It was finally Friday. The week went painfully slow. I had to go to school all of the days and make-up all of my missed work. I hadn't received anymore letters nor any more phone calls claiming to be the sperm donor that my brothers call 'Dad.'

It was the last period of the day and I was standing at my locker, getting my binders I was taking to study hall ready. I was just about to go down to the cafeteria when Xavier just fucking popped out of nowhere.

I gave him a weird look. "The last time you randomly showed up at my locker, we got kicked out of school for the rest of the day."

Xavier sent me a sly smile. "Do you want to do something fun?"

I gave him a side eye. "After school. I have a lot of work to do and I want to get it done in study hall, especially if what you want us to do is going to get us in trouble. Again."

At my words, Xavier smiled. "Well, of course we would do it after school, Marlowe. What kind of person do you think I am? Skipping school just to go do something illegal. Me? Never."

I sighed.

What did I get myself into?

-

After the day was over, I met Xavier at Antonio's car. Strangely enough, Théo was there. With a very beautiful car beside him.

Théo is going to be our ride for whatever illegal activity we are participating in.

Great. Just great.

I told Antonio where I was going and he oddly agreed.

Probably because he doesn't give a shit and he's done much worse when he was my age.

I got in the backseat with Xavier in the passenger seat. Théo pulled out of the school and started driving somewhere that I didn't know. We pulled into a vacant lot. Théo and Xavier moved to get out of the car, so I followed. The boys walked to the trunk of the car and opened it. Inside was a bag with cans of spraypaint in it.

I have a feeling that I know what direction this outing is going and I'm not too sure I like it.

Xavier turned to me. "Okay. So the people that own house over there are pieces of shit. So we are going to spray paint dicks all over the outside of their house. In case we get arrested, don't say anything. Don't make facial expressions that might make the cops think that you heard them or us. Capisce?"

I just nodded to go along with it. "Capisce."

We picked up the bag of spray paint and wandered over to the house. We put the bag down on the ground. No one was home, but we didn't know when they were going to be back. We were going to have to hurry.

I picked up a pretty blue color and went over to the side of the house. I shook the can and took off the lid. I made sure to cover my mouth and nose with my shirt before I started to spray paint dicks all over this random person's house.

I had finished with the wall I was on and was just about to move onto the next one when I heard police sirens coming closer and closer to our location. I ran to the front of the house wher Théo and Xavier were standing with smirks on their faces.

What the hell do they have planned?

The police car reached us and the two officers jumped out.

I looked over at Xavier who was slowly backing up, so I did the same. Then Xavier and Théo started running right. So I started running left. I heard one of the cops running behind me, yelling at me to stop. I kept running until I got to an alleyway.

I took a quick glance inside it, seeing if there was anything that I could hide behind or in like a dumpster.

Nothing.

I kept running, hoping that I would come up on something soon.

I saw another alley and without even looking in it, I ducked in. There was a gate-link fence at the end of the alley. I ran to it, and started to climb up it. I heard the cop yelling in the background.

Just as I had gotten to the top, a fucking cane corso came out of nowhere and starting growling and barking, as if daring me to jump down on its side.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the cop standing there with a satisfied look on his face.

"You gotta choose. Do you want to be dog food or arrested?" He called up with a smug look on his face.

I can't hear you. I can't hear you.

I slowly climbed back down to the safe side of the fence. The cop immediately pushed me up against the fence, pulling my arms behind my back to cuff them.

He started asking me questions, like if I had anything on him that could poke him or hurt him. I kept silent. He pulled me off the fence and started walking me back to the car. As the car came into the distance, I saw that there were actually now multiple cars there. Xavier and Théo were standing beside one of the cars, both of them cuffed.

As soon as Xavier saw me, he started hopping up and down with a smile on his face.

If Xavier was a dog, he would be a golden retriever that failed obedience class.

The cops standing around the boys looked over towards me.

When we finally got to the car, the cop started reading me my Miranda rights before he put me in the backseat.

Xavier interrupted him. "Officer, wait! She's deaf. She can't hear what you're saying. You are going to have to uncuff her boyfriend, Théo over here, so he can translate."

What.

The.

Actual.

Fuck.

One of the cops sighed and walked over to Théo. She took of his handcuffs and gestured for him to start. The cop behind me started reading me my rights again, but this time Théo started translating it into ASL.

Let me tell you. Nothing is hotter than a boy doing sign language.

When he got to the "Do you understand?" I cocked my head.

Théo turned to the female cop. "You need to take off her handcuffs so she can ask any questions that she has. She doesn't understand."

She sighed again and looked at the cop behind me. "Go on, Williams. Uncuff her."

As soon as the cuffs were off, I saw Xavier give me a nod.

I raised my hands to make it look as if I was about to sign something, but turned around and swung.

Ha. Hit him right on the nose.

I took his keys from his belt while he was on the ground and jogged over to Xavier while Théo was fighting the rest of the cops. He was going easy on the female one.

Awwww. How chivalrous of him.

I unlocked Xavier's handcuffs then went to help Théo. I took on one of the bigger cops. He swung with his right and I dodged it. But I didn't dodge his hit from the left.

It actually didn't hurt that much.

I faked that I was in a lot of pain and fell to the ground where I kicked my feet to swipe his legs out from underneath him. He landed on the ground next to me with a big thump.

I climbed on top of him and started delivering hit after hit.

What kind of cop hits a fifteen year old girl?

In that moment, I let all my anger out on this dude.

I felt hands around my waist, pulling me back up to my feet. I struggled against whoever was holding me.

