17. My House

A few hours later, my house was packed.

The music was loud, bass rattling the walls. People filled every room, spilling onto the back porch and even out front. The kitchen was stocked with drinks, and my city friends—Jonah, Theo, and a bunch of others—had fully taken over, turning the place into a scene that felt straight out of a real party, not some tame high school get-together.

This was our party.

And the best part? The guys had no idea.

Tess and I were in the living room when the front door swung open, and in walked Grayson, Jax, Luke, and a few other hockey guys.

They all stopped dead in their tracks.

Grayson's eyes scanned the chaos, brows furrowing. "What the—"

Tess leaned over and whispered, "They look pissed."

I smirked. "Good."

Jax turned to Grayson. "Dude. What the hell?"

Grayson looked at me, and I just smiled sweetly. "Oh, didn't you hear? We threw the party tonight."

His jaw tightened. "Calliope."

I grinned. "Welcome to my house, boys." Grayson looked pissed, "so now you're talking to me?" He growled.

"No, she's just welcoming guests, you're free to stay, isn't that right Allie." Tess threw an arm over my shoulder lazily with a smirk to her face.

We had brought the city to the small town boys, and shit was bound to go down, the side of the city I come from, it's always been a shit place, gangs, drugs, shootings, but the one thing that was good, the fucking party's.

"Yo Allie, you good?" Theo called iver to me as he strutted in like he owned the place, his confidence persistent as usual.

"Yeah, great." I smirked sarcastically at Grayson, I didn't know why I suddenly had a point to prove around not just Gray but all the hockey guys.

But I did, they wasn't fragile, they wasn't vulnerable, they wouldn't let someone corner them and make them feel so small that they couldn't do anything but get broken.

They just played the game, with a plan and precision.

"Let's just go out back." Grayson suggested to the guys, dropping whatever they had brought to set up and walking away.

Theo and Tess laughed historically, fist bumping each other like they were seven, "Seriously though, do I need to put those shit heads in their place Calliope?" Theo looked me dead in the eye.

"Nah, they're just trying to understand why Tess went all beast on them."

"Beast Tess? Jeez what happened this time, I mean Tessa your all beauty but as soon as someone hurst one of us your all, grrr!" Theo put his hands up as he made a 'grrr' growing sound.

"A guy pinned Allie against the wall when those hockey assholes should've been watching her." She shrugged her shoulders as Theo turned to me shocked.

It was because I didn't tell him or Jonah, but they think with there fists and they where hours away, no point in them knowing.

"What's his fucking name? I swear to god Allie if it's some prick at this party!" Theo clicked his knuckles, protective as him and Jonah always were of Tess and I.

Funny how it all started as some random ten and eleven year olds that thought we were one of the 'cool' kids.

Having older friends in the city meant you had connections, you were protected, the people that were feared in the city had your back if their friend had yours.

So running errands for them was a way to earn their respect, however it wasn't respect, they was manipulative, they used you to do stupid drug deals or to steal something that would end up in you getting arrested.

And I was the one to be victim of Ricky, he was seventeen and I was ten, I'd do anything he asked, most older kids involved in crime would have some younger to do the little jobs they didn't want to.

All for some stupid street cred.

I was told to meet some guys up at an abandoned railroad, it was cold and dark winter, the bitter hit at my face as I carried pills I didn't even know the name of.

Two scrawny guys approached, they didn't appear older than me in any way, then a tall kid maybe seventeen stormed over to us, pushing a thin blonde so shes walk with him.

She stared at the ground, clearly not wanting to have any part in this, a couple other guys stood near by.

The handover started as usual, some familiar faces but like one of the scrawny guys, who I recognised as Theo from my school, he was chatty, he pointed out the obvious quite a lot but he wasn't a bad guy.

And some olders who I had met through Ricky.

"Didn't know you were involved in these things." Theo whispered over to me as the older kids were discussing something, the guy beside him stood quietly scanning the area.

And the blonde continued to stare at the floor, using her hair to hide her face.

"My mom's never around, I needed someone to have my back." I shrugged. "I've got your back, you seem cool."

"Somethings not right." The quiet boy spoke in a low voice, surprisingly different for someone our age. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"The drugs we handed over, they're counting, they don't have enough." Jonah tilted his head over to where the olders were yelling.

"It's my fault, my dad is blackmailing me, he wants drugs, I'm so sorry, I'll come clean." The blonde looked up, frightened, glossy eyes with red checks from previous tears.

"No! It's make things worse, you'll get you ass beat." I went as loud as I could without being heard by anyone older.

"It's fine, just act normal."

Before you knew it, we were thrown around acuses of using the missing drugs ourselves, which wasn't true as it was the blondes dad using them, so we did nothing.

With a bruising eye and busted lip I ran behind a train, hearing Ricking the kind of the streets yelling at everyone, peering round to see him with a knife as people held Jonah and Theo with their arms behind their backs.

I crouched behind the train, breathing hard, tasting blood. My lip throbbed, and my eye was already swelling shut. The freezing metal of the train tracks bit into my palms, but I didn't move. I couldn't.

Not when I heard Ricky's voice—sharp, cruel, and way too close.

"You little shits think you can steal from me?" he sneered.

Jonah and Theo struggled against the guys holding them, but they were just kids. No match for Ricky's crew.

The blonde girl—the one who had been forced to come along—was nowhere to be seen.

She must have run.

Smart girl.

I should've run, too.

But instead, I stayed.

And then I saw it.

The knife in Ricky's hand.

It glinted under the dim streetlight, a jagged, nasty thing that sent ice through my veins.

Jonah and Theo weren't just getting roughed up.

They were getting taught a lesson.

I clenched my fists, brain working overtime. Running was the smart choice. Getting out, disappearing into the night, finding a way home—that was the move.

But they had my back.

And I wasn't about to let them take the fall alone.

So I stepped out.

"You wanna pull a knife on some kids?" My voice was steady, even as my heart pounded.

Ricky turned, his sneer twisting into something like amusement. "Oh, look who finally decided to show her face."

"Let them go."

He scoffed. "And why the hell would I do that?"

I didn't flinch.

"Because I'll take the heat."

Jonah and Theo both shouted in protest, but I ignored them.

Ricky raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "You think you can take the heat for them?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I never told Theo in words I had his back too, but I'd like to think this was how I did.

A slow smirk spread across his face. "You got balls, kid. Maybe you do belong here."

He gestured for his guys to let Jonah and Theo go.

They dropped to the ground, coughing, but I didn't turn to check on them. Because Ricky was in front of me now, eyes gleaming with something dangerous.

"You may be the most feared on this side of the city, Rick, but trust me on this, you don't scare me, so no your worst, murder me for all I care, give it your best shot." I found confidence from no where.

Probably looking like some idiot but I didn't care, someday I'd run these fucking streets the right way.

"You think I can't kill you?" He laughed like some maniac. "All I know, is you're some wannabe gangster who makes ten year olds do your dirty work."

"Oh and trust me on this Rick, I'll be the one to walk away from this."

"Fine then show me, Allie," he drawled, using the nickname someone else had once thrown my way. "How bad do you want that street cred?"

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A/N: KID CALLIE WAS A BADASS!!

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