Wassup! Yeah, I've been sick for like, a couple weeks now. Literally. This is probably the first thing I've written where I haven't wanted to delete the entire thing and chuck the laptop out the window. So, thanks to insert psuedonym, child who is cool, and instantLUNCH for the reviews! Everyone else needs to jump on it! (I can't say that without thinking of the song. You know the one...right?)
Er, so yeah, I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Boondocks
The Storm
"So, lemme get this straight." The spiky haired woman, whose name had turned out to be Eden, shoved a handful of French fries into her mouth, chewing heavily. "Ya'll all driving halfway cross the country for some girl."
"She isn't some girl!" Caesar snapped, glaring at her from his spot on the opposite side of the booth, dumping ketchup on his burger. "You don't understand."
"You right, you right." She burped, shaking her head. "I don't. I don't get fazed over no men folk, so I never understood how that sorta thang worked."
"And how old are you again?" Caesar snapped sourly. "Twelve?"
Eden sat up, glaring. "S'cuse you, cornbread. I'm seventeen."
"Shut up!" Huey snapped from over by the doorway of the small diner, his fingers pressed to one ear and his phone on the other. "I can't hear!"
"And you're trying to hear what, exactly?" Arizona asked from where she was playing pool with Cherry Anne, her nose wrinkled in concentration. He rolled his eyes, facing outside again so that he could stare out into the heavy downpour that had started a good hour before.
"Don't worry about all that."
"Pssh. Whateva. He tryna talk ta his baby boo-" Riley started before he was receiving a dark look. "Ooh! Okay, nigga, damn! Why you mad tho?"
"Baby boo?" Cherry Anne looked confused. "What's that?"
"It means his girl, stupid," Eden shot back, rolling her eyes and sprinkling some salt on her fries. She sat up, banging her fist. "Damn! Whatsa girl gotta do ta get a refill round these parts?"
"Um, rude?" Caesar pointed out, his eyebrow lifted. Their waitress, a young girl with a lip ring and a permanent scowl on her face, wandered over, took Eden's cup, and walked away while shaking her head. Eden leaned back, nodding.
"I don't wanna see no kinda spit wads or some mess like that in there either!" she yelled, smacking her lips. "Don't make me smack the white off yo-"
"Josephine, cool it." Arizona leveled her with a dirty look as she took a shot, knocking three different balls into three separate pockets on the pool table. Cherry Anne groaned.
"Why do I bother playing with you again?"
Arizona shrugged, resting a hand on her hip, her narrowed eyes still focused on the spiky haired girl who was glaring at her. Riley burst out laughing.
"Nigga, yo real name Josephine?"
"Yes, Fahim." Eden rolled her eyes, nodding towards the waitress, who practically slammed the soda filled glass back on the table. "Thank you."
"Hello?" Five heads shot towards the doorway where Huey was standing, his hand still pressed to his ear. He sighed. "About damn time. Where have you been?" After a few seconds his eyebrows drew together. "You broke your phone again? Jazmine, this is like your fourth one…no, I'm not nagging…oh, so now I can't make a simple observation without being compared to a parental figure?" He paused, rolling his eyes. "Oh, that's witty. Cute. Really cute."
Arizona's eyebrow lifted. "How does someone like him have a girlfriend?"
"Oh, we ask ourselves that question all the time." Caesar snapped his fingers towards Riley. "Gimme the mustard."
"You betta come correct and ask me tha right way, son!"
"Okay, so back to this Cindy girl." Eden snapped her fingers, regaining both boys' attention. "So, you two broke up, and now you're trying to get her back…?"
Caesar nodded. She shook her head, her brown eyes narrowed in confusion.
"I don't get it." She shrugged. "I mean, why didn't ya'll just wait till she got back to Illinois to reconcile? Why go through that trouble of chasing her down?"
"Well, he already had to go," Caesar said, jabbing his thumb towards Huey, who was still talking on the phone in a low voice. "For college stuff."
Eden's eyebrow lifted. "You mean they actually let black people into those now?"
"As endearing as your open racism is, it gets really old really fast." Caesar's eyes narrowed. "And from what I remember, that's one of the three things you're not supposed to do during the duration of this trip." She glared. "Anyway, he already had to go, so I figured I could come along and try to fix things."
"Uh huh." Eden gave him a bored look. "And you two broke up because…"
He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well…there was this girl-"
"Oh, here we go," Arizona cut in from across the diner, rolling her eyes as she set up her next shot. She glanced up when she saw Caesar, Riley, and Eden giving her looks. "What? It always starts off as "there was this girl". Whatever. You saw something you thought was better and you went for it."
