Marbles In A Jar

Chapter One

It was a bright summer day, the sun was shining bright and there were no clouds in the sky. I walked out of my house, squinting at the blazing sun, I looked around for a second before walking off the porch steps and out the gate. I walked down the street, stepping to the beat of the loud music the nearby corner store was blasting real loud. As I walked down the street all my neighbors and the people who recognized and knew me well would call out and say hello. "Hey there J!" -- "How's the arm, J?" If you haven't noticed already, my name is J, Jackal J. Lennin. I live in San Antonio, Texas with my older brother Danny. I've lived in this city most my life, I only moved here after my parents gave up on me when I was eight, at the moment I am 13 years old. This city ain't all bad, it's pretty calm considering the size of it, I just wish I could get out of this city and explore the country or something, anything to get away from all these druggies. Druggies is a term that we use when talking about drug dealers or the people who never go anywhere without a weed, I don't mind it much though, most of the people I knew smoked or sold drugs, so it's pretty common to see it. But we're getting off track. I walked into a gas station and bought a pack of gum, some candy bars, and a pack of cigarettes, the cigs aren't for me though, I owe some friends a pack because I accidentally spilled water on theirs. I would walk out of the gas station and look around for a second, that's when I saw them, the Socs. There were four of them, one was waving around a switchblade like it was a toy, the others were laughing at the one with the switchblade. I only recognized one of them, he was leaning on their tuff mustang, his name is Louis Monroy, he is one the smartest kid at John Wright High, luckily I'm an 8th grader so I don't have to deal with him. I would walk down the sidewalk, turning my head so that they wouldn't see my face, but I guess it didn't work since they all got in the mustang and started to follow me down the street. I started to walk faster, making my way down to town where I could hopefully lose them in a crowd. The Socs started driving faster so I quickly ran down an alley way and headed toward the old abandoned factory where I usually hang out with my gang. I thought I would be able to lose them down the alley but I was wrong, they stopped and two Socs got out of the car and started to chase me, then the other two Socs started driving quickly around the other side of the alley to cut me off. I saw a fire escape, I jumped on it and climbed up quickly, the Socs catching up and then following me, I got onto the roof and started running on top the rooftops till I came to a gap where I stopped. Now in school, my grades are some of the worse, but my athletic skill is number one, so I used that to my advantage. I waited for he Socs to catch up, once they were a few feet from me, I jumped off the roof. The Socs stopped quickly and looked down for me, I had jumped down and caught hold of the fire escape from the building next to the one I was standing on, I slid down the ladder and ran towards the hangout, the jump gave me at least thirty seconds of time to book it out of there, and I did. I tried to avoid fights as much as I could, it's not that I couldn't fight, it's just that I don't feel like being more of a greaser than I already am. I was able to lose the Socs after running around for a little bit, going through different streets, parking lots, and even hiding out in different stores. It had taken me an hour to get to the hangout when it usually takes me ten to fifteen minutes to get there, I climbed in through a hole in the wall that led to a door, when I went through the door I looked around and saw no one. Alone Again I thought to myself, this will give me some time to take a nap. I could have taken a nap at home but I didn't really feel like staying in my room all day, so I threw my things onto the floor lied down on a bench, I would stare up at the tall celling, thinking about what could have happened if those Socs caught me, would they just mock me then leave? Would they beat me up? Would they cut me up with that switchblade of theirs? The thoughts ran threw my mind like a racer on an open road. Soon I drifted off to sleep without realizing it.