The Original Crowd (12 page)

I took a harder look at him this time. He’d called me inhumane our first meeting, glared at me the next day, and now he’d called me a bitch. Again. I eyed him up and down and saw nothing significant about him—he was skinny, had shaggy hair, and he looked almost bug eyed (I’ll give him credit though, they were a startling green color that demanded more than one look at them).

I smirked, waiting to hear what he had to say.

Drawing closer, he said, “I heard what you did.”

I was starting to think back to what he could be talking about…what hadn’t I done? Seriously. Why did everyone have to care so goddamn much about what I did or did not do or who I did or did not do?

“And what was that?” I drawled out.

“Travers and that slut Klinnleys.”

“So what? Was that inhumane too?”

“No way. That was awesome!”

This guy was killing me.

“Is there a reason why you feel you have the right to continuously interrupt my peaceful walk, three times in a row, and claim your judgment on my behavior?” I bit out. “Because if I made you my judge and jury in some prior life, I’d really like to know so I can correct my stupidity—somehow in this life!”

“Hey, dude, I’m just saying that I was wrong. You’re my personal hero. I’ve been wanting to take Travers down a notch ever since freshman year.”

“Oh. A whole five months, huh?” I snapped.

“Whatever.” He shrugged. “You might want to think about changing your script. All you do is be a bitch followed by being a bitch and then serve a dessert portion of…being a bitch.”

“Yeah, well, it’s worked for me so far.”

“Doesn’t seem like it. You’re the one pissed off right now and me,” he grinned, backing away, “I’m peachy. Travers got taken down. You made my year.”

“Hey,” I stopped him as he was turning around, “what’s your name?”

“Me?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Your name. What is it?”

“Garrett Larkins.”

“You want to go to a party tomorrow night?” I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I already started it.

“Seriously?” He didn’t even ask which one.

“Yeah.”

“Sure,” he rushed out, smiling widely.

“Fine. Find me after school tomorrow.”

I watched him a second later, noticing that he had run over to a group of kids playing hackey-sack. It reminded me of Geezer and Grayley. They used to play that game too.

I crossed the street to my car. I’d taken to parking on the opposite side of campus where the parking lot was placed. It was just easier to avoid drama, but, apparently, drama like to single me out because I saw Tray leaning against my car door. His SUV parked just behind, with some of his friends. Mitch and some others that I recognized from the basketball team.

“Hey,” I murmured as I pulled my keys out.

He didn’t move, but reached to tip my head up as my arms moved to unlock the door, bringing me in contact with his body. “What’s the plan tonight?”

I shrugged off his touch. “I’ll call you when I have the device.”

“And when will that be? Like an approximate time.”

“I don’t know. Nine? Ten?”

“You can’t be any more definite? It’s not like we have all the time in the world. We’re going to be sitting around, planning on doing something pretty illegal, and you just expect us to sit around on our hands? What are we supposed to do? Twiddle our thumbs?”

Whoa. Evans was mad. Actually, inspecting him closer, I realized he was beyond pissed.

“What are you so pissed about?” I didn’t even know if I should ask, but it was already out of my mouth. “This was the deal. I go in, get the device and hand it over to my guy. You get it afterwards.”

“It’s not good enough. We could get caught.”

“And so could I!” I cried, now getting pissed in my own right. “What do you want? I’m not giving you a time-schedule for when I commit my crime. Is that what you want? Got a nice little deal worked out with the cops? You doing this to catch me?”

“Oh please,” he groaned.

“Are you? Because I’m starting to think that’s what’s going on,” I said tightly.

“Just get your end done and call me,” he said stiffly, pushing off my car and striding to his own. Climbing in, one of the guys smirked at me as Tray gunned the engine and peeled out into traffic.

He was infuriating.

*

This was my moment. This was my element. Standing atop the roof of my old school, the black night as my backdrop, the wind rushing behind me, I closed my eyes for a moment just enjoying the feeling. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I don’t know what it was, or how I could describe it, but even the hairs on my fingers were vibrating. I felt so alive.