"Definitely not." Riley cackled. "Dis broad he talkin bout ain' gon finish high school till she thirty. And she a hot mess-"
"She kissed me!" Caesar insisted. Arizona snorted.
"Classic."
"Excuse me then, since you're such an expert on these sorts of situations," Caesar shot back, giving her a dirty look. She set down her stick, glowering back.
"I am, actually." She planted a hand on her hip. "My ex used to pull that shit all the time. "Oh, she kissed me. Oh, she's nobody. Oh, it was her fault." Please." She shook her head. "It gets old. It gets really old."
"Ah, yes. Your relationship." He folded his arms over his chest. "Let's hear about that one."
She smirked, setting down her pool stick. Eden shifted uncomfortably. Cherry Anne stared up at the ceiling, making a face.
"Alright." She sat on the edge of the pool table, ignoring the glares she earned from the service counter. "So, I was raised down in Savannah. Got emancipated at sixteen, since mom had too much mess going on down there for me. Moved up to Minnesota with my cousin Cherry Anne over here. Met a guy." Her face darkened. "I was seventeen and stupid. He played that love card and I felt special so I fell for it. We got married July twenty seventh, my eighteenth birthday. I'm nineteen now."
Cherry Anne nodded. "Boy was loaded. Heir of one of them big ol' fortune companies or something like that-"
"Yeah, whatever." Arizona waved her hand. Everyone was staring at her. Even Huey, who still had the phone pressed to his ear, was giving her a look. "So, I should've seen the signs, right? That he was a cheating, no good, crazy ass rat bastard?"
"Sho shoulda," Eden mumbled, examining her nails.
"But I was too scared of admitting I was wrong. And he seemed so perfect." She rolled her eyes. "Then I was one of those stupid girls who thought if they stay with someone they can change them-"
Huey frowned.
"And I felt I didn't have a way out, so I just went along with it."
His frown deepened.
"It was Eden who snapped me outta it, actually." Everyone's glances flickered over to the smaller girl, who rested her chin in her hand. "She moved up there with us a few months ago, after her and our dad had a falling out-"
"You two are sisters?" Caesar asked. They nodded.
"Yeah. That's a story all in itself, but whatever. So, she moved up there and saw the fighting and the hitting and the arguing and she was just like it ain't right. I mean, I knew it won't, but I don't have a penny to my name. I got a GED. I ain't have no job, I'd been all isolated from my family and my friends, and he said if I tried to leave he'd kill me-"
"Dayum." Riley shook his head. "Dat nigga had you on lock."
"Riley." Caesar shook his head. Arizona scowled.
"Well, one night, about three weeks ago, we got in a fight. A bad one." She shook her head. "Eden tried to break it up, and she ended up getting hurt…it was just awful. I knew that if I was gonna be dumb enough to stay in a situation like that then the least I could do was not let other people get hurt cause of it. So when he went after my little sister, I knew it was time to go."
Eden nodded. "She left cause I told her it was either that or I kill 'em."
"Well, it's good to know your options in that situation," Huey mumbled sarcastically before speaking back into the phone. "No, I wasn't talking to you. Yes, I'm listening to you…actually, you're completely right. I haven't heard a single word of what you just said."
"So, five nights ago, we left before he could notice." Arizona shrugged. "We ain't take nothing except our IDs and ourselves. I ain't want no kind of excuse for him to try and have me arrested for leaving so I didn't even take my own clothes."
Eden nodded. Huey's eyebrow lifted.
"So, is he going to come looking for you?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."
Eden snorted. "Fool's a crazy one. Probably."
"Your dad's on the other line? Alright, fine." Everyone glanced back to Huey, who was rolling his eyes. "Just call back when you're done." He paused. "Okay, bye." After a few seconds his face colored. "Jazmine, don't make me say it…oh, come on." Feeling everyone's eyes on himself he shot them a dirty look.
"May I help you?"
They all looked away, only to look back a few seconds later when he turned his back to them.
"But you already know, so I don't see why I have to say it in front of…no, I'm not ashamed! I just don't feel like verbally reaffirming the evident…fine." He shot a look over his shoulder, everyone pointedly looking in various directions. Then, in a voice so low it was barely audible, "Iloveyoutoo."
"BAWWWWWWW!" Caesar and Riley chorused, laughing. Huey slammed the phone shut, giving them death glares, his face still red.
"Shut up." He rolled his eyes, pocketing the phone and leaning against the doorframe, folding his arms over his chest and looking at Arizona.
"So, why didn't you try to get this guy arrested?"
