I didn't stop pedaling until I reached the school gates, only to take a last look behind me to ensure I wasn't being followed. When I hadn't smoked in a while, I was prone to paranoia. I figured that me, a high class individual, riding such a worn down piece of trash so quickly at this hour would certainly draw some suspicion.

I at least expected that Duncan or some other stupid Townie would have chased after me.

But, to my relief, I was alone.

A deep breath, and I continued into the school courtyard.

I parked the bike on its kickstand in the Harrington House lawn beside the shed, feeling somewhat secure, and started towards the dormitory.

A screw or something must have come undone, as the kickstand broke off of the body, falling to the ground with a loud clatter, the rest of the bike following after it. I winced. I could sense the eyes of Chad's once sleeping dog watching me with curiosity as I struggled to stand it back up, this time leaning it against the shed instead of expecting it to support itself. I stood by it for a moment, ensuring its stability.

Would it stay?

Of course not. It began to slide down the wall slowly, making even more noise as the bare handlebars scraped against the paneling, like nails on a chalkboard, at which point I decided to give up. At least it was quiet while on the ground.

Chad's dog, Chester, was excitable and loved us Preps. He ran up to me, tail wagging and tongue hanging out of his mouth. I patted him on the head, hoping that'd appease him and he'd go back to sleep. But no, he had to start barking. For a small dog he was notably loud.

I tried to hush him, but he continued to bark and yelp, darting around in circles at my feet. A light clicked on in a Harrington House window, on the bedroom floor. Then a series of tapping noises sounded from the building, like footsteps. I hesitated.

Chester raised his backside in the air, inviting me to play. I picked up one of his toys and tossed it as far away as I could (which was farther than had expected), landing at the base of the steps leading to the courtyard. He chased after it. Thank heavens. I let out a breath and continued.

It was almost one in the morning when I finally was able to enter Harrington House. My attempts at being quiet proved useless. The doors squealed when I pushed them shut, and the floorboards creaked underneath the soles of my shoes, despite how lightly I stepped. The fact that I was fidgety and nervous alone wasn't working to my advantage.

My journey from the front entrance to the lobby doors was a noisy one, indeed. Or perhaps it was my paranoia that was amplifying the sounds I made.

I took a deep breath before resting my hand on the lobby door handle. I needed to relax. Thankfully, the lobby doors opened relatively silently, with hardly an audible squeak. Of course that didn't make up for the squeak emitted from my throat once I came face to face with who was on the other side.

It was more of a girlish squeal to be honest. I brought my hand up to my chest, as if that would calm me down. "Don't do that to me."

"Where have you been all night?" Pinky questioned, both anger and relief lining her voice. "I've been waiting for you!"

Pinky was so dramatic. "What are you, my wife?"

She was in her pajamas, a silk nightgown under a blue Aquaberry robe with matching slippers. All she needed were curlers in her hair. She crossed her arms over her chest and shot me a cold face. "You forgot about our plans!"

"What plans?"

"We were going to go to the movies, remember?"

Oh. Whoops.

Pinky and I had been planning to go to the midnight premiere of some romance movie for a few weeks now, and she had even reminded me about it that afternoon in class. I thought it looked terrible in its commercials, but she was eager to see it with me, claiming that I'd love it if I gave it a chance. We intended on sneaking out around eleven-forty, and she was so excited about it, too. Doing things that were against the rules thrilled her.

I think the adventure was more what she was looking forward to. And for that I felt awful.

I didn't intentionally stand her up, but that was still no excuse. "I am so sorry, Pinky. Please forgive me, I completely forgot."

I spent my night mingling with the Townie kids instead of keeping a promise to one of my best friends.

She huffed and turned away from me on her heels, eyes shut and nose to the air. The poor girl never had much luck with movie dates.

"Tell you what," I started, stepping to face her. "Tomorrow, you and I will..."

I wasn't exactly sure how to make it up to her. Pinky could be a difficult person to reconcile with, especially when she had been looking forward to something for so long.

