Read Ghost Criminal :: Ghosty

Gym.

Gym was the freaking first period. This would be easy to fail. We all changed into our white gym uniforms.

We had to do laps. I ran behind everyone else, and that was that... Until a certain someone pushed me further up.

"Speed up. Don't act weak, they'll notice that," Elijah said, his hand on my back, forcing me to run at his pace. I jumped at the contact.

"You... said you wouldn't help me."

"I changed my mind.

"Why, though?" Is it the brother thing?

He just huffed. "Just be grateful. You won't get many friends around here, so don't be fooled by the friendly faces."

It's the brother thing.

"H-how can I tr-trust you?" I wheezed, as we caught up to the crowd.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it by now."

"Thanks, I guess..."

"Anyway, I saw some girls eyeing you, and one of them was Elsa, so stay with me throughout the day."

"Who's that?"

"She's the leader of one of the crews here," Elijah said, and the teacher told us to stop and do push-ups separated by gender.

"Hey, Ghosty, what're you doing with the new guy? He your boyfriend?" called a girl from the far side.

"Shut up, Karen!" he yelled back, and everyone broke down in laughter. Me and him got into a plank position next to each other.

"Um... 'Ghosty'?"

"They call me the Ghost Criminal. Ignore them," he said.

"Do I call you Ghosty?"

"No, you call me Elijah."

And I started to attempt to do push-ups. We all had to do fifteen. I looked over at Elijah. From where I counted, he had gotten to twenty-six.

I had only did three. Elijah said, "Keep up. Push yourself. You can do it."

I managed to ten and fell to the floor. Elijah got to fifty. He pulled me up and said, "You did great, Stretch."

"Thank... you," I tried, and I didn't talk for the rest of the period.

...

"Lunch period is the most dangerous period. At this time, teachers don't care who gets beat to death. It's most of their lunch periods, too."

"People actually...?"

"Kill each other? Yeah. And you really have to take this more seriously, now."

"Oh. O-okay," I said, and Elijah's hand was on my back again. "By the way... Why do they call you the Ghost Criminal?"

He sighed. It was his trademark thing. After a while, his eyebrows shot up, like he figured something out. "I steal and beat people up 'without a trace'. People don't hear from them ever again."

This was a plain lie, but I just had to roll with it. "What... do you do to them?"

"They take the next train back home."

I smiled at him as we entered the packed lunchroom. The truth could wait, I guess.

It was like Hades crammed in a giant room. We walked past a guy who had just punched a girl in the face, and then had her in a headlock.

She was crying, and I wanted to help, was ready to rush in, but Elijah said, "Don't stare. Let it be. That's not your fight."

"But he's beating on her!" I said, through clenched teeth.

"That happens with a lot of couples around here. It's not your business."

We sat down at an open table. I looked around.

Everybody was rowdy. Everybody was fighting and had beer bottles in their hands and people were crying and laughing and kissing. It was chaos, and I had only seen this kind of school in movies.

"Why is it like this?" I said, eyes still on that girl.

Elijah shook his head. "Better to not know. It'll make your stay here easier."

I lowered my head. "I want to leave."

"They won't let you until the summer's over. It's either you wait or let one the crews kill you."

"Will they kill-kill me? Really?"

He bunched his lips to the side. "Where are you from, dude?"

I stared into my lap. "New Jersey."

"You a regular person?"

I nodded. Did my semi-richness count as abnormal? I didn't think so.

"Hm," he said. "They must have snagged you off the street..."

"Sure..." Whatever made him stop talking about me.

"So they'll, like, kill-kill me, right?"