Young Writers Society

Aurelie

I walk slowly into the kitchen where Eve and Chris are sitting on the counters, discussing recent events.

"Do you think Riley gone crazy, or is it just me?" I ask.

"A little of both, maybe." Chris says.

"She's under a lot of stress." Eve says with a sigh.

"I feel like they don't want me here," I say.

"Who has been treating you like that?" Asks Eve.

"Everyone! I feel so alone. You guys are the only people here that actually talk to me. Everyone else just ignores me," I complain.

Riley

I run upstairs to check on Ace.

"Maitea's coming." I tell him. He's gone even paler.

"Cleo!" I yell. She comes running up.

"What?" She asks, walking in.

I gesture to Ace, "Your the doctor, help him." I say, not bothering to hide the aggravation in my voice.

"Fine." She says, and walks over to him. I run downstairs.

I see the headlights of Maitea's car pull up the long driveway.

She runs out, "Where's Ace?"

"Upstairs. You'll have to come in with me, though, so they don't shoot you on spot. Ignore any questions." I say. We walk inside. Reg comes out of the living room, and a look of blank shock crosses his face.

Ace

A few hours later, after trying in vain to get to sleep, Riley came up to tell me that Maitea was coming. Not now, I thought. I didn't want her to see me like this.

"Cleo!" Riley called, and I protested.

"Riley, I'm going to be fine," I assured before taking a deep breath to hold off the sick feeling.

But Cleo came in and Riley told her to help me.

"There's not much you can do," I choked out. "Just side effects...well, you can give me something for my stomach..." I leaned back again and closed my eyes, hoping that she'd leave so I could get some rest. Riley left for a few minutes and came back with Maitea.

"Ace," Maitea cried out and came to sit on my bed.

"Hello, beautiful," I whispered. Suddenly, the sickness seemed so far away. I took her hand and held it to my burning cheek. "You're not supposed to be here." But I was glad she was. Riley was fine, but I sort of wanted Cleo to go away. I didn't want to have to explain what was going on to her. I knew I'd have to tell Riley, as much as I didn't want to before, and I owed it to Maitea to tell her. But no one else had to know.

Maitea

Ace is pale as sheet, and as he holds my hand to his face, I can feel it burning. His fever must have been well over 100 degrees.

"You're not supposed to be here." Ace says.

"But I am, screw Reg and his disciples." I choke out a laugh. Ace's eyes flicker to Cleo.

"Cleo, leave." I say.

"Why?" She asks.

"Cleo, leave." Riley echos. Cleo throws up her arms and walks out the door. Riley follows her.

"I'm going to talk to Reg." She says. I look down at Ace.

"What happened, did you see the poison, did you check the..." I start questioning him.

"No, Maitea, my cell counts are going straight back to what they'd been when I was thirteen."

"No, Ace, they can't be. I won't let them." I say, sounding rather pathetic.

Riley

I run down to find Reg.

He is pacing down a hallway, cursing at everything that seems to exist.

"So tha's where ya were?" He demands.

"Watch yourself, Reg." I say, a dark tone creeping into my voice.

"You're a bloody liar, Riles." He says. Coming from him, this hurt. But I wasn't a liar,really. I had done what was right, what I knew would be better in the long run.

"I'm doing what's right." I say, trying not to scream.

"You ain't the tiger an'more." Reg says, yelling now.

"Maybe I don't want to be." Subconsciously, I reach for my gun. "Why don't you let me run this gang, and remember who runs this. My god, you're worse than Jack!"

I had never really fought with Reg before, not like this. We had always been on the same wavelength. And, I realized now, it was because Bree had been there. Not when I was down south, bu after she came to America. She was the middle person who had kept us all sane. The common ground. Now that she was gone, there was no common ground.

Ace

"No, Ace, they can't be. I won't let them," Maitea said, clearly in denial.

"Look, Maitea," I began and stopped. I could hear Reg and Riley fighting downstairs. I brought my voice down to a whisper. "You can't cure leukemia, silly. I wish you could, but all I can do is just wait it out and see what happens. And you being here will help a lot. Hopefully I'll still have the strength to help out with the gang...they still don't have me on anything too harsh, so I just have to get used to these damn side effects."

She leaned over me so I held her and stroked her hair, sighing. "I wish they'd stop yelling down there," I said. "This whole gang's going to shit without Bree." That just made Maitea more upset. "I'm sorry; it wasn't really your fault, Maitea. But it's just like one thing after another...Bree gone, you being sent away, Reg PMSing, Sal and that whole Ghost thing...that one chick that I still don't know what she's doing here, but I hope she's helpful...and me...well. I knew this would happen again sooner or later."

