The Rebel's Apprentice

I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of getting my ass kicked by Ethan. The only reassurance I had was that earlier Ethan had said he doesn't hit girls. This pacified my nerves for a little while, but when I found myself at the tracks, under Ethan's arm of course, I started to worry.
Ethan tossed his bag into the cargo carriage the group normally hangs out in.
I did the same, but with less force.

"Okay, so show me what you got," Ethan smiled as he took his place on the dusty muddy ground a few yards away from me. I gulped and walked away from the carriage.
I rubbed my arm and shrugged. Ethan sighed and stepped forward so he was stood in front of me.

"Hit me," he ordered. I stared at him blankly.

"Um . . . where?" I asked stupidly.

"Right here," he said, patting his chest like teaching dorks to fight was something he did for a living. I bit my lip awkwardly and Ethan smiled a little wider.

"Um, I don't really wanna hurt you," I mumbled.

Ethan laughed. "Well, no worries there. Now hit me. C'mon I can take it." I shrugged lightly to myself before balling up my hand and launching it at Ethan. He caught my hand and twisted it behind my back, holding me against his chest.

"See what I did there?" he asked over my shoulder, his face so close to mine I could probably touch it with my tongue.

I nodded. "I guess." He let go of me. He didn't hurt me, he was very careful not to, but I rubbed my arm instinctively anyway.

"Now try it again. But slower," he commanded. I nodded and made to hit him again but in slow motion. "First you grab the fist," he said, grabbing my fist just as slowly so I could follow. "Then twist it to the right and bring it round. That makes the attacker turn on their own. Then you can grab them and hold them there." he finished with me in the same position as before. He let go of me. "And if there's a group of you and you get someone in that lock, get someone to punch the shit outta them. Works like a charm. Now try it on me," he said. I wondered how Ethan knew so much about fighting and if he'd had any proper training before.

"Okay," I breathed, tucking my hair behind my ears. Ethan smiled lightly at my determined concentration.

"Ready?" Ethan asked. I nodded. He threw a light punch which actually hit me. It didn't hurt but made me jump.

"Thought you said you were ready?" he complained.

"I am now," I said as I rubbed my chest which didn't hurt at all. Ethan was telling the truth. He really doesn't like to hurt girls. Ethan raised his eyebrows at me and I nodded. Again he threw the slow punch and I grabbed his hand. I beamed at my success.

"I caught it." Within the same second Ethan had twisted my arm so I was now against the carriage.

"You gotta do it straight away kid. Don't give them the chance to hurt you." he lectured, letting go of me.

I sighed. "I cant do this Ethan. Who are you trying to kid? Look at me."

"That's quitters talk. You're not quitting on me. You're my apprentice and I want a perfect end result. Plus you've given me something to do with my time," he shrugged. "If you quit you'll go back to being a geek and I'll go back to being bored. Nobodies a winner. Now quit moaning and focus." Ethan's tough but fair.
I sighed and nodded at Ethan.
He threw his fist again and I caught it, twisting it to the right before grabbing him. I was shocked at myself. I had successfully attacked someone.

Ethan laughed. "Well done. You got it." he pulled his arm out from my hand with ease, seeing I had no strength in my arms, and turned around to look at me. "See?" he enthused. "You're toughening up already." I smiled shyly at my mentor and wondered what else he would teach me.



After a long and tiresome afternoon fighting with Ethan, he'd taught me some important attacks and defences, he walked me back to my house.
We stopped on my driveway and I turned to him.

"Thanks, Ethan. You're really . . . good," I shrugged.

Ethan laughed. "I'm anything but good, sweetheart."

"'Y'know what I mean. Good to me. Supportive. Like you actually wanna help me."

"Cause I do," he said.

"Really?"

"Sure, why not? You're actually growing on me," he smiled. "But if you ever turn into a tumour I'm cutting you off," he joked. I laughed lightly and looked at my feet. I was starting to feel strangely shy around him, more so when we were alone like this, talking like two normal people, two normal people who aren't dire opposites of each other.

