Careful || Toy Soldiers

T W O

They had been sitting down for a half hour. A few gunshots had been heard out in the hallway, but it had been quite for a while.

The men were going around with a Photo of a boy. "That's Phil!" Billy said after the man had left. Emma remembered Phil, how he was roommates with Joey and Billy, how he was always willing to pull pranks, how he's probably going to end up dead if these maniacs were looking for him.

Emma held tightly onto both Joeys and Billy's hands. She didn't care if she was cutting of their circulation or if they thought it was weird, it gave her some sense of comfort and she was going to keep it.

Eventually they made everyone stand up. A man, with long brown hair, paced around with a folder in his hands.

He proceeded to call out people's names including a boy named Robert, Snuffy, hank, and Joey.

"Trotta, Joseph." He had a Columbian accent and Emma figure he was the leader. She let go of his hand as he stepped forward.

"Your father is Albert Trotta of New York City?"
"Yes." The way Joey said it made the man smile.
"The Albert Trotta?"
Joey stood silent.
"What's the matter? Not proud of your father?"
"No."

Joey walked backwards until he stood next to her again. The man picked up another file, but not before his eyes met Emma's.

"And what do we have here? I thought this was an all boys school." Emma rocked on both of her feet. "Well?!" She took a heavy gulp and looked up at Joey for a brief moment. He nodded his head.

"I'm Emma Reid." She spoke in a soft voice. The man raised his eyebrow. "My, my fathers a teacher here, I was visiting."

A few people smirked. "Well aren't we lucky." Shivers ran down Emma's spine as she stepped back. Joey placed a hand on her shoulder, sending some warmth throughout her body.

"Montoya, Ricardo." Ricardo stepped forward. "So tell me Ricardo, are you Mexican?" "Mexican American."

"Do you speak Spanish?"
"No not really."

Emma knew he could, he could understand it more as speak it, but she kept her mouth shut.

The leader turned around and looked at a guy, saying something that Emma couldn't understand.

"No, wait!"

He turned back around and looked at Ricardo. "Wait what? You don't speak Spanish?" Emma's friends face turned pale. The man took the gun and hit him in the leg, the noise echoed throughout the room.

"Hey! Hey don't do that!"
"Oh no, Billy. "

Suddenly Billy was slammed up against the wall. "Is he a friend of yours?" "Yes he is."

Emma was cringing as Billy spoke. She knew that tone, it was the one he used to make him seem like he was talking back. "C'mon man." She whispered.

"And what does your father do William?" "He's a contractor"
"According to this, he owns the third largest construction company in the world." "Yea, he's a contractor." The girl put her head into Joeys shoulder. She hated this, she hated it.

Emma winched as Billy stepped back into the crowd. Why couldn't he just act like he was actually afraid? She looked over to her friend and locked eyes with him. He looked terrified, but his body language spoke differently.

They made them stand in a line. Counting all the teenagers one by one made it seem like, in Emma's mind, a scene from a movie where every second kid was going to get hurt. But obviously this wasn't a movie.

"89,90,91,92,93 including the girl." The man with glasses said. The leader eyed Emma. "Yea Luis what are we going to do with her?" Nobody said anything for a moment. Emma's heart rate sped up and her legs started to shake. Suddenly, she felt contact to her left hand and looked up. Joey Trotta had put his hands in hers, a simple gesture of protection, and Emma was grateful.

"I haven't decided yet."
Oh boy