The Delinquents

The Delinquents - chpt. 5

The Delinquents

Chapter Five

            "Is this really necessary?" Simon asked as we stood out in the middle of the yard. Evan grinned and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, clearly the most excited of the group. Nothing was out of the usual there.

            "Of course it is, it's a good therapy method and it's just fun," Evan answered, a gleeful smile brightening his brown eyes.

            Lily raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She was the least excited to participate in today's activity. Evan had to bribe her with another hour of internet to even tempt her into participating. "I don't like getting wet."

            Travis rolled his eyes, "Is that why you swim every night in the pool?"

            Lily narrowed her eyes. "That's different, that's when I'm in a bathing suit."

            "Then go change into your bathing suit," Evan said easily. 

            I read Lily's mind as she surveyed the boys around her. "Not in front of these doorknobs," Lily hissed back. I laughed, finding Lily's stubbornness amusing. Travis grinned at me too and earned himself a cold glare from Lily.

            "Can we get this going?" Gabe asked, "I'd like to actually do something productive after this." Evan pretended not to notice the dig but I could see his patience was thinning.

            Evan clapped his hands together. "Every come and grab one water balloon. Only one." We all shuffled forward and grabbed one water balloon out of the large bucket. I grabbed a small blue one and laughed as it almost squirmed out of my grasp.

            The guys were already threatening to throw them at each other; mimicking the throwing action and mumbling I dare you's to one another. Lily and I moved closer together, neither one of us wanting to get caught in the inevitable crossfire.

            "Alright, now grab a black sharpie," Evan instructed. We did as told and returned to our previous positions. "Write the thing that holds you back the most. Write it big, write it small, just put it somewhere."

            I caught the word Father on Travis's and the word Anger on Keegan's and suddenly felt self conscious. What held me back? In the end, I wrote down illness.

            "Alright, now one by one we are all going to take turns and explain why this thing holds us back, then we are going to smash the balloon, understand?" Everyone nodded and suddenly, the air was thick with tension, everyone was nervous.

            "I wrote down the word perfection," said Evan quietly, "My parents pushed perfection, it's all they would take, nothing less, and it drove me to do some things I really regret but have grown from. Perfection is a ridiculous concept that ruined my life, that word drowned me, suffocated me for a long time." Evan's eyes were distant as he smashed the water balloon to the ground. As it burst apart he smiled, then turned to us. "Who's next?"

            "I wrote down the word, 'drugs' because they were too addictive. I was only nine the first time I used them, and from there I was hooked. It lead me to trouble and almost to death, I'm grateful that I'm here and that they can't touch me anymore," Simon said. I was generally surprised, up until now I had little idea why Simon was at Ash Falls.

            Evan grinned, "Good Simon, now smash that balloon!" Simon threw the balloon to the ground and everyone clapped. Simon, who's face was usually obscured by his dark hair. Was actually smiling.