"Well, see you tomorrow, princess," he waved and turned back the other way.

"Bye, Ethan," I smiled back. I watched as he turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
I thought about Zach's words. About Ethan being a sensitive kid who just needed someone to entice him out of his shell. He said that maybe I'm the one to do the job. Maybe he was right.



My mom exploded when I walked in the door.
Well, not literally of course. That would have made a rather unpleasant mess in the living room . . . though I wish she would have a little.
She was straight down my throat about the strange boy who walked me home.

"Why are you spying on me anyway mom?" I questioned indignantly.

"Don't you talk back to me," she retorted. "Wait until your father hears about this. I don't want strange boys walking you home."

"He's not a strange boy mom. He's my friend. He's been my friend for over a week now . . . I tutor him," I added desperately. Mom straightened up a little and quietened, though she still frowned.

"Tutor him?"

"Yeah. He's having a hard time at home and it's messing with his school work, so I help him out," I said, inventing any kind of story. I figured I couldn't be too far from the truth. I suspected his home life sometimes did mess with his school work.

"What kind of hard time?" mom enquired.

"His mom and dad split up." that wasn't a total lie either. Mom's frown softened a little.

"He's a really sweet guy mom. And he just wants to get better at school." Okay, so the second half of that was a total lie. But strangely, I didn't care. If it meant I could still associate with Ethan then I'd lie till I'm blue in the face.

"Well . . . alright," mom hesitated. "We'll talk more about this later. Now be a good girl and finish up your homework," she smiled. I nodded and went up to my room.
It's not really that my parents are particularly strict. They just want me to do well in school and not have any "unnecessary distractions." that's what boys were referred to as in my household. They also wanted me to be a positive influence on my younger sister.

I shut my bedroom door once I entered my room and opened up my school bag. I pulled out the CD Zach had leant me. I'd already listened to Ethan's. It was good. Very different to anything I'd ever heard before, but I'm sure I can get used to that sort of thing.
I stuck the Muse CD in my player and pressed play. I laid back on my bed and listen to each song as they passed.
They were actually very good. Dazzling rock music with pretty catchy tunes. It was good and I looked forward to telling Zach that I liked his favourite band. That would increase my appeal to the group if I actually liked their music.



The next morning I walked to the bleachers. I walked past a few of the kids on the debate team. They gave me a funny look. Probably wondering why I dropped the team to join the rebels.
I found my friends in their usual spot and smiled as I approached. They all smiled back, except for Cookie who didn't even look my way. I wondered why it was so difficult for her to accept me even after everyone else had. She had a major issue with me and I wasn't sure why.
My only guess was that I was now spending more time with Ethan than her. But why would she care about that? She had her shot with Ethan and blew it. Real question is though, why does he still wanna be friends with her after what she supposedly did to him? Whatever that was.
I shook away my train of thought and homed in on Zach. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the CD. I held it out to him with a smile. He looked at it and smiled also, taking the CD.

"So?" he asked.

I nodded. "It's very good."

"Yes!" Zach cheered.

"No!" Ethan groaned. "You've infected her. Why would you do that dude? She's mine." Cookie shot Ethan a dark look, still refusing to look my way. I felt a small blush creep up my neck but ignored it.

Zach rolled his eyes. "I haven't infected her. Just cause she's got better taste than you," he smirked. Ethan scowled at Zach before looking to me.

"Coming to mine tonight right?" he asked. "Mom's impressed. We're on to a winner." he gave me a thumbs up and a champion smile and I was helpless to do anything but nod and smile back.



I was on my way to my history lesson with a small smile on my face. People were noticing me. Word was obviously getting round about who my new friends were. Most looked confused. Probably wondering how I managed to get the toughest kids in school to accept me. Me! The school reject. Not even the geeks wanted me now. Whenever I passed them they looked away in distaste. I couldn't have cared. I had new friends. Cooler friends. Friends that got me noticed.