"Um, hello?" She gave him a look, rolling her eyes. "Him, a rich guy from an established family? Me, "white trash" outta Georgia? Whatever." She snorted. "If anything I would've been arrested by the time it was all over. Better yet, dead." She frowned, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "Seventy five percent of women in my situation are killed after they leave. Did you know that?"
Huey snorted. "You're not gonna die. So calm down."
Arizona glared at him. "And you know this because…?"
"Because," Caesar chimed in, snorting. "Huey's got a vendetta against that kind of thing." Her eyebrow lifted. "Well actually, we all do." Riley nodded. Cherry Anne looked interested.
"Really? Why?"
"I'd…really much rather talk about something else," Huey said, flopping back into the booth beside Caesar. Arizona made a face.
"Oh, so I can just tell my life story and we get nothing?"
"No one told yo ass ta go blabbin' bout yo tragical life an shit!" Riley pointed out. Eden shrugged, stirring her drink with her straw.
"He do gotta point."
"Shut up."
"Someone we know," Caesar supplied before the sisters could start bickering. "She was kind of in the same situation as you not too far back. It was, like you said, pretty bad."
"Ah." Arizona examined the three boys' faces, her eyebrows lifting. She glanced at Huey, snapping her fingers.
"It must've been the girlfriend." She smirked. "It obviously struck a chord when I brought it up earlier. Otherwise you would've had us on a train by now."
He shrugged. "Train my ass. More like a greyhound."
"Okay, moving on!" Eden said, snapping her fingers so that everyone looked at her again. "May I ask why you and this Cindy girl broke up again?"
"Because they're morons," Huey explained, rolling his eyes and picking up his fork to dig into his salad. He ignored Caesar's dirty look. "Well, you are."
"Whateva, Huey."
"Seriously." He pointed his fork towards Eden. "Okay. He received a full scholarship to go to a school down in North Carolina. Originally he was supposed to attend the University of Maryland, which is the same area Cindy and I are going to school in. Instead of just being honest and telling her that he was changing schools due to insufficient funding he simply left her in the dark about it. In turn, she began to draw her own conclusions about his reasoning of picking a school further away from her which led her to assume he didn't want to be with her. Since she was now becoming increasingly resentful towards him he figured that she'd find someone else who had more money, despite the fact that she's never been like that before. Since their arguing was getting them nowhere they decided to take a break, a girl from our school made a move on him, Cindy saw the entire thing…and fast forward to now."
The girls blinked at him as he went back to eating. Eden smirked.
"I like this guy." She jabbed her thumb towards Huey, who raised his eyebrows. "Much more straightforward than the rest of ya."
"Yeah, he's a pretty cool wool head."
He glared at Arizona. "What did we agree to?"
"It's habit." She blew a strand of her hair out of her face, rolling her eyes and scowling. "Sorry."
"Well, whatever." A clap of thunder from outside made them all jump. Cherry Anne sighed.
"Well, there's no use in going out in that…"
"And why the hell not?" All the heads whipped towards Huey, who shrugged. "It's a storm, not an apocalyptic war. A vehicle's the safest place to be during a storm. And I ain't stayin here extra time because you all are afraid of a little water-"
There was suddenly a much louder boom, followed by the sound of electricity sizzling and the lights flickering off. They all groaned.
"Wait, we got flashlights…" Four beams of light began to flash around the room, the diner workers shining them in their only customer's faces. "Sorry, ya'll ain't goin nowhere. Flood warning for the county."
Huey's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious."
"Because this is the face of a joker," the oldest woman, most likely the owner, replied in a flat tone as she pointed to her expression. Riley snorted.
"Naw, dat's the face of ugly…ow!"
"How long's the storm supposed to last?" Caesar asked, not looking too much happier than his best friend. The woman shrugged, putting a hand on her hip.
"Dunno. It's a doozy. Got flood warnings all through Ohio."
"All of Ohio? Damn." Huey shook his head. "The others are still driving."
"Well, if they've got any sense, they've probably stopped," Arizona said, shrugging. Caesar snorted.
"Yeah, about that…" He pointed towards Huey. "He and Jazmine have nothing in common except their stubbornness. She just might be more so than him. And if she was set on making it to a certain point, she's gonna try."
"Well, call her back!" Cherry Anne insisted. Huey checked his phone, sighing.
"No reception."
"Well you can use…oh, damn." Caesar winced as he glanced at his own screen. "Same. Riley?"
Riley glanced at his iPhone, shrugging. "Nope."
"Damn," the three mumbled in unison. A bright flash of lightning lit up the entire place.
"Well, we'll just have to wait it out." Arizona shrugged. "Don't worry. It couldn't get much worse."
There was another flash, followed by a loud crack and a boom that shook the floor under them. Everyone jumped to their feet, staring towards the back of the diner. Two of the waitresses ran into the kitchen, then screamed.
