"You jerk!" Sing smacked Lux over the head and was complaining about how she's been missing all of his calls and not showing up to check over his work at lunch. Lux made up the excuse how she had been falling behind in her studies but he wasn't buying it.
The truth is, during lunch Lux would go to the art room (which was always almost abandoned) and talk to Shorter over the phone for the entire period. At first it was just texting during lunch which annoyed Sing to no end since she wasn't focused on correcting his homework mistakes. Then the texts turned into calls at lunch, which turned into late night phone calls as well. Meaning Lux always declined Sing's calls when he needed help on his work.
"I'm sorry, Sing!" Lux slapped her hands together begging for him to accept the apology. "I've been really busy with all of my AP classes and I'm just overwhelmed." What she was saying wasn't a complete lie, which was why she didn't feel too bad about stretching the truth. "I promise I'll help you tonight. I swear."
"No need." He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket. "Check this out!" He grinned widely as he showed off his latest math test that had a 98 circled at the top in blue ink. Lux was so proud of him that she couldn't help the shriek of excitement bursting from her mouth as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. Sing had to pry her off since they started getting weird stares. "I guess I can't be too mad at you. Since I've been on my own for these past few days, I've had no choice but to figure this crap out on my own."
"This makes me so happy. We should celebrate!"
Sing tilted his head not knowing what the big deal was. It's not like he won the noble prize or anything. "What for?"
"This is a huge accomplishment! What's your favorite thing to eat? I'll make you dinner as my form of an apology for standing you up, and I'll buy you dessert as a reward for doing good in your classes." Sing just blinked. "What?"
"Uh nothing." He scratched the back of his head, "Nobodies ever really cared enough about me to do something nice like that." Lux could tell that Sing had a lot of potential to do great things. He just needed a push in the right direction and she was honored to be that force. "Ummm, I like spaghetti. With giant meat balls."
She thought back to the items in the pantry to see if she was missing any ingredients. Lucky for her, her parents had just loaded up with food before they left for a few days on a business trip. She was all set. "Alright. You can drop by my place at around 6. Is that good?"
"Are you sure your parents won't mind? I thought there were no boys allowed in your house."
"Did I not tell you? They're gonna be gone for a week."
"Ah, sneaky. I like it. Well then, guess I'll see you then." He gently patted her arm, "Oh and um, thanks Lux. You're the best."
It could have just been the lighting but she could have sworn she saw Sing's cheeks turn a light shade of pink. It was cute.
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"Wow, you're a really good cook!" Sing complemented as he slurped up the remaining noodles in his bowl. "This is so much better than Shorter's Chinese food."
That name instantly got Lux's attention, "He cooks?"
"All the time. Don't get me wrong, it's good but if I eat another bowl of fried rice imma puke."
She giggled at that comment before thinking about what it would be like cooking together with Shorter. The innocent fantasy brought a tiny smile to her face. Sing noticed her spacing off like an idiot and threw a piece of garlic bread to snap her out of it. "Oh sorry!" She jumped, "I zoned out for a sec."
"I can tell. What's on your mind?"
"Nobody."
He raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his soda. "Interesting." Sing wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "I said what not who."
Sing being really observant didn't help in the slightest. Why couldn't he pay this much attention to details when doing his math homework, she thought. "My bad. It's nothing really." Lux picked her head up when the ringing of a doorbell got her attention. She was confused on who that could have been. Her parents definitely weren't going to be home this early, and Oz was at the school for band because there was a football game going on. "I'll get it." She excused herself to answer the door. The continuous knocking got more obnoxious by the second, "I'm coming!" She hollered and quickly opened the door without looking through the peep hole.
"Sup." Shorter held his hand up in a wave.
This was a pleasant surprise. Lux fixed Shorter a plate of food and he took the seat right next to her. Sing rolled his eyes at how she completely forgot that he was there . He felt like a third wheel at his own celebration dinner. All Lux did was giggle along to Shorter's stupid stories and jokes, and paying Sing no mind. Shorter just had a way of grabbing all of this girls attention. He was so interesting and she wanted to learn more about him. Even now, after all of this talking and story telling he was still a mystery.
"I'm going to head out guys." Sing sighed and excused himself from the table.
That got Lux's attention real quick. She ripped her eyes away from Shorter's gorgeous smile and darted them towards Sing. "Huh? We haven't even had dessert yet."
"Oh I think you've had plenty." he pushed his chair in and stacked his silverware on the empty plate. "Thanks Lux. Food was good." The words coming out of his mouth were very monotone but laced with slight annoyance.
"Sing!" Lux got up and reached out a hand to pull him back, but he was already out the door. She stood there silent as she heard the revving of his motorcycle disappear down the street. The guilt within started to make itself present. Getting distracted like this was so unlike her.