I turned a corner and noticed a boy running toward me. At least I think he was running to me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw no one paying him attention. When I looked forward again the boy was right in front of me, panting. I stopped walking abruptly and watched him as he caught his breath.

"Alice," he said finally.

I gasped. "You know me?" I smiled excitedly. Maybe I was actually making a name for myself. And I didn't even have to start smoking.

The boy nodded. "You're friends with my brother." I frowned I didn't know any of the guys had a brother. Well, I knew he wasn't Ethan's. I'd been to his house and never met this person before. That left Scott or Zach.

"Um . . ." I trailed off.

"Zachary," he confirmed.

I nodded. "Ah." I'd never heard anyone call him Zachary.

"Look," the guy began. "I know what they're doing to you."

I frowned again. "Excuse me?'"

"My bother and his friends, they're changing you. Moulding you into something like them. Alice, trust me. You do not want that. They're bad news."

"And how do you know what I want . . ."

"Ryan," he confirmed.

I nodded. "Well, thanks for your concern Ryan, but I can handle it." I began walking again and he walked by my side.

"Seriously, Alice. I know you're a good kid. Don't think being a rebel kid is glamorous. It's not. Sure, I love my brother and when he's at home he's a totally different person, but the crowd he calls his friends, they're dodgy Alice. I'm just warning you."

"Thank you for the warning now I need to get to class," I said irritably. He sighed and let me walk off.

"You don't know the half of what they do. I've seen you with Ethan, Alice. He's dangerous." I kept walking, ignoring Ryan. How can he say that about Ethan? He doesn't know him. Ethan's a nice guy. Even Zach said that he's sensitive.
Ryan doesn't know what he's talking about. Of course I want this. If I didn't I would never had approached them.
I wanted this.
I wanted to be like them.
And nothing was going to stop me.



We were stood on Ethan's doorstep, just staring at the door.
Ethan shook his head suddenly.

"Oh fuck it," he said, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together. I felt my heart beat slightly faster for some reason.
He threw his cigarette to the floor and stepped on it.

"Lets do this shit." he unlocked his front door and opened it. Once inside he called for his mom. I glanced again down at our hands and briefly hoped my palm wasn't clammy.
A moment later the brown haired woman appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Alice is here," Ethan announced, holding up my hand for proof. Like my presence there wasn't already obvious. His mom nodded and smiled.

"Hi, Alice."

"Hi," I said shyly.

"Still tutoring him?" I nodded.

"Yeah . . . but sometimes it's nice to just spend time with him," I added, hinting that we weren't studying today, not wanting to get questioned about what we were studying. I mean, I'm supposed to be his girlfriend, surely we can see each other unprofessionally after school?
Ethan's mom nodded.

"I see. Well you kids have fun oh, and Ethan?" she called as we began towards the stairs. He looked back and so did I. "Behave. She's a nice girl." Ethan turned away and mumbled curses under his breath as we walked upstairs.
Once in his room and out of sight he discarded my hand and walked over to his bed.

"That was a good one, cupcake, now we wont get bugged about school work and it makes it look like we really are dating." he yawned and laid back, hands behind his head.
I stood awkwardly on his floor, glancing around the room.
I noticed a guitar.

"I didn't know you were musical," I mentioned. Ethan glanced over at his acoustic propped up against the wall and shrugged.

"Ain't played in ages." he sat up.

"Why?" I asked sitting down next to him on the bed. He shrugged again.

"Lost the will I 'spose. Things are different now."

"How so?"

"Jeez, what's with all the questions?" he snapped defensively.

"Sorry," I squeaked. He sighed, forcing himself to calm down.

"Things have just been fucked up for a long time, is all," he answered, staring at his guitar. I said nothing. "I guess . . . I just-" he sighed out of irritation. "You got it fucking sweet y'know?" he said a little bitterly. "You got a mom, a dad, - who are still together and happy - you got a little . . . whatever the fuck you got."

"Sister," I filled in quietly.