"A transformer exploded!" one of them cried out, rushing back into the restaurant. "It's connected to the power lines and it's on fire!"
Huey looked heavenward as if talking to the gods.
"Why," he mumbled. "Do people insist on saying that things can't get worse?"
"It's gonna hit us if we don't put it out," the other waitress cried, running in as well. The owner moaned.
"Oh, the fire department would never get here in time-"
"Where is it?" Huey asked, rising to his feet. The others gave him shocked looks. The girl jabbed her thumb behind her.
"T-the transformer's outside near the clearing-"
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Huey started before being interrupted by an indignant Riley.
"Whoa! You besta hold it wit all dis "we" talk-"
"This is what we're going to do," Huey snapped again, glaring at him. "You, along with the others, are gonna try to put out the fire. I'm going to try and cut the power lines because the electricity's still running through them and it could cause this entire county to burn down."
"I'll help you," Arizona said. He stared at her, then nodded.
"Fine. You and you," he went on, pointing to the two waitresses. "Find any pot, bucket, container, whatever, and keep filling them with water so that we don't run out. You and you-" he gestured to the owner and the other waitress. "Watch the place for any other electrical problems, fires, surges, anything. And if something goes wrong, get me."
The owner looked impressed. "God bless you, child."
"Yeah…that's between you and your god." He shook his head, already pushing the front door open. "Move it!"
"Let's do this!" Eden yelled, punching her fist in the air. "This is gonna be insane!"
"This," Huey mumbled. "Is going to suck."
"Okay!" Jazmine yelled through the roaring wind and pouring rain as lightning lit up the entire sky around them. "At the count of three, put your foot on the gas! Got it, Cin?"
"Got it!"
"Right!" Jazmine grabbed a hold of the back bumper of her car, Brandon and Ray on either side. "One…two…three-"
A spray of mud suddenly rose up to smack them all in the face. They groaned, letting go of the bumper and stumbling back.
"Cindy, stop!" Jazmine snapped. The tires stopped moving and Cindy frowned, sticking her head out the window.
"My b!"
"Darn right your b!" Jazmine swiped her soaked sleeve across her face, rolling her eyes. "God, why in the world did I insist on listening to you and taking the back road like you've been here before?"
"I thought it was the scenic route!"
Scenic route her ass. Jazmine kicked at her back tire, sighing. Not only had she hit a mud hole so deep it probably housed the swamp thing, but this was putting them severely behind. Throw in pouring rain, a flood warning, and an empty dirt road where all they were surrounded by was tall grass? This was like something out a horror movie.
"What are we gonna do?" Jazmine asked, raising her voice to be heard. She glanced at Ray, sweeping her dripping hair out of her eyes. He shrugged, shaking his head.
"We're just gon have ta try again!" he yelled back, turning back to the car. "Cindy, ya ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Wait, I've got an idea!" Brandon shouted, water dripping from his own hair into his eyes. He shielded his face with his hand. "Ray, go around the front and take hold of that bumper. Jazmine, stay back here with me and we'll stay on this one. If we rock the car as opposed to trying to push it we might loosen the mud around the passenger tires and she'll be able to ease out."
Jazmine grinned. "Now that's an idea." She wiped her muddy hands on her wet shorts, siding up to Brandon as Ray jogged around to the front of the car. Once in place he nodded through the windshield to Cindy, who stuck her thumb up out the window. Jazmine bit her lip, nodding to Brandon.
"Alright!" he shouted as a loud crack of thunder cut through the air. "One…two…three!"
The tires began moving again, rotating slower than before due to Cindy's ease on the gas. The three outside the car began to slowly rock it side to side, their eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Okay, without changing foot pressure," Brandon yelled again. "Begin turning the wheel to the left! Don't do it too hard!"
"M'kay!"
They continued rocking the car, Jazmine grinning in satisfaction as the passenger wheels slowly began to rise out the mud. "We're doing it!" she shouted happily. Brandon shook his head, smirking.
"Don't get too happy yet…Cindy, turn the wheel further now!"
A few seconds later, the car smoothly rode up onto higher ground. Everyone began whooping and cheering, jumping up and down and giving each other high fives. Cindy parked the car, jumping out as well.
"Woo! Now, let's get out of here!"
"Wait." Jazmine frowned, pointing behind them. The other three looked up. "What's that?"
There were a set of headlights coming towards them out of the rain. Cindy shrugged, sticking her hands in her pockets.
"It's just someone else driving through this shit!" she yelled back. Jazmine shook her head, her nose wrinkled.
"They're going really slow!"
"Well, it's really raining!"
