4

CHAPTER 2

Not WHAT WE PLANNED

§ LOUIS §

It was a brand new day.

I walked into the living room to see my next door neighbor Margaret here.

“Hey Margaret, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Hey Louis, I’ve been given info that your mum’s in hospital,” Margaret said sadly.

“What happened to her?!” I asked, terrified that something bad had happened.

“On her way home from the pub last night, she got robbed and beaten apparently,” said Margaret.

I took a deep breath in.

“But I’ve been told that she’ll be fine,” Margaret reassured. “None of her major body parts were beaten so she'll need to be taken care of for a few days and given pain-killing medication before she comes home.”

I sighed. I was relieved that my mum was going to recover, but I was still so upset that someone would do such a fucking thing to her.

“Can I see her?” I asked.

“I think it's best not to given the state that she's in,” said Margaret. “She needs rest and she'll be back before you know it, but I'm gonna have to take care of you for a few days before she's released.”

“Okay, as long as she's alright…” I sighed, and then I let my emotions get the better of me and I started crying. I couldn’t help myself. Just the thought of somebody laying their hands on my mother, the thought of her being hurt… and I wasn’t there for her.

Margaret stared at me awkwardly, not knowing what to do. I took a deep breath in.

“Sorry, it's just that nothing like this has ever happened to my mum,” I said sadly. “I'm just a bit shocked, that's all.”

Margaret hugged me reassuringly and I rested in her embrace.

“I promise you she'll be fine,” she said. “Stop worrying and get yourself to school, it's Monday remember?”

I nodded, trying my best to get myself into a better mood, and walked to my room. I quickly dusted myself off and changed into my school uniform, and then began making my way to school.

***

As I walked to school, I sang the Birmingham Anthem by Lotto Boyzz in an attempt to cheer myself up. Good music always helped me to feel better when things were going shit.

“I come from these ends, pengting outta town she hurt my feelings, yeah…”

Before I knew it, I was at the school gates.

***

When I arrived at school, I walked into the usual busy, crowded playground. There were people taking selfies together, guys bragging about the girl they had sex with last night, people talking about the new song that just came out by AJ Tracey, and others playing football.

I searched the playground for my best friend, Keelan. Keelan was my day one brother from another mother. We’d been friends for years. We told each other everything, and we did everything together. He was white, and he always tied his light blonde hair up in a manbun.

I spotted Keelan at the other side of the playground. He had a random chick smashed up against a tree, and they were kissing so hard it looked like they were playing fucking tonsil-tennis. I’d had enough of watching people kiss when I always accidentally walked in on my mum and Steve. I didn’t need to watch my best friend twist more tongues than I ever will in my life.

“Keelan,” I said, coughing, trying to spin him out of his trance. How people could snog like this in public was beyond me. He carried on holding the girl, ignoring me calling his name.

“KEELAN!” I screamed. Keelan jumped up, startled, and the random girl folded her arms angrily, clearly pissed off at me for interrupting them. Like I gave a fuck.

“Yo Louis! I was just…” Keelan began awkwardly.

“Being a manslag, as always,” I said exhaustedly.

Keelan broke out into laughter and I did the same. The girl looked so pissed off right now, if looks could kill, she could probably cut me in half with a knife with those piercing eyes.

“I’ll text you,” she said to Keelan seductively, clearly trying to get his attention again. When he ignored her, she stormed off angrily.

Keelan took steps towards me as I continued to laugh.

“Fam, why’d you have to interrupt us for?!” he said angrily. “She was hot.” He folded his arms angrily.

I burst out into laughter again. “Shut up bruv, what are you even doing with her? She’s way too old.” Me and Keelan were only in year 9, and this girl was in year 11. Making us 14, and her 16.

“Only two years older bruv, chill out,” Keelan said defensively, and then rolled his eyes as the school bell rang. “I literally can’t be arsed with school today, man.”

“Same man,” I sighed. “Come on.”

We made our way to the main entrance and started walking towards our classroom, talking about last night’s football match of Manchester United against Arsenal.

As we made our way down to the corridor, we saw a girl standing outside of our class. I would be lying if I said she wasn’t sexy as fuck, because she was. She had slender, bright blue eyes, tanned skin, gorgeous brown hair up in a ponytail, and to top it off, she was tall, with the longest legs I’d ever seen on a girl in high school.

She winked in our direction and I scratched my arm, embarrassed, trying to look away from her when the damage was already done. She’d caught us both staring at her like fucking idiots.

“Her name’s Ellie. She’s so much sexier than the girl I was making out with before,” said Keelan, biting his finger seductively, and I started cracking up with laughter. Keelan went through a different girl everyday, and didn’t give two fucks about it. He was so laid back and unbothered, no wonder everybody called him a fuckboy.

“You’re never satisfied, bro,” I laughed.

We walked to our classroom and Ellie greeted us with a wide smile.

“You alright, boys?” she said happily.

“Could be better,” I shrugged.

Keelan rolled his eyes. “I’m great b!” he said enthusiastically. “Thanks for askin’.”

