The Trouble-Makers

In their small car I was squished in between Alex and Rian in the backseat. Jaime was in shotgun, talking to someone on the phone and Jack was the one driving...which, to be honest, I didn't trust my life in Jack's hands at all.

Alex shot me an apologetic smile and shrugged his shoulders, not that I blamed him. I was more of mad at Zack for getting me to come to the party in the first place.

"Are you guys going to tell me what they said or what?" I asked, feeling extremely uncomfortable being stuck with a group of guys I hardly knew. And worst of all, Trouble-Makers.

Jaime clicked his phone off, letting it fall to his lap. "Aw, dude, freaking Vic is pissed," he said, obviously ignoring my words.

"Vic?" I asked, turning my head towards Alex.

"Jaime's cousin," he explained. "They're close...you should know him, he's from school. Not a part of the Trouble-Makers, though." Alex shrugged.

"Why?" Jack asked Jaime, obviously annoyed.

"I guess the fight news spread like wildfire and he says if word gets out to the principal I'm going to get suspended again." Jaime leaned against the window.

"He needs to stop being a pussy; this is why he isn't part of the Trouble-Makers," Jack spoke harshly and I could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

"No, he isn't one because he doesn't want to be one," Jaime defended him. "Not everyone wants to be the school's rebels."

"Guys?" I tried to get their attention again. "Where are we going anyways?"

"Away from here, and we can't go back home yet. That's probably the first place Kellin's gang will look," Jaime explained.

"So, this has all happened to you guys before?" I asked.

"Hell yeah," Jack said now. "The first time we got into a fight at one of Kellin's parties we just ran out and we were fine. But the second time, God they were pissed." Jack started cracking up at that. "Oh man you should've seen Kellin's face, I've never seen it get so red!" At that all the guys busted out laughing, and I couldn't help but have a smile hint on my face.

"So that's why whenever he's around you guys call him Tomato?" I asked now. I haven't been part of the popular clique long but I did know the Trouble-Maker's nicknames for everyone in the clique. Mine was evidently 'Princess'.

"You got it," Jack nodded his head. "But, anyways, Kellin got so mad that he had him and his guys go track us down. And, of course, we were back at our own houses by then. Alex was staying the night at my place, and thank God for that because when Kellin and his boys got there I would've been completely jumped. But we got out of that one." Jack shrugged his shoulders. "That was the last time we ever went to one of his parties."

"Then why did you guys come tonight?" I asked. The car went quiet, and I shifted awkwardly. I guess I stumbled across a Trouble-Maker secret.

"We wanted to cause a scene," Alex finally intervened. "You know, because a lot of freshmen that are new this year will be there and if we don't get some of them to join, you know, that the Trouble-Maker's legend is going to die when we all graduate this year," Alex spoke quickly. I could tell he just made that up off the top of his head, but I was willing to let it go. It was none of my business, after all. It also didn't explain why Alex was so upset Jack into a fight in the first place, though... But I let it slide.

"And are you going to tell me where we're going?" I asked again.

"To a place where the clique won't find us; the school," Rian explained.

"Don't tell me you guys break in."

Jaime chuckled at that, shaking his head. "You must think we're worse than we actually are. Rian meant the school parking lot."

I nodded my head at that, my face blushing at how naive I was.

"Mike and Vic are meeting us there," Jaime said to Jack.

"Christ, what do they want?" Jack almost growled.

"They're picking me up, I guess." Jaime shrugged his shoulders.

"They better be taking you to their house then because who knows which house the clique is going to tonight," Alex warned. As much as the Trouble-Makers were complete jerks to a lot of people, they did seem to look out for each other well. I had to give them props for that.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jaime huffed.

Jack pulled into the school's parking-lot. The parking-lot's lights were lit up dimly, giving the place a sort of eery feeling, like we were about to do a drug trade with someone. There was only one other car in the lot, which I had to assume was Vic's because Jack drove up to it and parked next to it. All the guys filed out of the car, and Alex offered me his hand to help me out which I accepted. Once out of the car two guys hopped out of their own car, one short and the other tall. Alex was right, I did recognize them; they were some of the school's punks. Ones who caused trouble but weren't exactly exclusive and as disruptive as the Trouble-Makers were.

"Hey, guys," Jaime said, clasping their hands.

"Hey," the shorter one said. His hair was long, longer than any boy's hair I've seen before. And I had to admit, I was kind of jealous of it. At least in the dim light it looked good. "Wow, Trouble-Makers high-jacked a popular girl, what's the occasion?"

"Shut up, Vic," Jack growled, his tall frame leaning against his car.

"Can't be curious?" Vic asked, a sly smile on his face.

"Something went down at the party and we couldn't leave her there." Rian shrugged his shoulders. The taller one, which I assumed was Mike, walked over to Rian and bumped fists with him. I recognized him as one of the guys who was in the grade below us.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Mike said, adjusting the snap back on his head. "Got Kellin knocked out cold." He couldn't help but hint at a laugh at that.