Shorter looked up as she joined him at the table. "Man." He sighed, "I feel kinda bad now."
Lux lifted an eyebrow, "Huh? I was the one who was a jerk."
"Nah, I knew how excited he was about this." He admitted, poking at the last meatball on his plate. "Lao and I were getting pissed off cuz Sing wouldn't get out of the damn bathroom cuz he was too busy shaving and changing in and out of all his clothes to find something to wear."
She raised her head from the palm she was resting it on, "Shave? He doesn't even have hair on his face."
Shorter chuckled, "I know. Point is, this meant a lot to him and he was trying to impress you."
"I don't understand. Why would he try so hard to do something like that?"
"You really don't know, huh?" That question caught her off guard. Was there more to the situation? "Sing has a crush on you, Lux. It's pretty freakin obvious." Those words made her entire face heat up. There was no way that was true. All she was to Sing was just his tutor and nothing else.
"I always thought he didn't like me!"
"Maybe not at first but you two did spend a lot of time together. It was only natural." Shorter sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I was a d-" he stopped himself from swearing, remembering how that type of language made her feel. "I was a jerk and thought it'd be funny to kinda, not really ruin his evening, just y'know mess around with him by tagging along."
Lux's lips dipped into a frown, "That wasn't nice."
"Yeah... guess I better go and apologize to him before hair removal winds up in my shampoo."
"He'd do something like that!?"
"I don't wanna take that chance." He chuckled, "Sorry again for ruining your night."
To be honest, she wasn't at all upset that Shorter dropped by unexpected. She couldn't shake the thought of him out of mind and all that fantasizing manifested into him once again being in her house. "You're okay. Don't worry about it. Now I gotta figure out a way to make this up to Sing, too."
Shorter cupped his chin trying to think of a good gesture, he snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head. "I got it! Nudes. Guys love nudes."
Lux stood up and pointed at the door, "Get out."
"But-"
"Shorter Wong, you are the worst!"
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The next day, Sing wouldn't even grant Lux a passing glance in the halls. It was like the two were complete strangers. It wasn't until now that she realized how badly his feelings were hurt. She promised a night that would be about him, but it turned into an evening where he was the third wheel.
"I'll catch you guys, later." Sing waved off some of his classmates.
"We're gonna catch a movie and probably get some food afterwards, wanna come with?" One of the boys asked Sing. Recently, he's been making more friends at school and not too many of the kids were afraid of him. It was nice to see Sing not look so alone.
He scratched the back of his neck, "Uhhh I can't. I have a thing tonight."
"Like what?"
"Joyride." He lied, "Y'know, to clear my head."
The group of boys were disappointed that their offer got turned down. "Well if you ever wanna hang outside of school, just let us know."
Sing nodded then proceeded to the lot where his motorcycle was parked. He shifted his eyes up from his feet to see Lux leaned against his ride. "Thought you would have been on your way home."
"I just wanted to talk."
Sing scoffed and followed it up with an eye roll. "About what? Shorter? He seems to be the only person on your mind."
"That's not true." She stomped.
"Sure okay." Sarcasm filled his words and it made her angry. "Mind stepping aside? I have somewhere to be." When she refused, Sing rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Whatever."
"Please just listen to me! I'm really sorry and I wasn't being a good friend to you."
"Oh cute. Did Shorter tell you to say that? Cuz he used a line really similar in his apology."
"This has nothing to do with him!" She promised.
"I'd really love to believe that, Lux. You have no idea."
"Sing..."
Part of her knew she wasn't going to be forgiven that easily. If it were anybody else it would have been no problem but she was the one who made it a big deal in the first place. She made Sing feel so important one moment then unintentionally saw him as an after thought in the next. He saw her as someone who really cared about him then she went and proved otherwise.
"I just want some space. Alright?" He asked softly, not wanting this conversation to escalate. She looked down at her feet and stepped out of his way. Without even looking back, Sing revved his motorcycle and took off, leaving Lux and her apology behind.
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"That son of a bitch!" Shorter gritted his teeth, and flung the small table in front of him into the wall. Half empty beer bottles shattered and cigarette buds peppered the already food stained carpet. His gang backed away knowing how dangerous Shorter became when he was really pissed. It was like he was a completely different person. "The onion headed bastard has killed my guys for the last time. Tonight, that fucker pays."
"This shit could have been avoided." One of Shorter's men spoke up, "We needed you, Boss." He walked over to the fuming King of Chinatown with caution and a slight hesitation in each drawing step.
"I'm fucking here." He glared through tinted lenses. "I'm gonna do what any good leader should do when his guys are slaughtered." Shorter flicked open one of the few butterfly knives hidden on his body, "I don't want just blood. I want their fucking heads." He growled while stabbing the blade into the wall where it stayed put like a dart in a board.