"Go tomorrow," she finished for me.

"Y-Yes! We'll go tomorrow, my treat!"

"And I wanna be first in line."

"I'll spend the night there if I have to!" I pulled the most pitiful expression I could. "Just please forgive me," I pleaded lowly.

She stared at me for a minute, almost as though she wasn't considering it. Then she grinned. "Okay, I think I can forgive you, even though I've really been looking forward to the midnight showing..."

I smiled, although I knew I didn't deserve her sympathy. Derby stood her up enough himself; she didn't need her friends doing the same.

She linked her arm through mine and pulled me forward, towards the staircase, signaling me to walk her back to her bedroom. Originally she was arranged to stay in the girls' dorm, but I guess the poor girls had gotten to be too much for her.

"Where have you been, though?"

I was hoping she wouldn't ask me that. "Um... I was going for a walk."

"This late?" She sounded rather skeptical.

Pinky wasn't stupid. She was ditzy, sure, but not stupid. I was a bad liar, that much was obvious. But Pinky was hard to lie to anyways, even if it did take a while for her to realize how exactly she'd been lied to. She always knew when something wasn't right.

I sighed. "Let's just leave it at that, shall we?" It'd break her heart to know I chose cigarettes over remembering her.

Pinky removed her arm from mine upon reaching her door. She held her hand on the knob, pausing to look at me before opening it. She jabbed a manicured index finger into my chest. "You better not forget about tomorrow. I wanna be there by noon. Got it?"

I saluted her. "Yes, ma'am."

She smirked before disappearing into her bedroom.

I groaned, still tense from earlier, and headed down the halls towards the leisure room. I needed to calm down.

I flopped face down onto the sofa. There was no way on Earth I'd be able to ask the Townies for any more favors. They'd murder me! I guess it was back to walking down to New Coventry at one in the morning and placing my trust in those filthy hobos.

I supposed that I deserved it for disappointing Pinky. She had been so thrilled over our plan.

I didn't have my priorities sorted properly.

I left on my bike to meet Pinky at the theater around eleven-twenty. I had to be sure I arrived first to the twelve o'clock showing. It was a Saturday, so I made a good decision, since the line had gotten relatively long. She showed up about a half-hour later in a usual peppy mood. I'm sure this wasn't as good as what she had been waiting for, but she seemed happy nonetheless.

I paid for our tickets, then a large soda, some bags of candy, and the biggest tub of popcorn I had ever seen in my life for Pinky at the concession stand. Pinky should've been the size of a house with the way she ate, but somehow she maintained her figure. All that food seemed to go nowhere.

I had to pay some people out of my pocket to ensure she got the seat she wanted in the very back of the theater, right in center. Her whining and fake crying apparently wasn't enough to persuade them. They moved after I paid them some more money upon threatening to beat me up.

But, it made Pinky happy, and I owed it to her.

"Ugh, I hate sitting through the previews," she whined through a mouthful of popcorn.

The next ten minutes she spent laughing at the comedy previews, gasping in awe at the action previews, and complaining about there being too many previews.

I was never a huge fan of movies, but I was sure this one would be god awful. It was one of those we-come-from-completely-different-lives-and-backgr ounds-but-I-love-you-romance genre movies. How insipid.

I spent those ten minutes watching people take their seats.

It wasn't until a particularly bright preview that I was able to make out a couple of familiar figures walking up the theater stairs. A couple of disgusting, trashy, intimidating familiar figures with limbs big enough to snap me like a twig.

I couldn't comprehend it at first. All I could do was stare at them in disbelief as they made their way to their seats. I sank, hopeful that I wouldn't be noticed.

Why on Earth would any self-respecting Townie kid come to see a movie like this?

There were only two of them as opposed to the five I had met on the previous occasions. That wasn't much of a good thing, since they appeared to be two of the larger ones. Neither of them were Duncan, thankfully, but the larger Townies could crush me much easier than he ever could.

They sat in our row, but at the side near the wall. Relatively far away, but still too close for my personal comfort. I sank further into my seat, nervous.

