Ribbons Academy for Boys

“What’s for dinner?” Hank asked.

“I don’t know.” I said.

“How about we convince Braxton to let us sneak out and go to town and eat?” Tanner asked.

“Okay.” I shrugged. We got to the dorm and we all changed into regular cloths. I slipped on my favorite pair of blue jeans and a plain purple shirt.

“Please Braxton?” Tanner was whining.

“Tanner, shut up.” Tucker hissed.

“Its too risky Tanner. We’d have to wait until it got dark, and we’d have to be so quiet so Mr. Rhyder wouldn’t hear us. It’s just too risky.” Braxton said. I sighed and went to the kitchen to make dinner.

“You know, you owe me a favor.” I heard Hank say. I closed the fridge door and saw him leaning against the counter.

“Yeah. What do you need?” I asked, scanning the freezer.

“Well, you make dinner for everyone else, but we sneak out and buy me dinner.”

“Wow, classy. I have like, $30.” I said.

“So we’ll go some place cheap.” I closed the freezer.

“I don’t know Hank. How about I do your homework or something?” I asked.

“I’ll think of something else.” he said and left the kitchen. I looked at the time, it was only 4:30, so I decided to cook a chicken.



“Braxton.” I knocked on his door. I was so tired. We all stayed up till 4am, and I set my alarm for 7 am, so I could go grocery shopping and go to a book store, and do homework. “Braxton.” I said louder.

“What?” I heard him groan.

“I need to go grocery shopping.”

“So?”

“The dorm leader has to go too.” I heard him groan.

“Give me 10 minutes.” I went to the main room and waited. The whole dorm was quiet. Braxton came out wearing faded jeans and an Abercrombie shirt.

“Ready?” I asked. He nodded and we went to the office to get a police officer to drive us to the store. On the way there, Braxton slept on the back seat.

“I’ll be waiting by the front door if you try anything.” the officer told us. Braxton got a cart and I followed him to produce.

“It’s like he thinks we’re thieves.” I frowned.

“Aren’t you?”

“Was.” I mumbled.

“Hero?” I heard a deep voice say. I turned around and saw a man, the height of Braxton, dressed in black pants, black raincoat, black hat, and a black and white bandana over his mouth. He slid it down and I could tell he was Mexican. Why did he look so familiar though?

“N-Niko?” I asked.

“Oh my God!” he said and pulled me into a hug. Niko was the one that introduced me to the Black Assassins. But why he was in Oregon confused me.

“What are your doing here?” he pulled away.

“Boss gave me a mission. There’s this guy I’m following with Ricky and Zak, and he came here. That’s all I can say.”

“Are Ricky and Zak here?” I asked, looking around.

“No, I’m grocery shopping for our hideout.” he smiled. “So, how did Seth look yesterday?” Niko asked, I stared at him.

“What?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you? He’s in Black Assassins now. Boss told him not to come out to see you, or he’d get hurt. But your mom don’t know he’s in with us, so he came anyway.” I was shocked. I couldn’t believe Seth would do such a stupid, stupid thing.

“What’s Boss going to do?”

“Probably beat him, tase, or something, ya’know, rough him up. But I couldn’t tell you for sure.” I sighed. I heard someone clear their throat and I looked over and saw Braxton.

“Oh, sorry. Niko, this is one of my dorm mates, Braxton. Braxton, this is my best friend from my gang, and he actually suggested it, Niko.” they shook hands.

“Why are you at Ribbons?” Niko asked him.

“Rape and murder.” Braxton said.

“Nice, were you in a gang?”

“No.”

“Oh. Well, I should go. Ricky and Zak are probably waiting.” Niko said. I hugged him again.

“Okay. Give my love to the boys.” I said.

“Will do. Bye Hero. Nice to meet ya bro.”

“Yeah, same.” Braxton said, and Niko walked away.

“Didn’t like him, did you?” I asked as we went back to shopping. Braxton shrugged.

“I don’t know. He kind of annoyed me.” I nodded.

“Want to tell me your story?” I asked. He sighed.

“There was this girl my brother hated. He’s younger. About 9 now, and this girl picked on him a lot. I went over to her house with Rex, to tell her parents when I saw my girlfriend with her older brother. I shot the little bastard and Rex killed the little girl, and here I am.” I was quiet as I took that all in.

“Was your girlfriend the girl you broke up with yesterday?” I asked.

“Yeah. She’s a whore.” he shrugged, grabbing some oranges.

“How long ago did this happen?”

“About… A year ago?”

“So you’ve been here since?”

“Yup.” he nodded. “Even through the summer. But in 5 months, I’ll be free.” he smiled. We continued in silence except when we bickered about the food.

“Do you think you’ll go back to your gang?” Braxton asked as we waited in line for checkout.

“I have to. I’m bound for 27 more months. It’s a stupid contract. I’m worried Seth is in for 5 years. Its gonna suck.” we got up to the conveyer belt and we started filling it with our food.

“Is there nothing you can do?”

“Maybe if I hid out somewhere, I might be able to escape, but I’d always have to be on the lookout for any of Boss’ men.”

“Paper or plastic?” the clerk asked.

“Plastic.” Braxton and I said.

“You Me At Six, their a great band.” the guy said. I looked down at my YMAS sweatshirt.

“Yeah. I saw them in concert back at home.”

“That’s cool. I have yet to see them.” he smiled at me.

“Are you done flirting with my girlfriend?” Braxton asked, putting an arm around me. I looked up and saw Braxton glaring at him.

“Sorry man.” the clerk said. When we were done, we started walking to the door.

“What the hell?” I hissed.

“I didn’t like the way he looked at you.” was all he said. The officer saw us and we walked out. I had to see John.