"But what can we really do about it?" she asked.

I took a few calming breaths and then shrugged. "I'm not sure we can do anything." I wished we could. "But...for everyone's sake, they need to stop yelling."

Eve

"Everyone! I feel so alone. You guys are the only people here that actually talk to me. Everyone else just ignores me," Aurelie said.

I sighed, knowing how she felt.

"Maybe it's because no one really knows you." I said. "Right now, you're just some girl off the streets that we helped. You have to let them know that you're good at something." I still really didn't like her that much, but I did feel bad.

Aurelie nodded, and Chris and I resumed talking, until I heard Riley call for Cleo. I listened to what they were saying right above, and it made me sort of angry. The girl wasn't even old enough to be a doctor! I tried to ignore it, but I kept wondering if she would replace me as the medic in the group. I wasn't really good at much else.

Maitea came in, and I was completely baffled when she did. She and I weren't the greatest of friends, but I missed her so much. Riley took her straight upstairs, though, so I didn't even get to say hi. I knew she was going to Ace, and I was glad about that. I knew they'd be thrilled to see each other.

"Why don't you let me run this gang, and remember who runs this. My god, you're worse than Jack!" I heard Riley yell at Reg. I didn't know who Jack was, but I agreed with her. Reg was only pressuring her more, and she was already really stressed. Reg needed to trust that Riley knew what she was doing, even if she didn't.

Reg stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. We just looked at him. He looked at each of us, and spat, "What are you bloody look'n at?" At that, he stomped upstairs. Riley came in, and sat down next to us.

Reg Carter

I burst into the room where Ace and Maitea were, my anger stripped from me by Riley's comments. Hell, she was the one who knew me better than anyone and if she said I was worse than Jack, she meant it. I looked at them both.

"Look 'ere," I growled, "I ain't got long before Riley gets up here with a stick up her arse because I'm in here, hell there might even be shooting, but I need to tell you this flat-out and steady."

"Reg, don't bother," Maitea cried.

"No, you. You shut-up," I yelled back at her, "Now look 'ere, I ain't got nothing on you anymore Ace, what the heck's the point? As for you Maitea, you weren't yourself, this ain't me apologising because you still bloody killed Bree. The fact is, I couldn't care less anymore. She's dead, that's all. There's no point anymore, you made sure of that. I'm not gonna feel guilty for making you depressed, 'cause you deserve that at the very least. The only thing I'm gonna do is refrain from putting a bullet in your skull."

I left the room as Riley came up, gun in hand, it was pointed straight at me, her face with confusion and distort anger. Then a shot. At first I thought it'd come from outside at the smash of the window, but I realised now that it was inside. It had torn straight through my shoulder and burst out through the window behind me. I collapsed in horror and blacked out, hoping the shooter wasn't Riles.

Riley

I don't know if it was from stress, but I can remember being confused, and then I pulled the trigger, and Reg was on the ground.

Once I realized what I had done, I bent down beside him.

"Reg, oh my god, I am so stupid." I look around.

"Riley, what happened?" Maitea asks. the doo had been shut most of the time.

"Cleo!" I yell.

"Wha....oh, god!" She says, running upstiars.

"Get him awake, please." I beg her.

Eve

I heard a gunshot from upstairs, then Cleo's name being called...again. That made me really angry.

I had been drinking a glass of root-beer, so I slammed the cup on the counter, then stormed of. Why did they call for Cleo?!

Cleo came running downstairs and got her first-aid kit.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Reg got shot. I'll explain the rest later, I have to go."

Great! I though. I had already treated Reg once, and I did perfectly fine. I couldn't figure out why Riles was always calling for Cleo when someone got hurt. Maybe my time in the gang was already over. I wasn't good at anything else besides doctoring, and someone came that was better at that. Once again, I lost my place in the gang, and in the world. I didn't know what to do.

I stomped up to the library and slammed the door shut. After I locked it, I sat down in the chair, crying silently. Things weren't going very well for me.

Jimmy

As the sound of a gunshot echoed in the house, I froze. Who had been shot? I jumped off my bed and quickly left my room. As I passed the library, something caught my attention. Was there someone crying...? It was very faint, but I was pretty sure that I could hear something. Forgetting about the gun shot, I slowly opened the library door.

