Nathan walked up to his locker one morning, with the string of his sweater pinched between his teeth. He was holding Beth's hand and listening as she went on about something she saw on the news. Nathan wanted to care, but it was so early. Nathan looked over, only to see a new guy with their trademark orange jumpsuits. Nathan pulled on Beth's hand to get her attention and pointed at this mystery guy when he did.
Beth felt an odd sensation of discomfort when she noticed the rat tail he was twirling around his fingers. He was wearing worn out sandals, and a button that had a rainbow coloured peace sign on it. She had been looking at the reflection in the mirror. He turned to look behind him, and smiled when he noticed others were joining him. "Hey," he said, walking towards the group.
"Who's the new guy?" Curtis asked, looking to Shaun in disbelief.
"What's your name again?" Shaun asked. Olly looked hurt when he said his name, something he ought to get used to around her.
"Right well, these are some other young offenders. Right, he's gunna be doin' this community service thing with you lot."
Nathan spit out the string. "Are you saying he's gunna be like a new member of the gang?" Beth squeezed his hand a little, because she didn't want him getting himself into anymore trouble than usual. He squeezed it back, but didn't look at her. She saw a look of disappointment in his eyes.
"Whateva," Shaun said, looking off to the side. It was almost as if Shaun couldn't believe Nathan even said something so stupid. He clearly doesn't know Nathan very well. "Now piss of an pick up some litter." Shaun passed the group, exiting the room without a care in the world. Everyone turned back to Olly, and stared at him. The group stare made him visibly uncomfortable. Beth didn't want some new guy lurking about. What if he found out about their powers? What if they had to kill him?
It was all too much.
Beth let Nathan drag her towards their lockers. They got changed quickly. Nathan instinctively went on the defensive, staring at the new guys back. There would be no one sneaking peeks at his girlfriends body and getting away with it. Olly didn't leave the room, so the others couldn't talk about him yet. But Beth knew her friends well enough to know it was coming.
Curtis gestured for them all to come into a huddle in the lobby, before Olly followed them into that room. Beth was squished between Nathan and Curtis. "Whateva happens, we can't let the new guy find out about our powers," he whispered. Beth nodded.
"What do w'do if he finds ou'?" Kelly asked.
"We kill him," Simon said, in a voice louder than what was expected. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. Murder can't be their go to. "I'm joking." Simon smiled in his signature closed mouth grin.
Nathan fake laughed. "Oh, you're making jokes now? Excuse us." Nathan looked at Simon and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're creeping out of you weird little shell. I get that. Good for you, but let's get one thing straight. I'm the funny guy round here." Nathan glared at Simon.
"Oh yeah? Well..." Simon reached around Nathan and poked Beth on her butt, making her flinch. Nathan slapped his hand hard.
"No touchin'," Nathan snapped. "Dunno why I have to keep saying that!"
"Sh, he's coming," Alisha said, shocking everyone quiet. Curtis hit Nathan making him turn around. Olly walked into the room, his hands tucked away in his pockets. His sandals made an annoying swishing sound every time he took a step.
"Alright?" he said, waddling up to the group. They stood in a line facing him.
"What'd you ge' done for?" Kelly asked, nodding at the new guy.
Olly told the group about his protest, which Beth had been talking about earlier. She'd seen it on the news. Nathan mustn't have been listening because he didn't get it. Nathan groaned loudly at the story. He held it for about ten seconds, voicing his distaste for the story. Most of them chuckled at Olly's annoyed face. "Have any of you got one of these weird powers?" Beth's giggles ended abruptly. She stared at him as if she'd never seen something so unique in her whole life. Beth and her friends broke into a strange chorus of them just repeating the word 'what?' over and over. "I was only asking because I've got one."
"Oh yeah, us too." Nathan smiled, the dopiest way he could. Beth rolled her eyes, the rest of them doing something similar. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that," he said, looking around at the frustrated faces worn by his friends.
"What can you do?" Simon asked, nodding at Olly.
"I can teleport," he answered, fiddling with his ear.
"Let's see you do it then," Kelly egged on, clearly not believing him yet. Olly made a face, but nothing happened. Then he reached out in front of him and clenched his fists, making grunting sounds until he was gone. His body just disappeared all at once. Where he was standing before, there was one of his sandals. Beth took a step towards where he had been, and smirked, slightly impressed by the show.
"Ah hem," Olly said, spooking Beth a little. For god's sake, he was two feet away.
"That's shit," Kelly said, no longer impressed. "You coulda walked tha' quicker."
"Sometimes I go further than that," he said defensively.
"Really impressive," Alisha said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
"Yeah, I honestly thought something more exciting was gunna happen." Nathan look unimpressed again as well. He slung an arm over Beth's shoulder when he thought Olly's eyes were wandering a bit too much. But he wasn't even checking Beth out, he was just looking between all the faces. Nathan was just a nutter. Nathan turned himself and Beth around, and led her towards the supply room. They grabbed bags and garbage picks quickly before heading outside to clean up the streets, as always.
Nathan was whispering dirty things to Beth when he knew no one was looking. All it did was make her blush and swat him away. She didn't need to think about anything else while picking up litter. Just focus on the task, get it done and go home. Then think about whatever dirty thing Nathan could come up with. It was a dangerous thought, because she figured he could come up with some weird things if he really wanted to. As they cleaned up, Olly kept going on about how great it was to be picking up litter and helping the environment.
"What's with this guy?" Curtis asked. A man with in joggers and a wind breaker was running as if he was being chased. He constantly looking behind him. Nathan moved out of the way, letting this guy run passed.
