The wind was sharp and we walked with our shoulders hunched. I would have held Walter’s hand, but to withdraw my own from the warmth of my pocket was something I wasn’t willing to do. We walked for a couple minutes until we started passing the residential areas. It was dead quiet and the Simpsons barely spoke. I realised that even when I used to hear the gunshots at night when I was living in my flat, I rarely ever heard voices. I guessed that was them trying not to identify themselves, although everyone already had an idea who was responsible.

“This one is old,” I heard Eli murmur as we passed a brick wall on the side of the street.

Under the illumination of the nearby streetlight, I saw the seven headed snake painted on the wall and S.S written in blocks underneath.

“It’s good, who did it?” I asked them all.

“Giovanni and Landon,” Severn answered. “They’re the best drawers. The rest of us just fill in the lines and do a bit of shading here and there.”

“I can’t even get that right,” Walter said with a smile. “I stick to the really basic shit. Why are you smirking Eli? You’re just as bad as me.”

“I wouldn’t say I was that bad,” Eli only shrugged.

I noticed Phoenix walking away and no one said anything. I wondered if that was the norm. To be honest, I didn’t really see Phoenix as a graffiti artist anyway, and the fact that he hadn’t argued that he was the best at it, meant that he didn’t really do it at all.

“Where’s he going?” I whispered to Walter.

Walter’s gaze followed his brother, “To take a walk, I guess. Things are getting difficult lately, he’s stressed.”

I knew that was as much as Walter was going to tell me and I didn’t mind, although I did wish that things could be made easier for Phoenix. It was as if he never really took a break. Same for Carlos, I guessed.

My attention was brought back to the rest of the boys when Landon started spraying over the old graffiti. He too was holding a cloth to his nose and mouth and Eli used the torch light on his phone to help him see more clearly.

“Coral, you have some of the green shades, right?” Severn turned to ask me.

“Yeah,” I nodded, checking the cans in my pockets.

“Come fill it in,” he waved me closer.

“Use this,” Walter pulled out a thick cloth from his pocket.

“Thanks,” I said and held it to my face the way the boys were.

Walking up to the brick wall, I took one of the brighter shades of green to start filling in the body of the snake Landon was going over in black. Crouched on the floor, Giovanni was already retouching the S.S with reds and purples, whilst Gomez used white to highlight it. I shook the small can of paint in my hand, then I pressed down on the nozzle and started to spray it over the faded colours. I felt a bit of a rush, being out in the middle of the night, vandalising government property. Part of me also felt bad, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying it. I guessed I’d changed.

It took about half an hour to complete the work, and for the entire time, the sounds of the spray cans being shaken and then sprayed was all that could be heard. Standing back at the finished job, I nodded to the boys.

“It looks good,” I said.

Landon nodded in agreement, “I like this one. It’s one of our firsts.”

I smiled, “Memories, huh?”

The boys smiled and nodded.

“Next one then,” Giovanni started walking ahead.

We spent hours roaming about West side, even going through the run-down neighbourhoods and spraying our gang’s name on the sides of walls and blocks of flats. We even went by my old place. I yawned countless times and I was sure my eyes would have been burning from lack of sleep, if it weren’t for how pumped up I was feeling. We hadn’t seen any Santiagos, thankfully, but whenever there was the slightest movement, I’d feel my heart rate pick up. Usually it was some sort of animal, a city fox or a cat.

We’d just finished touching up another painting when Gomez flipped his empty spray can in the air and failed to catch it. It made a painfully loud clattering sound that echoed along the quiet street. Gio and Severn started laughing at ‘how cool Gomez had thought he was’ and we all shut up when we saw someone’s light come on. Their window was open, but the curtains were drawn so we couldn’t see them, and I doubted they could see us very well either. It didn’t stop my heart rate from rocketing.

“I’m calling the police, you rats,” shouted a hoarse voice of a female.

I looked at Walter with wide eyes and he seemed completely unaffected by the threat.

“Wake up the whole neighbourhood, why don’t you?” Gomez called back. “Have some respect, seriously.”

That earned a grin from Landon and quiet sniggering from Gio and Severn who would back Gomez up no matter what. That’s what the three of them did, they were a team within a team. The boys didn’t seem worried, not that they ever did, and I forced myself to relax.

“Let’s just go,” I murmured to them.

Walter scowled, “Who the hell does she even think she is?”

“I hear someone coming,” Eli said suddenly, his green eyes glinting in the gloom of the night.

“That’s our call,” Landon laughed and he started running.

“Come on,” Walter grabbed my hand.

It wasn’t a panicked run, it was fun. All of us were grinning as our feet slapped against the grimy, uneven slabs of pavement and I didn’t hear anyone chasing us. It must have just been another fox, but we weren’t hanging around to find out. Not only was vandalism a crime, but the boys were carrying weapons and that wouldn’t have been taken so lightly by law enforcement.

“Severn, don’t slow down,” I grabbed his hand when he started to lag.

He chuckled breathlessly and kept running. My heart was squeezing in my chest, filled with excitement. So that was what it felt like to break the law.