The athlete asked.
"What you tryna say somefing are yeh?" The chav asked.
"This you. That's just noise. Are we supposed to be able to understand her?" The Irish man said.
He flinged his arm around the shoulders of the most violent of the bunch. The boy attacked the Irish man. I watched but did nothing to help. I sighed. I laughed at the altercation. I watched as Tony got them away from each other. The boy in the cap was shouting random things whilst the Irish man was flailing his arms around.
"Enough!" Tony said. Both boys stopped.
"Follow me. No more funny business." He said.
I followed him around the benches. I sighed. This wasn't going to be fun at all. I wonder what Panda thinks about the new gang. I missed my old mates. Then I sat down on the bench with Panda. I saw the Irish Man walk past us. He smiled. I rolled my eyes.
"Who does he think he is?" I asked.
"I don't know. He's rather rude." She said.
"He's fit though." She said.
"I think he fancies you." She said.
I didn't say anything.
"I think you fancy him too." She said.
"I don't even know him. You have the wrong idea." I said.
Then the Irish man appeared before us.
"What are your names?" He asked.
"I'm Effy." I said.
"What the Eff?' He laughed before continuing. "Nice name. Gonna have fun with that. I'm Nathan. Nathan Young. Between you and me. We need some fit people around here, besides myself." He said.
The weird kid looked at Panda. I think he fancies her. That's a first. All the blokes usually fancy me.
"Well looks like the others can't quite deal with the fact that I'm highly in demand. We should do this again. Maybe we should just ... skip the meeting stage and skip to the bed stage. Laters." He said as he walked away.
"Wanker." I muttered quietly but loud enough for him to hear.
Close to me, the boy in the cap was painting away. It was quiet for more than ten minute before he started shouting.
"Awh there's paint on my cap. This is bullshit." He said as he stormed off, kicking a paint can as he went. I just went back to painting. I wanted to talk to Panda.
"Wasn't the chav's accent funny?" I asked as I laughed.
"What's so funny?" Nathan asked.
I was absolutely annoyed with him.
"Non of your fucking business, prick." I said.
"I just wanted to know. You don't need to be rude." He said.
Then he left us alone. I think he was hurt. I didn't care though.
"What's his deal?" I asked.
"Are you sure you don't fancy him? You seem to talk about him a lot." She said.
"I just can't stand him." I said.
"You don't even know him. Don't judge him before you get to know him." She said
"I don't even think I want to know him." I said.
"Just give him a chance. He might be a nice bloke underneath.' She said.
"I doubt it." I said.
"Whistle and flute yourself." She said.
''Speaking of fancy. I think weird kid fancies you." I said.
She looked over at him.
"No he doesn't. He totally fancies you." She said.
"Trust me. He totally fancies you." I said.
"What should I do?" She asked.
"Just go over to him. Just say hi." She said.
Then she went over to him.
"Hi." She said.
"I'm Pandora." She said.
"I'm Simon." He said.
"Can I borrow some of your paint?" She asked.
She came back where I was.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I freaked out." She said.
Then Nathan appeared.
"Don't worry about it. You could do much better than him. What about me?" He said.
"Not if even if we were the last two people alive." She said.
"Ouch. My feelings are hurt. It's going to take a lot more than that to take me down." He said.
Then I went back to painting. He left us alone. He went over towards the chav.
"So I'm guessing ...shopliftin'? No?" He asked.
"Don't act like yeh know 'cos yeh don't." She said. I rolled my eyes and continue painting.
He wants to push everyone's buttons.
"I'm just making conversation. This is a chance to network with all young offenders. We should be swappin' tips-brainstorming. " He said.
I was curious to see what she actually did.
"What did you really do?" I asked her.
"This girl called me a slag so I go' into a fight." She said as I nod my head uninterested. Maybe she's right about the slag part. She looks like a bit of a slag.
"Was this on the Jeremy Kyle show?" He asked.
"No it was done at Argo's." She said.
This group was too boring for me.
"Agros?" Nathan whispers in fake disappointment.
"You know what you should have done? You should have got one of those little pens and japed in her eye." I cover a snort of laughter and Nathan gives me a look of appreciation.
"I'll admit that's pretty funny." I said.
"What about you hottie?" He asked me.
I didn't realise he was talking to me.
"Are you talking to me?" I asked.
"Yeah you." He said.
"I sold illegal drugs." I said.
"Which drugs?" He asked.
"It was coc." I said.
"What about you blondie?" He asked Panda.
"I did the same." She said.
He looked surprised. Then he moved on to weird kid.
"What about you weird kid?" He asked. Simon's head jerks up and looks at us with his creepy eyes.
"Don't take this wrong way or anything but you look like a panty sniffer." Nathan said.
"I'm not a panty sniffer. I'm not a pervert." Simon said. Simon's jaw clenches. Nathan began to pretend to wank off his paintbrush and he was making sounds that pervert would. Nathan made a comical noise.
"Just ignore him that's what I do." I said.
"I think you're just jealous because you want some of this." He said as he pointed to himself.
"Only in your dreams." I said.
Then I went back to Panda.
"You so fancy him." She said.
"Shut up." I said.
"What did you do?" I asked Nathan.
"I was done for eating some pick n' mix." I shake my head at his stupidity.
"Bollocks." Kelly said.
The beginnings of a bad storm could be coming from the sky. A cloud was quickly filling the sky. It was faster than any cloud. It was dark and ominous. It looked like something from a sci fi film. I was watching the clouds taking a mental note about the oddness of it.
"How'd that happen?" Tony asked walking up to us. He was referring to the paint can knocked over.
