RENEGADES

Chapter Seven

Siggy was digging around the drawers and cupboards in my apartment when I got back.  His hair was even more frazzled-looking than it usually did.  I noticed a tear in his shirt sleeve with some blood dripping.

"Hey, Siggs, are you alright?" I walked over to my friend.  I hid the jackets behind my back so it would be a surprise.  

"Yeah, yeah.  I was turning a corner and there was a broken fence board sticking out.  But I didn't get it as bad as Davey did," Siggy laughed.  "I'm just looking for something to use as a bandage."

I handed Siggy his blue jean jacket.  He smiled at me.  "Thanks, Andrew, how did you get it back?"

"Oh, they just had them in the building, nothing to it."  I slipped on my leather jacket, comforted by feeling it on me again.  It had a certain smell to it that always reminded me that I was part of a gang and I had buddies who bummed around with me and cared about me.  

The simple jacket had a history, believe it or not.  When I was twelve, Thomas found me when I was lost on the east side of Harlem.  I had run away from home after my mom got sick and died.  Thomas was fourteen then.  He was running from a cop because he had stolen a pack of cigarettes.  I was hiding out in an abandoned car garage nearby.  

Soon he found his way in the garage.  Thomas saw me crying and began to comfort me.  He stayed with me that whole night.  I was having suicidal thoughts, but he told me epic stories of his life adventures.  Thomas had been all over New York.  There was a large gang of people called 'greasers' and Thomas used to be one of them until their famous leader, Dylan Addams, was put in prison.

I remember Thomas handing me my first cigarette and telling me that he was planning to get a new gang together.  He was going to be the leader, obviously, but then he told me I had real potential.  Thomas made me the first member, and he made it official by taking off his jacket and giving it to me.  I realized right then and there that I wanted to be just like him.  

Thomas and I slept at the car garage that night and he walked me home the next morning.  He stuck around Manhattan since then because we were a gang.  A year later we included a boy named Raymond, but he was scared of dogs and wouldn't go near a cigarette.  He didn't last very long.   

Siggy came after that and he had fit right in.  We then established our main hangout spots.  Dilly's was obviously one of them, and the alleyway behind Marshall's.  Jim was our outsider, and Theo when he was around.  Theo was Thomas's friend from the greasers' gang.  But Theo was always on the move.  People were always after him so he couldn't stay in one place very long.

The jacket had stayed with me all these years.  It was pretty dirty and worn out, but there was nothing else I felt good in.

"Andrew, your hand, you should get a hot rag or something," Siggy was staring at my bloody knuckles.  Shoot, it was worse than I thought.    Blood had already dried all over my hand and there was more dripping out.  I must have really hit Rickie's jaw.  

Siggy glanced at the kitchen clock.  It was a blue clock with kittens on it.  The only reason we kept it around was that it was mom's favorite.  "I got to go, my brother needed help with his chores."

"Alright, Siggy, thanks for helping me out.  You're a real pal," I clapped him on the back.

"Of course, Andrew, we're a gang that's what we do for each other," he said as he slipped out the door.

"Not anymore," I muttered under my breath.  Thomas had betrayed us when we needed him most.  He was traitor.  Nothing would ever be the same.

---

Seven o'clock rolled around after I had taken a nap and spiffed up.  It took me a long time to do my hair just right. The mirror seemed to get tired of me moving my hair all over the place.  I was glad to have my jacket back.  Wearing it tonight was important to me.

I strolled over to Marielle's apartment with a skip in my step and my heart beating wildly.  Tonight it would just be me and her.  I could hold her hand and whisper in her ear without Siggy or Thomas laughing at me.  She was amazing, beautiful, and stronghearted.  I had to be the luckiest guy in the world tonight.  

Marielle was sitting at the bottom of her balcony steps in a white dress that kicked around her legs in the wind.  Her hair was curled perfectly and she was blushing as I walked over to her.  I leaned down and offered her my hand.  She took it and stood up next to me.

"So where you taking me, Andy Dandy?" Marielle smiled.  

I raised my eyebrows at her.  "You don't get to call me that, and we are going to eat at Dairy Queen if that's alright with you."

"Sure, I've never been there before," she nodded.

"Seriously?" I was surprised.  Dairy Queen was only a mile north of where she lived.  I would expect she would go.  The gang meets there once in a while, but Dilly's shakes are always cheaper.

"I guess I just don't get around a lot," Marielle admitted.

"It's fine, I'm sure you'll like it."

We walked in silence for a little while.  The sun was setting and the colors were more vibrant than I had ever seen them.  Like when you're with a girl, it somehow looks different.  There were a few clouds that were turning pink and the rays of the sun were a golden orange, basking the city streets in glorious light.  Everything looked less dreary and more cheerful.

I glanced at Marielle, who was looking up at all the amazing colors.  Her face seemed to glow, and her eyes were lit up.  I figured someone should paint a picture of her, right now with all the sunlight on her face.  It would be one of the paintings ever, and someone would put it in a famous museum so everyone could see how beautiful she was.  

"Is there something on my face?" she asked.

"Only the sunshine's last rays of light that are making you glow," I said in far-away, dreamy voice.

"What?" Marielle gasped.

"Oh, umm, no," I stuttered.  "Don't worry nothing is on your face, you-you're just nice to look at that's all..."

She smiled.  I think she liked me.  But I had to stop acting like a fool or that wouldn't last long.   

"So, Andrew, have you lived in Manhattan your whole life?" Marielle asked.

"Yeah pretty much, my parents met in high school, married, had me and stuck around the area.  But ever since my mom had me, she was awfully sick all the time, and she couldn't take care of me properly.  That made my dad angry.  He often yelled at her.  I hated it.  Once he hit her, I got mad and shoved him but then he hit me-" I realized I had probably said too much.  "Well, what about you?"

"I was born in Pennsylvania, my mom was the daughter of a rich property owner out there.  She fell in love with the poor stable boy and had me when she was sixteen.  Her parents were furious and they fired the stable boy.  My mom tried her best to take care of me, she gave me my father's name, but she was so young, you know?"

I nodded, deeply interested.

"Well, when I was three, my mom got a fever and died.  Her parents tried to find my father and send me to him, but he was nowhere to be found.  Eventually, when I was four, they ended up sending me to the poor stable boy's aunt, the woman I live with now."

"I'm sorry they sent you away," I said.

"Yeah, I could have been brought up in a mansion with parties and dancing and money, but then I wouldn't have met you." Marielle took my hand as we strolled along Main Street.  Cars and people passed by, but they were only a blur.

Updates are going to be slow the next few chapters since I go back to school on Monday :(( Please leave a nice comment!

Happy Reading,

🖤 𝐵𝓇𝒾𝒶 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