Ocean's Storm

Chapter Ten

              "Did you bring the paint like had I asked you to?"

               After I had left the school grounds, I had made up my mind completely on calling it a day. On the bus ride over here, I had started to debate on whether or not I wanted to turn back around. For some reason, I started to get this feeling like I was missing out on something important. But, then, the voice of reason came in and reassured me that I'm not missing anything important. This is the same place where we are taught relatively useless things, after all.

                "I thought Reggie was in charge of bringing the paint," Ansel admits, glancing over at Reggie- who is staring at the side of Kaylee's precious store.

                 Reggie looks back at Ansel with a sour look on his face. "I told you before we left that I am banned from buying spray paint in the entire city of Denver. The news around here seems to spread like wildfire- especially if you have vandalized federal property," he looks back at the brick wall and starts to frame it with his fingers. "How come we never spray-painted the side of the building on one of our last trips? Brick is such a boring color."

                    "How about your boyfriend?" Ansel asks, looking directly at me with a goofy grin on his face. "Is he going to bring us paint?"

                    "I don't have a boyfriend," I flatly state before asking. "Aren't you best friends with Spencer?"

                     "I'm also friends with Ocean, even though he doesn't know it," Ansel says happily and looks over at Reggie. "Did you know Storm likes both of the Carpenter boys?"

                     "That is so not true!" I protest a little too loudly and start to feel my cheeks slightly burning.

                    Reggie starts to laugh at my reaction and drops one of his 'L' shaped fingers. He turns around and gives me an 'L' with his fingers on his forehead. "That is a fat 'L', Storm. Not an 'L' for loser, but an 'L' for liar. If you don't like either of those boys, then why are your cheeks a light shade of red?"

                     "You're just mad 'cause you're not on her crush list," Ansel shoots back at him without any hesitation.

                      "Neither are you, dimwit," Reggie walks over to Ansel and pushes his head down, before walking past him and towards the other side of the alley.

                       "Joke's on you, I'm gay!" Ansel calls after Reggie only to start following him. "Where do you think you are even going, you ugly-looking hobo?!"

                      "I knew I shouldn't have asked them to come along," I grumble to myself and follow after the boys. I grab both of them by the back of their collar and tug them backward. "Will you two just shut up and stop arguing like a married couple?! Both of you are making me see why I don't always invite both of you to join in on my troublemaking mischief."

                  "Look, Storm," Reggie turns around to face me. "You can like whoever you want to, but, if they screw up anything, I will make sure they never walk or talk again."

                   "Who is going to screw up what? And, why do you always seem to have a problem?" Spencer walks up to us, holding a can of spray paint in either one of his hands.

                    Reggie looks down at the cans of spray paint in Spencer's hands and leans down to my ear. "He can't even follow directions properly," he says only to where I can hear.

                    "Neither can you. So, I guess he does fit in quite well," I jab him in the stomach with my elbow and walk over to Spencer.