He put his jacket on and wrapped his scarf around his face again but leaving room for his mouth so he could smoke as he walked in the cold again. Lunch was pretty boring, just scaring some kids and play fighting with the boys which resulted in a black eye and a scolding from Ms. K. She kept saying, "We were 16 and young men so we should start acting like ones". Whatever, we were just playing.

He spotted some South Side kids terrorizing some rich bitch and he scoffed, never terrorize a rich girl, or any girl for that matter. But more so, rich girls, they got rich daddies with connections who could easily lock you up for life at a snap of their fingers. He looked closely and noticed big white fluffy earmuffs and a white button down coat with white fur boots. He sighed, what is up with rich people, getting everything white and matching. A gold glint caught his eye and he stared again at the terrorizing pod and realized Adelaide was in the midst of the pod. Her bag in the clutches of the boys, he swore under his breath and jogged over to the pod, no one noticed his arrival and he cleared his throat to get their attention. Carl easily stood over them at 6'2, making him the tallest of the Gallagher boys and at least 5 inches taller than the tallest boy. These guys were freshmen and from the same block as him, they stepped away nervously.

"Hey … Carl …" The tallest boy said, Carl shook his head.

"Right," he dismissed and grabbed her bag from the boy, "leave her alone, ya here?" Carl spoke sternly, looking lazy. He smoked a drag from his cig, blowing it into the face of the boy with blonde messy hair.

"No, she's ours." The smallest of the boys said, glaring and spitting onto the floor next to Carl. The other boy's eyes widened and started nudging him, in warning. He glanced at Adelaide and noticed her big deer eyes wide and scared looking. Carl smiled and pushed the boys outta his way. Putting his arm around Adelaide's shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"Are you fucking her!?" The shrimp yelled, clearly aghast by Carl's arm around Adelaide.

"Are you alright?" Carl said ignoring the shrimp and walking off with Adelaide, thinking he has got to tell Fi and Debs about this. They'd be so proud. Crazy fucked up Carl, a knight in shining armor. Even though, he didn't fight. He didn't have to; everyone around the block knew he was crazy from a young age. Plus, the black eye Hank gave him probably made him look even more intimidating. Adelaide took a deep breath and straightened up fixing her earmuffs. Carl handed her the bag and patted her shoulder, Adelaide smiled wearily and clutched her bag.

"Well, that was fun." She said sarcastically, she let out a sob as tears ran down her face. Carl stopped and stood there awkwardly looming over her.

"Hey, Addy no. It's alright," He used Addy because he remembered Debs told him nicknames are comforting and he felt like he should be fucking comforting right now even though this was making him uncomfortable. When Debs cries he usually makes fun of her or tickles her till she stops. But no, this wasn't the time for that. Addy spun around and glared up at him, her cheeks bright pink and her eyes red.

"Alright? It's not ok! Oh my goodness, I could've been killed!" She was in hysterics, people around them were looking over and Carl couldn't help but crack a smile, which he covered up rather quickly. But Addy noticed and stormed off.

"It's not funny Carl!" She screamed, stomping away. Her brown ringlets bouncing up and down. He looked ahead of her and noticed a big frozen puddle, uh oh. He could've yelled for her to stop, but how could he turn down a hilarious wipeout. He loved seeing people in pain, it always made him laugh, you know, as long as they weren't dying or anything. Actually, if they deserved they deserved it. Carl let out a chuckle. Addy stepped forward and just as he was expecting, she flew backwards, sprawling out on the ground with a scream. He let out a great big laugh and caught up with an even angrier Addy Clarkson. Her kilt had ridden up to reveal a big chunk of her thigh and a big brown birthmark on her upper thigh, which kind of looked like a blob of mud.

"Mmm, nice mole." He teased, staring down at Addy. She moved to cover herself. Carl lent out a hand and she grabbed it, getting up and shaking herself off. Her lips were in a pout and she was glaring at everything and everyone around her, mostly just Carl.

"My ass is going to bruise," she stated, pushing her hair outta the way.

"I can take a look at it, if you want." Carl smiled, wishing she'd say yes. Addy was really pretty but he didn't think she was really a 'tap that ass' kind of girl, she was a rich petty catholic girl and he didn't have time for that.

"Ha ha. Very funny," She said smiling again at Carl. She didn't mind Carl, the neighborhood's criminal case, as people called him. He didn't seem at all like the rumors circulating around made him out to be, though she did recall him beating up some boys last semester outside the main office, which landed him in Juvy for a month. Plus she has sat beside him or near him in every class she's ever had and he always seemed to greet her with a smirk or a slight head nod, at least when he attended school.

"Mind if I tag along?" Carl said sniffling and walking a little big faster so the slowpoke Addy could keep up, he needed to check in 15 minutes.

"I can take care of myself," She said sternly, dismissing him with her hand.

Carl slapped her hand away and carried on walking beside her, she glared from the side of her eyes and he did as well.

"Why do you need to go to the library?"

"Stupid fucking community hours," Carl said kicking a can a few feet away, his words flowing and sounding cool and collected unlike anything she had sounded like. Her father was strict upon lady like rules and she was forbidden to say such vulgar terms ever.

"Oh right," she said recalling the rumor her friends spoke of at lunch a few weeks ago, Carl supposedly robbed a Target and got caught. "You aren't as sneaky as you thought, huh?"

"Like you know… Miss follows everything daddy says." He said slightly agitated, glancing at Addy as she tried to keep up with his long strides.

"That's not true,"

"Ya, ok." Carl scoffed, cutting her off. She pushed him and took the library stairs 2 at a time.

"You don't know me, Carl." She said sweetly, smirking at him. "See ya later, ya convict."