Dear readers I write according to schedule as best as I can and will give warning whenever possible when an update will not happen. But when not possible the following day's story, or the first day I am able to get back to it will give a slight explanation/apology if necessary. If people are worried and are checking in I appreciate it and will reply if/when possible but I'd appreciate people realizing I have a life beyond writing and don't appreciate the demands that some readers expect a chapter everyday or an explanation because I have a job and a family and even I get sick. As much as I love writing and love all of you for reading and anxiously awaiting each chapter my family and job must and always will take precedence over writing, I simply can't neglect those things or forgo sleep to get up a chapter nor should I. Trust me the only times I don't make an update is because either I'm sick or something else is wrong.
Ch. 4 When No One's Your Friend it's Better Because Nobody Leaves You
(CLARE)
I go across the hall and open that door to find a half dressed boy with blond hair.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I was just looking for the washroom," I apologize covering my eyes.
"It's the next door over, right next to the top of the stairs. I'm Luke by the way and you can uncover your eyes it's okay but umm why are you wearing my bathrobe?" Luke asks me and I slowly take my hand from my eyes. He's still half-dressed but he's kind of laughing and I smile sheepishly.
"Yeah of course you're Becky's brother, sorry about the robe your mom couldn't find anything of Becky's that would fit me. Adam is wearing your clothes though, see our clothes got wet in the rain so your mom put them in the dryer," I tell him nervously hoping he doesn't mind that I'm wearing his bathrobe.
"That's okay it looks better on you anyway, so Becky had you guys come in the house instead of being around the others because you were getting hit on too much," Luke jokes and I blush.
"Not really, she invited us in for cocoa because we were all wet from the rain," I explain.
"Sounds like my sister, so who's we and I never did get your name," he points out.
"Oh uh me and Freckles, I'm C…Trouble I mean Trouble," I tell him.
"So you hang with Muscles crew I take it," Luke remarks as he walks out of his room and I nod. "Cool they're all good kids, well the washroom is right here," Luke says opening the washroom door.
I smile and go in, closing and locking the door behind me. When I'm done and go back downstairs Luke is sitting with Adam and Becky on the sofa. I sit down again and we watch some TV then play a couple board games. The rain never lets up and at six Mrs. Baker comes in to start dinner.
"It's pouring outside and we're full up already, we've had to send a few kids to the shelter on Dundas," Mrs. Baker comments seeming not to take notice of me and Adam.
"Mom what about Freckles and Trouble they can't be out in the rain," Becky speaks up and now Mrs. Baker looks up.
"Oh heavens I totally forgot about you two, I'm sure your clothes are dry, Luke honey go check their clothes please," Mrs. Baker requests and Luke stands up. "Well I suppose you could both sleep in the house, we could put Freckles on the floor of Luke's room and Trouble on the floor of Becky's room," Mrs. Baker says.
"Oh yay sleepover, come on we'll go make up the beds," Becky squeals clapping her hands and then taking mine to pull me up.
Using spare blankets and pillows we make a bed on the floor of Luke's room for Adam and then do the same in Becky's room for me.
"Here's your clothes," Luke says holding them out to me.
I thank him and take the clothes into the washroom to change. We eat dinner with the Bakers and then help clean up. After dinner the four of us watch a movie and I see how Adam is looking at Becky. Adam calls Owen again to let him know we'll be spending the night here in the house and we'll meet them at the diner in the morning. The Baker parents make us go to bed at eleven, I don't remember the last time I went to bed at eleven but Luke and Becky have school in the morning I guess. Becky talks for about an hour straight until she actually talks herself to sleep, I lie awake for a while eventually falling asleep around one in the morning. I actually wake up at four expecting Eli to come in and want sex, guess it'll take a little while for that not to happen. I wake up again at six when Becky's alarm goes off.
"Morning isn't it a beautiful morning I just love mornings," she chirps. "I have to get ready for school but you can go use the washroom while I'm deciding what to wear," she offers.
