1 Getting a Grip - Chapter 1

I sat there on the cold, hard, dry floor, back on the wall, with a cigarette in my mouth. I inhaled the smoke and felt a burning sensation flow from my throat down into my lungs.

I exhaled.

Allowing for a cloud of smoke to shoot out of my mouth. I started to hear footsteps, I took the cigarette out of my mouth and hid it. Then a girl with strawberry pink hair followed by the scent of blossoms themselves poked her head around the corner,

"Kaze Bushida! Why are you not in class?" She said with the tone of an annoying parent

"Oh... we had class?" I return to her in a sarcastic tone

"Don't play dumb with me, and why do you smell of tobacco?"

"I don't know "

"Kaze have you been smoking again?" She sounded a little worried, which intern feel bad for being so sarcastic,

"Sorry Emma, I know I promised you to stop but the urge just kinda kicked in"

"As long as you know you were wrong"

"Now get up or you're going to be late for biology"

And without another breathe, Emma grabbed my arm and started dragging me to class.

I sat there wondering why we were drawing dots on a circle and decided to sleep through the period. I dreamt about my parents. I was in my father's body, dreaming what it was like dying in a high-speed crash. I felt like I was in a different world. I felt the flow of time slow down, the sensation of hearing the car engine roaring, them BAM.

I suddenly woke up with my Biology teacher's meter length rule a hair away from my head,

"see me after class Mr. Bushida"

"Yes Miss," I said a little embarrassed

I heard Emma giggle next to me, I flicked her thigh ever so lightly

"Hey! What was that for!?"

"Didn't your parents teach you not to laugh at another's misfortunes?"

"Ah yes sorry sorry master"

"Don't call me master you creep" I returned

"Hey!"

"Miss Strafford would you like to join Kaze at detention this afternoon?"

"No miss" She replied shamefully

"That's what happens when you laugh at another's misfortune Miss Strafford" I tease

"Oh whatever just do your work" Emma pouts

After biology, I felt like I wanted to die, and managed to sneak away and hide in my car behind the school gym. I drive a gloss black Honda FD2, it's a nice six-speed manual sports car that gets me to a to b. It used to belong to my parents but was sold off to a dealership to pay off the debts my parents had after their crash, I worked full day (7 am to about 10 pm) shifts between a café in the morning and a convenience store afterward to save up money to buy the car back. It was the first car my parents purchased after they had me since it was a four-door car they found the perfect medium to have fun in while also allowing them to bring me with them. I was afraid to drive the car when I first got it since I had a fear of cars after one took the lives of my parents, my close friend Brayden and my childhood friend Malachi force me into a car and drive, I hated it, I hated being in the same type of machine that stole my beloved parents away from me, I wanted to jump out of the deathtrap I was stuck to. After many weeks and months of Brayden and Malachi getting me to drive them to and from school I started to settle in and I'm not afraid to drive a car as long as I stay below a hundred kilometers per hour.

I stayed in my car for about two to three periods and returned to the school campus to have my lunch with Emma, I didn't want her to be mad at me again. Emma's terrifying when she's mad. I went to my blue locker and grabbed my leftover sashimi from last night's dinner.

[CRASH]

"Emma! Jesus Christ don't slam my locker door like that"

"WHY WEREN'T YOU IN ENGLISH OR ECONOMICS?"

"Oh so I only skipped two periods, damn"

"Kaze! You have to start taking school seriously, remember the promise you made me?"

"no not really" I knew but I didn't feel like speaking about that night

"How are my parents going to let us date if you aren't attending school properly"

"they don't know I'm missing classes, Emma, I get decent grades and I've never hurt you, that all your parents care about, right?"

"Idiot!" Emma whispered and then begun to storm off

I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer

"Emma I'll keep my promise and I'll be a man you can be proud to bring to your parents"

She stared at me in silence and just walked off without saying a single word.

Dammit, I've done it now huh? I thought to myself.

I did the walk of shame towards the bench where Malachi and Brayden were sitting and took a seat opposite both of them,

"There's the high school runaway," Malachi said in a joking manner

"Nah Naah he isn't the high school runaway he just doesn't wanna be around that girlfriend of his" Brayden added

"you two for real, how many times I gotta tell y'all that we just talking, or are you two both too stupid to know what that means"

"Aye! That was uncalled for Kaze" Brayden returned

"Yeah Kaze learn to take a joke"

"Yeah yeah, now enough bought me hows you twos 'situation ship with that one girl, what's her name again?"

"You mean the Asian one?" Malachi asked

"Yeah that one, she used to work with me at the convenience store aye?"

"Yeah I gave up on her, that's Brayden's girl now"

"Damnnnn my boy off-limits now huh," I said laughing at Brayden

"Oh shut it Kaze at least I'm not waiting to ask for the girl's parent's permission to date her" Brayden responded

"I'm old fashioned get off my case, damn"

"Why though?" Malachi asked puzzled

"Yeah, why is that Kaze? I mean it's 2021 not a lot of girls care about that stuff anymore" Brayden added

"It was something my dad drilled into my head, I guess he didn't want me to have a bunch of three-week relationships, ya know"

"Yeah it does kinda make sense especially since Emma's parents like that old fashion shit," Malachi said nudging me with his shoulder with a really stupid grin

"I don't know, I haven't spoken to them since the crash"

"Why though? They even offered to let you stay with them but you turned them down, like its not right for a 16-year-old boy to be living on his own and paying all the bills"

"Oh and don't forget the cigarette problem"

"Yeah what the hell kind of 16-year-old boy are you!?, you live alone, work an inhumane amount for someone our age, pay all your bills including school fees, and you smoke, not one of those things should be things a boy our age goes through"

"See Kaze! I told you Brayden and Malachi care about you" Emma said appearing out of nowhere

"Oh God, if you're real get me out of this situation" I whispered to myself

"Hey! I have super hearing ya know" Emma yelled

"Sorry sorry"

"Oh shit! Look at the time I've got to go to work! I'll see you guys tomorrow!" I said running off struggling to put my jacket back on.

I sprinted towards my car, ignoring the goodbyes from everybody, I started the car and began to drive off to Dailey Mart, the convenience store a worked at. I arrived at around 4:25 pm, which was five minutes early may I say so myself. I decided to stay an extra hour or so since some punk decided to walk in and smash a bunch of the beer bottles we had in our fridge.

On my way home, I decided to take the highway since I need to get used to it and it was way quicker getting to my house taking the highway.

Big mistake.

I had pulled over to the side of the highway with my hazard lights on so I could hype myself up and get going on the highway. As soon as I put my car into first gear, a blacked-out GTi pulled up next to me. I thought it was someone checking up on me to ask if I was okay so I put my window down and said

"Oh it's okay my car isn't broken down"

A man who looked like he was in his early 20s and had a neck tattoo that looked like a tiger replied and said, "Hahaha that's good, now do you know who I am?

"Umm.. no not really?" I was really confused, who's this guy asking if I knew who he was?

"Oi Kendrick, you hear that? This Horned Angel goon doesn't know who we are"

"Horned Angel? What's that?"

"Hahaha this kids got jokes"

"Now… lets race" He demands while pulling out a black pistol and aiming it at my face

"Or you die" He started to laugh like he was the devil himself

"What do I do? I can't race, but I don't want to die… FUCK WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" I began to go crazy in my thoughts

"OI KID!" The man said letting off a round into the air

"I said let's race".