This was bad. I knew they'd be out for my blood after last night's occurrences with their fellow Townie. Poor people may be terrible, but they know how to stand together. Which was understandable seeing as they don't have much else.

The previews ended, and the movie began.

"Hey, Omar, check it out! It's that rich boy!"

I couldn't move. I was paralyzed.

Several people shushed the goatee'd one.

I couldn't even fathom how they were able to recognize me from so far away in such darkness.

Pinky looked around, confused. "Who said that?"

"I don't know. Just focus on the movie, Pinky."

She sunk back into her seat, grabbing another fistful of popcorn and shoving it into her mouth.

"Yeah, it is Rich Boy!" the nasally voiced one, the one dubbed Omar, confirmed. Another wave of hushes.

"Gord, I think they're talking to us," Pinky whispered to me.

"W-What? Don't be ridiculous."

"Hey Rich Boy, got any more green for us?"

I wanted to hush them myself, but I was probably in enough trouble with them as it was.

"Gord, why didn't you tell me you associate with poor people?"

"Because I don't associate with poor people." A bead of sweat began to form at my hairline. "I-I don't even know them."

"But they just called to you!" She smiled at them and waved. The Omar one nodded back at her while the one with the goatee gave her a 'hey baby.' How disrespectful. But Pinky giggled anyways.

Pinky had a bit of a wild streak. Poor people allured her, but her father forbade her from socializing outside of his tax bracket. We all want what we can't have, right?

"Don't wave at them! Are you insane?" I hissed.

"Introduce me!"

I made a bitter face. "I will not introduce you!" My voice cracked. "I hardly know them myself!"

She laughed. "Oh, so you do know them!"

I swallowed hard. I was a terrible liar. "Well..."

Her expression was a cheeky one.

"...perhaps, but not well enough to introduce you to them!"

She grunted. "Fine then, I'll just go over there and introduce myself," Pinky said as she began to lift off of her seat.

"Pinky, don't! Please!" I grabbed onto her arm and tugged her back down.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because they'll kill me!"

Pinky laughed at that. "Gord, please. That's absurd."

"I'm being serious!"

"But they sound so happy to see you!"

Yes, happy because they were eager to kill me.

Pinky was a strong willed girl, difficult to appease or control. When she wanted something, there was really no stopping her. She'd get it eventually, one way or another. I was sure our speaking to them that day was inevitable.

Our date was dreadful. I didn't pay attention to the movie. Neither me nor Pinky really did. She spent the time flirting with the Townies from afar and I spent the time paralyzed with apprehension. They spent their time throwing popcorn into the front rows, complaining loudly about how boring the film was, and getting yelled at by other moviegoers and an employee. I was hoping they'd be evicted from the theater.

This was awful, possibly the most distressing one-and-a-half hours of my life. I could physically feel my hair beginning to gray. But I was glad when it was finally over. Pinky wanted to stay after to check for a specific name in the credits, while the Townie duo filed out of the theater.

I internally sighed in relief, allowing myself to believe that we wouldn't have to see them anymore that day.

"That movie was okay," Pinky mused to me as we exited the theater, tossing away her trash on our way out. I found it amazing that she was able to finish that entire tub of popcorn and all of her candy by herself. She kept her soda with her, still slurping from the straw.

I snorted. "You mean you actually watched it? I assumed you were more focused on those poor kids."

She looped her arm through mine. "Hey, they were trying to talk to you! I didn't want to be rude!"

She took one last sip from her soda before we exited the building.

"Anyways, I read the book. It was really good, so I figured the movie would be-"

I stopped our walking. There they were, those two Townie bastards, on the other side of the street smoking and chatting with each other. This wasn't good.

"Gord, what's wrong?"

"Um..." I couldn't help but panic a bit. I was right here in the open, and they were right there. There was nothing in the way of them beating me up on the spot.

The one with the goatee turned towards us. "Hey, Rich Boy!" he said as the two of them started over to where we were.

