Shoot The Runner.
How many times have I been shot at? Oh too many to count. I used to leave the wounds open, you know, pretend they weren't there. But now I'm taking the time to fix all and I can start my life again.
This morning I saw my brother.
He told me my mother and sister wants me around again.
At first I thought he was joking.
But now I think I agree with them.
Ryan.
There was a loud bang and then a stream of 'swear words' coming from the kitchen. The 'swear words' told me it was Mark who was out in the kitchen. That was what woke me. I opened my eyes and stared across the room at the closed doors of the wardrobe. It was still early, I could tell by the shadows coming in through the window. I rolled onto my back and shut my eyes tight. I wanted to get back to sleep. I needed to sleep, I was tired. Last night I didn't get in until three. But as tired as I am I can't fall back asleep. Mark was still out there swearing and making as much noise. Well, it can't hurt to get up now can it? I sighed and rolled out of bed, grabbing my jeans and t-shirt that were on the dresser. I went to take a shower.
I was eating breakfast by myself at the small table in the kitchen. It was quiet for a change, as I thought about what to do that day. The only thing I really needed to do was go down to the corner store and pick up some cigarettes for Mark. Seeing as I had lost our little bet last night I owed them to him. I chewed slowly on my cereal, racking my brain for something else to do. Today is Friday, that meant there would be plenty of parties tonight. I loved Friday Night Parties. Everyone getting drunk and dancing. You never know what will happen. Even though I had something to do tonight, I wasn't going to sit around and waste my day. I had to find something to do.
"Hey!' Mark yelled coming in and slapping me on the back. Making me cough up the cereal I was about to swallow. It landed on a notebook that was on the table. It wasn't my notebook so I ignored it. I smiled at Mark's back and stood up; taking my bowl to the sink that was full of dirty dishes Mark had promised he would wash. "What ya doin' today?" he asked as he looked through the cupboards for something to eat. I shrugged, trying to balance the bowl on a pile of plates.
"Don't know. I'll find something to do," I said. We stood in silence for a moment before Mark went to the table picked up the notebook, examining the drying cereal.
"Gross, there's cereal stuck to this. Did you do this?" he asked, holding it up with a disgusted look on his face. I shook my head and looked away before I laughed. "Well, anyway if you don't find anything to do, here's something." he said, ripping a page out of the notebook. He shoved it into my hands as he came up and stood next to me at the sink. I stared down at it then looked back up at Mark as he flicked the cereal off the notebook into the sink.
"You want me to go grocery shopping?" I asked. He nodded as he sat down at the table with a now clean notebook and a box of biscuits from the cupboard. I rolled my eyes but stopped when I saw what was on the list. Chocolate bars, cigarettes, new lighter for Mark. Well I guess they wouldn't be too hard to get. And it would waste time until the parties that were on tonight. I put the list in my pocket and grabbed my wallet from the counter.
"Is Scott around?" Mark asked as I turned around to leave. I shrugged.
"Probably not. See ya later," I said as I walked outside, slamming the door shut behind me.
Scott and Mark each have a car. Not anything special but it gets us around. I can use either whenever I want which is fine by me. My brother didn't always let me use his car. I hopped in Mark's car and turned the key in the ignition. He always left the keys in the car, pretty stupid if you ask me. But Mark says 'It's good for a quick get away'. Quick get away from what? But I never asked him that. I pulled out of the driveway, knocking over a garbage can while doing so and drove off towards the supermarket.
Since it was Friday, a school day, there weren't many people about. A few kids sitting at the bus stop out the front of the supermarket and only a couple of people inside. As soon as I stepped inside the supermarket people looked and stared at me. As if I was up to no good. Which I wasn't. So I ignored them and went straight for the chocolate bars, grabbing the first box I saw. I decided I needed a treat, well not so much a treat as a six pack of beer. Something to liven up my day. I took the few things I had up to the register and got a lighter for Mark and few packs of cigarettes. Muttering a 'dirty' comment to the woman at the register I got out of there quickly. It was weird being in there.
As I was putting the groceries in the car I heard someone call my name. And I knew that voice all too well.