The drive to Pedlam had been uneventful. Grayley had called and said he had Geezer, sober and on standby. Everything was ready and in place. I had memorized the blueprints and alarm time schedules from the info Grayley had gotten me. He, Geezer, and I had been a team, before I moved to Rawley. Brian had always wanted to be included, but I never let him. Grayley and Geezer were steady; Brian and I were just volatile together. With Grayley and Geezer, there was no drama, they did the job and followed through. I knew I could depend on them, even if they were pissed off or high.

But right now—this was the part where it was just me.

The PRS-500 was nicely tucked away t in the superintendent’s locked cabinet, in a locked drawer, behind, of course, his locked office door. His office was situated just inside the main office, which was behind another locked door. Not too hard for me to get to, but not the easiest either.

What was new, since I’d been gone, was a twenty-four seven shift of security guards. This made me wonder what else was inside this building that would need to be guarded around the clock. Obviously, the first thing I needed to take care of was the guards.

So this brings me to where exactly I was standing, or who exactly I was standing above—the guard’s office. I knelt at the venting shaft and unscrewed it, slipping inside, with the rope around my waist already secured around a handle outside the shaft. This venting system was different from Rawley because it dipped down, straight down so you aren’t able to just find your footing easily, so I had to rappel downwards, counting the distance inch by inch until I felt the ground beneath me.

I had counted a good sixteen feet, which coincided with the blueprints Grayley had gotten for me.

Finding the hatch just to the left of my feet, I unscrewed it and lifted it up. Beneath me, I could hear sounds from a basketball game. Guessing the guards were watching ESPN, I slipped through. I could see them through the door; there were three of them, all sitting with their backs to me, feet propped up on the camera panel. Two of the video screens were on a rotating schedule covering different areas throughout the school. There was one on top that focused only on the main office. And the screen in the middle—ESPN. It wasn’t basketball though. Anaheim was losing by two goals.

Seriously. What were they keeping in a school that needed three security guards? Whatever happened to nice locked doors?

I needed to move on. I could get inside without the guards seeing me, but Tray wouldn’t be able to.

I slipped past them, moving down the hallway, pausing at each corner before I slipped my mirror around, checking if a camera was up ahead or not. I’d watched the rotation schedule enough to memorize most of the areas, but it didn’t hurt to be sure.

Arriving on the second floor, I slipped through the men’s bathroom and opened the vent. Pulling myself up, I crawled inside, following it for a count of sixty. I could measure distance by my counts. It was an old system I had down pat.

According to my estimation, I should be just overhead the principal’s office. The superintendent’s office didn’t have a normal size venting shaft over his office. He used one of those tapered off vents, making it impossible for any good-intentioned thief, such as myself, to climb in and out. Pulling through, I stood atop the desk and smoothly moved to the door. From what I saw on the security camera, there was only a slight angle that covered the superintendent’s office door, but it was enough of an opening.

Gritting my teeth, I moved quickly and plastered my body as much as I could against the wall while I worked on the door. I used a Wesson steel wire point and jerked upwards with another ballpoint blade. Hearing the door click open, I pushed inside, keeping my head turned away from the camera and shut the door, but not letting it click shut. Moving to the closet, I quickly moved through that locked door.

The cabinet drawer was another challenge in itself. It was keypad lock. Grabbing my ballpoint blade, I worked it underneath the covering panel, dipped inside, and pulled out the black alarm wire. I clipped the wire onto a seventy-three delay wire that I had in my pack and ran it around to the base, as close to it as I could, to place it against the wire just inside the cabinet panel. Then, holding my breath, I made sure the delay wire was in place and clipped the wire close to the base.

And the cabinet lock clicked open with the keypad still showing green. The delay wire had worked wonderfully.

Inside lay the PRS-500. Grabbing it, I sheathed it inside a pack I had clipped around my back, zipping the device just inside the small of my back. My job was almost done.

