Pet Me Please?

My name, is Nicola LaPierre, and right now, I'm sixteen years old. When I was little, my family and I used to live in a bad neighborhood. You see, my mom worked as a bartender, while my father worked in construction, both trying to support me and my little sister, Claire, who's four years younger than me. I never liked the way we lived to be honest, and I ran with some bad friends after my dad passed away from the flu when I was ten. We would skate around pulling stupid stunts, and just being nuisances. When ever we hung out, we would drink all the alcohol we could get our hands on, and smoke all the drugs we could afford or barter with. We often resorted to stealing to get what we wanted, or, what we "needed" apparently. Bikes seemed to be most profitable, so we would always keep a couple pair of cutters with us when we did our daily skate. It was thrilling, but, in all, I was very unhappy with myself.

I wouldn't be living this way for long. The day my life changed started like any other I had. I really don't feel like going into detail, but, this is how my days usually go:

My sister bounces on my side, trying to get me up, "Nicola! Get up! Mama wants you out of bed!"

I smack her thigh, "I GET IT! Fuck! Stop bouncing on me!"

"OOW! Nicola! That hurt!" she jumps off and sprints out the door.

"You better run! God..." I throw off my covers, and walk over the plethora of clothes on my floor. I search for some old boxers, some socks, and an undershirt. I look for my school uniform, which has a fruit punch stain on my shirt. I lick it off, making it only slightly there. I throw it on and my pants with sneakers. I check myself in the mirror. Messy light brown hair in a medium cut, and milk chocolate eyes stare back in my soul. My body is skinny, almost frail, but still a remnant of a strong build is apparent. The fuck you lookin' at, I think to myself, "Bitch." I grab my backpack, and stuff bags of marijuana in my bag. I put my books in, carefully concealing the bags, zip it up, and tread out my bedroom door.

I walk passed the kitchen table, glaring at my sister eating her cereal and milk. She has the same hair color and eye color as me, but her hair is long and unkept. She's skinnier than me, and is about the size of an eight year old. Acts like it too. My mom would often tell me to act more mature around her, but I didn't give a shit. She can do what ever she pleases, as long as she stays well away from me.

"Nicola!" My mom desperately calls from the sink, only five feet from the kitchen table where my sister was eating. She was dwarfed compared to me. She looked just like my sister, just more "adult" like. Her hair was dyed orange though. "Nicola! Where're you going?! You better eat before you leave!"

"I'm not hungry," I abruptly blow her off. I throw the front door open.

"I want you home right after school, okay?"

"What ever."

On this day, however, one thing changed when my mom spoke, "Nicola, if you don't, I...I will punish you. This will be your only warning!" I slam the door shut. Damn! She's so annoying! I grab my skateboard from the side of the house, and begin my ride to school.

Back to my usual rut, halfway to school, a group of shady fellows calls me in from an alley, "Hey, dude, over here," one of them whispered. I ride over to them, and flip my skateboard up in my hand.

"You called?" I set my bag down.

"Hey! Hey man!" one of them whispered, "I found a good bike two blocks away, you wanna take it?" This person came out of the shadows. He was in a hoodie with a cheese ball mustache. His face was greasy too.

I smirked, "What does it look like?"

"Come on! Come on!" he whispered. He lead the way with the other excited boys following him. I put my backpack on my back, and held my skateboard with my arm, doing a quiet sprint with them. I was smiling. I think this is gonna be a good take.

We hid behind some bushes near a house with an open porch. There was a new shiny silver bike sitting right there, just begging to be taken. Wow! I thought to myself. I wonder how much this will go for? I look around the neighborhood for witnesses. No one? Good. "Dude," I elbow the smallest boy, "Take that home, quickly!" He nodded, and did a quiet sprint to the bike. With lighting speed, he quietly carried the bike down the porch steps, mounted, and sped off with it the opposite direction of school. Good boy.

"Can we trust the new guy?" one of the boys said.

"We'll find out soon enough," I said, "If he goes behind our back, we got ourselves a free punching bag today."

"Diddo," the leader said.

