𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 - 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬

i. strangers, snapbacks and storms

"𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐓. This is your chance to do something positive. Give something back. You can help people, you can really make a difference to people's lives. That's what community service is all about. There are people out there who think you're scum. Here, you have an opportunity to show them they're wrong."

Thea Wallace rolled her eyes as she leaned back against the railings of the community centre, an unimpressed grimace on her face. She'd officially been there for a grand total of fifteen minutes, and she was already sick to death of it. An arsey probation worker who was reciting the same cringey lecture that her aunt had given her a thousand times since her arrest, a bunch of weirdos dressed in the same ugly orange jumpsuits that she was, and a foreseeable future of nothing but painting benches- all in all it pretty much sounded like a living hell to her.

"But what if they're right?" Another voice piped up, interrupting the probation worker Tony's monotonous speech and pulling Thea out of her thoughts. The Irish voice belonged to a tall, curly haired boy in the middle of the group. His green eyes held a mischievous glint, while the faintest of smirks played on his lips as he looked back at the older man. "No offence, but I'm thinking some people are just born criminals."

He pointed towards the boy beside him, who was slumped back lazily against the railings and wore an angled snapback on his head.

"Are you looking to get stabbed?" The second boy straightened himself up slightly and looked over with a deep scowl.

"You see my point there?" The curly haired boy raised his eyebrows as if to say 'told you so'.

"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past." Tony continued on,  doing his best to ignore the playful banter between the teenagers and instead give them an inspirational speech. But almost as soon as he began talking again, the sudden sound of a shrill ringtone pierced through his words, with the smallest girl in the group taking out her phone and bringing it to her ear.

"Hey." She twirled her hair around her finger nonchalantly as she spoke down the line. "Doing my community service. Its boring as fuck."

"Hello, I'm still talking here." The probation worker raised his eyebrows in irritation.

"What? I thought you'd finished." She shrugged back innocently.

"You see my lips still moving, that means I'm still talking."

"Yeah, but you could have been yawning, or chewing." The curly haired boy pondered, earning a slight laugh from some of the other teenagers.

"Could've been preparing for a dramatic career change to a circus mime." Thea added, feigning a look of innocence. While Tony only rolled his eyes, she heard a small chuckle from beside her and noticed out of the corner of her eye that the curly haired boy had glanced at her momentarily with a smirk.

"End the call. Hang up!" Tony raised his voice slightly, beginning to grow impatient with the group.

"My probation worker...don't be disgusting." The small girl continued to talk on the phone, a wry smile on her glossed lips.

"All right there, weird kid?" Curly piped up again, now turning his attention to the quietest member of the group who was a boy with piercing blue eyes and a shy demeanour. Thea scoffed at the insult, causing Curly to look at her with an innocent expression. "What? I'm trying to make friends."

She shot him a sarcastic smile.

"I'll call you later." The girl finally put her phone away, appeasing Tony for a mere second until he turned his attention to Curly who was now blowing kisses at the snapback boy.