I arrived at the community center to see everyone crowded around outside. Behind them, someone had tagged I'M GOING TO KILL YOU on the wall. I rolled my eyes, know that this was more than likely going to be our project of the day. With a sigh, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my skinnies.
"Alright you lot. Let's get changed." The probation worker ordered, walking up to the group just as I squeezed myself in.
"Have you seen this?" The star athelete gone criminal pointed at the wall. "Someone's taking the piss..."
"Yeah, it's terrible, isn't it? All this anti-social behaviour..."
"Is he having a dig at us?" The unforgettably obnoxious brunette cracked.
The diva's mobile phone went off, which seemed to cause the probation worker to flip a lid.
"Right! That's it! All of you, just give me your phones. No one's making anymore calls today." He demanded in pure rage. "Now, come on!"
"Are you allowed to take our phones?" She asked with a chuckle, snapping a picture of him just before he pried it from her hands.
He went down the line, taking each of our mobile phones, with some hesitance from each of them. When he got to me, he held out his hand expectantly. I rolled my eyes and handed it over without a fight. Not like there was much point anyway.
With that, I walked off to go get changed into my ugly orange jumpsuit. It seemed that everyone had followed, but I didn't care to pay too much attention. I was the first one in and the first one out yesterday, and I was planning on it today.
I got in, stripped off my shirt as I stood in front of my locker, a little further down from the rest of them. The curly haired boy turned and gave me a once over as I tugged off my jeans. He whistled in inappropriate approval and I flipped him the bird.
Instead of taking this as a que to fuck off, he moved closer, leaning against the locker beside me, his jumpsuit only halfway on. I simply ignored his presence, slipping my legs into the nasty orange suit and pulling it snug up to my hips. One sleeve after another, I pulled my hair out of the back before zipping it up, leaving a little bit of room to breathe at the top.
"The name's Nathan." He introduced, as if I really cared all that much. I slammed the locker shut, and turned on my heel to leave the room.
"You know, normally when someone offers you their name, you curteously return the favour." He called after me, as he followed me out the door.
"Yeah, well, I guess I'm not all that curteous, then." I shot back, turning down the hallway towards the pile of buckets and brushes that I assumed to be left out for us.
"Come on, it's just a name. What's the big deal?"
"Exactly. Why do you need to know?" I asked, not bothering to turn around as I shoved open the door.
"Well, it proves a great deal of importance, as I'll be needed to know what to moan when I have a wank later." He replied, and with this remark, I dropped the door on him.
From the sounds of it, I did it just in time to hit him in the face. With a slight chuckle, I set off toward the painted wall.
My arm had started to tired from the hard scrubbing it took just to get the paint to fade. This work proved itself to be pointless, seeing that there was really no way that we were going to get much progress out of the job.
I sighed and threw my brush into the bucket, leaning against the wall to stretch out my back. This was when Simon arrived beside me, taking up his brush and going to work as if he had been there the entire time.
"Yeh know afteh the storm, did any of yous lot feel dead weird?" The chav girl asked, causing my head to perk up.
"Yeah! I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus!" Nathan replied, causing us all to groan and roll our eyes at his comment.
She looked at him in disgust and went back to her work. She looked up at Simon suddenly, taking a few strides past me to move closer to him.
"Whah? Did you feel weird?" She addressed him personally.
"What? You don't want to hear about my anus?" Nathan mocked offense at her job well done of ignoring his comment.
"Do you really need to ask the question?" Curtis called back to him.
"Something happened..."Simon began.
"What's that? Squeak up!" Nathan turned to him.
"Something happened to me..." He continued.
"Are you a virgin?" Nathan interrupted again. "High five!" He sang and the chav girl turned to him.
"SHU-UP!" She turned back to him. "What wos it?"
"It's nothing..." Simon said softly, going back to his work.
She turned away, not pressing the matter. There was a brief moment of silence before she shoved Nathan, causing him to trip slightly over his bucket.
"What was that for?"
We all stiffled a laugh as she went storming off.
"Jesus..." We all went back to our scrubbing. "I really think she may be mental. Like...the chav's not all there in the head, you know?"
We took our break. The boys headed to the rec room, straight over to the foozeball table. With the chav nowhere to be found, the only other girl headed off to the locker room, leaving me to enjoy a fag by myself.
I leaned against the side of the building and sighed, letting my mind wander...
Five minutes later, I turned and entered the community center again. Realizing that there really wasn't anywhere in the large building that I'd cared to venture by myself, I sat down on a chair a few feet away from the group at the foozeball table.
"But the other one..." Nathan began, snapping his fingers in thought.
"Kelly." Simon assisted.
"Whatever. A couple of Bacardi Breezers, man, and I reckon she'd be good to go. I might need more than a couple myself, but who's counting?" He said, causing Curtis to laugh. "And this one here," He pointed at me, which caused me to look at him in disgust. "Well, I just think she'd have my bullocks as a hood ornament if I tried to touch her. I mean, look at the hostility. But don't worry, love, I'll still give it a go." He gave me a wink and then turned back to the others.
"And the girls, do they have a say in this?" Curtis asked, looking up at Nathan in what I couldn't distinguish as disbelief or admiration.
"A group of young people doing mindless shit all day... Face it, man! It's gonna happen! It always does. It's biology! Or...physics. One of those..." He trailed off in thought and then perked back up again. "So, do we have a deal?"
Like we were back in grammar school, Nathan spit in his hand and then held it out to Curtis to shake. We all took turns looking at him in disgust.
"No..."
"Fine, well maybe I'll take all three of them."
"Yeah, I see that happening."
"Yeah, you will see it. And then you'll be sorry you didn't accept the deal. And then who's laughing? Me..." He shot back, and looked around the room.
He flicked one of the bars and then strutted off, loudly clapping his feet against the floor as he went.
"What did he get done for?" Curtis asked, turning back to Simon.
"He says he was done for eating some Pick N Mix."
"Prick!"
I laughed a bit at Curtis's last comment and they turned to me.
"And what about you?" He asked me, and I got up from my chair.
"Now why should I tell you, Runner boy?" I questioned with a scoff, walking off in the same direction as Nathan had just a few seconds earlier.
