Day 003

A young teenager stood at the edge of the sidewalk, the very tips of his black and blue block styled sneakers hovering in the air over the street cement.

“If you take one more step, kid,” Someone on the other side of the road called, “We’ll cut you up.”

“Yeah! We’ll cut you dead!”

The young teenager cocked a brow. Sure, he could get cut. Sure, he could go home bruised and beat. The pair on the other side of the street could do a lot to him.

But kill him? That they wouldn’t dare.

He picked one foot up and then the other, faking a movement but stopping before he started forward. The pair on the other side were a girl and a boy. The girl was the one holding up the knife, the neon color pink of the handle bright in the terrible sunlight overhead. The boy was short next to her, younger than both of them.

“You wouldn’t cut me,” The teenager called to them.

“Don’t tempt me, Davis.” The girl returned. She spun the knife in her hand. She had long fingers to match her long graceful legs. Fingers that were painted Russian Blood Red at the tips. Legs that wore nothing but a pair of tiny short shorts to match. “You know you’re banned from Fox Territory.”

“I didn’t realize they’d put guards on the edges of the road.” Davis dropped his backpack and slid down next to it, sitting crosslegged on the dirty asphalt.

“No, I came out here because I knew you’d try to sneak your way in.”

“Juliette, you’re being dumb. You’re the reason I’m banned anyway.”

A strangled look crossed her face. She put her free hand on the boy’s shoulder next to her, shoving him slightly.

“Go,” She muttered.

“But, I thought…”

“Just go!”

With a slumped look, the boy went back from where they came from. Fox territory full and bright behind Juliette’s back. Banners and posters and signs hung from the street light posts and the brick walls. A festival had passed over the weekend.

Davis promised he would go, but then he didn’t.

And now he wasn’t allowed back in.

“I didn’t mean to ditch you,” He called out over the wide road that seperated him and the dancer Juliette. She was tall and lean with mocha tinted skin. She stood, her back slightly arched and her knife still in her hand.

“You’re not going to be able to get back in here.”

“Juliette, my grandmother lives in Fox…”

“I don’t care about your grandmother, Davis.”

“So, what? We’re just going to have a stand off?”

“I suppose so.”

Juliette slipped down to the floor the same way that Davis had. She bent her legs and crossed her arms over her chest. Knife down at her side.

“You know, if I don’t go visit her today she’s going to think something awful happened to me.”

“You’re not getting past.” Juliette stared.

“Even if I apologize?”

“Even if you apologize.”

Davis sighed. He visited his grandmother every single Monday afternoon in Fox Territory. It was how he knew Juliette and her sister, Angelique, second in command of the Fox gang. And every single time him and Juliette had a fight was every single time he was banned from the premises. He would ignore protocol, but he knew that Juliette would fight him, she would mark him, she’d do a better job of beating him up than most other people would.

And he just didn’t want to risk it. So, he sat.

“Will you at least go tell her for me that I can’t come?”

Juliette arched a fine painted brow.

“I’ll turn back. I’ll go home. Just tell her that you banned me from the streets and I can’t make it over there, alright? You know where she lives.”

“How can you trust me?”

“I can’t, but I know you’d do me a favor before you lifted the ban. Besides, I deserve it, I’m sure.” Davis shrugged. He stood and picked his backpack up with him. Blue and black, just like his sneakers.

“Alright?”

Juliette didn’t respond, she stayed splayed out on the concrete, her hands far behind her back, body stretched.

“And if you can, bring me the cake she made me to school tomorrow. I’ll meet you at my locker at eight. We can share it.”

“And if you don’t show up?” She asked.

“You can ban me again next week.” He grinned at her before he turned and left. He’d have to go home and set his alarm clock.

She would ban him too.
She was just like that.

 

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