Chapter8

The darker it became, the faster Jaymie ran. She did not want to be out after night had settled in, not after what Prosper had said. His words had left her haunted, but at the same time left her wiser and more aware of the situation she was in.

She burst through the door. "Gabriella –" she exclaimed, but stopped when she caught sight of the two of them. They were sitting next to each other, but with a good distance between the two of them. Scipio had his chin cupped in his hands, looking gloomier than ever, and Gabriella looked… well, like a boy.

Nonetheless, she was still incredibly beautiful.

"Gabriella," Jaymie whispered, almost afraid to speak, "your… your hair…"

"Is gone," Gabriella finished the sentence as she looked at the floor, "I know. I had Scipio cut it for me. It was just getting too long and was in the way of everything."

"But your clothes… where's your jacket? Whose are you wearing now?"

"They're Scipio's. I was cold and he had warmer things to wear in his bag."

Speechless, all Jaymie could do was stare at her sister, who was avoiding her glance. Gabriella had on a pair of grey pants much too baggy for her, which was only staying on with a belt made out of an old piece of rope she must have found. A brown sweater seemed to drown her, and without her long wisps of blonde hair Gabriella's face was hallow and… empty.

"You could have at least waited for me to come back," Jaymie let out an awkward laugh, "I would have been able to cut your hair better than Scipio had."

Gabriella finally looked up at her, scowling, and Jaymie couldn't help but notice leftover streaks from tears falling down her cheeks. "Please, he did it with a knife. I know you wouldn't be able to do much better."

Her cold words smacked Jaymie awake. With two long strides, she had reached Gabriella and sat down on her knees in front of her.

"Gabriella," she said sternly, "I need you to listen to me and I need you to listen hard. You have to get your act together and – look at me Gabriella!"

"Why?" Gabriella shouted, "So you can boss me around until I'm some fucked-up puppet you control? You're just like mom –"

"Don't you ever talk to me like that again. Ever!"

Shaking his head in disbelief, Scipio jumped to his feet. "This is ridiculous," he said. His voice wasn't loud, in fact it was strangely cool and smooth, and yet it shut the two sisters up.

"Look Gabriella," he began, keeping calm, "you need to grow up, okay? Jaymie is just trying to talk to you; you don't even know what she's about to say but you just shut her out anyways. Maybe she…" he paused, not wanting to give anything about the Bloodhounds away to Jaymie, "maybe she'll be able to give you some good advice."

Gabriella gave him a vicious glare, forcing him to turn. Scipio caught Jaymie's eye, and for the first time she looked glad he was there, almost thankful. Jaymie turned back to her sister. "I need to talk about you and the Bloodhound Gang –"

"Of course you do," Gabriella said bitterly, "it's always about me, isn't it? It's been like that my whole friggin' life. It's so easy to point out what people do wrong and I seem to do it a whole lot. When you talk to me, when mom talked to me, when her drunk-ass boyfriends talked to me it was always on how I could improve."

Gabriella jumped to her feet and jabbed her bony finger into Jaymie's collarbone.

"But it was never about you," she hissed, eyes watering, "you would never let it be about you. You always had your stupid, immature baby sister who you could easily shove all fault on. But it's not going to be like that anymore. I'm going to fix it, fix everything."

Bending over, Gabriella picked up the wallets that had been untouched since she had thrown them on the floor earlier that day. Grabbing her coat she disappeared out the door, ignoring Jaymie's shrill cries.

"Gabriella," Jaymie ran after her, almost getting her nose smacked off by the closing door. "Gabriella… Scipio what did she mean? I don't understand. Fix what, what does she need to fix?"

Terrified, she flung around to find Scipio right behind her. Unable to stand up, she grabbed onto Scipio's shoulders for support, her grey eyes staring into his dark ones. The longer Scipio stared at her, the more he gave in, and soon he was spilling the secret Gabriella had so wanted him to keep.

-

The night was cold enough without the wind, and Gabriella's ears were freezing. She was used to having her long hair block them, but most of her neck and ears were naked.

Fumbling with the wallets as she stumbled down the cobblestone streets, she swiped away one rolling tear. Gabriella stopped running when she dropped one of the wallets. As she picked it up and began stuffing them into her pocket coat, she heard a noise coming from a nearby alleyway.

They were here. Now was her chance, her chance to fix everything she had screwed up. Rubbing her face until she was sure it was dry, Gabriella took in a few deep breaths and tried to make her new boy-cut look better. Maybe if she were lucky, they would still find her attractive…

She took a few steps until she reached the alleyway. At the back was a garbage can with flames inside of it, surrounded by a few, tall silhouettes. He had to be here, he just had to be. Standing at the entrance of the alleyway, Gabriella tried to sound like her confident, flirtatious self.

"Hey," she called, "hey Devil's Child."

All was silent, and for a brief moment Gabriella was worried he wasn't even there. But soon footsteps drawing nearer echoed off the brick walls as he approached her. Stepping into the moonlight, Marco stood only a few feet away. A mix between a smirk and a sneer curled across his thin lips as his raspy, snake-like voice produced one word, saying each syllable carefully.

"Gabriella…"

A/N: believe it or not, the end is getting near. You may be surprised at what happens, so stay tuned!!

x0

Vintage88