Part 22

Two hours later...

I put the drugs in their jackets after a while. It was so easy, it almost scares me. I don´t know what Michael has planned, but I hope that it will work, 'cause Anthony is really disgusting me. We are dancing right now and his fingers are all over me. I try to look amused – but inside it makes me wanna puke!

Michael is still observing us and I can see the tense expression in his face when Anthony grabs my ass once more. Suddenly Billy appears next to us. "Okay, let´s go. It's getting kind of empty here and we wanna get laid. The others left a while ago." I recognize a tall blonde woman next to him. Seems to be his new interest.

We all head for the exit, but I have to glance back at Michael one more time. He nods in my direction and takes his phone out of his pocket.

We pick up our jackets and leave the Election. Suddenly there are three tall men in front of us. "General drug control." One of them says and he shows his shield to us.

"Oh, come on," Billy says, "we just wanna go home. We don´t have any drugs."

"Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?" one of the man replies and they start to search all of us.

"No drugs, huh?" The policeman waves a small bag of cocaine in front of Billy´s nose.

"What the hell? Those aren't my drugs. Somebody put it in my pocket."

"Yeah, of course they did!"

"I found something, too," the man who searched Anthony, says.

"The ladies are okay," the third man says. "We'll just take these two losers with us. You can spend a nice night at the police station."

"No." Billy screams and wants to get rid of them, but soon I hear the 'click' of the handcuffs.

I try to look shocked and pissed, but inside I cheer. Billy´s bitch disappears without looking back and two of the policemen drag Billy and his cousin to their car.

"Be glad that you're not spending the night with this jackass," the third officer says to me.

I nod absent-mindedly. "Yeah, I am."

***

I sink into my bed tiredly. The sun will be coming up soon and I have to go to work. Maybe it´s not a good idea to get some sleep now. I won´t be able to stand up then.

Suddenly my cell phone starts to ring. I pull it out of my bag with shaking hands. I already know that it's Michael.

"Hey."

"Hey. You´re okay?"

"Yeah. The police took Billy and Anthony with them."

"So our plan did work."

"Yeah. Michael? Thank you... for helping me... again."

"It´s okay. You sound very tired. I should let you sleep."

"No," I answer way too quickly. I want to talk to him for a while. "Um... I mean, I have to be at work in two hours, so I'm gonna try to stay awake."

"Are you cold? Your voice is shaking."

"A little. Still no heat here, you know. Oh, but I found a new place to stay," I add with excitement.

"Really? It's not Billy's house or anything, right?" He seems a little alarmed.

"No, no. For heaven's sake, Michael. There's a girl who was looking for a roomate. I visited with her yesterday and she offered me a little room. It´s nothing special, but it´s warm and nice and I can afford it."

"That´s good. And you won't be alone anymore. When will you move?"

"On Monday, I guess. I´ll pack my few things this weekend and then I have to find a way to bring them over to my new home."

"I can help you, if you want to."

"It´s too dangerous, Michael."

"I don't care."

***

A piece of good news December 1st, 2007 – Saturday – 1:30 pm

I´m on my way home from work now. Today really sucked 'cause there were tons of dishes to wash and now I'm exhausted. My legs feel like lead weights and I just want to sit down and rest. A little smile crosses my face when I remember how April and I broke lots of plates, when we attempted to put them in the cupboard. We had a lot of fun even though I was so tired.

"Hey, Maria." Somone interrupts my thoughts and I look up.

"Sean!"

Great. I don´t want to talk to one of them right now.

"How're you doin'?"

"Well, I´m kind of tired. I got home late last night and I have to be at work at 7:00 am."

"Oh wow, that´s really early. Hey, I heard about the incident with the police."

"Yeah, it was really weird, you know?" I hope I don't sound as nervous as I feel right now. "I didn't know that Billy and Anthony had drugs."

"They didn't! Or at least they didn´t know that there were drugs in their pockets. I talked to Billy a few hours ago."

Does he suspect me? That would be bad.

"He thinks one of the Bandits planted the drugs. They were at the Election tonight and they didn´t start any trouble with us… which is very suspicious, don´t you think?"

I pretend to think about it for a while. "Maybe. Yeah... it´s really weird that they didn´t start a fight with us... and maybe it was because of their plan to put the drugs in Billy and Anthony's pockets without attracting attention."

Sean nods, convinced, and I'm glad that he's buying the story.

"So... uh... they're out of jail now, right?"

"Anthony, yes, and he already left town, but Billy... he's still there. He told me he'd have to stay there maybe a week or two because he has a criminal record and the cops won´t let him go without a little punishment."

"Oh, that really sucks." Yeah... NOT!

"Yeah, without him we're totally outnumbered. I talked to Ryan and we decided that it'd be better to stay outta sight for the next few days, at least until Billy gets outta jail. If the Bandits get ahold of us we'd be too weak to beat them right now."

I nod and try to hide my joy. One week… maybe longer, without worrying about how to escape my gang. "That sounds smart."

"Yeah, so just go home and stay there, okay? I´ll let everyone know."

***

I come home and throw myself onto my bed. I really need to sleep, and soon. But first I have to call Michael. He asked me this morning to give him a call when I was home from work, just to make sure that I´m okay and Billy didn´t ambush me somewhere.

"Hey. It´s Maria."

"You´re at home."

"Yeah."

"Good."

"I ran into Sean on my way home."

"What'd he say?" His voice gets more serious with the mention of a member of the Hurricanes.

"That Billy has to stay in jail for at least a week." I smile into the phone.

"Wow, finally one piece of good news this week."

"Yeah, I don't think I'll have to worry about them this week. What a nice birthday present he made for me without even knowing, huh?"

"Your birthday isn´t today, is it?"

"No, it´s on Wednesday; I can't wait to turn 18."

"I can believe that."

"Sean also told me that Billy thinks someone in the Bandits put the drugs in their pockets."

"Good. Then they don't suspect you."

"Yeah, but you have to be careful. All of you. Well, I didn´t care about Kyle and Lonnie, sorry, but I´m sure he'll be coming up with a revenge plan while he's in jail."

***