Lao pressed himself up off the wall and cracked his knuckles, "You heard the boss. We're not gonna sit around here and do nothing! Our brothers will be avenged!" The teen boys all shouted in agreement and proceeded out the room to ready their weapons and a game plan. Lao looked over his shoulder when he was called back by Shorter. "Everything alright?"
"If Sing's really serious about this, I need to know he's all in." Lao understood exactly what this meant. Sing had tagged along a few times with Shorter's gang and assisted with some of the beat downs and drug mules that had taken place in the recent weeks. He was somewhat of a "prospect" and not a full alleged member yet. Sing needed to earn his keep and prove his worth with a proper initiation.
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"Do it." Shorter ordered as he handed Sing a loaded gun. Sing's arm twitched, he had already beaten the guy bloody, why wasn't that enough? "You wanna be one of us?" He asked shoving the weapon in the kids face, "Then fucking end it!"
"Please I'm sorry!" Arthur's gang mate pleaded through his busted mouth. He chocked on blood and tears, bowing his head under praying hands. He was just following orders of his ferocious leader. "I can work for you! Please, I don't even know what the hell I got myself into! That Arthur bastard is psychotic! I was just doing what he said!"
Shorter swung his foot under the guys chin, knocking him on his back, "You chose the wrong team and we're not accepting anymore new players."
Sing squeezed his eyes shut and took in all of the shouting, crying, and the cocking of a gun. The 3 other lifeless bodies in front of him were imprinted in his vision even with his lids sealed tight. He let out a scream before snatching the gun out of Shorter's hand and shooting the pleading teen in the side of the head. Sing panted trying to catch his breath. His eyes studied the limp body bleeding out on the ground. It was motionless, but not in the way he was used to when seeing someone sleeping. This time he knew the person was never going to rise back up to see another day. Sing Soo Ling had taken his first life. His shoulder twitched when he felt Shorter place a hand on him. Sing wasn't sure if it was for comfort or what, but it definitely didn't help putting him at ease. "It's done."
"It gets easier. Trust me." Shorter's words frightened Sing down to his core. He was only 14 years old with a kill of one under his belt. How many more lives was he going to have to take for it to become easier like how Shorter promised? How many men has Shorter killed to where he feels nothing afterwards? What about Lao? Has he ever had to do this? Of course he has. Was it easy for him too? Maybe so. All of these questions ran through Sing's mind but it was too late to back out now. "It'll be okay." Shorter assured and helped Sing stand up straight from his defeated, slouching position. "Sunshine. Smiley. Pack up the bodies and leave them on Arthur's terf." He instructed, "Oh, and chop off the heads. Let them know how we take care of snakes that slither into my territory."
"Aight Boss." The two Chinese boys picked up the body by the shoulders and feet, carrying him over to a black van that was hidden near by. By the sound of their voices and their fairly muscular build, Sing guessed the boys were probably around 16 or 17. They never tagged along when some of Shorter's guys were sent to carry out a beat down or gain intel on rival gangs, so he assumed the duo was brought along for the ride when it was inevitable for fatalities to take place. Sunshine and Smiley were the ones in charge to clean up the mess and make the bodies disappear, or in this case, leave them on a doorstep.
Sunshine was about 5'7 with shaggy blonde hair that fell over his light brown eyes. Sing often saw him with a cigarette held between his lips and reading some book in the corner of the room while the guys were being rowdy after a successful mission. He was quiet and didn't socialize much.
Smiley on the other hand was a loud mouth so it was odd how the two got along so well. He was always so quick to pick a fight and there was one time when he pissed off the wrong people (a gang that became allies with Shorter's crew) and in order to keep the peace and show loyalty to one another, Shorter had to slash Smiley's face as punishment. Now he sports a ragged scar over his left eye. He didn't hold any grudges after that. Smiley knew he was in the wrong and it had to be done. Now he keeps his temper in check but still comes off as an over zealous moron.
Sing felt his stomach twist in knots and his lunch from earlier building up in his throat. He used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his face only to pull away and see splatters of blood painted on him. They make it look so clean in movies but this was real. It was real and it was messy.
"Are you gonna break?" Shorter asked quietly. "Let me know now."
The blood on the pavement seemed to glow under the light of the moon. Sing's eyes were nearly blinded by the crimson puddles. He was told by everybody that he was a good for nothing. A failure. Then Lux's face popped into his head. She believed in him. She wanted what was best, yet she still didn't see him as that important. His hands balled into fists and he glared up at Shorter, "I'm tougher than you think. And I'll prove it again if I have to."
Shorter smirked then held out his hand, "You're one of us now, Sing."
Sing looked down and shook his bosses hand. It was official. Sing Soo Ling was now a member of the most notorious gang in Chinatown.