We looked at each other, smirking. I dropped my bag with them, and I quickly jumped out the bush, and mounted my skateboard on the sidewalk. I could hear the rest of the guys behind me gasp as they opened my bag. I rode as smoothly as I could, cruising on the downhill to school. I was smirking to myself. That bike was a good find indeed.

By the time I made it to school, homeroom was just about to end. I put my skateboard in my locker and run to homeroom. Luckily, I made it before my name was called, not that I would've cared anyway. On my way to first period, my friends slyly gave me my bag in the crowd. It was much lighter than before, as intended. I smirked again.

After school, my "friends" and I snuck in an alley way and did our daily smoke. My friend came back with some bottles of alcohol, "Got a good deal from that bike!"

"Sweet," we all say. We then drank as much as we could.

So that's a mere summary of what my life is like. I don't really care to tell more, but this one day, when I came home, my life changed. Trust me, from now on, this is gonna be interesting.

When I arrived home, I saw a cop car parked two houses away from mine. Pfft. Someone get robbed? I opened my front door, and threw my skateboard to the side of the room. I shut the door, and looked at my living room, "The fuck is this?"

My mom was sitting on a chair with two policemen sitting on the couch. My mom stood up, "Nicola...Th-these men are here to help you."

"The fuck you ratted me out for?!" I yelled.

"Son," one of the officers spoke, "Your mom here told us that you have been doing some regretful things."

"N-no!" I raised my voice, "This is horseshit!"

"Son, we're going to have to take you in for testing and questioning."

"Fuck this!" I threw open my door and made an all out sprint to freedom. Where ever it is, it's not here. I get tackled down, "No! Let me go! Fuck!" Yup. I got arrested. I was pissed, but when my sister came home off the bus, and saw me being escorted away, I heard her screaming my name, and crying. That hit hard. I cried too after that.

Court sucked too. I got sentenced to a few months in juvie, so I could get myself "cleaned." What ever. I could tell the judge thought I was the spawn of the devil when he looked at me, but, hey, it made me smile inside, cause he was scared of me. I had to stay in jail for a couple days while they were finding me a place to crash it.

During the last day before I was sent away, my mom and my sister visited me. When she first took a look at me, my sister started sobbing, "Nicola! Nicola!" she wriggled herself out of my mom's hand and ran to my cell, "Nicola! Nicola! Come home! Please come home!" she grasped the bars as hard as she could.

"Claire," I said to her, "Don't grab those bars so hard, or you may get in trouble too." My mom came in, "Hey, snitch."

"Nicola," she started crying, "You need to get back on the right path. Your father wouldn't want this."

"You're a bitch," I didn't feel bad about that.

"Nicola!" Claire whined. Now SHE can make me feel like shit, not my mom.

"Sorry Claire," I rubbed her head, "I'm gonna be a while, okay? Stay less annoying when I get back."

"No! I won't let them take you!" my sister whined.

I slightly laughed, "What good am I to you? I thought I was the evil big brother."

"Nonononono!" Claire shook her head, "Come home! Come home!" Man, she's so confusing.

"You're sister has been throwing tantrums since you've been gone," my mom said, "You better get well soon, okay?"

I snickered, "Don't worry, I'll find a way to leave."

"Get better, please," my mom told me.

That was that. We didn't speak for the rest of the time, but my sister kept crying trying to see me. It was a bit annoying, but for some reason, I couldn't stop feeling so bad for her.

The next morning, I was driven, handcuffed, to a juvenile facility. They made be change into scrubs and walked me to a rec-room filled with other bad looking kids. They were all not very friendly looking, but they were all smiling, playing games. Pfft. What pussies.

"Don't cause trouble kid," one of the officers spoke, and he lightly pushed me in. I glared at him behind me, rubbing my arm. I looked at the kids again, playing board and card games. Is this all we do? Seriously? What a way to spend jail time. Score! I smirked.

A healthy looking blonde doctor called me over, "Hey! Can I talk to you!" the guy looked a bit too happy for me. Is he gay or something?

I walked over, begrudgingly, "Yo."