"I mean you've been here five minutes. It's painting benches. How'd you screw that up? You tell me because I've got no idea." He said.
I was quiet. I didn't want to rat on Gary but I didn't want to get trouble for omitting the truth. My thoughts were interrupted by something resembling a massive snowball falling and crashing onto the car.
"What's going on?" Kelly asked but no one had the answer. I stood up.
"That's my car." Tony said as he looked at the wrecked vehicle.
Nathan laughed "Classic." Another unnamed object fell from the sky which hit Nathan making Pandora scream. Water smash up and hit me in the back. It was cold to register. Simon appeared to be filming with his phone.
"Let's get everyone inside, move." running towards the entrance of the community centre. I wasn't an athlete. I ran as fast as I could. Everyone was screaming as they made their way to the main doors. The hail or snow were crashing around us as we went for safety. I did not want to be hit or something. There was breaking glass, and even some of the cement was cracking as the stuff landed on us. I did not want to be hit with something going so fast as it cracks cement.
Curtis got to the door first, but it was locked. As Tony fumbled with the keys everyone yelled for him to open. Kelly kept screaming "What's happening?" as if anyone knew the answer.
"Open the fucking door." Alisha screamed. Tony turned around.
"Don't speak to me like that!" Tony screamed at her.
Lightning struck the ground came close to us. My entire body was in pain. I was falling backwards. I hit my head on the ground. I stood up slowly.
"I feel really weird." Kelly said.
"That would be the lightning." Curtis said. I groaned.
"We should be dead." Simon said. I frowned at the thought.
"A little reassurance might be nice," Nathan said, his voice deeper than normal. "You know. You're fine. Lookin' good" He said
"Wanker." Tony mumbled. All of us looked at him.
"Did he just call me a wanker?" Nathan asked. No one answered. "Hey hello?" Nathan snapped and waving his arm around whilst leaning on the other.
"Is everyone alright?" Tony asked.
"We could've died you dick." Alisha rolled her eyes.
"You alright?" Kelly asked. Tony moved his head weird. It kind of kind of freaked me out.
"Freak." I said.
"Maybe we should call it a day," Tony suggested. He completely ignored Kelly.
I watched everyone get up. Then I stood up. Nathan was standing by my locker as I entered the locker room.
"Do you need something?" I asked.
I had no interest to hear what he had to say.
"Do you fancy a drink?" He asked.
I didn't want to go anywhere with him. Pandora looked me to see what I was going to say.
"I think I'll pass." I said.
"I have plans with Pandora. Right Panda?" I said.
"No you don't. You should go with him." She said.
"I don't know." I said.
"I guess it won't hurt. It might be fun." I said.
"Yeah I won't bite." He said.
Then I changed into my regular clothes. I looked over the corner of my eye. I saw Nathan looking at me whilst I dressed.
"That's all you're going to see." I said.
"I'll take what I can get." He said.
"Prick." I said.
"When you admit you want a shag. I'll be here waiting." He said.
I actually thought about the idea of shagging him maybe for a second. That would be disgusting. I'll never think of that again.
"Like that's ever going to happen." I said.
I went over to Panda.
"Admit. You totally fancy him." She said.
"No I don't." I said.
"Yes you do. I can tell." She said.
"Fuck off." I said.
Then I left the locker room. Nathan was waiting for me.
"Are you ready for me to rock your world?" He asked.
"Let's just get this over with." I said.
He looked hurt but didn't let it bother him. Then I followed him into the community centre. I was wondering why we're going to this place.
"Why are we going in here? I thought we were going to the pub or my flat." I said.
"Because I live here." He said.
In a way I felt bad for him. What would possess someone to live here? Maybe he was forced. In was curious why.
"Why?" I asked.
"My mum gave me the boot." He said.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I didn't like my mum's boyfriend. He's a pussy. Believe me." He said.
"Why you didn't like him?" I asked.
I don't know why I wanted to know.
"Look I don't this feelings shit. I'm not good at it." He said.
"Perhaps you should practise." I said.
"Alright I'll try. I don't know why I don't like him. He's just a dildo. I guess." He said.
"See there you go." I said.
I decided to drop the subject. I realised he didn't want to talk about it anymore.
"What about you?" He asked.
"What about me?" I asked.
"I indulged into my feelings. Now it's your turn. Go ahead. Purge." He said.
'Well my best mate is Pandora. I guess you already knew that." I said.
"Why are you mates with her anyway?" He asked.
I was shocked by his rudeness. Where did that come from?
"Why would you say that?" I asked.
"You just seem way cooler than she is. She's probably as cool as weird kid." He said.
I laughed. But I didn't like that he insulted my best mate.
"We just understand each other I guess." I said.
Then he started to stare at me.
"God you're beautiful." He said.
"That's what everyone says." I said.
"That's because it's true." He said.
"Enough of this feelings shit. It's time to get totally fucked." He said.
He brought booze with him. He set them on the table. He smiled. He gave me one.
"Here you go." He said.
"Thanks." I said.
We both took a swig of it.
"Spliff." I said as I took out a spliff. I gave him one.
I wanted to go. This was too much for me.
"I have to go." I said.
"See yeh later then." He said.
I was about to leave.
"Effy.' He said as I turned around.
I'm surprised he remembered my name. I thought he would call me hottie again.
"We should do this again." He said.
"Yeah sure." I said as I left the community centre.
I went back to my flat to which Panda and I shared. She was waiting for me on the couch.
"How was booze with Nathan?" She asked.
"It was fine." I said.
"I'm going to hit the sack. Laters." I said.
Then I went to bed.