"Um thanks," I reply getting up and walking into the washroom.
I use the toilet and run my fingers through my hair, borrow some mouthwash to rinse my mouth then exit the washroom. I go downstairs and find Adam at the table, he's eating a bagel and Mrs. Baker offers me one. We're still eating when Becky and Luke come downstairs ready for school. After they eat Luke drops us at the diner before they go to school.
"How was your night at the Bakers?" Fitz asks.
"Nice even though I didn't get much sleep," I respond.
"You do look pretty tired," Dallas remarks.
"I slept great and we've both eaten so we don't need breakfast," Adam tells them.
"Cool," Owen says and then waves to the waitress.
He orders for everyone else and Adam starts telling them about our night at the Bakers. Fitz and Dallas don't look very happy when Adam gets to the part where I was wearing Luke's bathrobe, and they look even less happy when I tell them I walked in on a half-dressed Luke. After breakfast we go down to the park but Maya starts to cry when we're there so we decide to go back to the drug store and sit outside of it instead, we might have to find a different park because I don't think she'll ever be able to go to that park without thinking of Cam.
"Why don't you ask Becky out?" I ask Adam using his shoulder as a pillow as the lack of sleep starts to take its toll on me.
"Because I'm a homeless transgender and she's a middle class Christian girl," Adam replies.
"Freckles that shouldn't matter, you like her and she likes you too I can tell," I retort.
"It shouldn't but it does, if not to her then to her father," Adam says.
"Well he seemed to like you, he was nice at dinner," I yawn.
"Yeah he likes me as the nice homeless kid but I'm sure he won't let me go out with Becky. Don't worry about it Trouble, take a nap," Adam says patting my head.
I yawn again and start to drift to sleep, I never quite get to sleep though as it's not as peaceful here as the park. I wake up when I hear Maya laughing, it's about the only sound I've heard from her other than tears and a gasp. I open my eyes to see her laughing at something Miles is doing. I yawn and stretch, blinking my eyes and combing my hair with my fingers.
"I have to use the washroom," I say to Adam but Owen, Fitz and Dallas all look over.
Adam nods and I get up going into the diner to use the washroom, depending on who's working they let us use it even when we're not eating in there. I use it and come out only to be stopped by a man at the counter who watched me walk into the washroom.
"You're rather attractive," he tells me. His tone is slimy and he's at least 35 so I ignore him walking past him but he runs ahead and beats me out. We're now outside of the diner but he's blocking the view of me from Owen and the others. "How'd you like to make some money?" He asks.
"I'm not a hooker," I respond trying to move past him but he stops me.
"That's not what I mean, I'll pay you a $100 just to take a few pictures," he says. I'll admit it was tempting, it is a lot of money but before I can say anything Owen appears.
"Hey get lost, none of mine will pose for your porn pics, get lost before I tell the cops what you just offered her!" Owen growls putting me behind him and staring down the guy. He looks at Owen and then backs off going back in the diner. "You okay?" Owen asks and I nod.
"C'mon let's go downtown for a bit," Owen says waving for everyone to stand up.
We walk downtown and my stomach growls, guess that bagel didn't keep me full for long. Owen gives me and Adam some money and we go into a little store, both me and Adam get sodas and chips for lunch. We purchase them and go out to the others, then we go up to the top floor of a parking structure and lean in a corner near the stairs, you can see almost all of Queen street from here. After we eat Adam and I get up to toss our trash and Maya follows us, she's in a much better mood having been cheered up by Tris and Miles.
"Well now looks like it's our lucky day," grins Chains as he and his cronies appear from the darkness of the parking structure.
"Yeah two girls and a girl that thinks she's a boy," one of the others smiles.
"Beast you get the freak, Ape Man the little blonde that doesn't talk and me and Trouble here have some unfinished business," Chains smiles reaching for me and I slap him.
