The Rebel's Apprentice

The tracks. AKA. The train yard.
I've never been here. Sure, we'd driven past it in the car on our way out of town, but never had I actually been in the deserted old train yard. There were bits of old rotting track and old rotting carriages and, to be honest, just a whole lot of old rotting stuff. There was a big dark tunnel in the centre of the train yard, which I knew was still in use. This place just wasn't a stop any more and so everything here was just left to waste.
My dad had told me many times as a child to never come to the train yard. The only reason he didn't tell me any more was cause I was old enough to know better.

Ethan dropped his arm from my shoulders and threw his bag into an open deserted cargo carriage. He climbed in after it and I looked around for some reassurance that it was safe.

"You coming, cupcake?" asked a voice from inside the carriage.

"Yeah," I squeaked. I pulled myself up into the carriage and found Ethan sat to one side.
He was sat on the dusty, mouldy floor, rooting through his bag. I sat cross-legged opposite him. He pulled out a little clear bag filled with pot and some joint papers. He started rolling the joint and lit it when he was done. I noticed it had a very different smell to the normal cigarettes he was smoking earlier. He took a long drag and held it in. he offered it to me but I politely declined. Ethan shrugged, blowing out the smoke and resting the joint between his lips.
He leant back on his elbows and watched me.

"So you never smoked pot before I take it?" I shook my head quickly, feeling awkward for having to admit that. I know I should have been proud to be able to say I've never done drugs, but in front of Ethan, it just felt weird admitting it. I guess I just wanted him to think that I'm cooler than I actually am.
Ethan nodded. "Ever been drunk?" he asked hopefully. I bit my lip.
Ethan raised his eyebrows at me. "Serious?" I nodded reluctantly. "Wow," he said simply.
"You really are a piece of work ain't cha?" I looked down at my lap in shame. "But hey." I looked back up at his reassuring eyes. "That's why you're my apprentice right? I'm gonna fix you."
Fix me? I didn't even know I was broken.

We must have stayed in the carriage for about two hours. School would be over in about twenty minutes and I told him I'd have to get back before my mom started to fret. He nodded and said he'd let me off early cause it was my first day. He decided to walk with me to my house. Not so much cause it was the gentlemanly thing to do. But more just cause he wanted to see where I live. Possibly so he can bug me at a later date. I wasn't totally sure. Again for some reason I felt embarrassed about having a nice house. I mean, we aren't a rich family, but we're pretty well off. My dad has a well paid job, he's actually a cop, and so having a nice house is to be expected, right? I just felt bad that I had so much more than Ethan did. Though I tried not to pity him. He didn't want it, I knew that much.

"So I'll knock here in the morning then?" he asked, eyes surveying my house. I wondered briefly if he was looking for another way in, other than the door. I wouldn't put it past him.

"The morning?" I questioned, like a dumb ass.

"Yeah. Morning," he said simply. "Well, see ya, princess." he didn't look back as he walked off back down the road. I traipsed, feeling defeated, up the path to my house, wondering what it would take to get Ethan calling me by my real name.



To be honest, I was expecting a knock to sound through my house when I was getting ready for school, not nearly have a heart attack when I found a face at my window.
It was 8:15 and I was packing my bag when Ethan tapped on the window, scaring me half to death. I walked over to the window and opened it up.

"Hey," he greeted with a tired smile. "Ready for school?"

"What's wrong with the door?" I mumbled as I glanced down, wondering what he could possibly find to climb to my window.

"Thought this was more fun," he grinned.
I thought back to yesterday and how his eyes scanned my house like he was searching for the best route of entry.

"I knew it," I gasped. "When you were looking at my house yesterday, I knew you were looking for another way in." I thought about that for a millisecond. "Not that that's the type of thing you do, y'know. Break into people's house's and stuff," I back-stepped awkwardly. Ethan shrugged as he shimmied down from my window.

"Wouldn't be the first time," he said. I then heard him jump to the ground.
My eyes widened. He'd broken into people's house's? oh, now that's just bad.
I leant out the window. he was stood on my drive, lighting up a cigarette. I shut the window, pulled my bag from off my bed and ran downstairs.