Shutting the cabinet lock, I unclipped my delay wire and pocketed it quickly. Then I closed the closet door. Slipping out through the office door, I still didn’t pull the door completely shut, I closed it just enough so it looked shut from the camera angle. Keeping my head turned away, I entered the principal’s office and hoisted myself up through the venting shaft again. I crawled, finding myself outside the security room once again and back up through the hatch. Feeling around the dark, I found my rope and clipped it back on me, then I started hoisting myself back up, pulling the rope back through my karabiner on my waist.

It took longer, but I was back on the roof and screwing the venting shaft in place once again. Then I slipped into the darkness.

I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face.

I found Grayley and Geezer up ahead where they’d parked around a small group of trees. It was where we always parked if we wanted to get high, skip class, or have sex—sometimes all three of them together. It was our little hideaway, which made me smile as I approached the car from behind, through the trees.

“Hey guys,” I said softly, directly behind them.

Geezer jumped.

Grayley let loose whatever had been in his hands.

And I laughed. I couldn’t help myself.

“Taryn! Holy fuck’s sake,” Grayley gasped, scowling at me.

Geezer was too busy checking me out. “Looking good, Tartar.” He whistled.

I didn’t have it in me to blush. I was decked out in all black. It wasn’t nylon, but a fabric that was somewhat in the middle between cotton and nylon. It was glued on me, but it was what I needed for my jobs. I’d already ditched my little theft kit in the car, so they didn’t get the somewhat dorky look of a little pack hanging around my waist, complete with bungee cord karabiners, ropes, and everything else I needed. All of that needed to be locked tight on me, to save me from making any extra sound. You never knew what you would run into on a job and I liked to be prepared. The only thing I had with me, other than my car keys, and the PRS-500 was my bottle of chloroform. And I wasn’t planning on using it.

But I knew the image I made. I’d let my hair down so it shook free around my shoulders.

“You too, Geezer. I especially like the sober look. It’s got a certain…mystery…about you.” I nudged him with my hip.

He blushed. He never failed to blush from any teasing or from any sort of compliment. It was endearing to watch and I loved seeing that he still did it. Apparently that hadn’t changed.

“Hey, not to be an ass or…well…we kind of have some stuff to take care of tonight, so can we hurry this along?” Grayley asked, running a hand through his gelled back hair.

I grinned. “Yeah. I’m sure Geezer’s got a lot of plans tonight.”

“Whatever,” Grayley commented, hunching over as he leaned against his truck.

I handed the PRS-500 to Geezer and gave him my instructions. He climbed inside the truck to use the light for his work.

Studying Grayley, I commented, “You look more preppy than when I left. If I were to notice things like that.”

“Preppy?” he asked, surprised at my comment.

“Yeah. Someone who’d hang out with Gentley.”

“You mean someone who’d like to stay alive and therefore needs to avoid Brian at all costs? If that’s preppy, keeping my neck screwed on, then yeah—I’m preppier. God—if that’s even a word, Taryn.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, I don’t know what happened between you and Brian, but he’s been a loose cannon this week. I heard that he and Jace had a huge brawl the other night. They both had to go to the hospital and now Brian’s been off—doing who the hell knows what. He’s dangerous, Taryn and I think you set him off.”

“He bothering you at all?”

“No. Not yet. But I’ve no doubt he’s just making his rounds. He roughed up Kerri before his fight with Jace.”

“Kerri? Is she okay?”

Kerri and I had been on okay terms. She was one of those girls that was just on the scene and sort of just ended up being accepted in the group. She was just there, you know. I know she’d slept with Geezer a few times. But, one time she’d helped me out with something and ever since then I had grown a soft spot for her. Still…we weren’t exactly best buds.

“I think so. Still, it’s Kerri. He roughed her up. A girl, Taryn. I didn’t know he had it in him—”

I snorted.

He amended, “Okay. I did know, but he’s just scary now. He’s not stable.”

