All the small people

Chapter 1

"I need to tell you something," my brother, Charlie, said as he came into my room and shut the door behind him.

I quickly stubbed out the cigarette I wasn't meant to be smoking and waved the smoke out of the window, chucking the butt out onto the rusty fire escape. My old man would have a field day if he caught me.

"What is it?" I asked through a cough and gulped down some coke to release the grip the smoke had on my throat and looked at my brother.

He'd buffed up considerably over the summer, his biceps now pushing the boundaries on his sleeves and the fabric stretching taut over his back. His blonde hair had been cropped short the moment he'd found out he'd been accepted into MPCT, a military training college for 16-year-olds and over. As long as I could remember, Charlie had wanted to be in the army. He'd always had major respect for the soldiers anytime he saw them on TV and when they came to visit our school.

"You know that girl I've been seeing?" He was twitchy as he sat down on my bed which was disconcerting in itself since Charlie wasn't a twitchy or nervous guy.

Unfortunately, I knew exactly who he was talking about. I actually wished that I didn't know Holly. We'd never been in the same circles but I'd heard and seen enough from her that I knew I didn't like her. She was bratty and entitled which was a little funny considering she was just as much trailer trash as we were.

I didn't know why Charlie bothered with her.

"Yeah. What about her?"

He sighed hugely. "She's pregnant."

I blinked, then smirked because there was no way Charlie was serious. But he was serious because he wasn't smiling back, just sitting there twiddling his thumbs in his lap and my smirk dropped. "Shiii-et."

"Yeah, shit is right," my sixteen-year-old brother whispered.

I waited for him to elaborate but he just sat there. "Um... it's yours I guess?"

He whipped around to face me. "Of course it's mine, she wouldn't do that."

I tried not to make a face. She definitely would sleep around on him. I shook my head, now wasn't the time to get into semantics. I needed backup to deal with this personal and frankly awkward situation.

"One sec," I said and leant my head out of my window to face the fire escape one floor above and saw Rani's window was open. I could hear the baby crying from inside. "Oi," I called out. "Ran, get your ass down here, assistance is needed."

Their head popped out of the window a moment later, a cigarette between their fingers, one earbud dangling from their ears. "What? I'm not up for socialising right now."

"Just get down here." I jerked my thumb inside. "Now."

I heard them grumble and the fire escape shook as they made their way down the crumbling steps. They were in a baggy long-sleeved shirt and some torn jeans with their dyed-black hair brushing past their shoulders. They stopped out of the window, crouching, briefly glancing at Charlie who was still as quiet as a mouse. "What?"

"Holly's pregnant," I told them and snatched their cigarette to take a puff before it burned to the filter and flicked it away.

Their eyes went to Charlie and widened. "Shiii-et."

"We established that much," Charlie said, facing the wall. He put his hands in his face and groaned. I scooted over so Rani could climb in and they crammed up against the wall, huffing.

"Is it his?" Rani whispered in my ear making it tickle.

I made a face. "He seems to think so."

"I can hear you two, you know," Charlie muttered from his hands.

I sighed and scooted over to pat my brother on the shoulder. He was just a teenager still, he didn't need a kid right now. "So, how did you find out?"

He groaned again, running a hand over his short hair. "I was talking to her about going to training college in September and she blurted it out."

I looked to Rani for help and they sighed, not appreciating being put on the spot. "Well... is she keeping it?"

"Yeah," Charlie said. "She said I need to step up and be a father to this kid. That's... what I should do, right?"

Rani and I exchanged glances. I saw Charlie's prospects for the future slipping away as fast as sand between stretched fingers. This was a kid, and Holly was not ready to be a mother, or Charlie a father. Hell, we were kids still and that was no way to bring another kid into the world.

"But, this is everything you've ever wanted, bro. You said it would finally get you out of this shithole..." I said to try and help him keep in mind that even though there might've been a sense of duty there, keeping it and bringing it into our shit family was like kicking a lamb into a lion's den.

I watched the images of his future burn in front of his eyes as his brow furrowed. "Holly was firm on keeping it. And this kid will need a dad." He stood and waved a hand around his face. "I won't be one of those dad's that fucks off for so long and often that his kids barely even recognise him." The unspoken words of 'like our dad' hung in the air. "It's shitty, but I'll make the best out of it. It's a baby, guys. My baby."

It was Charlie's life at the end of the day and hearing him like that kind of made my heart break.

He glanced at us, an unsure smile on his face. "A little niece or nephew for you two to badly influence."

We both smirked simultaneously. "Us? Bad influence? Never," Rani said solemnly then we both snickered.

I thought of a mini version of Charlie running around and almost smiled. I wondered if they would be tall like him, would they get his brains? Would they be his spitting image?

"Well..." Rani drawled. "Since you're not gonna be drug tested if you're dropping army college, wanna get high?"

Charlie laughed a little through his nose. "Incorrigible, both of you."

My mouth watered at the thought and I grabbed the stash I had hidden in a locked box under my bed. I stuffed the box into my backpack. "Let's go before Dad gets back."

The front door slammed. "Too late," Rani said and slipped out of the window sharpish. They hated my Dad just as much as I did.

I was out next, then Charlie. We got down one floor before a small blonde head poked out of the window. Larney. She still had her dance uniform on, Dad must've just picked her up.

"Where are you guys going?" She asked. "Can I come?"

I shook my head and pushed Charlie to go down the steps. "No, Larns, stay here. And don't tell Dad!" Then I turned and followed behind Rani and my brother. We all grabbed our discarded bikes from the ground and rode them down the street.