Ellie giggled at him. “That’s good to hear.” She rubbed her neck sheepishly. “Look, I was wondering if you both wanted to come to my party next weekend? It’s my birthday and I want everyone to be there.”

“You can count me in!” Keelan exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. Could he look any more desperate?

Ellie bit her lip seductively as she stared at me. “Can you come, Louis?” She walked towards me, shaking her ass like she was on a catwalk, practically shoving Keelan out of the way. Keelan folded his arms awkwardly as Ellie started tracing my face with her long nails.

“Erm, I’m not sure I can make it,” I said awkwardly, taken aback by the physical contact. “I’m helping my mum with something.”

I stared at her uneasily but she didn’t seem to get the hint.

“I hope you change your mind, babe,” she shrugged, and then started tracing the collar of my shirt with her fingers, biting her lip. “I’ll make sure that you do.”

I pushed her off me angrily. “Don’t touch me, you slut!” I spat. I knew I was being harsh, but she needed to realise that I didn’t want her fucking hands on me.

Keelan shook his fists angrily at my words, and Ellie gasped, taken aback.

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Keelan shouted.

Ellie hugged him, thankful to him for defending her. I felt like fucking puking. I was more pissed off at how gullible Keelan was.

“Oh, give it a rest, Keelan,” I spat, and he folded his arms angrily. “Sucking up to her isn’t gonna make her like you any more, you thirsty bastard. She was all over me just a minute ago, you gullible prick.”

I rolled my eyes sarcastically, and Keelan looked positively fucking fuming.

“What did you just say?!” he demanded, dropping his arm from around her, charging up to me, causing Ellie to take steps backwards. He spat on my face.

“I called you a filthy bastard,” I confirmed, wiping my face with my sleeve in disgust.

By now, everybody in the corridor was gathering around, cheering excitedly. “Fight, fight, fight!” everybody chanted. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but with Keelan taking the side of a girl over his best fucking friend, and my mother in hospital, I was already pissed off to the point of no return. I wanted to fight him right here, right now.

Keelan’s hand balled up into a fist and he punched my nose, hard. Blood started dripping out of my nose. I doubled over and kicked him in the groin. He fell onto the floor, and I continued to punch him. He yelled in pain.

“Get him Keelan!” Ellie shouted encouragingly, as the crowd continued to cheer me on. Keelan could barely talk; he was staggering in pain. I punched him once again for good measure.

“That’s quite enough of that!” screamed the headteacher, as she walked into the corridor. “Stop that at once!”

“He started it, Miss!” I shouted, folding my arms angrily.

The headteacher rolled her eyes, ignoring me. “Ellie, take Keelan to first aid for me,” she demanded.

Ellie nodded timidly, and Keelan’s hands balled into a fist again.

“You really wanna try it again?!” I shouted.

Keelan rolled his eyes, limping out of the room with Ellie’s arms around him.

“Louis, that’s quite enough!” the headteacher shouted. “I am so disappointed in you. This is unlike you. What were you thinking?!”

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe he deserved it,” I said bitterly.

“Answering back!” the headteacher snapped. “Get to my office now!”

“No!” I argued defensively. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Louis, my office NOW!” she screamed. “Before I call your mother.”

At the mention of my mother, my face fell and I felt overcome with sadness as I remembered she was in the hospital.

The headteacher pointed in the direction of her office, like I didn’t know where it was already. “I’ll be there with you in ten minutes.”

I stared at her angrily, and began walking to her office. As soon as she was out of sight, I went down a different corridor, and ran out of the emergency escape door. I couldn’t be bothered with all of this. I didn’t want to deal with her shouting at me relentlessly and ringing up my mum, like my mum didn’t already have enough to deal with. As soon as I was out of the building, I began to run, and bolted out of the school gates.

§ ABID §

Me and Trex were at a bar, getting wasted. We ordered shot after shot, drinking till we were smashed and had no idea what the fuck we were doing. We started dancing like idiots, making a fucking fool of ourselves. Steve had sent us here on a mission to send a warning hit against a shady bastard involved with getting information from Bilal. Right now, he was nowhere to be seen, so me and Trex were just enjoying ourselves, waiting for him to arrive.

I looked across the bar to see a beautiful woman standing there alone. She was wearing tiny black shorts paired with a black crop top that left little to the imagination, and a red jacket. Everything about her screamed sexy. She had plump lips painted a black glossy colour, tanned skin and light brown hair that was half shaved and half curly. I would be lying if I said she didn’t catch my fucking eye, and the guy that Steve had sent us to deal with wasn’t here yet… So what was the harm in having a little fun? It’s not everyday you come across such a pretty girl who’s exactly your type.

I walked over to her. Well, more like I strutted towards her, because I was so fucking waved.

“What’s a beautiful girl like you doing here at a bar all alone?” I asked confidently.

“I’m actually waiting for someone,” she shrugged.

“How about I keep you company till they come?”

“I’d like that,” she smiled, rubbing her neck sheepishly.

“Can I get you a drink, beautiful?” I asked, keeping eye contact with her.

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll get my own,” she reassured.

“It’s on me,” I smiled, and she blushed a deep red. Fuck, she was so beautiful.