"Bye mom," I called out to the house. I had the front door open and was out before I even heard a reply.
"Hey," I smiled as I caught up with him on the driveway. Ethan nodded at me and started walking off. After about a five second delay, I followed after him quickly. Oh what a lost little lamb I was.

The hallways were crowded, like your typical high school. However, for once I didn't just sink into the crowd. I got a few odd stares as I passed by with Ethan and the gang. We congregated around a locker, I wasn't sure who's it was but I assumed it was one of the groups.

"So who's got what and which are you cutting?" asked Scott. I stared blankly at him. They cut class everyday?

"I'm cutting geometry," Zach yawned as he glanced down the corridor with little interest.

"Sweet, so you got that second right?" Zach nodded, looking back at Scott who was smiling.

"Yeah, I got shitty economics." he pulled a face. "I'll cut with you." Scott turned to Ethan. "How bout you? you cutting second?" Ethan pouted lightly as he thought. It was kinda cute in a weird sort of way.

"Yeah go for it. I can afford to miss one History lesson," he smirked at Zach who glared at him.

"Why would you wanna cut the only decent thing they teach you on this shitty curriculum?"

"No," Ethan smiled widely, pleased at how he was pissing Zach off. "The only decent thing here is the music lessons." Zach and Ethan continued their argument as Scott turned to Cookie.

"And you?"

"Psychology," she said simply. "Damn right I'm cutting." Scott now looked at me.

"New girl? Cutting with us?" the background argument stopped and everyone watched me expectantly.

"Um," I stammered. "Yeah, sure."

"What lesson you got?" Zach asked.

I shrugged. "Does it matter? I wont be going anyway." a wide smile flared across Zach's and Scott's faces.

"I like this kid already." Zach nudged Ethan.

"You got a good attitude, Alice," Scott said, using my real name and making me finally feel like one of the gang and not some rookie. "You need a little work, but stick with us and you could go a long way."

"Yeah?" I asked hopefully.

"No, he was just shitting you," Cookie commented with unnecessary sarcasm. My smile fell and Ethan gave Cookie a push.

"Hey, stop being a nasty bitch. I got faith in her."

"Yeah? And I got twenty bucks on her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned indignantly.
Ethan smiled and stepped forward to me. He draped his arm over my shoulders and slowly lead me away from them.

"Well," he began quietly. "They're kinda betting over you."

"Betting?" I repeated. "Over me?"

"Yeah, betting how long you'll last in this group. Zach bet that you'll go about a month or two before the pressure starts to make you buckle. Cookie, being the turd she is bet that you wont last the week. Scott reckons you'll last three to four months in the crew." I found myself glaring at my feet.

"And you?" I asked acidly.

"Sweetie," Ethan said in a hurt voice, lifting my chin to look him in the eye. "Do you really think I'd bet over you?"

I sighed. "I guess not."

"Atta girl. Now, c'mon. don t you just wanna prove them all wrong?" I glanced over my shoulder at the group. They were teasing Scott. Pulling his hood over his head and holding it there so he couldn't see. I glared at them.

"I've never wanted to prove anybody wrong more in my entire life."



"Alice!" I looked up quickly to find Henry hovering over my desk.

"Yeah?" I frowned. He looked annoyed by something.

"What do you think you are doing?"

I raised my eyebrows indignantly. "Excuse me?"

"Why are you hanging around with those people? They're bad news."

"They're my friends," I said back angrily.

"They're gonna turn you into one of them."

"Well maybe I could do with the make over," I glared, looking back down at my desk.

"C'mon, Alice. You don't belong with them. I said look for a nice group of friends."

"They are nice!" I snapped.

"They're weirdos. They all smoke and drink and do drugs. They're gonna get you to do that too."

"C'mon, Henry, I'm not going to do drugs. You know me better than that," I laughed.

"Do I?" he said with an icy look as he turned his back to take his seat at the front of the room. The teacher had just walked in, ready to start his lesson.



"You look the oldest," Cookie laughed, Ethan's arm across her shoulders. "Just go in and get the stuff." Zach rolled his eyes and walked into the store. Scott was skating round the parking lot and I lingered stupidly a little to Ethan's left, hands deep in my pockets.
We were quiet. Well, I was quiet as Ethan and Cookie giggled dirty things into each others ears.
Every so often I would glance at them, and the arm around the girl that wasn't me and would question myself why I kept looking. I figured a change of subject would be good.