“Well, we’re over.”

“I know you are.”

We fell silent. What else could really be said on that topic.

“So, you’re with Gentley’s crew now?” I asked.

“I guess. I’m not with Brian anymore. That’s for damn sure.”

“Still. Gentley?” I asked scornfully.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “School’s not the same. It’s not…I don’t know.”

“It can’t be that different. I mean it’s just a school.”

“Bri’s off his rocker. I heard that the school got a restraining order on him.”

“All that happened within one week?”

“Most of it’s just rumors,” he murmured, jumping to sit on the back of his cab.

Anything else we would have said was interrupted as Geezer slammed his door shut. Brandishing the PRS-500, he exclaimed, “Alrighty, tighty. It’s programmed how you want it. Those suckers won’t get through my fire walls. If they do, I want to meet ‘em. Give ‘em some of my weed because I’ll be in awe.”

Tucking the device back in place, I said warmly, “Thanks, Geezer.”

“No prob.” He waved me off.

“What can I do to thank you?”

“Oh. Oh!” He grinned, his eyes sparkling. “Oh no. I’d like to live to see next week. Thanks, though.”

I laughed. Couldn’t help it, but I was still worried. Something seemed off. “You okay, Geeze?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He shrugged, jumping in place.

I caught Grayley’s eyes and saw the resignation in them. Something was up.

“What’s going on?” I asked sharply.

“Nothing. Really. Take off,” Geezer joked.

“Charles,” I barked this time, “you better tell me what’s going on.”

“Jeez, Taryn, come on.”

“Now,” I snapped, folding my arms.

Geezer shuffled his feet self-consciously.

Grayley rolled his eyes and kicked him with his foot. “Just tell her, dude. Maybe she can help.”

“I don’t know…it’s…”

“Geezer, tell her!”

Finally, Geezer lifted his eyes to meet mine. I was surprised to see a sheen of tears in them.

“What’s going on, Geezer?”

“It’s my dad.”

Seeing he had fallen silent, I looked at Grayley.

“He’s back in town. He sent him a letter a few weeks back. He wants to stay at the house for a while.”

“What’s he doing in town?”

“I think—” Grayley started.

“You don’t know that. You don’t know that at all! It’s fucking stupid is what it is. Fucking stupid,” Geezer cried out angrily.

It was the second time I’d seen any sort of emotion like that in Geezer. I was taken aback.

Grayley snorted. “Come on. Why else would he be in town?”

“What? What do you think?”

“I think,” Grayley announced, waiting for a reaction from Geezer, “that he’s in town doing business with Jace.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. It was probably true. And it’d be just like him to use his son while he was toting up on drugs. “So what do you want me to do?”

Geezer lifted his eyes, but didn’t say anything. He went back to shuffling his legs around, still self-conscious.

I looked at Grayley.

He rolled his eyes again. “Can you talk to Jace?”

“Uh huh. No. That door on my life’s closed,” I said quickly, but already knowing the inevitable. Geezer was one of my best friends. He was family.

“Taryn,” Grayley murmured.

Geezer looked up at me with his hazel puppy dog eyes. Seriously. Why can I not be a bitch to those who are certainly condemning me to a further slide in my own pit of pain? But no. These two guys. These two guys—I’d do anything for. Including signing up for another week of wallowing pain.

Ugh.

Fuck.

“Fine,” I murmured.

Geezer lit up in a smile, rocking back and forth, his arms hugging himself.

Grayley chuckled, punching me lightly in the arm. “Thanks Tar.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Consider it a thank-you for helping me with this job.” I raised my eyebrows at Geezer. “But I’d be up for—performing—a more personal thank-you, if you’d like.”

And there was that blush I loved so much. Chuckling, I waved goodbye and moved back through the trees, heading to my car. Walking across a back alley, I pulled my phone out and dialed Tray’s number.

“About damn time,” he bit out in the phone.

