Schools Out

Asher and Brian sat waiting in a black sedan, an older car for sure, but at least the heater worked in the winter and the AC worked in the summer. The woman, Asher, played with the window – rolling it with a hand crank on the door – until Brian finally looked over at her.

"Can you stop that?" He spoke bitterly.

"No." She rolled the window down all the way but ceased playing with it, "Where the fuck is your little cousin's bus at?"

He shut off the AC fan as it was just blowing cool air out the open window, "I don't know. Stuck in traffic probably." He did nothing to hide his annoyance. Brian was not a family person and while it was rare sometimes he got called by his uncle to pick up his youngest cousin from the bus stop after school was out.

Suddenly Asher's phone buzzed with a popular pop song ringtone and she lifted out of the seat trying to grab the device from her jeans. Fumbling for a second before her finger hit the green accept button, "Ya-lo? Oh, hey sweetie," her voice instantly sounded like a big sister's may, "Yeah. Yeah… yeeeaah," her tone seemed to grow with hints of worry after each 'yeah.' She turned her head over toward Brian waving her free hand at the keys and gestured to start the car, "Okay. You stay right there and hang out with Jenny. And don't talk to anyone weird."

After hanging up the phone Brian was looking at his girlfriend with a what the fuck was that face. Asher reached over to turn over the car and it rumbled to life, "Your cousin is with Jenny at the Jinko's on Twelfth Street. Apparently, their bus was hijacked by a guy in a grumpy clown mask."

He was silent for a long moment before putting the car into drive and signaling to pull out onto the street, "I fuckin' hate Gotham."

"Me too," Asher put her elbow on the car windowsill and then her chin into her hand, "… We should just… leave." They had played around with the idea before.

"Yeah, and we'll also win the lottery to get the money to do that." He flipped a dark suv off as it nearly hit them when they pulled onto the road.

Asher rolled her hazel eyes, "Why not just ask Rouvin?" They'd talked about this before as well and she knew the answer of why it would never be done – but their options were getting slimmer by the day to even live normally in Gotham.

"Oh, sure and be in debt the rest of my life to the mob? Fuck that. It's bad enough we're related." They were silent for several blocks until they got stuck in traffic. Honking his horn at the guy in front of him to go after the light had changed green and wouldn't look up from his phone Brian slammed his head on the top of the steering wheel, "… It'd be easier to rob a fucking bank than sit in this traffic."