I turn to yell for some backup but there's no need they're all running toward us anyway. Owen, Drew, Dallas and Fitz reach us first, Owen punches Chains and then grabs Ape Man by the shirt and head butts him. Drew and Dallas are beating Beast and quickly have him on the ground. Adam, Bianca and Fitz are doing the same to Chains while Miles and Owen are beating Ape Man. Tris grabs me and Maya by the sleeves and pulls us back out of the chaos. It doesn't take long for Chains and his cronies to be bleeding on the ground and submit.
"Last fucking warning you morons, stay the fuck away from me and all of mine, talk to, go near or even look at one of them again and next time you won't be able to walk away," Owen growls at them and looks at us. "Let's go to the bus station to shower before dinner," Owen orders and we follow him.
Fitz and Dallas suddenly come to each of my sides and walk really close to me like they think I'm going to get attacked again. Maya is walking between Owen and Miles, Owen has an arm around her loosely in a protective way and she's holding Miles' hand, Tris is walking just behind them. I look behind us to see that Adam is walking with Drew and Bianca and Drew has an arm around his brother's shoulders.
"Owen is right you do bring trouble," Dallas remarks and I scrunch my nose at him. He laughs and puts an arm around my shoulders a little tighter than Owen has his around Maya. I notice Fitz giving Dallas a look for having his arm around me but I'm not sure why.
We split up at the bus station since it's guys and girls shower rooms, Owen gives us all loonies for the pay showers since they cost $1. Bianca gets her backpack from her locker and gets out some little things of body wash she gives one to me and one to Maya.
"You can use it as shampoo too, it's not the best but it works," Bianca says as I follow her into the girls room.
The showers are easy enough to figure out, the water doesn't get all that warm but at least we get clean. There are not however towels so we dry off a little with paper towels and then get dressed. I see Owen, Adam and Drew on a bench near the lockers so we join them while waiting for the other guys.
"Can we get dinner after this we've done a lot of walking today," Adam requests.
"Yeah we'll head back to the diner when the others are out and then to the apartments," Owen says.
(OWEN)
We start walking to the diner and I go to the back of the group, usually I'm in the lead but I want to keep an eye on everyone right now. Miles and Tris are walking close to Maya, Miles has his arm around her and they'll probably be official before long, after she has more time to deal with Cam. Drew is keeping a close eye on his brother and has one arm around Adam's shoulders and the other around Bianca's waist. In the lead are Fitz and Dallas surrounding Clare, or should I say smothering, Fitz has his arm around her shoulders but Dallas has an arm around her waist. I'm not sure she's comfortable with this but she's not pushing them away.
"Here take my jacket," Dallas offers when Clare shivers slightly.
"My hoodie is warmer," Fitz argues but Clare takes Dallas' jacket as he has it off.
"Remind me to knock their heads together when we get to the diner," I make a mental note to myself as I watch them competing for Clare. Once Clare has Dallas' jacket on they put their arms around her again and I shake my head. When we get to the diner I run ahead and open the door, Dallas and Fitz let Clare go first and I grab them so they can't go in.
"We'll be in shortly I need a word with these two, Freckles order for us," I tell him and he nods.
"What?" Fitz asks.
"What do you mean what? I oughta knock your heads together and if you two start making idiots of yourselves and competing over Trouble the way Puck and Dollar did with Mouse then I will," I warn them.
"We won't do anything too stupid," Dallas replies and I shoot him a look.
"So we both like her, we won't start hitting each other over it," Fitz assures me.
"Yeah it's her choice and we're taking it slow," Dallas says.
"Smothering her is not taking it slow," I point out.
"We weren't smothering we just had our arms around her," Dallas argues.
"Just watch her face okay, just because she doesn't say no doesn't mean she's comfortable with something. We only broke her up with Gloom yesterday maybe give the girl a day huh?"