After opening the door, I saw Eve sitting down in one of the chairs. She looked far from happy. As I walked in, Eve turned to look at me. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot. Yeah, she'd definitely been crying.

"Hey," I said. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah." Eve replied, rubbing her eyes.

"I find that hard to believe somehow." I forced a smile and sat next to her. "It's Cleo, isn't it...?"

Eve nodded slowly. I sighed heavily as I leaned back in the chair. Cleo was a nice girl, I of all people knew that. She just had a tendency of showing herself up and she didn't half know how to spoil some things. Me and Alis, for example. She didn't mean any harm though, I suppose...

"Why did you tell her she could join the gang?" Eve looked at me. "Do you really think that I'm that bad of a doctor?"

Eve

"Do you really think that I'm that bad of a doctor?" I asked Jimmy.

"Of course not, Eve." Jimmy said. "She and I are really good friends, and we just hadn't seen each other for a while. I'd completely forgotten that she was a doctor."

"I know, it's just that she's still new and Riles has already kinda replaced me. It took forever to find my place here, and now I just feel like I've lost it."

"Trust me, I know how you feel. Inviting Cleo here screwed a lot of things up."

I laughed through my tears, remembering everything that happened since Cleo came.

After a minute of silence, I said, "You should probably leave. We don't want anyone to see us and get the wrong idea."

"I guess you're right." Jimmy said with a smile. "If you need anything, I'm always up for talking."

"Thanks." I said, as he left the room. He didn't say anything, he just smiled and shut the door. It was good to have someone who understood. I couldn't exactly go to Alis for my problems, and Sal was out of the picture now. Reg and I weren't really good friends, and Riles...she didn't even seem to know that I existed.

Alis

"Someone shot Reg." I announced, walking into where Jimmy was.

"Who?" He raises an eyebrow.

"My money is on Riley."

"Wait, why?"

"Because, there were only three people there. Ace wouldn't, he wasn't even armed. Maitea wouldn't dare ofter what happened with Bree, and that leaves Riley. Besides, she looses her temper easily. They were fighting earlier." I say with a shrug.

"Is he dead?" Jimmy suddenly asks with concern.

"I wish." I laugh. Jimmy gives me a look, "Reg is dangerous, and honestly a little violent."

"And you're not?"

Eve

I wipe away my tears and walk out of the library. Jimmy and Alis were talking, but I just walked passed them and into the kitchen. I was still hitting myself for crying. I was too emotional, and I let my emotions show too much.

Chris was still sitting in the kitchen when I walked in.

"The gang's getting along pretty well." She said sarcastically. I couldn't help but laugh, despite my mood.

"How's Reg doing?" I asked.

"Good. Cleo got him all bandaged up." My hands clenched into fists, and Chris's eyes flickered to them. Then I relaxed, and her gaze moved back to my face. She didn't say anything about it.

I decided to change the subject.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's no one really out to kill us...right now." I added. "I mean, there's nothing really to do. We could go rob another house but whose to say something won't happen like last time?"

Chris nodded, and thought for a second. Finally she spoke.

"I see what you mean," she said. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Riles thinks is best."

I nodded, and we were both silent.

Reg Carter

I'd finally woken up. It had seemed like seconds since I'd been shot and the pain had returned instantly. The bandaging job was shabby for Eve and I was dissapointed. Flicking my eyes open I noticed Riley sitting on a stool next to my bed. She seemed upset, which was incredibly unlike her. Momentarily I'd forgotten she might've shot me; as the events came rushing back, I thought twice before speaking.

"Bandage is a bit crap for the likes of Eve," I muttered.

She looked up suddenly, surprised to see I was awake. She was speechless for a moment before replying, "It wasn't Eve that did it, Reg. I got Cleo on it."

"Cleo?" I laughed. "Why the blimmin' hell you'd do that for? Eve's better at the bandaging stuff, besides she'd done good last time. When a girl done good, you don't ever throw 'er out. It's hard to find a damn good girl."

Riley's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Reg."

Despite my anger, I couldn't stand Riles crying. I knew she'd shot me now but who cares. Like I'd vowed at one point. I'd only ever protect three people with my life: Bree, My Sis and Riles. Bree was dead. My sister was in Witness Protection god knows where. Riley was all I had left. Ignoring the pain I lifted my body upright and gave Riley a long hug. She needed that. It had been too long.

"Now stop bloody sobbin' and get Eve in 'ere to do a decent job," I grunted. Riley managed a smile and walked out the room.