"No!" Jazmine frowned. "I'm getting that feeling!"
"Oh, not the feeling!"
"Feelin?" Ray asked. Cindy rolled her eyes.
"Jazmine's intuition!" she shouted in response. The lights came closer. "It's like a radar for trouble! Jazzy, it's probably nothing-"
"I don't know about that," Brandon muttered, his eyes narrowed towards the incoming vehicle, which was slowing profusely. Cindy sided up to the other three as the now apparent truck squealed to a stop a few yards in front of them. Her eyebrows rose. The driver door opened and a pair of big brown boots appeared. The passenger door opened as well, followed by the back ones. Ray made a face.
"The hell?"
The doors slammed shut, two men and two women all walking towards them. They were all wearing hats, boots, jeans and t shirts. Oh, and a scowl on their faces. They stopped in a straight line in front of the confused Brandon, Jazmine, Ray and Cindy, their arms over their chests. Cindy, sensing tension, cleared her throat.
"Um…" She jabbed her thumb behind her. "If you're trying to get past you can definitely go around us."
They ignored her, zeroing in on Brandon instead, whose eyes had grown hard. He was staring at the taller woman who had cold, gray eyes and curly black hair.
"Isabella," he said coldly. Cindy's jaw dropped.
"Wait." She gestured to her. "That's Isabella?! That's the cheating ho?"
Isabella cut her eyes towards the blond. "Excuse you." Her voice, sharp and cold, was loud enough to be heard over the rain yet low enough to be intimidating. Cindy frowned. Jazmine wrung her hands.
"Um, hello? Hi?" The people glanced towards her. "So, no disrespect, but…what do you want?"
The man, a handsome young guy with equally dark hair and light brown eyes, held up a photo. In the picture was a blond with green eyes who was making a pouty face towards the camera.
"We're looking for an Arizona Godfrey," he said in a serious tone. "She may go by Arizona Grayson. Have you seen this woman?"
Jazmine shook her head, shrugging. "Never heard of her." Ray and Cindy nodded in agreement. "We're not even from around here. Sorry."
Ray's eyes, however, hardened. Being that he was by far the most easygoing of the four it was an interesting sight to see.
"What do you want with her, Mark?"
"Mark?" Cindy glanced between the two of them, shooting him a surprised look. "You know them?"
"Arizona's my cousin," he said, shooting "Mark" a dirty look. Jazmine's eyebrows rose.
"Your cousin's white?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Of course not. It's just surprising being that you're-"
"I'm adopted," he said, rolling his eyes before staring back at Mark. "And even if I did know where she was I wouldn't tell ya. So you can keep on truckin now."
"Okay, I'm confused." Cindy completely forgot that they were standing in the middle of a thunderstorm. "Someone wanna tell us what's goin on?"
"Well." Ray gestured to Mark, who looked impatient. "This here is Arizona's husband."
"Ex husband," Isabella snapped. Brandon rolled his eyes.
"Bet that helps you sleep at night, doesn't it?"
She gave Brandon a cool look. "Better than you ever did."
His face colored. Cindy glared at the woman. Jazmine hung back, examining Mark's face.
"Well, if she's your ex, how come you want to find her so badly?" she asked, giving him a wary look. The other woman, a rail thin girl with a narrow chin, held up her head.
"This doesn't include you, little girl."
Jazmine's eyes narrowed. "Little girl?"
"Mark, they don't know where she is." The fourth person, a heavyset guy with blond hair, sighed. "Let's just keep looking."
"Oh, I think they know" Mark took a step towards Ray. "At least, this one does."
"I already told ya!" Ray snapped. "I don't know a damn thang bout her. I ain't talked ta her since ya'll got married!"
"If he says he doesn't know then he doesn't," Jazmine said, coming to Ray's defense. Mark turned an eye on her, his eyes narrowing.
"Then you know where she is."
"What?" Jazmine's jaw dropped. "I didn't even know she existed!"
"She has Ari's eyes, dontcha think?" the other woman said thoughtfully, examining Jazmine's irises. Mark nodded.
"You related ta her, half breed?"
Jazmine cut her eyes at him. "For the last time I don't know her." She took a hold of Brandon's arm, gently turning him around since he couldn't seem to take his eyes off his ex girlfriend. "Come on, guys. Let's just go."
Ray shook his head, turning around with Cindy. "Let's blow this jukebox."
"Hold on!" Isabella reached out, grabbing Jazmine by her ponytail and yanking her back. She let out a low cry. Cindy spun around, her eyes narrowed.
"Bitch, get your hands off her!"
"Ya ain't leavin till ya tell us where Arizona is!" Isabella yelled, letting go of Jazmine's hair. She rubbed the back of her head, glaring.
