T W O

Reading books was like an escape from the world for Ramsay. He could just lie on his pullout couch, ankles crossed, and get lost in somewhere else, with someone else, as somebody else. There wasn’t anything better than that.

“Boy!” his father’s voice called. Ramsay jerked and sat up, pushing the book under his pillow and quickly lighting a cigarette next to him. BT walked into the trailer that exact moment and Ramsay took a deep breath, releasing the smoke afterward.

“I told you not to do it in the trailer,” the man grumbled.

Ramsay rolled his eyes and stood from the couch, wondering that if he already lit it for a show, he could just as well finish it. Bumping into his dad’s shoulder, he left the trailer, shutting the door behind him with a small thud, and sat on the few steps outside.

Releasing another steam of smoke with a growl on his face, Ramsay looked at the homeless dog who was always wandering around the trailer park, looking for food and shelter. He had started calling him Hotdog a few years back, having found the name funny when he read about it on the internet, and the animal had adapted it pretty quickly.

 He blew a whistle and the dog started jogging towards him immediately, the boy keeping his face neutral while waiting for the three-year-old sheepdog to run into his arms. Before that could happen though, the trailer door opened again, revealing his dad, and the dog stopped, afraid of men with alcohol smell on them.

“Ram.” The boy didn’t answer and simply kept smoking, staring at the dog twenty feet away who had started barking at BT. “You have a shift at the bar tomorrow.”

“I know, I have it every night.” BT frowned and scratched the back of his neck, getting Ramsay’s attention. Something was going on. “What?

“Uh… I need to get groceries.”

Ramsay sighed deeply and stared into the man’s cold brown eyes, attempting to find the dad he had once known. There were no signs of him. But Ramsay couldn’t say no. He never could. So, pulling out some cash from his pocket, he pressed it into his dad’s palm, and the man smiled, pushing the beanie he was wearing down to his nose.

Ramsay hated it when people did that. The beanie had come to his life at nine years of age when playing on the street with other kids from the Sunnyside Trailer Park. Peaton had kicked the soccer ball too hard and Ramsay had been the one to go after it, into a large mud puddle. The beanie was in it, dirty and broken, but he took it with him and let his mom wash it.

Throughout the years, it had become his symbol of hope and memories. Ever since that day, no one had seen Ramsay Jones, the ‘prince’ of the Southside Vipers without that beanie on his head.

There were theories on the Northside about him having a bald scalp, and his own friends made fun of it as well, but Ramsay kept his head up high like always, having learned how to cope with tough emotions and moments in other ways than bullying them back.

“Get that dog away from here,” BT grumbled, the animal still barking on the place. Ramsay simply kept quiet and waited until his father was out of sight, going ‘grocery shopping’ which he already knew meant buying alcohol, bacon, and chips. When he was gone, the dog stopped making the noise and ran over to Ramsay, sitting down next to him while licking his cheek.

“Hey, boy,” Ramsay said, petting the fur with his free hand. “How have you been today? Did Ani feed you when she got home from school?”

“Do not worry about that, Jones.” Ramsay looked up and smiled a bit at the girl approaching him. “Hey Hotdog.” She petted his fur and pushed the beanie on Ramsay’s head over his eyes as a greeting, making the guy groan. “Got more cigarettes?”

“You can finish this,” he mumbled and handed the half-burnt one to her.

“Ooh, thanks.” She took a long drag from it, sitting down beside her best friend. “Mateo called,” she said.

Ramsay hummed. “Isn’t he busy teaching a Northsider how to take orders?”

Ani smirked, the two sharing an amused look, already knowing they were going to tease the new girl working at the diner. They didn’t know who she was or if they had met her before, because none of them had gotten her name when Mateo told them, but the two knew how to have fun with new people who probably hated them.

“Well, apparently, she can bake. It can be false, but she’s making trays full of cakes or some shit, and they’ll give them away for testing and feedback on her skills…”

The two were surrounded by a pool of smoke when Ramsay’s eyes lit up. “Free food?”

Ani hummed and nodded. “Don’t get too excited, Jones, the Northsider might not even know how to bake.”

“Free food is free food. Good or not,” Ramsay said and stood up, only stepping inside his trailer to grab his motorcycle keys and the leather jacket. Pulling it on, they walked up to the bike, and Ani climbed on first before Ramsay took a seat in the front, letting the girl wrap her arms around him, both of them ignoring the helmet attached to the back of the motorcycle.