"Hi! Welcome to our facility! My name is Jean. Come! Let me ask you some questions!" He was brightly smiling, cramping my dark style. He's got to be gay.

I sat down opposite of him, next to some other male doctors playing cards with each other, "So kid," said one of the doctors. He was a big black guy with a booming voice. He was also smiling brightly, "You know how to play cards?"

"Depends," I say back.

"Do you play poker?" he said.

"Pfft, ha!" I laughed, "I used to be a champ at this! Let me show you clowns how it's played," I held out my hand for someone to deal me cards.

"You got it, 'champ,'" the cheerful black guy collected everyone's cards, and shuffled the deck. He dealt all the cards in the table. This is gonna be fun. I smirked again.

About an hour later, I was in disbelief, "Okay, someone in here MUST be cheating!" I said.

The table of docs laughed at me, "You don't have spirit kid!" the black doc said to me, "You have confidence, but you're just all talk, like all the new comers here."

"What?" I glared at him. Do you want to rephrase that by nay chance?

"Listen kid," the blonde doc spoke to me, "Everyone here has had to deal with problems of their own. We teach them to work with their dealt hands smartly in life. If all you do is casually try to get by, you're not going to win the pot. See?"

"Corny," I huff.

"It's true," the black doc said, "It may sound corny, but you're here to get help, and help you will get, whether you like it or not."

"I want to leave this hell hole," I dropped my cards on the table, and walked off.

"You're not going to get any where in life just by walking way," the blonde doc said behind me, "If you want to succeed, you have to try."

"Screw this," I mumbled to myself. I walked to the other side of the rec-room, and sat on an empty table in the corner, alone. I sank my head into my arms, trying to rest my eyes. Hopefully, I can wake up in some alleyway, nearly beaten to death, and then walk back home.

I was in there for about a week, and it wasn't all board games and stuff. We actually had to do gym class stuff like run, push-ups, and all that shit. All I would think about was wanting to get back home and have a blunt again. Damn. This sucks major balls.

One morning, an officer knocked on my cell door, "Wake up, kid, it's time to eat," he opened it, and stared at me in my bunk. I took a deep breath, and threw off my covers. I think I liked it better when my sister woke me up. "Don't lollygag, get up, LaPierre." I stepped off my bunk, trying to keep my balance from being drowsy. Man, I need a blunt, badly.

I walked to my breakfast, and played some poker with some of my prison mates, around my age. For some reason, for the past week, I was able to really predict what cards they had in their hands. During the last hand before breakfast ended, someone stood up at our table. "Nicola."

"Yo."

"You're a fuckin' cheat."

"Sit down, kid, you're not gonna win this one."

He clenched his fists, "Do you know what we did to cheats and snitched back in my hometown?"

"Oh, my!" I sarcastically said, standing up too, "That's so original! Dumbass."

"I know, you cheated, faggot!" he tried to punch me, but it was so slow, I dodged it.

"Wow, you need to work out dude. You think a slow punch like that could even make my nose bleed?" The whole table was staring at me, "What?"

"Th-....how did you dodge that punch?" one of the kids spoke up.

"'Cause he's a pussy."

"Take that back!" he tried to punch me multiple times, but it seems when I willed it, I could make myself dodge every punch. I felt off now. Everyone in the room was slowing down way too much. Am I like...Spider-Man now?

"Stop that fight!" one of the officers yelled across the room. In that split second of me being distracted, I heard a sound of metal vibrating, and the whole room...just...froze! I looked at the fork, coming at me super slow to my eye. The...FUCK! I wanted to catch that fork and throw it back, but I knew my aim was horrible.

The fork stopped in mid air, and everyone was staring at me in real time now. Is...that fork...floating? The fork made a 180 and zipped right back at the kid. "OW! OWOWOWOWOWOWOOOOW!" The fork got his cheek. D-did...what just happened?! I stood there, frozen in shock.

"LaPierre," an officer spoke to me from behind, "I...I'm going to have to..." he touched my shoulder, and I felt a shock wave bite him, "GEAH!" he fell on the floor, and started spazzing. No...no! I covered my head and crouched as much as I could, trying to conceal myself. This is too freaky!

