ABANDONED The Fucking Gallaghers || Shameless

TWO

'Marko Beckett'

I jump down the stairs after getting dressed and waiting for Carl to get his dumbass out of the bathroom. That's probably one of my least favorite things about living in a house full of people. There's only one bathroom. I mean yeah there's the downstairs bathroom but it doesn't have the shower or the mirror. It's bullshit. But that's how life is around here. Everything is bullshit.

I walk into the kitchen to see only Debbie, Liam and Fiona awake, "Fiona, I've got the money. Finally," I hand her the fourteen dollars to help with paying for anything that needs to be paid for. Like electricity or water. Shit like that. I always pay before anyone else in the house. But that's just because I get paid before everyone else.

"Thanks," she sets the cereal on the table, "Where you goin' today?" She points to my backpack, "There's no school," she furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"I'm uh, hanging out with Marko in a few," I say hesitantly.

Fiona sighs, "Nik, you know I don't like you being around her," she puts her hands on her hips and looks at me sternly.

"Fi, I'll be fine. Marko's cool. She's not like some fuckin' crazy delinquent," I tell her while adjusting my backpack.

"No Nik. That's exactly what she is," she counters. I scoff and roll my eyes, "Whatever. I'm going," I sit down at the table and poor myself a bowl.

"So, Debs," she looks over at me carefully.

"Yeah?"

"Who made the squirrel plan?" I ask.

Her eyes go wide, "Oh um, look I had nothing to do with it!" She gets up and tries to run. I grab the back of her shirt before she can get out of my reach. I whip her around and make her sit.

"Interrogation time," I tell myself, "Look Debs," I sigh, "Tell me and I won't make you my bitch. Okay?" She nods, "Alright, give me a name. Lip or Carl," I glare as I say their names.

"U-um," she stutters, "It was Lip. Paid Carl to catch the squirrel. He said that it was payback for ruining his chances with a girl," she looks down at her food.

I laugh, "Shit! Wow that little jackass," I get up from my seat and pick up my bowl. I set it in the sink and start to walk to the front door, "And the war continues," I say to myself as I walk out into the cold morning air.

I start to walk down the sidewalk before I hear an engine rumble next to me. I look over and see a rusty old blue car. The window rolls down, "Hey bitch! Get in!" I laugh and shake my head, "Okay Mar' but we better not be goin' to steal some shit. People are getting suspicious. We should wait a few days," I say.

"Yeah yeah. I know. We're just going to the rooftop," she tells me.

I toss my backpack behind the passenger seat and and take my spot in the car. She blares her stupid rock music with the windows down. People around here hate her. Only because she's loud as fuck. But shouldn't they be used to that if they live in the south side? Apparently not.

She's surprisingly a good driver for a girl who doesn't have her license. She's only 15 and she drives like a pro. Then again she kinda had to learn how to. That's what happens when your family fucking hates you and throws you out.

Her parents are both druggies and drunks. They look like hell. Anyways, they threw her out about a year ago. She robbed shops for a few months, got lucky and then bought a shitty motel room. Yeah, bought. I didn't even know people could do that.

I would help her rob them. Mickey Milkovich sometimes helped too. He and Marko bonded over their shitty families. Just like her and I did. We all robbed shops together. We would all get a cut of the profits. Sometimes we would get money from the places and other times we would decide to lay low and just get some food and shit like that.

Marko's name isn't really Marko. Well that's what she likes to go by. Her birth name is Marlene. To be honest it really doesn't fit her at all. Marko is so much better. She has a few tattoos which are cool. I may or may not have a few myself. Of course I put them in places where they can't be seen. Fiona would fuck me up if she knew.

She and I have been friends since we were six. Frank had just passed out at my feet on the sidewalk to our house. Marko seemed to be passing by and she saw me sitting by what looked like a corpse. She was confused since I wasn't panicking and all. She ended up sitting next to me and we just talked about our fucked up parents. And the rest is history.

She's my best friend. I wouldn't know what I'd do without her. And some people think that I'm to soft to be hanging around a girl like her. Truth is, is that I'm everything but soft. I was the one who brought up the whole group robbing and shoplifting thing. Marko was stuck in a situation. She was going to end up completely broke and living on a damn sidewalk. I proposed that we get money. Simple. Mickey heard and wanted in on it. He wasn't exactly happy that I was apart of it but he got used to me being around. We're actually friends. I know, fucking surprising. The guy who tattooed 'Fuck U - Up' on his knuckles is friends with a Gallagher.

It's been a week since our last robbery. The guy called the cops. We barely got out in time. Luckily no one saw our faces. But it's best to lay low. And lower than what we usually do. No shoplifting for at least a few more days. I'd rather not get arrested thank you.

Marko and I haven't really talked since. We didn't have a falling out or anything. I can just tell that she's suspecting something about me. And I know exactly what she is suspecting. I don't know how to tell her. I don't know how she'll take it. I've been kinda avoiding her.

It's the same thing that I'm suspecting about Ian. That boys up to something. He's my best friend when it comes to the family. Marko is my outside best friend. I want to talk to Ian before anyone else though.

Secrets suck major balls.

"So. What have you been up to jackass?" She asks. I laugh, "Oh you know, the usual. Just making sure Carl doesn't put another rodent in my room. But most of all, making sure Lip doesn't accidentally kill me with another one of his bright ideas. Last night Lip had Carl catch a fucking squirrel and they released it in my room. Had to hunt it down with a damn bat. What'll it be next? A fucking bear."

She laughs, "You know. Carl has always been my favorite," I scoff, "Oh fuck off," I punch her in the arm.

"Ow! You fucking twat! I'm driving!" She chuckles.

"So the roof top huh?" I look forward, watching the road pass by.

"Yeah. We haven't been there in a while. Thought it'd be nice. I miss not worrying about all the shit y'know?" She sighs.

"Yeah I feel that. The house has been a little bit much lately. We don't hang out much anymore."

She doesn't respond, keeping her eyes on the road. It's like suddenly I'm not here. Did I say something wrong? What the fuck.

I furrow my eye brows, "Hey, you okay? You were all happy and shit and now your acting like I'm not sitting right next to you."

She rolls her eyes, "You should know Nik. You haven't spoken to me since that fucker called the cops. It's like you've been ignoring me. I mean if there's something you wanna tell me then do it."

"Mar'," I sigh, "Lets just wait till we get there. We'll talk about it all okay?"

She looks me in the eyes as if she's making sure I'll actually talk. She slowly nods her head, "Promise?"

"Promise," I repeat.

The sound of the car engine roars louder and we start to move faster. She really wants to get there fast. And that means that the quicker she moves this car...The quicker the truth will come out. The quicker my truth will come out. There's a sudden pain in my chest. My heart beats so fast it feels like it'll break through my rib cage and my breath quickens to an uncomfortable pace.

Fuck.

^^^

{5/4/19}

Right now I'm focusing on Nik's story and not completely following the show at the moment. It's just some added parts. So that you guys will further understand Nik as a character. I plan to keep chapters around 1 to 2 thousand words which means it'll be kinda short but long enough. I think you guys probably have an idea about what she'll be telling Marko. I mean who knows if she'll actually tell her. I'll talk a bit about some stuff after next chapter.