"What's your problem?"
"Mark, leave them out of this." Brandon shook his head. "They're two lost girls from Illinois. They don't know anything about this-"
"No one asked your opinion," Isabella snapped. Brandon rolled his eyes.
"And no one asked you to go off with someone's husband but you obviously didn't have a problem with that."
"Brandon, one. Isabella, zero," Cindy cackled. Isabella took a step towards Cindy, clenching her fist.
"I'm getting tired of that mouth of yours-"
"Everyone, stop!" the other man yelled. Cindy, who was nose-to-nose with Brandon's ex, glanced at him. Ray and Mark, who were also facing each other off, did the same. "Just calm down!"
"Yeah! What he said!" Jazmine pleaded. She jumped between Mark and Ray, giving Ray a look. "Come on. Let's just all calm- eeeeeiihhhh!" She let out a tiny squeak as Mark pushed her aside and she fell to the ground. Ray grabbed Mark's collar, pulling him towards him.
"Wrong move, asshole!" he snapped, drawing his fist back and punching Mark square in the nose. The other woman let out a scream as Ray tackled Mark to the ground, his hands at his throat. Meanwhile, Isabella grabbed Cindy by her hair, her own hand raised. Before she could strike the girl, however, Jazmine had pushed herself back to her feet and swept her foot underneath Isabella's legs so that she fell to the ground, releasing Cindy from her grasp. The two best friends jumped back, giving each other looks.
"Are you okay?" Cindy asked. Jazmine nodded.
"Yeah-" her eyes widened and she pushed Cindy aside, backing up herself to avoid a kick that was being aimed by the other woman. Jazmine grabbed her shoulders, trapping her arms so that Cindy could punch her in the stomach. She doubled over, falling to the wet ground. Isabella grabbed Cindy's leg so that she could pull her to the ground as well. The other man and Brandon were trying to break up Mark and Ray, who were too busy fighting each other to notice the chaos around them. Jazmine shook her head, running to her car and opening the door. Cindy kicked Isabella aside and followed suit, hoping in the backseat.
"Ray! Brandon!" she yelled, sticking her fingers in her mouth and letting out a high pitched whistle. Brandon looked up, quickly, grabbed Ray's collar, dragging him to the car at top speed. He jumped in the back with Cindy while Ray stumbled into the front seat, clutching his bleeding nose.
"Drive, drive drive!" he managed as Jazmine started the engine and locked the doors. The other four were already jumping back into their truck as she stomped on the gas, pulling away from the curb and speeding down the road. She turned on the windshield wipers full blast, leaning forward to squint out the windshield.
"I can't see!" she whined, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "It's raining too- ahhhh!"
The car swerved as something hard hit the back bumper, the other three screaming as well and grabbing on to the seats. Cindy and Brandon looked out the back window, their eyes wide.
"What's wrong with these people?" Cindy yelled.
"Those bitches hit my car!" Jazmine snapped, pushing the car faster. "Ray! Why do they want this girl so bad?!"
"I don't know-shit!" The car swerved again and Jazmine gripped the wheel, trying to keep the car on the road. "They're gonna kill us!"
"Oh, my god!" Jazmine's knuckles were white around the steering wheel. "We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"
"Jazmine, go faster!" Cindy yelled as the truck behind them came closer. Jazmine pressed down on the gas even further, the car shooting down the road. Ray's eyes widened.
"Jazmine! Headlights!"
"Damn it!" she yelled, slamming on the brakes and swerving to her right to avoid hitting a car coming from the opposite direction. Luckily, the truck behind them didn't seem to have the same luck, for instead of staying on the road they went flying into the ditch on the side of the road. Brandon and Cindy exchanged looks of disbelief before laughing, giving each other high fives.
"Yeah!" they yelled, throwing their arms around each other. After a few seconds they broke apart, blushing. Ray shook his head, sighing and lying back in his seat as Jazmine shook her head, a dazed expression on her face.
"Oh, my god." Her breathing was heavy. "Is everybody okay?"
"Oh, yes." Ray's voice was filled with sarcasm. "My nose bleeds like this all tha time."
She snorted, slowing down as they continued down the road. "We can't stop. What if they come looking for us?"
"They won't. They're too focused on finding that Arizona girl." Brandon gave Jazmine a look. "I can't believe he pushed you."
"Huh. I can." Ray shook his head. "The guy's insane. I honestly don' know where Ari is, but if I did he wouldn't have found out from me."
"Someone," Cindy said, sitting up and giving Ray a severe look. "Has got to tell us what's going on."
"We will. But we need to stop." Brandon gave Jazmine a look. "Okay?"
