I'll Be Good

4

A tall girl with long black hair and a septum piercing walks up to us. She presses her lips onto George's cheek.

'Hey Trina, this is my sibling, Ellis, I told you about,' George says. Her face lightens up.

'Ellis, this is my girlfriend: Trina,' George says to me. We say hi to each other.

'Your friend, Ross, was really enthusiastic to see your brother,' she says to me.

'He already met you?' I ask.

'Yes.'

'He didn't say anything about George having a girlfriend,' I murmer.

'You want to come to our apartment?' George asks.

'I actually wanted to get a tattoo,' I say.

'I can give you one,' he says. I grin.

'Ok,' I say.

We leave the dining room and go up to the side of the compound where the apartments are. George grabs his keys and opens the door. We enter the room. It's small with a bed in the middle of the room.

'Do your best in initiation,' Trina says. 'Or your house will look like this.' There is a small kitchen on one side and a tv in front of the bed.

'Sit down on the bed,' George says and he grabs a box from a cabinet next to the bed. I sit down. He puts the box down next to me.

'What do you want?' He asks and opens the box and tattoo needles appear.

'You remember that alien guy we always drew in our books when we were bored? That one,' I say. We can both draw really well and we always drew the same alien everywhere. It was sort of our language, to show each other that we were bored or in for a laugh.

'Good idea,' he says. 'Where?' I show him the inside of my arm and point right below the inside of my elbow. He makes the needle ready and fills the small machine with ink.

'It's gonna hurt,' he says.

'I know,' I answer. Then he presses the needle down onto my arm and turns it on. The needle starts to vibrate. I have to grit my teeth.

He's finally done with the outline and now he has to give the little guy a green color.

It's done and I love it. 'Thanks dude,' I say.

'Anytime, Ellis,' George says.

'I think I'll go. Training tomorrow and the fightings will begin, so...'

'Yeah, see you around and good luck.'

We hug and I give Trina a hug.

'Don't hug too long, she's my girlfriend,' George says mockingly.

I leave their apartment. I totally forgot the way back and I'm not in the mood to go ask George and Trina, so I just wander around.

'Hey,' I hear. 'You're not allowed to be here.' I turn around and see Eric walking towards me.

'Oh, sorry, I was just leaving,' I say and my heart beats fast.

'What were you doing here?'

'Visiting my brother,' I say. 'This may sound stupid, well it is stupid, but I don't know the way back to the dormitory.'

'That's pretty stupid. I'll show you,' he says with a sigh. We walk in silence.

'So, do you live in this area?' I ask to break the silence.

'No,' he says like it's an assault. 'I live one floor above. This is for the failures.'

'So you have a bigger apartment?' I ask ignoring his rudeness.