They both nod and we go into the diner, Adam tells me he ordered and thankfully Clare's already sitting between Adam and Bianca. I look at the end of the table to see Maya slowly tearing her napkin into tiny pieces. She's been sad and forlorn since yesterday when she found out about Cam. The rest of us have been cheering her up but she's only happy for a little while and then she's sad again.
"Hey Mouse we could go to the movies after this, sneak in and see some teen romance," I offer but she just shakes her head.
"How about the concert hall? There's a symphony tonight and we can always hear it from underneath," Bianca suggests.
Maya looks thoughtful for a minute and then nods, even smiling a bit. I don't know why I didn't think of music that always cheers her up. Adam got two plates of sliders, two things of family lasagna and garlic bread for dinner, lasagna and garlic bread also cheer Maya up a little. After eating and settling the bill we walk to the concert hall and go toward the backstage entrance. Drew and Dallas help me get the manhole cover off the sewer entrance and I go down first, Maya is next and I help her down, then Bianca and I help her down and then Clare.
"Where are we?" Clare inquires.
"Old sewer tunnels, they run directly under the concert hall and we can hear the music," I tell her as I take her by the waist to lift her off the ladder. The ladder stops about a foot and a half from the ground which is why I help the girls down, the guys can make it on their own.
We don't have to walk very far until we're basically right under the stage and we can hear all the music almost like we were sitting in the hall. It's a sort of alcove down here; we all sit against the wall and get comfortable. I sit next to Maya and Tris sits on the other side of her, Miles next to him. On my other side is Bianca then Drew, Adam, Clare, Dallas and Fitz. Maya listens to the music and puts her head on Tristan's shoulder, it's classical music which isn't my favorite but it's cheering Maya up so that's what's important. After a while I look over and see Clare asleep against Adam, she did say she didn't get much sleep last night and we've done a lot today.
"Hey some of you get Trouble back to the apartments and find us rooms, the rest of us will meet you back there after the concert," I tell them.
"We'll take her," Fitz and Dallas say together and I roll my eyes while Bianca laughs.
"I'll go with them," Adam says.
"Yeah me too I'm pretty tired," Tris speaks up.
"Trouble wake up we're going to the apartments to get some sleep," Adam tells her.
"Can't we just sleep here," she yawns, she really is tired.
"I'll give you a piggy back," Fitz offers.
Clare groans and Adam helps her up, Maya takes her head off of Tristan's shoulder and puts it on mine. I tell Fitz to call us when they're at the apartments so I know they made it. They leave dragging along a very tired Clare, Miles scoots over and Bianca stretches out to lie in Drew's arms. About half an hour later my cell rings and it's Fitz to say they made it. We stay for another hour until the concert is over, Maya is tired but happier than she was and we start to make our way back to the apartments. As we start passing places that remind Maya of Cam she looks sad again and by the time we're back at the apartments she's got tears in her eyes and is clinging to Miles a bit. We go in and I have to figure where we are but Dallas and Fitz come out of two separate rooms.
"Trouble is sleeping in that room, she wanted to sleep alone," Fitz tells me pointing to the room between the two that they came out of. "This room has a queen if Spikes and Raven want it," Fitz offers.
"Thanks Bruiser," Bianca grins pulling Drew into the room.
"Is there another queen I think I should stay with Mouse tonight," I tell them since I'm very worried about her.
"Yeah Freckles is in the one across the hall you can send him in here it's a double," Dallas answers.
"The three of us will crash on the sofas and chairs downstairs," Fitz tells me putting his hands on Miles and Tristan's shoulders. I know Fitz will watch them down there since they'll be separated from us and the only room downstairs not full is probably the living room off the main hall and behind a broken door.
"Stay close to Bruiser," I tell them and they nod. Maya goes into the room and I follow her, I've never seen her so sad, not in all the time we've been on the streets and I'm afraid Cam's death finally broke her. She gets in bed, takes her phone from her pocket setting it on the bed and kicks off her shoes; I sit on the edge of the bed and take off my shoes before lying on my back.