"I'd love one of those," he said, now glaring at his guitar. "It would sort of give me purpose to my life. y'know? I'd try to behave and act like a normal kid cause I'd want to be a positive influence. But I got no one who'll look up to me, just like I got no one to look up to." I watched him quietly. Zach was right. He is sensitive. He just needs someone to open up to. "You got a fucking nice house too, on an expensive estate." he looked at me with genuine wonder. "Why the fuck do you wanna live like this?" I swallowed and shrugged.
Ethan sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know," I answered. "All I know is that it's what I want . . . and I look up to you Ethan." I looked at my lap as I felt his eyes scanning me over.

"You're doing well, kid. You're coming along nicely. You just need to rock up your style a little." I looked up then and looked at my clothes. "You got a good style like, you just need a few finishing touches." he got up, pulling me up with him. He walked around his room, eyes scanning all around him. He pulled his leather biker jacket off the back of a chair and threw it at me.

"Put that on," he ordered. I did as told as he rummaged threw his wardrobe. The jacket strangely fit me quite reasonably. There was a bit of give in it so surely it fit Ethan pretty snugly. Maybe a little too snug seeing I'd never actually seen him in this particular jacket. He pulled out a pair of heavy combat boots and set them down in front of me I delicately stepped into them. My feet feeling far heavier than normal. I wondered how he ever walked in them.
He stepped back and observed his artwork, pouting as he thought. He stepped forward again and fiddled with my hair, pushing my side fringe back into a block fringe across my forehead.

He nodded. "yeah, this is a style I think could really catch on. You got this bad ass rock chick kinda look with the jacket and boots, yet you keep the whole thing feminine and classy with the floral skirt. The two contradicting styles create a super style which I'm certain all the other girls will be wearing, give it two weeks and you're going to be a school icon."

He examined me again. Before sitting me on the floor. He opened a drawer and pulled out what looked like a pen. He sat down in front of me and pulled off the lid. I could see now that it was a stick of eye-liner.

"Never really used this to begin with. Couldn't understand why the boys started wearing make-up." He smirked at me before leaning forward and scrawling around my eyes. I sat perfectly still, I didn't want to move and get the pencil in my eye, while I watched him work. His tongue poked out in concentration and I admired how cute it looked. He could really pull off the concentrating tongue look. I, however, couldn't.

Finally he leant back and looked at me, tongue still sticking out at an angle. He nodded then and retracted it.
He pulled me up and took me over to his mirror.
I took a deep breath and then looked at myself.
I looked so different. But I think the hair mainly altered my appearance. The eye-liner coating the rims of my eyelids also looked quite interesting. I looked quite menacing. I smiled and then so did Ethan.

"Awesome. Knew you'd like it," he said, turning his attention to something more interesting. I stared at myself a while longer, a little in shock about the transformation. I looked back at Ethan, stepping into another pair of boots similar to the ones still on my feet.

"C'mon, babe, lets blow this joint," Ethan hollered to me at his door. He picked up another jacket, also leather, and slipped it on. It was another biker jacket. It looked a little newer than the one I was wearing. It suited him

"Where are we going?" I asked. Ethan merely shrugged.

"Outta here. This place is getting stale."

"Oh, okay," I said following after him in his boots and jacket. He didn't complain. As we walked down the stairs Ethan looped his arm around my waist, this whole pretend to date thing becoming easier for both of us.
We passed Ethan's mom on the way out and she eyed the arm around my waist before smirking. I smiled shyly at her before we left the house without goodbyes.
Once outside and off the driveway, Ethan let go of me and fished in his pockets for cigarettes. He offered one to me but I declined politely. Ethan shrugged and lit one up.

"Y'know where I really wanna go?" he asked suddenly.

"Where?" I humoured.

"Your place." I thought about that quickly and remembered mom and dad were out for the afternoon. It would be the perfect time to have Ethan round really. I nodded at him and said

"Okay, sure." he looked a little surprised, obviously assuming I'd come up with an excuse for him not to.

"Well, lets go then." Ethan draped his arm over my shoulders and led me in the direction of my street.
When we finally got there we just sort of stared at my house a moment.