"Hey Two-Bit," I said as my brother came up to me, grinning. Two-Bit was only a year older than me but I was taller by a few centimeters. Two-Bit was the complete opposite to me. He liked school and was always cracking jokes. Me, I was 'dark and serious' as other people had put it. I'm not sure what 'dark' is supposed to mean but Mark agreed when I asked if I was 'dark'. Mind you, he had spent the day drinking when I asked. I'm not so serious either. Sure I wasn't always laughing and grinning but that's because I like to keep to myself. I like to keep my thoughts to myself and listen to what others have to say.
Two-Bit was alone and obviously not in school. This was unusual.
"Why aren't we at school?' I asked.
"It's Friday and quite nice weather too. So why bother going to school? I was headed for the pool hall, wanna come?" he asked. I said yes, I had found my something to do today. Spend time with my brother. Two-Bit and I got in Mark's car and I drove us home to drop off the 'groceries'. Then we were on our way to the pool hall. I didn't know many people that hung around the pool hall. It was funny though. Because the only way to get inside was to go through the alley and go in the back door. And the exit was the only exit, out onto the busy street known as The Ribbon. And it always amused me that people stared at you when you left the pool hall. They stared because no one ever went in but people were always coming out. See, I'm not so serious after all.
For once my brother had nothing to say and we were silent as I parked the car out the front of the pool hall. As I was about to open the car door to get out I noticed someone, well two people actually. Guy and girl, standing a few feet away from the car. And man, that girl was looking good today. I was about to call something out to her as I got out of the car until they turned around. It was Evie. She stared at me with the same look she gave me whenever I went by. The look said 'I'm getting on fine without you. I've got a new boyfriend.' And that new boyfriend is Steve. Yeah, that Steve. Sodapop's best friend. The two of them stared at me a moment before they turned back around and left. I sighed; I knew Evie wasn't over me. I knew she didn't like Steve. Or maybe she did and I'm just making excuses. I slammed the car door shut and followed Two-Bit around the corner and down the alley.
"I didn't know they were together," I said as we walked.
"Who?" Two-Bit asked, kicking at an empty can.
"Steve and Evie," I muttered. Two-Bit chuckled as he opened the door to the pool hall, letting me inside first.
"Yeah, only for 'bout a week though," he said as we walked to the bar to sit down.
"Really?" I asked, hoping that they were just friends. You know, friends with benefits, that kind of thing.
"Nah, longer than that," he said. He stopped walking for a moment and thought before he sat down beside me at the bar. "Yeah it's been about two months." He said and called out to the bartender. I shrugged, I didn't care what Evie did. But the more I thought about the two of them together, I knew I cared. I wanted Evie back. I bet Steve doesn't like her. He's just dating her to make me angry. There I go again, making excuses.
"Want a drink?" Two-Bit asked punching my shoulder lightly.
"Nah," I said, putting my head in my hands. I wasn't in a very good mood now. How was I supposed to get Evie back and be friends with Soda again, if Steve was in the way? Wait! I've got the perfect solution. Two-Bit was friends with Steve, so he can y' know tie him up or something and take him out of town for a while until I figure everything out. I grinned at the thought and soon realized Two-Bit was giving me a weird look. I wiped the grin off my face, that wouldn't work anyway. Two-Bit wouldn't do that.
I was still thinking about this when this guy came up and asked if we wanted to play pool. I didn't feel like it but Two-Bit was up for it. He followed the other guy over to the closest pool table and they began their game. I looked over at the door as someone came in. That someone being Steve. I bit down on my lip so I wouldn't say anything. He came over to me and sat beside me. I didn't acknowledge him and hoped he would leave. But he didn't. Sure, this isn't exactly where I wanted to be, next to Steve I mean. I still didn't move though. But it reminded me of those old movies. Where there's a guy sitting at a bar, then he gets into a fuss with someone else and they start a huge fight. I had some anger I needed to get rid of so a fight wouldn't be a bad thing right now. Right now I wouldn't mind giving Steve a good punch in the face. I can just picture it. . .