Damn.

"Let's go this way, hurry!" I began to jerk Pinky towards the alleys, but it was too late. They were right in front of us. And my, how they were terrifying. The two of them had to be at least six feet tall, towering over me. The nasally voiced one's forearm alone was probably three times the size of mine.

"What's up, man?"

Pinky's face brightened. Most teenage girls would want to meet their favorite celebrities or idols, but Pinky had always wanted to meet a poor boy. A 'real, authentic' poor boy.

I wasn't interested in any sort of conversation. "Uh... W-What are you two doing here?"

"We're on a man date," he joked, slapping the Omar one's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Naw, we didn't have nothin' else to do. This your girlfriend?" He looked Pinky over.

"Uh... no."

"We're just friends," Pinky broke in, pushing me to the side. "I'm actually totally available!" She twirled a lock of hair between her fingers. "My name's Pinky!" She held out her hand for either of them to shake, which the goatee'd one in turn took in his and kissed.

The thought of that goatee on someone's bare skin made me feel ill.

"It's Gurney," he said in that gravelly southern voice of his. Pinky giggled.

How pathetic. It was almost as though my eyes rolled to their own will. "Okay, we need to get going." I tugged at her forearm. "Pinky, let's go."

She groaned. "Alright, fine. It was nice meeting you two!" She gave that Gurney a lewd smile, and followed me to...

Well, in all honesty, I had no clue where I was taking her. Just... away from them. I assumed Duncan hadn't told them I assaulted him and stole his bike. They would've killed me had they known. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but at least they hadn't beaten me up.

Or maybe they were plotting something. Maybe Duncan had told them and they were acting friendly towards me in order to gain my trust, and once all that was done, then they'd kill me.

Or maybe...

"Ow, Gord! You're hurting my arm!"

I was practically dragging Pinky along with me now, yanking on her arm in a very rough manner. It wasn't just her usual melodrama; I was being rather violent. I had to stop and look around to realize where we were, in an alley behind the bike shop. I was too lost in my paranoia to pay attention.

"Why did we have to leave? They seemed nice enough." She giggled to herself. "Especially that Gurney boy. He was so..." She sighed dreamily. "...authentic."

I let go of her arm. "Listen Pinky..." I didn't know what to tell her. They had been nice enough, though it could've been merely because Pinky was there with me. Pinky was a charming girl, and I'd imagine her presence could calm any guy down. Maybe now they'd even use her against me somehow. This wasn't good.

"...I just... don't feel comfortable around people as poor as them, that's all." Believable. And in all honesty, I didn't.

She cocked her head to the side. "How do they know you?"

"A friend of theirs bought me a pack of smokes sometime last week." I breathed in deeply. "And let's just say that they have every reason in the world to want me dead."

"Why?"

"Look, poor people are unreasonable. Even the smallest act of aggression against them could lead them to a frenzy, and I..." I lowered my voice. "...sort of punched one of them in the face and stole his bike."

She knitted her brows. "Well, Gord, that isn't exactly a small act of aggression."

I sighed. "Just… promise me if you see them you'll stay away?"

Her expression fell into a disappointed one. "But… they were so nice…"

I rolled my eyes, frustrated. "Look, if they want to hurt me, that's fine. I'm worried about your safety, Pinky."

She scoffed. "Oh come on, Gord. They wouldn't hurt me! I'm a girl!"

Pinky obviously didn't understand how poor people worked. "Just please promise me you'll stay away from them if you happen to cross paths?" Perhaps I was still in a state of paranoia due to lack of cigarettes, but if anything were to happen to Pinky I could never forgive myself. I gave her the best look of desperation I could.

She stared down on me, arms folded over her chest. "You sound like my father." She sighed. "Fine, I won't start any conversations with them."

I brightened.

"But if they come up to me and want to talk, I won't be rude. I'm going to talk back to them."

I sighed. "That's fine, just… be careful. I don't know them well and I'm worried you may get hurt."

She laughed. "You are so pathetic, Gord Vendome."