"So," I said, breaking the silence. "You wanna come in?" Ethan nodded as he continued to look at my house. I was actually surprised he didn't shoot back some witty, sarcastic reply.
I unlocked my front door, relieved to see no car on the drive, and let Ethan in willingly. He stepped in gingerly and glanced around. He'd seen my house before, when I was drunk and he brought me home, but it was pitch black and so he never really saw it properly. Now he stood, taking it all in. he sighed and walked further into the room.

"Alright for some," he commented. "Lets go to your room." he said, walking towards my stairs. I followed after about a seconds delay.
When I got in my room I found him sat on my bed waiting for me. He wasn't inspecting my room like he was the rest of the house. He's been in here a few times, he probably already knows every inch of it and what I kept in each drawer. The thought unnerved me a little so I pushed it from my mind and sat beside him. He looked up at me and watched me curiously. He tilted his head like a confused puppy dog.
Gosh, is there anything this boy does that I don't find adorable?

"So I noticed you got a pretty girly room." Ethan observed, taking in his pink surroundings.

I shrugged. "Well, I am a girl."

"Well observed, kid, but I'm more referring to all the pink and frills and shit."

"Oh, well, I like pink."

"Sure, pink's great." Ethan agreed. "But it just seems like the type of bedroom a twelve year old would have, no offence."

"No, I know. You're right," I sighed. "I actually wanted to redecorate it, but my mom and dad wont let me. They say it's cute, like me." I looked to my lap. "I guess they still see me as their little girl, even though they have a new little girl who actually is a little girl." Ethan watched and listened curiously, working out every word I said and every change of body language in his head. He can read people incredibly well and is a very good judge of character.

"So they're protective of you or something?" he asked, already knowing he'd worked it out correctly anyway. I nodded still. Ethan laughed lightly.

"Must be a drag when it comes to bringing home guys." I bit my lip. Should I tell him?
No need. He read my body language and guessed it himself.

"You never brought home a guy?"

"Um, you're actually the first guy, who's not family, to ever come in my room." Ethan's eyebrows disappeared up into his fringe.

"No shit?"

I shrugged. "Boys are an unnecessary distraction," I said, quoting my mom and dad's words. Ethan laughed at this, though it was more like a giggle, what some would call a pot laugh. It made me smile a little.

"So . . . no boyfriends." I bit my lip again and shook my head. Why was I telling him all this? I wasn't totally comfortable, but I guess I just trusted him.

"So . . . no kissing?" he asked. I cringed and slowly shook my head.

"Oh shit!" he shouted. "I cant believe that."

"Sorry," I said in a small voice.

"For what?" he laughed.

"For being such a loser dork I guess."

"Babe, it ain't your fault you got 18th century parents. It cant be helped if they don't let you socialise either." he thought for a moment. "I wanna meet 'em," he stated.

"What!" I exploded. "No way! They'd freak. They'd never let me hang around with you again."

"So I'll comb my hair," he joked.

"Ethan, I . . . I really don't think this is a good idea."

"When have I ever had a bad idea?" he asked.

"It's just . . . can you wait till I'm a better liar? Better trained and stuff?" he thought a moment. "That way when you meet them I wont feel bad about telling them that you're a geek on the debate team with me."

"You were on that thing?" he asked. I nodded shyly. Ethan sighed. "I don't get you Alice. Being on the debate team means you're loud, talkative, opinionated, over opinionated actually, so why do you barely utter a word around us lot?"

I shrugged. "I guess I'm nervous around you guys." Ethan thought about that.

"Or guys in general," he mused.

"Huh?"

"Your parents don't let you near boys, so when you hang around in a gang dominated by boys you feel intimidated and vulnerable. Right?"

"I guess," I mumbled, surprised at how Ethan was working out my brain better than I.

"C'mon. We need to fix this," he said, standing up. "Your parents can wait. We got bigger fish to fry, honey." I followed Ethan obediently out my room, just grateful to put him off seeing my parents till another time.