"He's fucking crazy!" the guy screamed, sprinting away without explanation. But he didn't need to. A red car spun around the corner, stopping crookedly in front of the gang. Nathan asked, "You think he was talking about this fella?"
A guy, looking absolutely dead behind the eyes, stepped out of the car. He moved as if he was some kind of robot. He between everyone there, stopping to look at Nathan. "Where's Conty?"
"Oh, that's him." Nathan pointed at Simon with the garbage pick. "He's a right Conty." Nathan was grinning at his wordplay, while Beth looked at Simon. Simon looked terrified.
"Did you think I was gunna let it go?" The stranger spoke in such a way that it almost sounded like someone was reading off a slip of paper. Beth didn't like a second of this. "I want my money."
"Give the man his money," Nathan said, nodding over at the guy.
"I haven't got your money," Simon said. He glared at Nathan. He was gunna get Simon killed. Kelly walked up from behind Simon, trying to get a better look at the guy. When he saw her though, he called her Roxy. And he looked betrayed.
"So you're with him now?" the stranger asked, shaking his head. "I was still waiting for you at the church when the cops picked me up."
"Not tryin' t'be funny, ma'e, but yous actin' like a right knob." Kelly took a drag of her cigarette after speaking. This guy was clearly crazy, why were none of Beth's friends being nice to him? It's no wonder they keep have to killing people. They keep pissing off the crazies.
"Clearly suffering from some mental illness," Olly said, shaking his head.
"I want my money," the guy repeated.
"Let me talk to him," Olly said confidently. Maybe he would prove to be a strong part of their team. Olly handed his things to Alisha.
"Don't, look, just leave it." Alisha attempted to stop this guy, but to no avail.
"It's okay. I've had some training in conflict resolution." Beth was trying hard not to think this guy was a tool, but she couldn't help it. Everything he said just made Beth want to yawn.
"This should be entertaining," Nathan said, grinning.
Olly started walking towards the stranger. The word 'danger' was flying around Beth's head like a bat. Olly asked the guy what his name was. He was saying comforting things. The guy tilted his head, like he was confused. The guy lifted his gun, shooting Olly right in the forehead. Beth screamed and felt herself being pushed back. Nathan had pulled her behind him. Beth could see some of Olly's blood splattered on her arms, and she thought she could feel some on her face. She screamed, grabbing onto one of Nathan's arms for dear life. She peeked back around him, getting a look at Olly's fallen body. There was blood just pouring out of his head. He was dead, there was no doubt about it.
"Run!" someone shouted, and they all took off.
Nathan had grabbed onto Beth and pulled her along behind him. The sprinted down the street, all of them screaming and cursing as they attempted to get away. Nathan pulled Beth off to the side. She followed him up some stairs, and they lied down flat on the roof of the community centre. The rest of the group found them at their own pace, and joined the two. The air was filled with fear, Nathan felt responsible for this. He egged the guy on. If Beth was killed because of his actions, he'd never forgive himself. He wouldn't even be able to kill himself to be with her.
Nathan crawled to the edge of the roof, to see if the guy had given up. Nathan ducked down quickly, making Beth assume he spotted the guy.
"He shot 'im!" Alisha said, panicking. "He shot the new guy."
"We should go back for 'im," Kelly said, her breaths ragged.
"He was hit in the head, he's fucked," Curtis said. Beth was inclined to agree.
"Hey no, he's okay. He's fine!" Nathan said, pointing. "He's over there."
Beth, as well as the others, crawled to where Nathan was looking. Beth didn't see anyone, anywhere. The entire sidewalk was empty. Curtis said, "I don't see him."
"Wha – oh," Nathan sighed a little. "That must be his ghost. Which would mean he's not at all okay, on a count of him being dead." Nathan and Curtis shared a look. Beth thought she was over all this bullshit drama. She made the mistake of hoping to get through the rest of service with her head down.
"Tell 'im I said sorry," Beth said, looking where Nathan had pointed to. "Tell Olly we're all sorry."
"Hey!" Nathan shouted, trying to get his attention. "Sorry you got shot, man." Nathan smiled, and then his face turned sour. "Hey fuck you!" Nathan flipped off Olly. Or at least Beth guessed as much.
"Hey what was that?" Curtis asked, hitting Nathan.
"He just got shot in the face, and you're insulting him?" Alisha asked.
"Yeah I said apologize. Not be mean," Beth said, shaking her head.
"Hey he made an obscene gesture, I don't care if he's dead that's no excuse for rudeness." Nathan defended himself about flipping off a dead guy.
Beth rolled her eyes, looking at the sky. "Curtis, don't you usually go back in time when you've seen someone get killed?" Beth asked, Curtis looked at her. He hadn't really thought about it, but she was right, he normally did go back.
"Go on then, save 'im!" Kelly said. Curtis stood up, and put effort into trying, but it was no use.
"Well I didn't know him! I'm not feeling it," Curtis said, getting angry at himself more than anything.
"Yeah he was a bit of a twat," Nathan said. Beth hit him in the arm, hating the way Nathan didn't feel bad about insulting someone who was murdered less than ten minutes ago.
"Dere's somefin' wrong wit you," Kelly said.
"Awh, c'mon. Seriously? He was never gunna fit in with all the caring about the environment 'n all that. Better him then me," Nathan said.
"You're immortal," Simon said.
"Better him than one of you," Nathan corrected. "Hey, call me a bastard, but I'd rather see him go down than Barry."
"Crazy fella is gone now," Beth said, looking around again. "I'm calling the police."
"Right behind you babe!" Nathan shouted, getting up and following Beth off the roof. Beth loved Nathan so much, she just sometimes wish that he was nicer. But then again she would never want him to be anything but himself.