#

Arriving at Carl’s together, many Northside families watched them, but Ramsay wondered they weren’t the rich ones who probably were celebrating their kids’ last school day of the year in fancier restaurants. So, making sure his bike was parked correctly (he did not need more tickets), the two walked inside.

“Hey, Carl. Mateo,” Ramsay greeted, eyes fixed on the tray of cupcakes his best guy friend was holding.

“You’ve outdone yourself.” He briefly noticed the two high schoolers on the stools and the girl behind the counter, simply digging into the cupcake he was holding when the Northsiders laughed at something.

Ramsay couldn’t help but let out a groan even before he had swallowed. When he did though, he took another bite, “So good,” he mumbled and grabbed a second cupcake.

Only after tossing the first liner on the counter and taking a bite out of the second one, he met the girl’s eyes. The emerald pools were settled on his greyish-green ones, curiously looking at the way he ate. Ramsay gulped his bite down, staring plainly at her face for a moment before stuffing the other half of the cupcake into his mouth and giving her a wink, lips curling upwards.

The blonde girl, whose nametag referred to her as Emmie, twitched her lips a bit too before looking at the ground, cheeks growing pinker by a second. Ani and Ramsay shared a look when he finally sat down on a stool, smirking at one another.

They were going to have some fun with her.

“Here you go, V,” the blonde spoke, serving a piece of one of the pies to the raven-haired girl sitting next to him. But not before powdering some sugar on it. “Hope it’s okay,” she added, making a face at herself.

Ramsay’s eyes jumped between the two girls who seemed to be friends. “Don’t worry, Em, if that’s as delicious as the one you made on Valentine’s day, I’m gonna love it.”

Lesbians? Or best friends who moped on Valentine’s day together? Ramsay wasn’t sure.

Emmie chuckled at that. “It was the worst one I’ve ever made.”

“It was,” the ginger girl behind them stated. Ramsay frowned looking at Olivia Cooper. He might have not known who the two girls were at first, but everyone in New Field knew Olivia Cooper and her family. He had always gotten a bitchy attitude from her, though. She seemed to think she was better than everyone.

And he had never seen that girl eating anything besides a salad.

“Well that’s definitely not a compliment,” the boy who was sitting next to the alleged V mumbled while rolling his eyes.

“Shut up, Walters.”

Walters. Sheriff Walters. His son? Wow, he had lots of important Northsiders there… Olivia Cooper, Walters, and the girl next to him just had to be a Lewis, judging from her pearls and high heels. But, how did the blonde baker with a ponytail fit into their group? He was curious to find out.

“Emmie, right?” he questioned, getting all of their attention. The girl simply nodded, her green eyes meeting his carefully. It wasn’t a judging look, and he was taken aback by the way her eyes darkened when meeting his. “You made these?”

“Yep,” she said, popping the last p with a small smile on her lips.

He nodded. “And they’re free?”

“I guess…” She glimpsed at Carl for a moment who nodded with a proud smile.

“How did she do? Is it good?”

“Amazing,” Ramsay nodded eagerly and Ani hummed while doing the same. “Just keep them coming as long as they’re free I guess.”

Emmie frowned a bit, still smiling, and Ramsay reached for another cupcake—coconut with blueberries. “What’s your name?”

The blonde arched her eyebrows. “Emmie…” she said. Now she was judging. She looked at him like he had just escaped from a mental facility.

“Full name?”

She swallowed, keeping eye contact, while slowly saying, “Davis.”

Ramsay froze for a moment, staring her right into the eye, then gulped the bite down and tilted his head to see Ani. The girl was already smirking, planning to make that blonde’s life hell if she ever happened to be their waitress. When the two looked at Mateo though, he gave his head a shake, warning them about something.

Ramsay wasn’t quite sure what it was yet, but when he fixed his eyes back at the girl behind the counter, she was staring down at her fisted hands on the wooden fabric.

At least now he knew how she fit in with the gang. Her parents were the worst Northsiders besides the Coopers. The Davises were a nightmare.

But looking back at Emmie, Ramsay looked at the way her knuckles turned white while fisting her hands and then suddenly stopped, the girl turning around and while mumbling something about cleaning up to Carl, disappearing back into the kitchen.

Something wasn’t right with her. And Ramsay Jones made it his mission to find out what it was.