Chapter 1:
Glendale, California
It's approximately two o'clock, according to the position of the sun. The heat rolls in waves in
the humid air and the cloth on my back must be soaked with sweat by now. With no money to travel by bus, I jog for miles upon miles. Counting the passing minutes; to pass the time is quite difficult, but right now I would guess that it has been about 3 hours since I started to run. Well, not including my lunch break, restroom break and the other two. I laugh to myself, as it feels like death out here in the heat of midday and somehow i've convinced myself to get some "exercise."
The sweat from my forehead drips down the back of my neck and relieves me slightly. I stop and smirk as i'm about to go to work to get some pay for a place to sleep tonight. My plan is to head into town and steal some cash out of some ladies purses. It's most likely the easiest way to steal anything from anybody, I mean it's just like hanging out there; asking to be stolen.
I spot my first victim when i'm strolling down a mostly deserted street except for a lady with blonde hair in a red chiffon dress that is accompanied by a well-shaven man. The tap of my boots become quieter as I approach them. Soon enough, i'm right behind the two of them and my heart is beating in my ears, if I was cliche I would say that I could swear that they could hear it from here.
My hand slips into her purse and I reach for a leathery and somewhat large rectangle. I can already fill the drool that's gonna dribble down my cheeks when I open this baby up. With the wallet in hand I pull back, pull out a couple of tens, some twenties, and push it back into her fairly large purse.
I jump as the air is filled with shouting," What do you think you're doing?! That's against the Corps regulations!" My bet is that I flew about ten feet in the air before shoving all the cash I looted into my pockets. I'm not sure what to do in this situation, so I just yell back," Sorry?" One of the corners of my lip turns up as I do so and the man who accompanies her begins to come after me. At this point, i'm screwed; i'm exhausted from my exertions early today, the policemen patrolling the streets are now friling in this chase as well and I barely know my way through these streets. I might have been able to throw him off by leading him into a dead end while I scale the side of an abandoned shop buildings.
Now is the time I choose to run for my life, blindly into one of the cops that happened to be on duty. As expected from my clumsiness. As I fall, I can tell that the lady in the red dress has caught up with us by the pounding of her heels on the pavement. The sound of clinking handcuffs fills my ears, and my hands are pulled roughly pulled behind my back. The flesh of my lips begin to bleed as I have been biting my chapped lips out of habit.
Rough hands shove me into the uniform, black and white, police car. Even though i'm quite fit and small, the backseat of the passenger seat squishes my legs. The inside of the car smells like ashes which burns my nose.
Huffing out a sigh, I yell over to the police " Hey, I've gotta pee! Can we stop already?". I whine a little to get on his nerves and of course the first thing that comes to mind to use on him is the oldest trick in the book. At this point, I'm just praying that this man driving me is stupid enough to fall for it. By the look on his face, I can tell he is not appreciating my facade. I take this moment to memorize the groves and pivots of the features on his face. About thirty-two, working a double shift judging by the state of stubble on his chin and I believe an insomniac, because it takes one to know one.
He chooses to ignore me, and focusses his eyes back on the road. Awkward silence fills the small police car and clings to the walls of small space. Eventually we arrive in front of the police station, the building seems pretty decent but this is probably only for holding as it is fairly small. If I wasn't a well-known teen criminal, I would most likely get an easier sentence or even to walk free. I wish there was another trashcan here, I would totally kick it over.
Eventually, I'm told that I'll be in close-quarters with another teenage master-mind. I ponder what kind of character she'll be like and if we'll be able to use each other to escape this hell. By the look of this place, the architects who built this place were definitely going for the modern look with the cracked tiles, water stained walls and frowning roofs. As we pass down each hallway leading down closer and closer to my box-like residence, I memorize the path we came and each exit although those will be hard to make it through as they are guarded by two grown men at each side. So instead, I study the air vents and which walls will be the easiest to kick down if I ever pleased to do.
My handcuffs itch against my wrist as i'm pulled into my cell. All, the preparation with my record pictures, clothes and questioning was a mess. Half of the time I wished I could shoot myself, especially since the lady had the most annoying voice who was questioning me. The inside of my cell is nice and homie feeling, just what I like with the muted color of its brick walls and the filth that just gathers in the corner. My eyes land on my cellmate and I let out a "huh?" in confusion as I see I'll be rooming with infact a guy not a girl. The guy slouching on the prison bunk next to me has hair that looks like icicles sticking straight up from his head. The electric blue spheres that peep away from his platinum blonde locks shock me, as my eyes fall onto them. What a cutie, I wish I could say out loud. The guy laying there looks kind of surprised too; to see that he'll be stuck with a girl.
He looks back to the guards behind me. "Why is did you bring a girl in here?" His well-shaped brows knit together. By the perplexing tone in his voice, I can tell he's just as confused as am. Usually, the opposite genders aren't allowed in the same prison cell for undebatable reasons. One of the guards pushes me in little," The cells are full and there isn't any other prison that wants to deal with an overhyped criminal." The guard points to me , they then exit and shut the metal door behind them.
Again, an awkward silence fills the air and sinks deep into my bones. The boy's eyes search mine and his shy demeanor stares me in the face. I make my way down to the the small beds that lay next to each other without letting my eyes leave his. My eyes trace his jawline and search his semi-muscular frame. The boy's eyes hesitantly study mine and my cheeks heat up as his meet mine.