“Hey. Chill,” I soothed.

“Where are you?”

“I’m coming to you guys. You parked on Bentley, right? Behind the hardware store?”

“How’d you know that?”

“Because it’s where I’d parked—if I wanted to break into the school.” I hung the phone up, circling around the SUV. Inside I saw it was packed with guys, mostly jocks after further investigation. Not that it mattered, they all ran in the same social circle.

Mandy’s. Not mine.

There was another Expedition behind Tray’s and it was packed with students also.

What were they planning?

Tray climbed out, along with all the other guys as I approached from behind.

He raked his eyes up and down my figure, a faint grin curling at the corner of his mouth.

I clamped down on the warmth that started to spread through my body at his perusal. The guy could irritate me to no end, but one crook of that tempting mouth and…not going there.

“Got something for me?” he asked, now grinning, but I still saw the irritation in his eyes.

I handed it over. “It’s been wiped clean by my guy. You got the codes on there for Pedlam High, that’s it.”

“No trust, Taryn. No trust,” he tsked. “What kind of relationship are we going to have if there’s no trust?”

“One where we just fuck?” I smirked back, rolling my eyes.

Tray held my eyes at that statement a moment. Then he grinned, before turning to follow his guys.

“Hey.”

Tray turned back. “Hmm?”

“There’s three guards on shift.”

“Three guards? What?”

“Oh shit,” one of the guys moaned.

“What the fuck do they need three guards for?”

“How are we supposed to handle three guards?” another guy asked.

Tray was studying me. “How’d you get by them?”

I smiled, saying smoothly, “It’s why I do what I do.”

“Taryn, this is wasn’t what I do.” He shot me a smug grin. His eye fell on the bottle in my hand. Pointing to it, he asked, “That for us?”

I handed it over. “It’s for the guards. Don’t use too much and don’t leave it behind.”

He lifted it up. “Thanks.”

I sighed. Why the hell was I helping him?

One of the guys hollered, “Thanks, Taryn! You’re awesome.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Tray snapped.

I turned to leave, but Tray asked, “Where are you going now?”

I turned back, but continued to walk backwards. “I got some more business to take care of.”

He frowned. “More?”

“Yep.”

“The same sort that you took me on a ride with?”

“Yep.”

I didn’t know how he knew, but he did. What perturbed me the most was that a part of me was glad he knew. I don’t know why. I didn’t understand it. But the other part of me…I didn’t like being read. Being read meant that I could be predicted. I was known for being unpredictable.

Tray just nodded, not saying anything, watching me walk backwards until I finally turned and disappeared in the darkness.

I could hear their feet shuffling against the street as they headed towards the school, in the opposite direction.

*

Holy. Shit. I did not want to go into that building.

I was standing across the alley, the Seven8 was pumping in music, sweat, and drugs. I could hear the shouts from the crowd from where I stood. There was a waiting line, trailing around the corner.

The club wasn’t normally this crazy, but apparently I had picked the best night to run an errand for Geezer.

And my errand was inside.

Oh God.

I’d rather—sit in jail. Maybe not for a week, but…close enough.

Taking a deep breath, I crossed the road, jumping lightly onto the sidewalk, seeing Ben holding back two screaming girls. He was joined outside the door by Grunt and Moan. Okay, those weren’t their real names, but those were the nicknames I’d always given them. Actually, I think Grunt really was his name. Probably not Moan though.

Moving forward, I ducked around a girl who got shoved from the line. It was kill or be killed when getting inside this club.

Drawing closer, I murmured, “Hey, Ben.” Seeing a somber look appear in his eyes, I didn’t take it as a good sign.

He didn’t even say anything. He just watched me guardedly.

“It’s that bad?” I asked, a pathetic try for a joke. Anything.

“He was in the hospital, Taryn,” he finally said, folding his massive arms over his chest As the door opened, he simply turned back and effectively blocked three girls from darting through. They just bounced off his back. When he turned back around the stared at me gravely.