Blood for Blood - Chapter 1
“Really, Spike? Did you really have to put us five through that crap again? We’re tryin’ hard to keep a good rep.” My eldest sister, Rena, scolded me as we ran away from the cops.
“Don’t yell at her, okay?” My second oldest sister, Jewel, panted.
“We needed some action now that we moved yesterday from Miami all the way here t’ Tulsa.” My best friend Ryan defended me, speeding past Rena.
“Yeah, we all need some adrenaline. Anyway, since when did we ever have a good rep?” Jack, the second-eldest member of our gang, laughed as he sped past us and ended up being in the front.
“We need to make a name for ourselves now. Just to show that we do whatever we want; if it means we’re hoods, then fine.” I growled as I ran fast.
I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Sophia Arianna James, but my friends call me “Spike”. Call me by my real name and I’ll skin you. I’m seventeen years old, but I have the maturity of a five year old and the mind of a twenty year old. I have long, thick, shiny dark-brown hair cut into layers which end right at my waist. I have brown eyes, almost black; I got those from my mother. I’m pretty tall, too: last time I checked, I was 5'6 — I think. Maybe I’m over-exaggerating, who knows?
Speaking of my sisters, you might remember that I have two of them: Rena and Jewel. Rena is the oldest, clocking in at twenty-three years old. Jewel is the second oldest; she’s nineteen. Rena and Jewel look pretty much identical with their bright hazel eyes, from our dad, and then there’s me.
Then there’s Ryan and Jack; they have no relation to us whatsoever, but we’re extremely close. They’re both cousins; Jack is 21 and Ryan is 20. Jack has short black hair that’s slicked back, and Ryan has brown hair with the same style. We’ve known each other basically forever, and we’re in a gang together. Back home, we’re called the Ashers. You know, like there’s a name for a gang? Yessir, that’s ours, because back home, we lived close to a lot of trees. A lot of trees means fires, and fires mean ashes.
Speaking of a fire, that’s sadly the reason why we moved all the way to Tulsa. While the five of us were too busy in a rumble, which we proudly and easily won, there were fires in Jack and Ryan’s house. Ryan was living with Jack because his dad ran out on him and his mom died in a fire a few years back. Jack’s parents passed in the most recent fire, and we all held a funeral inviting only close friends and family. The twist was that in the will, they left the cars and all the money to the boys. We used it with the permission of my parents, and left Miami with money, clothes, and the best intentions.
“Hurry up, Ryan! Stop slackin’ and run!” Jewel yelled at him. I mean, seriously, we did not need to get myself in jail faster for his lack of speed. Then again, we all should’ve known that he would slack since he tried out for the cross-country team few years back; he fainted a few seconds into tryouts, no biggie.
“Everybody, turn this corner or you’ll end up in the slammer!” I commanded over the loud sirens. What was so bad about us being there when Jack temporarily borrowed a car from the drive-in? Nobody was in there, anyway. We were going to give the car back when we didn’t think it was too hot of a car anymore.
We turned the corner, trying to lose the cops. We ran and ran, until the noise of the sirens faded into silence. I leaned onto the wall of the nearest building, Jewel fell onto the floor, Rena and Jack held onto each other for support, and Ryan took off his jean jacket.
“Well, that was fun. Right?” I smiled at them all, only to receive hard stares. “Wow, tough crowd.” I spat.
We all hung out for a few minutes in silence, either waiting for something exciting to happen to us or waiting for Ryan to catch his breath. We kept walking and walking, walking and walking, and we turned another corner. I was the first to turn, and I saw two kids walking down the sidewalk.
I took in their image; they looked like pretty nice boys. One had real dark, slicked-back hair and tan skin. He also had big, brown eyes that pretty much belonged to a lost puppy. The other had brown, almost reddish if you would say, hair slicked back with gel, green eyes, and lighter skin.
I stared for a little longer, until their eyes met with mine then looked behind me. They looked scared out of their wits when they saw us, or whatever was in back of me. I smirked and turned around to tell Jack, only to find him looking at the boys with a switchblade in his hands. Rena noticed so she gasped and slapped Jack.
“Jack! What did I tell you about scarin’ innocent boys out of their own wits?! Give the switchblade up.” Jewel glared at him, causing Ryan to let out a booming laugh. I shook my head at the gang and turned back to the two boys, who looked about ready to run.
“Wait, don’t run! I’m sorry about that idiot, he does that to everybody he meets.” I explained to them, trying to at least get a word out to them. They looked back at me, and I tried to look at them with kind eyes to assure them that we were good, or decent, people.
“Let me introduce myself; I’m Rena.” Rena chimed in. “You can call me Jewel.” Jewel smiled at them.
“Introduce yourself!” I kicked Ryan in the side. “Ow! Do that again, I dare you.“ He glared at me, but turned back to the boys. "My name’s Ryan.”
“I’m Jack. Sorry for giving you guys a heart attack.” Jack cheekily grinned. I rolled my eyes at him; he was so childish.
“Call me Spike. What are your names?” I asked them.
“He’s Johnny, and I’m Ponyboy. But you can call me Pony.” The lighter-skinned boy said; I could tell that he was more confident than the other boy. All of our eyes widened. “Your name’s Ponyboy?! That’s so cool!” I squealed at him. “Thanks.” He smiled at me and I smiled back. I could tell that we were all going to be good friends.
“Well then, I know we all just met, but d'you think it’s fine if one day you can show us around?” I asked. “We just moved here.” Rena added. “Sure, I don’t see why not. You think the boys would mind?” Johnny asked Ponyboy. “We can always take you lot t’ The Dingo right now if you’d like.” Ponyboy offered, nodding to Johnny. We just looked at these two boys confused; what the heck was “The Dingo”?
“Huh?” Jewel and Jack asked; whenever they were genuinely confused, they surely showed it. I just shrugged it off and focused my attention back to the two boys waiting for our response. “Can you take us to The Dingo, please?” I asked them. “Fine, let’s go!” Ponyboy exclaimed as he and Johnny started running.
“Well, what are y'all waitin’ for, an invite?! C’mon!” I yelled back at the gang as we were speeding off to start a pretty good day.