"Hey Ryan, why aren't ya saying anything. I've been sitting here for five minutes," Steve said and I rolled my eyes.
"Alright I'll say something," I said, looking at him. He nodded.
"Go ahead," he had an evil look in his eye as if he wanted me to say something about him and Evie. But I wasn't even thinking about that anymore. I cleared my throat pretending I was about to make a big speech.
"Fuck off," I turned back to stare at the shelves of alcohol behind the bar. Steve sat not saying anything for a minute.
"What's wrong?" he asked, throwing his arm over my shoulder. I moved my body quickly to face him, throwing his arm off my shoulders. "Seen Evie lately?" he asked and chuckled.
"Nope," I said, no emotion in my voice. But Steve was still getting a kick out of talking to me.
"I have," he said. That was when I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to punch him. No, I had to.
"What the fuck's your problem?" I asked loudly. He looked at me.
"Nothing I'm just being polite."
"C' mon Steve. What's your problem? Or you too scared to tell me?" I asked. He didn't even have to say another thing. Before I realized what I was doing, I had punched him in the face. And man did it feel good. I stared at him where he had fallen to the ground. Now, people were standing around watching us. But I didn't care who saw me, I wanted to kill Steve. He got back up after a few moments of lying there. He took a swing at me and got me in the side of the head. I grabbed onto the bar and didn't fall but my head was already throbbing. I got up off the stool and kicked him hard in the leg and going for another punch in the head.
"Get out!" I looked over at the bartender who was standing there watching us, an annoyed expression on his face. I don't know how long he'd been watching but he'd only decided now that he wanted us out. "I know you're underage," he said to us. I was turning to leave when I felt a huge blow to my face. Instantly I put my hand to my nose where I could already feel the warm blood falling down my chin. I wiped it on my hand and headed for the exit. Even the strange looks I got from people when I left couldn't change my mood.
I walked along the street when Two-Bit called my name. I walked slowly, waiting on him to catch up, my nose still bleeding.
"Look I have to tell ya something. Uh, mom and Jean want you to come over tonight. Y'know if you can. Just thought I'd tell you. I'll see you later," he said rather quickly and ran off. Yeah right, I thought, there's no way I'm doing that.
I got to the car and got in. My nose bleed slowly stopped, luckily. I was getting blood everywhere. As I drove back home I saw Scott walking along on the sidewalk. So I pulled over and he got in.
"What happened to you?" he asked, looking at the dried blood on my chin and lips.
"Got in a fight," I said, pulling out onto the street properly and driving off.
"With who?"
"Steve," I told him. He nodded slowly. We were silent.
"I'm so sick of this greaser/Soc thing," I said. And then I realized what I had actually said. I didn't mean to say it out loud. I held my breath and waited for Scott to respond.
"Me too. You know what? I'm gonna get out of here. For only a few days. Give me time to think about what I'm gonna do with my life," he said. I stopped at a red light and looked at him. But he didn't dare look back at me. I'd never heard anyone say that before.
"You never told me that before," I said.
"Yeah well, I thought you'd give me shit about it," he said. The lights turned green and I drove on. After a minute or two Scott spoke up again.
"I'm gonna move out of the house. Maybe you should do that too. I mean, there's too much crap that goes on there," he paused for a moment before telling me the last part. "I wanna change my life," he said. I took a second to register what he'd said. This was all new. Scott seemed to love fighting and all that. I never would have thought he'd say something like this.
But I thought about what he said. If I got a job and moved back home maybe I could change my life. Maybe I could even go to college. Get a real job and I'd never have to worry about this shit again. I've been a part of this greaser/Soc thing since I was twelve. But ever since I moved in with Mark and Scott it's gotten worse. I've gotten into heaps of fights. My life's gotten worse. I thought moving out would make my life better. But it didn't.
As I pulled into the drive way I decided on one thing. I'm going to bring back everything I've cut out of my life. I'm gonna make something of myself. I don't know what brought on this thought. But I'm pretty sure it's the right thing to do. And now I know what I'm doing tomorow night. . .