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Chapter 1 - Brian

I winced as I went though the mail and saw all the bills we had to pay. Harry is not gonna like this, I thought as I stepped into the house. I considered for the eighth time that month about quitting school so I could get me a job to help pay off these bills. But there was no way that Harry or I was going to call our uncle asking for money. When you live where we live and live how we live, you learn to fend for those living under your roof as best you can. I took refuge with my brother last year after our mom died giving birth to my half-sister Julia and our step-dad didn’t want anything to do with either of us, me or Julia. Heck, he’d been cheating on mom, anyway. I’d caught him once two years back sleeping with Miss Lynette, my science teacher. He’d boxed my ears when he knew I’d seen them and threatened me with a good belting if I didn’t keep my mouth shut. I never told; I was scared to death of him.

“What’s in the mail, bro?” Harry called as I stepped through the open screen door. He was attempting to clean house, and part of it was airing it out.

I handed him the stack of bills and kept a letter I had found in the stack from Precious Eduardo, my girlfriend of six months. I’d bumped into her—literally—at the Sadie Hawkins dance last May. (I’d gone stag, a friend had begged me to come.) I’d spilled my punch down the front of her lavender dress and she told me off, then asked me to dance. She actually beat me to the punch and asked me for my phone number and said she’d call me later that week. We’d gone on three dates when her parents told her that they’d be going to Central America for the summer, staying mostly in Puerto Rico, her dad’s home country. Her mom was an American, so that made her half Puerto Rican. Anyway, she knew she’d be gone for the beginning of the school year, so her parents enrolled her for the next school year before they left. I promised her the last night we were together I’d send her all our work and a copy of the notes, quizzes, etc. through e-mail and regular post whenever I could.

Just before I tore open the envelope, I saw the look on Harry’s face as he glanced through the bills. It was almost a look of… defeat? Impossible; he always got our bills paid in one way or another. Always on time, too, although I could see it was stressing him out. I’d mentioned to him about quitting school so I could get a job to help pay the bills and take care of Julia (I’d brought her with me when I’d left. I couldn’t stand the thought of what might happen if I’d left her with our step-dad. She may be my half-sister, but I still care.) But Harry said I could get a job after school and on the weekends. He’d talked to his boss at the bar he worked at the day before to see if he knew a good place for me to work, and his boss said he had a sister that ran an after-school daycare program for little children. My interview is in a few days.

“Everything okay, Harry?”

“Ain’t nothin’ for you to be worryin’ about, B. Read your letter.”

Not thinking twice, I tore open the envelope and a picture fell out blank side up. I picked it up, turned it over and the only Spanish phrase I knew flew out of my mouth.

ĦAy caramba! She’s beautiful!”

The Puerto Rican weather had agreed with her and she had a beautiful tan, darkening her skin and bringing out her big chocolate eyes.

“Who is?” a new voice called out as Harry’s best friend and fellow gang member Eric “Texas” Matthews entered the house. He flopped down on the couch and waited for me to show him the picture.

“Your cousin is,” I said as I handed the picture to him. He and Harry started the Garrison clan a few years back, Harry told me. I’m an unofficial member because I’m Harry’s little brother and I don’t cause trouble for them. I met the gang shortly after Julia and I moved in with Harry, Texas being the very first one. I’m the second youngest in the gang at sixteen, the youngest being Nick Carter at fourteen and a half. Harry and Tex are the eldest at nineteen.

“Where is she?” Tex asked as he handed the picture back.

I read the letter to myself. “San Juan,” I replied. “She’ll be back right before Thanksgiving break. In two weeks!”

Tex laughed; no, he guffawed, and slapped me good-naturedly on the back.

“Gosh a-mighty, Brian, your ears can get red,” Harry commented.

“When don’t they whenever Precious comes up?” Texas laughed.

Harry rolled his eyes at Texas and stood to get dinner ready. Just as he reached the kitchen, I heard crying coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table. Julia had just woken up from her nap. I hurried up the stairs and into our room. Julia had her feet in the air and her fist in her mouth, a feature I noticed that meant she was hungry. I picked her up and started rocking her as I held her against my chest.

“Harry, do we have any more baby food?” I asked as I entered the kitchen.