"So, err, what time are you all gonna go back to school?" Cookie looked at me with a mixture of disgust and amusement.

"We're not," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why do you think we sent shit for brains in to buy booze?"

"Oh," I said lamely. What else could I say? We were quiet again for a while. "So where are we going then."

"We are going to the tracks. You can go play in traffic." Ethan glared at Cookie and pushed her out from under him.

"You gotta stop doing that Cooks," he said through his teeth in an almost whisper. He looked back at me and smiled. "It would be cool if you came to the tracks too, pumpkin. But if you wanna go back to school then that's cool. We wont mind." Ethan had a strange, almost teasing, smile on his face. Gosh, peer pressure much? I shook my head and swallowed.

"No. I wanna hang out with you guys."

"Aww, shame," Cookie said in a sarcastic way, though I knew she did actually mean it.

"Okay, losers. Lets go," Zach said as he walked out the store with a crate of beer under his arm.

We were all sat in the same abandoned cargo carriage Ethan and I were in before. Everyone was making short work of the crate of beer. Cookie and Scott were a little tipsy, though Zach and Ethan could clearly handle their drinks better.
I was sat just out of the circle. Like a fifth wheel. Like a spare prick at a wedding. Drinking isn't the sort of thing I did and I felt really out of place. I was looking at the dirty wooden floor I was sat on when someone scooted back to sit next to me. I looked up and met eyes with Ethan. He had two bottles of beer in his hands. One for him. One for me. He held it out to me.
I opened my mouth to refuse but the words wouldn't form in my throat. I just stared at the bottle, trying to object.

"C'mon," Ethan encouraged me quietly. The others were in worlds of their own. Being loud and teasing each other.

"Ethan," I said almost desperately. "I-I cant . . . I mean, I shouldn't. I haven't-" I looked at the others before leaning closer to Ethan and whispering "I've never drank before. I'll get drunk too easy." Ethan smiled a sweet kind of smile.

"Don't worry," he said, still quietly so only I could hear over the noise the others were making. "I'll look after you." he pushed the bottle into my hands and our fingers touched.

"Ethan seriously," I gasped after strangely finding myself lost for words. "What if I get really drunk and do something stupid?"

"I wont let anything bad happen to you . . . I promise." I searched his genuine eyes for a hint of a lie but found none.
I looked down at the bottle and pushed a nervous grin onto my face.

"Cheers." I held up my bottle and Ethan clinked his against mine.

"Cheers." We both took a swig from our drinks and I shuddered as I swallowed the beer.
Ethan laughed. "Yeah, you'll get used to it." he draped his arm loosely around my shoulders and took another swig. "Now the shit you don't wanna drink is Absinthe or Spiritus. I hear that shit can even kill people." I gulped.

"Have you ever had any?" I asked curiously. Ethan shook his head as he watched the others, laughing at Scott as usual.

"Nah, man. I ain't got no death wish. But you see Zach there?" he pointed at him, the beer bottle still in his hand. I nodded quickly and looked over at him. "He's drank both of them. They're, like, 90% and 95% alcohol. We reckon it's why he's so fucked up in the head, y'know? It's all destroying his brain cells and shit."

"Wow," I said as I watched him.

"Yeah," Ethan agreed, taking a drink of his beer. "Good thing he's such a smart motherfucker else he'd be screwed."
Zach was smart? Go figure.
So why is he wasting his time and intelligence with this crowd? Saying that, why am I? Probably the same reason as him. Cause no one messes with these kids. They're psycho. And I want to be one of them.
I looked thoughtfully at my beer, then looked at the group around me. My future best friends, hopefully. But only if I can fit in with them. I looked again at the beer. What else was there to think about? I chugged down a large mouthful of beer and swallowed it, making sure not to shudder from it's bitter taste.

"That's my girl," Ethan smiled, letting go of me and moving forward again back into the circle. I smiled to myself secretly. Whether he meant it or not, at least I can go to sleep at night thinking that I'm his girl.