She shook her head. "No way am I stopping in Hicksville, Ohio."
"Jazmine, it's okay." Ray shook her head. "They ain't gonna mess with us no more. Alright?"
She sighed, looking like she wanted to cry. "Okay, fine. But only because I can't see."
They continued down the road, falling into a long silence.
"Okay." Huey threw open his trunk, digging through its contents. Arizona's eyes widened.
"You carry samurai swords in your trunk?" She shook her head incredulously as he handed her one. "What the hell are you, an axe murderer?"
"No. Prepared." He withdrew a sword for himself as well as two pairs of black leather gloves, slamming the trunk closed and locking it. He tossed a pair to her, which she caught with ease. "Now, come on."
The two rushed around the side of the diner, running towards the tall power lines that ran across a wide stretch of field that seemed to go on forever.
"Since metal conducts electricity this is going to be even more dangerous!" Huey yelled over the storm, holding the sword under his arm as he put on the gloves. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Just shut up and lead the way!" Arizona shot back, shaking her wet hair out of her green eyes. He nodded, glancing towards the others, who were hurling water on the flaming transformer and the grass around it. They finally hit the power lines, stopping to stare up to the lines. Arizona winced.
"I can see them sparking!"
Huey glanced at her. "Scared?"
She lowered her eyes to glare at him.
"When you have nothing to lose," she said in a low voice. "Then you have nothing to fear."
He stared back, nodding before taking a hold of one of the metal spikes that were sticking out of the wood, Arizona doing the same for the opposite side. The two began to climb the thick pole, the thunder crashing around them and the lightning seeming to cut through the empty air like a knife. The wind pushed against them, the rain obstructing his vision. He kept climbing, the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his hears. The lines were coming closer and closer…
He looked over to make sure Arizona was keeping up, blinking in surprise when he saw her nearing the top already, trying to find a way to keep a hold on the pole and wield the sword at the same time. He pulled himself up so that he was about a foot under the lines, glancing down. They had to be at least a hundred feet in the air, probably more. One wrong move and they were done for.
"If we cut both sides, how is the pole going to stay upright?" Arizona asked, looking over the other side of the pole to him. He shook his head.
"It's all about balance!" he shouted back to be heard over the storm, which was much louder off the ground. "We're going to have to cut them at the same time so that it doesn't fall to one side or the other! Otherwise it would fall to the side whose wires were still connected! Generally, it should be deeply rooted in the ground enough where it doesn't matter, but we can't bank on that!"
"Oh!" She glanced back up to the lines, swallowing. Another flash of lightning made her wince. She climbed up higher, clutching the sword's handle in her left hand. "Ready when you are!"
"We're going to cut them one at a time!" Huey yelled, his voice almost drowned out by a loud crack of thunder. "We're also going to have to go sever their opposite sides of the other two poles!"
"Holy shit, that's alotta work!" Arizona yelled.
"Sorry you volunteered to do this!" Huey snapped towards her. She rolled her eyes as he went on. "On the count of three!"
She nodded in agreement, preparing herself. "One!"
There was another flash of lightning, this one eerily close.
"Two!"
He held up his sword, examining the three lines on his side while Arizona did the same.
"Three!"
They both raised their swords in unison, cutting them clean across the first wire so that both of them went sailing towards the ground. There was another bang of thunder.
"Okay, again!" They both positioned themselves, automatically cutting the second wire at the same time, both ends following the first. Arizona swallowed as they stared at the final one, which was sparking the worst by far.
"What if your theories are wrong and this thing goes falling down the second we cut them?" Arizona cried out. He glanced up at the wires before looking back at her.
"Nothing to lose, right?" he shouted back. She nodded. After a few moments of silence on their part he cleared his throat, evaluating the line.
"You cut your side first!"
"Me?" She glared at him. "What, so I can be the first to go plunging to my death? Think again, free man!"
"I'm telling you this for a reason!" he yelled back. "Just cut your side first!"
"No!" She shook her head. "I'm not gonna be a guinea pig for you to test your theories out on!"
"I've got a plan! I know what I'm talking about!"
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because if you can believe a man who beats you then you can believe a nigga whose sword you're holding!" he shot back, making her eyebrows rise. She sighed, positioning herself and glancing up at the line.
"Tell me when," she said quietly, shaking her head. Huey stuck his own sword in one of the belt loops of his jeans, holding on to the metal pole that was working as a ladder with both hands.
"One!"
She drew herself to her full height, grasping her own handle as tightly as she could.
"Two!"
She slowly lifted the sword, giving her partner a look. He stared up at the line, his eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Three!"