“Didn’t the doctor say it’s time to start her on solids?” he asked.

“What sort of solids can a baby eat?”

“I don’t know. Try giving her a biscuit. I just baked some.”

I grabbed a biscuit and set Julia in her high chair. She grasped for the biscuit and I barely had time to tear it in small pieces before she started fussing. She grabbed a piece and stuffed it into her mouth.

Texas chuckled. “You’d think the poor girl had been deprived of food for three days the way she grabbed that piece.”

“Well, she’s got a strange appetite,” I said.

Harry abruptly changed the subject. “You got any homework, Brian?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I gotta finish Return of the King and write that report on it.” I suppose I ought to mention that I’m the only one of the gang to even remotely enjoy school. The others that are still in school just go for kicks. Except Nick; the thing he does best in is art, that’s the only reason he’s still going.

Within half an hour, the rest of the gang started to gather at our place. Howie and AJ were the first to arrive after Tex. Howie was half Puerto Rican like my Precious, but he was also half-Irish and he came from a big family, three or four sisters and one brother, and he was the youngest. AJ came with his girl Sadie, a sassy but hyper cheerleader. I hate cheerleaders; they’re too peppy. But Sadie was A.J’s girl, and he liked cheerleaders, so I minded my manners around her. Another thing; Sadie just drooled over Julia. She loved the little sweetie (her words, not mine!) and immediately started playing with her.

Five minutes later, the second oldest guy in the group entered. His full name was James Lance Bass, but everybody in our gang called him Lance. I was the only one allowed to call him Jim; he’d slug anybody else that tried it. He was eighteen and a half, and he was my idol.

Last of all came Nick. We’d hit it off pretty well when we’d first met and became good friends. I couldn’t exactly say I was friends with Lance, but Nick and I were buddies. Nick sat down beside me and smiled at me. I told him about the letter and showed him the picture I got from Precious.

“You just can’t wait for her to get home so you can get her in bed,” AJ insisted. Lance took a swing at him and he ducked.

“You shut your trap, Bone,” Lance commanded, “Not everyone’s like you when it comes to girls.”

“Cut the frabberjabber, guys,” Tex ordered, getting down to business, “Any more news on the Cats?”

“One of ‘em tried to jump me on the way here,” Lance supplied, “I shook him off with no problem, though.”

So that explains the cut on his cheek. I thought. I’d noticed it when he first came in, and I think he knew I did.

“Which one, Jim?” I inquired, curious and slightly afraid. I’d only been jumped once, but the guy that had done it would stay in my memory for the rest of my life.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Jason. Who else is so eager to jump us?”

“His henchman Brent, that’s who,” Harry replied.

“Brent?” I asked. “Brent Franklin?”

All eyes were on me and I suddenly wished I’d kept my big mouth shut.

“You know him?” Howie asked.

I nodded slowly. “He’s on the basketball team with me. We’re both volleying for captain. He’s an Alley Cat?”

The Alley Cats were the Garrison clan’s archrivals ever since the beginning. Jason was the leader. In his gang, size definitely didn’t matter. He was the smallest, but he exerted a lot of authority over his men.

Lance finally spoke. “Yeah, he’s a Cat. Been one for three years.”

“Oh.”

He reached over and patted my back, the only sign of affection any of the gang gives me other than a brotherly hug from Harry.

“Ain’t your fault, you’ve only been here a year.”

“What the heck was Jason doing out of his territory?” AJ demanded. “There could have been more than just Lance waiting around.”

“He’s getting aggressive,” Harry remarked, “and overzealous.”

“Sounds like he needs to learn a lesson,” AJ said, his eyes glinting with passion for a fight.

“Easy, Bone,” Howie warned. “Let’s wait a little while. Then if it gets real bad, we’ll do something about it. After all, Lance was able to take care of him alone.”

Howie Dorough, ever the peacemaker. He doesn’t want a fight unless it’s necessary and someone’s crossed the line too often. The guys agreed to wait and stayed for supper. When Julia started getting cranky, I had to insist to Sadie that Julia was getting tired and had to be put down for her nap. When she fell asleep, I hoped that she’d make it through the night this time.

The guys hung out at our place for about two hours; we just hung out, not really doing much but being together and watching television.