"Nicola!" one of the doctors called from the other side of the room, "Just go in your room, and stay there! Don't touch anything!" I looked up, and nodded, nervously. I ran to my room, and slammed the metal door shut. I went in a corner in my cell, and started crying. The hell did I just do?!

I stayed there all day, until it got dark. My cell lights were off, since I never bothered to turn them on. My cell door opened, and an officer was there to greet me, "Nicola, you have a visitor."

I looked at the silhouette of my visitor. It was a woman, "Nicola? Is that you?"

That's not mom..."Aunt Michelle?" The officer flicked the lights on. My great aunt?! My crazy animal loving great aunt?! What's she doing here?! "What the - what are you doing here?!"

"My! I haven't seen you since Christmas! You look very well!" She was a tall woman who had black hair in curls, and had a slightly wrinkled face. She also wore a fancy fur coat and a black business dress that sparkled. From pictures of her of when she was a teenager, she looked like a spawn of Snow White. My grandmother, her younger sister, looked almost like my younger sister. She was a very quirky person with quirky tastes, and she was also obsessed with animals, especially cats. She once had a dozen cats living in her home at one time! Crazy!

"What are you talkin' about?" I asked her.

"You look cleaner, Nicola. I've heard from my niece that you've been going on a bad path in life. Are you faring well at all?"

"What ever. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to take you to my home."

"What?!"

"You caused some trouble here this morning, no? Something you couldn't explain?"

"Why does this sound so familiar...?" I said somewhat quietly.

"Come, Nicola, I will explain on the way."

"Wait, are you even allowed to do this?"

"She has special rights, LaPierre," the officer said, "She'll tell you why later. We have your things packed, so get changed to your old clothes and well escort you out."

"Uhh...diddo?" I said.

I sat in the shotgun seat of my great aunt's car, "So," she said to me, "Do you know what I'm going to be doing with you?"

"Make me play the part of Cinderella?" I said, trying to spit at her remarks.

"No, not at all. I'm here to teach you how to use your new-found gift."

"Gift?"

"Nicola, my great nephew, you didn't think I was just some old, crazy cat lady, did you?"

"Yes."

"There's a reason I can make animals feel comfortable around me. You'll see you can do the same."

"What, are you like a magical whisperer to animals?" I was trying to annoy her on purpose.

"In a sense. I have other students too that I think you'll get along with quite well."

"Oh, goodie," I said, crossing my arms.

We stopped at her house. It was one of those expensive log cabins built for vacationers. She lived right by a lake too with lots of swamp area up stream. There were many, many other houses in the area, but it was all forested. I got out the car, and kept my hands in my baggy pockets. I could still smell marijuana from my shirt. Oh, I miss it so!

My great aunt unlocked the door, "Here we are!" She let herself in first, and I followed her in. The high log ceiling in her foyer always captivated me whenever I came to visit as a kid, not to mention my sister was also transfixed. "Students, this is my great nephew, Nicola, and he'll be studying with us form now on!"

I looked from behind my aunt, to see three girls walk in the large room. One of them was just a bit shorter than me with medium cut green hair and caramel eyes, with a simple yellow dress. She looked like such a nice person, and had a bright smile. The other girl was very tall, with long salon styled pink hair and sapphire eyes. She was in a long black dress, looking like she was ready for an evening. She looked rather laid back, but she gave me a seductive look. The third girl was very short compared to me, and had a black cloak and a witches hat, with black heels. She had dark brunette hair with curls on the tips of her hair. She had this look on her like she was going to cause some fun ass drama.

"Welcome," the green haired girl spoke, bowing her head and smiling, "My name is Elfrida. I hope we can get along."

"My name is Mikka," the pink haired girl said, throwing her hair behind her, "I can't wait to see what you can do."

"I'm Bianca!" the smallest girl pointed her thumb at herself, "I'll be the one making your life interesting!"

I looked at them one more time, in awe. I smirked at myself. Damn, my aunt knows how to find some cute looking students.