"Stop it. Damnit, Alvarez, stop." I heard Théo's voice come from behind me.

I stop struggled and eventually he let me go.

The cop was still on the ground. What kind of a person would I be if I let him suffer on the ground without knocking him out?

I dove for him again, but Théo grabbed me again. This time he swung me over his shoulder like I was a potato sack. He yelled for Xavier and continued towards his car.

That son of a bitch.

When we got to his car, he opened the backseat and dropped me down in it. I sighed, annoyed, and put my seat belt on. Once Théo saw that I was in my seat and wasn't going to try to run to beat that dude up again, he closed the door.

He got into the front seat and waited for Xavier to jump in the passenger seat. Just as we were about to pull out of the parking lot, the sounds of more police sirens filled our ears.

Shit. They must have heard about the absolute beatdown some of their coworkers took.

Instead of pulling out of the parking lot to get away from them before they even got near us, Théo waited.

He fucking waited for the cops to get closer to us.

He wanted the chase.

At this time I was sitting behind the driver's seat. I quickly undid my seatbelt and slid over behind the passenger seat, making sure that I had a clear view of the steering wheel.

Hey. Leave me alone. Watching guys drive recklessly is hot.

No one can tell me differently.

Once the cops got close enough, I saw Théo get ready. Just as he thought they were going to start the chase, they pulled up next to the other cops on the ground.

This asshole put the car in park.

They ran over to them. The lady cop was still conscious. She sat up and looked around. Eventually, she saw us sitting in a car waiting at the exit of the parking lot. She pointed at our car. The other cops sprinted to get back in their car. They started driving fast towards us with their lights on and sirens ablast.

Théo took the car out of park and pulled out of the parking lot and into the street. He pulled onto the main road with the cop car on our ass.

Suddenly, Théo whipped the car left. I was slammed against the window. Then he went right.

Shit. I didn't put my seat belt on again when I slid over to behind the passenger seat. I was thrown to the other side of the car. I hit my head off the window. Xavier turned around to see what all the noise was about.

He looked at Théo with concern on his face. "Shit, dude. She's bleeding."

I was staring through the rearview mirror at Théo. His eyes met mine. I could tell by the immediate shock on his face that I was bleeding bad. I looked at the window. There was a bit splat of blood where my head hit. I lifted up my hand and was about to touch the wound when I got yelled at.

"Don't fucking touch it, dumbass." Théo scolded me as if I was a child.

I put my hand down and he continued driving. I looked out the back window and was actually surprised to realize that we had lost the cop. Théo made a couple more turns before I started to realize where we were.

We were at his family's fighting ring. He pulled into a garage and turned off the car.

I opened the door and started to get out when a wave of dizziness hit me immediately.

I stumbled, only to be caught by the one and only Théo.

"Easy now, dumbass." He steadied me before letting go, staying close in case I decided to fall again.

I swear if his new nickname for me is 'dumbass,' I'm going to kill him.

He led us into the fighting ring. Since it was still early in the afternoon, there were barely any people. The big fights happened at night. He started walking towards the hallway where his sister's office was. But instead of knocking on Seraphine's door, he knocked on the one next to it. The door was opened and I saw Alexandre Chevalier standing there with a smirk on his face.

"What's up?" He asked his little brother.

Théo pointed at me. Alexandre's smirk fell and was replaced with a scowl.

"The hell happened to her?" He asked roughly.

Xavier spoke up, not allowing me to answer. "She got into a fight with a car window and the window won."

Alexandre grunted. "Well, she's getting blood all over the floor."

I scoffed, annoyed. "Yeah. And 'she' is right here."

Before he could respond, Seraphine's door swung open. Her eyes bulged out when she saw my head. "What the actual fuck happened?"

Xavier opened his mouth to respond, but Seraphine cut him off. "Actually, no. I don't want to know. Marlowe, let me clean your face up before your brothers kill me."

Théo shook his head. "No, sis. It was my fault. I took a sharp turn too fast without looking to make sure that she was safe in the backseat. I'll clean her wound. Get back to working."

Seraphine took one last look at me before nodding and going back in her office. Théo turned to his brother. "I know you hate him, but will you call Vincenzo to tell him that we have Marlowe and that she might have a concussion. Just don't word it like that because then he would probably kill both me and you."

Alexandre sighed. "Yeah, I got it. What actually happened?"

Xavier again opened his mouth but Théo slapped his hand over Xavier's mouth. "You know Valerie's ex that she thinks we don't know about?" He paused waiting for his brother to nod. "We were spray painting dicks all over his house when the cops came and then arrested us. Long story short, we beat the shit out of them and got into a car chase."

Alexandre laughed. "Was he in the house?"

Théo nodded. "Yup."

Alexandre gave him an evil look. "Well, it's a good thing I wasn't there because that boy would have been beaten to a pulp by now. Both him and his asshole of a father."

He was going to say something else but was interrupted by his phone ringing. "Alright, I gotta go." He looked at me, then back to Xavier. "Remember, stop the bleeding first then disinfect it. And don't put hydrogen peroxide on it, you heathen."

He went back in his office and closed the door. Théo turned to me. "Welp, you ready to get this over with?"

I nodded. "It's now or never. And please listen to him. Don't use hydrogen peroxide. That shit stings."

Théo laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry. I'll use rubbing alcohol."

He walked past me, to what I guessed was the direction of the bathroom, brushing my shoulder as he did.

That motherfucker.

-

alrighty. and chapter 24 is a wrap!

question of the chapter: Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, what holiday do you celebrate during December or if you celebrate any at all.