"What can I say?" Jack shrugged his shoulders, a smile edging on his face. "That dude can run his mouth and he just doesn't know when to make it stop."

"Hopefully he learned his lesson this time," Jaime said, cracking his neck. "But I don't think we're going back to one of his parties ever again. They aren't even good to begin with."

"Speaking of that, why were you guys there?" Vic asked, and again the group fell silent. "I guess I touched a quiet topic."

"It's kind of a long story," Alex said, tilting his head to the side. "But we actually came here to explain part of it to Stella."

Vic rested his eyes on me. "I see." He paused for a second. "Well, we're ditching and taking Jaime back to our place. See you guys later," Vic said, hopping into the car; Mike and Jaime following suit. The rest of the Trouble-Makers and I were quiet as we watched them drive away, and I leaned against Jack's car.

"How long until Mike wants to join the Trouble-Makers do you think?" Rian asked, looking over at Jack.

"He probably already does," Jack said. "All he has to do is ask because we need someone to hold down the rep when we graduate."

"If you graduate," I more of teased than said hostilely.

"Whoa, Princess found her voice." Jack acted shock. "What's the matter? Couldn't say anything with so many punks around?" He snickered.

"It's out of my comfort zone but you didn't see me shaking, did you?" I asked, standing my ground. "Now are you going to tell me what happened, or what?"

Jack gestured to Rian, obviously not wanting to tell the story, and backed away. Rian sighed, looking up at me. "Okay," Rian said. "Well, we first walked into the party and, well, we're not necessarily welcomed there, you know? But we just shrugged it off, we're used to putting up with that kind of stuff. So, anyways, we were just by ourselves waiting for Alex when Kellin comes walking over to us, clearly a little tipsy. He starts talking about how he could whoop us any day and how if he went in a fight with only one of us he would own us."

"And that's why you punched him?" Alex asked, looking at Jack.

"Just let him finish the story." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Anyways," Rian continued, "we just kind of laughed at that because we knew he wouldn't. But then he starts talking about how Stella joined the popular clique. Things got pretty raunchy, but he started talking about how he was going to get her drunk and then bang her just to be able to be the first person to have sex with her and then ditch her...that pretty much sums it up. Then you should've seen the look on Jack's face, he just walked straight up to Kellin and punched him clean in the face and he was down. Of course, the popular clique didn't even hear the spiel he put on for us, so they immediately ran over to his defense, and that's how Jack got his black eye." Rian started chewing on the side of his lip now that he finished the story.

I sat there kind of stunned. I had no idea what I was expecting to hear, but it certainly wasn't this. I knew the popular clique wasn't exactly the nicest, but I honestly didn't expect them to want to do something as dirty as that. My voice was lost, and I didn't know what to say to that. So I just kind of stayed standing there, looking at the empty parking-lot until I could find the words to say. But I didn't have to.

Alex punched the car, causing me to jump, and I realized his face was flushed. He cursed and his black beanie fell off of his head. He let his hands run through his hair and he walked a few steps away before turning around and doing the same thing; pacing. "Let's go find Tomato and freaking give him even worse."

Jack let out a cryptic chuckle, shaking his head. "Are you kidding me? That kid is probably still out."

"So let's go back to the house and beat the crap out of his gang," Alex suggested, stopping in his tracks, a glint in his eyes. "They're probably still there then, and if we drive fast we can get there in like ten minutes."

My eyes widened, not expecting to see this side of Alex. The only side I've ever seen of him was the one who defended me, not this one who seemed to have a hunger for blood. My skin began to crawl, and I wasn't sure what to do.

"Guys, no, come on, I'm fine. Look, he didn't do what he did," I said, gesturing to myself. "So let's just drop it."

"Are you kidding me?" Alex whirled around to look at me. "He just pretty much said he was going to rape you, and you're okay with that?"

I flinched and bit my bottom lip. I looked over at Rian, desperate for support, but he was watching the ground intently.

"I'm not saying what he said was right, because it wasn't. I'm saying that he already got what he deserved, Jack made sure of that. His group didn't realize what he said, so why punish them?" I pleaded. I really didn't want to see anymore fights.

Alex looked me hard in the eyes. "But they probably already heard that before, and if they were really upset with it, they wouldn't have been that quick to defend him." His voice was cryptically calm now.

"Jack," I said, looking over at him, desperate for him to say something that would wake Alex up. I didn't trust Jack in the least, but I knew he did have all the Trouble-Makers' respect.

"I can't control him," he shrugged his shoulders absentmindedly.

"Let's go," Alex said, starting to walk around the car but I grabbed his hand. He stopped mid step.

"Alex," I begged. My tone must have made him look back at me. "Please."

Notes

Hope you guys are liking the story so far ^u^