Arizona let out a tiny groan, reaching out as far as she could, bringing the blade of the sword clean over the final line on her side. The pole underneath them suddenly began to sway and she screamed. They heard a series of screams from below them as the wooden post started to lean towards Huey's side…
Suddenly he was reaching out with one hand, grabbing her wrist and grabbing onto the final line on his side, which was still connected. He winced as he fastened his fingers around it and gave her a rough tug so that she flew off the pole. She shrieked as she hung suspended over the ground, dropping the sword so that it plummeted below her. The drop was so long that her eyes widened. Her head whipped back up to Huey, who had his eyes closed, his face scrunched up in concentration.
"Don't let me go!" she screamed, her voice drowned out by the storm. He shook his head.
"You're going to have to hold on to my waist!" he shouted. She gave him a confused look. "This thing's going to fall and I've got to climb further up the line so we don't hit the ground!"
"But-"
"Do it!"
She quickly took hold on his waist with her free hand, hugging him as tightly as she could and closing her eyes so she could focus on not breathing. She could hear the encouraging shouting from below them as well as the loud groan that came from the dangerously swaying pole they'd just vacated, which finally teetered over, beginning to collapse towards the ground. Arizona let out a scream as they began falling, Huey quickly using his hands to climb upwards on the line. The ground came closer and closer, Arizona scrunched her eyes shut…
And then Huey was grabbing her with a free hand, letting go of the line so that they both went rolling off into the grass while the pole fell to the ground with a heavy, final thud. Huey whipped his head up, smirking.
"And…there goes the domino effect."
"What?" Arizona glanced up to see the next pole over falling as well, then the other, then the other…her head whipped up towards Huey, who was rocking back on his heels and letting out an exasperated sigh.
"Domino effect. If one falls, they all do."
She blinked. "Does that usually happen with power lines?"
"No. Just old, shitty ones." He gestured towards them. "And I figured they were of the old, shitty variety."
"Oh." She sat up, dusting herself off. "Well, why couldn't you just tell me to hold on to the line instead of adding more weight to you?"
He rolled his eyes, sighing and lifting his sleeves. Her eyes widened.
"Holy shit!" She glanced back up to him. He was peeling off his gloves, visibly wincing.
"Could've been worse." He examined his arms, which had angry looking welts and burns running along the inside of them. "I could've caught on fire. Something tells me that's a little more severe."
"That," Arizona said, shaking her head. "Is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."
He looked up at her, shaking his own head.
"Then you definitely need to get a life."
"Huey!" Caesar and Riley shouted, running towards them. The others were on their heels.
"Arizona!"
"Yee, nigga!" Riley stopped, resting his hands on his knees and panting. "You was like fuckin Shaft out dis bitch! We thought you wuz gon die!"
"Really did." Caesar shook his head. "Riley started crying."
"Nigga watchu wellin fo?"
"I hope you have backup generators." Eden turned to the owner, who had also come over. "That's going to take awhile to fix."
"We've got em. I'm just glad ya'll okay." She shook her head. "We thought you were done for."
Cherry Anne snorted. "I guess wooly booly's good for something."
Huey started to open his mouth but Arizona cut him off.
"Cherry Anne, he's got a name," she snapped, making everyone stare at her in surprise. "Use it."
The older woman blinked in shock. After a few seconds she closed her mouth, nodding.
"Right. Huey then." She shrugged. "Sorry."
"Uhhh!" Riley pointed to Huey. "Nigga yo arms bleedin!"
"Duh." Huey rolled his eyes. "That tends to happen when you cut yourself on electrically charged power lines."
"Well, ya'll crazy as hell fo goin up there." Eden shook her head, helping Arizona climb to her feet. "Stayed my ass right on the ground-"
"Let's just go in an wait out the rest of the storm," the owner said, turning on her heel. She gestured to Huey. "I gotta first aid kit if you wanna use it."
He nodded, pushing himself up to his feet. The large group head back for the diner. As they walked, Arizona sided up to Huey.
"Hey."
He glanced at her.
"Thanks."
He shrugged. She shook her head.
"I'm serious." She frowned. "I guess I'm just not used to…I don't know…people looking out for me."
"Not everyone sucks. Well…most people do," Huey said, shaking his head. "But whatever. There's a lot of people who do. But not everyone."
She stared down at the ground. "I see that now."
"Well, what do we do now?" Caesar asked, coming up on Huey's other side. He shrugged.
"I guess now we just gotta wait."
For someone who typically can't stand OCs this story sure does have an insane amount of them. Whoops?
Anyways, thanks for reading! Since you've come this far, why don't you leave a little somethin' somethin', ya know?
What? NO! NOT DRUGS! DANG!
-Kelsey