Bad Boys

Derick First-Person Point Of View

Arzhel appeared in the doorway with wide eyes.

"What was all that noise?" he interjected, his tone cutting across the uneasy atmosphere in the room.

The boys sprang up quickly and blocked his path.

Troy acted tipsy, staggering a little and flashing this silly grin while he stumbled over to where Arzhel was waiting.

"Hi there, sweetie," he said a little too intently.

Arzhel laughed somewhat uncomfortably, attempting to move away.

"Dude, you guys are crazy," he said but Troy wasn't going to let him opt out. He began messing with Arzhel's curls.

The others also joined in and cheered Troy.

Hi, Arzhel, have you brought everyone for tonight?

"Damn, Arzhel, you pulling all of us tonight?"

"Better watch it, we might make you our boy!"

Troy continued to play with Arzhel's curls and his smile grew even cheekier.

"You into this stuff?" He was joking.

Arzhel appeared somewhat uneasy, but there was a glimmer of playfulness in his face.

“Ugh, you guys must be gay or something,” he quipped, but his laugh was a little strained.

He attempted to push Tray's hand out of the way and enter the room, but Tray caught his wrist.

"Hey, hey, hey," Tray took hold of Arzhel.

"come on. There isn't anything for you in there."

Arzhel hesitated but let Tray guide him back down the hallway.

"Weirdos," he muttered, glancing back at the obstructed doorway.

The moment he was out of sight, Shawn went to the dude who remained on the floor in a balled-up position.

He crouched down and took the phone from the boys trembling grasp.

He simply threw it onto the ground and stamped on it with his boot.

"That's what happens when you think you can simply walk on in here," he joked and delivered one final kick to his head.

The child moaned, barely conscious, his body convulsing on the floor.

"Let's split," he said with an air of nonchalance after they really screwed someone over.

The others simply nodded and exited the room as if nothing was wrong.

I waited for a while with the door partially open for them.

I was walking down the sidewalk and I saw this guy down on the pavement, rolled up in a ball and shivering.

A tear tracked down his disheveled cheek, picking up the light from the corridor.

He sort of struggled to keep his tears at bay.

For an instant there, something shifted within me. I don't know what. Guilt? Regret? Or perhaps nothing at all.

I shut the door without a word and joined the others.

We stumbled out of the party a bit disheveled, with everyone else still really loud and wired from the night.

Marcus was standing right by my side, leaning in close and saying, "I need some cash. I gotta take this girl I met out."

I couldn't help but laugh and shook my head. "You're hopeless, man," I exclaimed while opening up my bike's trunk.

I grabbed some money and simply handed it to him without even giving it a thought.

Marcus sported a wide smile, the gold tooth glinting in the streetlight. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed the back of my neck and kissed my forehead, laughing.

"Love ya, man. Always got your back."

I simply smiled and told them to go hike and get lost.

We shared a friendly fist bump with one another and then began to disperse in our individual directions. Troy being his normal self yelled out, "I gotta pee!" He walked over to a parked vehicle and opened his fly as if he didn’t care whose vehicle it was.

The others were screaming and having fun, but I was just floating along in my own world.

So, while Troy was occupied with his territory business, I took a quick glance to see if anybody was looking my way before I grabbed another stack of money.

I stumbled up the stairs, the sounds of the party disappearing as I reached the floor where the dude we had the problem with was hanging out.

The door somewhat creaked when I opened it.

He was bent over his shattered phone in his hands and his face was a total mess. I didn't say anything. I simply dropped the wad of cash right in front of him.

He stared up at me with wide and bewildered eyes, completely shaken with fear.

I didn’t wait for him to say anything. I simply turned and headed away, and with each step I took, the guilt grew.

So by the time I finally reached the basement, the party atmosphere hit me like a ton of bricks once again, but quite frankly, I simply wasn’t in the mood anymore. I picked up a red solo cup and filled it with hard liquor.

Just as I was going to devour it, Troy appeared again, wiping his hands on his jeans as if he had just done something incredible.

Troy regarded me with a concerned expression. "You okay? You've been a little strange tonight."

I shrugged and downed a gulp from the cup. "I needed one last drink before I go."

Troy simply nodded and let it be. He was wise enough not to ask too many questions.

Troy and I departed the party in tandem, our bikes vibrating with a hum as we whizzed down the streets. We didn’t say much—hadn’t needed to.

Finally, Troy relaxed a bit, nodded back at me, and turned right into his own neighborhood. I nodded in return and continued on my way, feeling the cool night breeze on my face as I hastened home.

I returned home and my mom was relaxing on the balcony like she always was, smoking. The moment she saw me, she let out this sound which was quite raspy and sort of irritated.

"Where were you?" she inquired, gazing down at me from her standing position.