"I miss him," she says quietly after several minutes.
"I know, I'm sorry he died he was a good kid," I tell her rolling on my side a little.
"Is it my fault?" She questions and I hear her crying.
"No Mouse it's not your fault, we have no idea what happened. Puck needed to blow off steam and got in over his head. He was fighting with Dollar and I sent them off to cool down it wasn't your fault or mine or probably even Puck's it just happened," I assure her rubbing her arm.
Maya nods but bursts into tears but I think she just needs to cry so I rub her arm so she knows I'm here and just let her cry. She cries so much that she cries herself to sleep and once she's asleep I fall asleep. I know this will pass and she won't be sad over Cam forever but I hope she heals soon because I really don't want this to break her. I've seen more than one kid break out here, I'm not talking drugs or alcohol either I mean they decide it's better to end it than to go on like this and I won't let that happen to Maya. Once I'm asleep I sleep pretty deeply, the apartments are safe compared to sleeping in the park or something so I'm not really on alert. I still wake up with the sun and when I wake up I find that Maya's gone from the room. Her shoes are gone but her phone is still here so she couldn't have gone far. I figure she either slipped out to pee, which means the gas station next door or outside if people aren't watching, or she went to check on everyone else. Maya likes to do that, she likes to know where everyone is and make sure they're okay. I still get up putting on my shoes and leaving the room, I don't see Maya in the hall and everyone else's doors are closed. So I go downstairs, Tris is on the sofa reading some book or other that someone left behind.
"You seen Mouse?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "I'm going to go look at the gas station," I tell Tris just as I hear sirens outside.
I take off running and Tris is right behind me, there's an ambulance and two police cars surrounding the alley that separates the apartments from the gas station. My heart starts pounding and I'm silently pleading that it isn't Maya. As we run up and get stopped by uniformed cops I see Officer Turner and call to him.
"Muscles what are you doing here?" Turner asks.
"We sleep over there," I tell him pointing to the apartment building. "What's going on?"
"There's been a murder, we think she was a prostitute," Turner answers.
"Does she have blonde hair?" Tristan questions.
"No, an Indian girl," Turner tells us.
"Bengal, it must be Bengal can I see her?" I request just wanting to verify that it isn't Maya.
"No she's cut all to pieces, her throat was slashed and it's gruesome," Turner shakes his head.
"We need to get to the gas station we're looking for a friend," I tell him.
"No one's at the gas station we cleared it out so the forensics guys could go through it since we believe her body was dragged through there," Turner informs us.
"Our friend is skinny, blonde, she's fourteen but looks a little younger, she has blue eyes and she's about this tall," I tell Turner.
"I haven't seen her but I'm sure she'll turn up relax son," Turner responds.
"YOU HAVE A RIPPED APART SIXTEEN YEAR OLD HOOKER IN THAT ALLEY THAT LIVES ON THE STREETS LIKE US AND NOW ONE OF MY KIDS IS MISSING AND YOU WANT ME TO WAIT UNTIL SHE TURNS UP?! I'M NOT JUST GOING TO WAIT AROUND FOR HER TO TURN UP DEAD!" I yell loud enough that everyone else stops and looks at me. I turn and walk back to the apartments and Tris follows me.
"We have to find her Owen," Tris says.
"We will go wake up Bruiser and Dollar I'll wake up the others we'll split up and look for her. I'm not going to let her end up like Bengal," I tell him running upstairs.
"Maya what happened? Where did you go? Why would you run? You better be okay, please be okay."
I know I'm so mean with my cliffhangers. Update Thursday July 24th picking up from about here and we find out why Maya ran and where she ran too. Also with some bonding between Clare and Maya. We're also down to the last chapter or two for this story.
Tomorrow is a plotting day for me so I will not be posting anything than updating the list on my profile. I will answer the guest reviews I haven't been able to get to since Tuesday however.