Ruckus 4

"If there's one thing I love more than four meals a day-"

"I think you mean three."

"It's four for me. Shut up."

"Alright. Continue."

"If there's one thing I love more than four meals a day it's girls and sometimes the heavens hear my prayers and bestows a goddess upon us. Not to mention a goddess with a killer rack!"

"You're talking about a girl we haven't even met yet."

Benny whirled around on his heel, his dirty blond hair brushing against his forehead and he turned on his friend. "Haven't you been paying attention?" He asked. "The gossip wheel is at full speed and everyone is talking about her."

Chase stood against the wall behind the other boy, phone in hand and the glow of the LED screen reflecting off his glasses. "You forget who runs that 'gossip wheel'." He said. "There's already a collection of pictures on the site."

"You serious?" Benny threw himsel next to Chase, leaning in to see his phone. "Lemme see, lemme see!"

Chase planted a hand on his friend's face and pushed him away. "Respect my bubble."

The pair stood by their school's front gate as fellow students passed them by. It was the end of the day but instead of taking off as usual the two boys patiently yet impatiently waited for the last two members of their party. Mia had talked about a childhood friend from her hometown and how she was moving into the city now. Naturally, any friend of Mia's was a friend of theirs.

Chase felt someone's fingers scratch his scalp through his mop of brown hair. He ducked with a yelp and lurched away, spinning himself around and back peddling a few extra paces. Leaning over the wall on her abdomen, her left arm keeping her steady and the other dangling below, Mia laughed hysterically.

"Now that was a cute noise you just made." She laughed.

"Oh," Chase sighed, trying to ignore the broad grin on Benny's face, "It's just you."

"Is that any way to greet a lady?" Mia fumed.

"A lady doesn't climb and lean over a wall like that." He replied, returning his attention to his phone.

"You must be giving the people behind you quite the view." Benny chuckled.

"What, this?" She glanced behind her. "No worries, May's got me covered."

"Literally, I hope." Chase quipped.

Mia pushed herself back over the wall, leaving the duo to wait as she exited the gate, closely followed by May who's face was more than a little red from embarrassment. All the rumors Benny had heard around school were proven true as the girls approached them; May was cute with a nice figure and, as Benny hoped, well endowed. More so than any girl in their school, most likely.

"I can't believe you did that." She said as she followed her friend. "And in a skirt too."

"You're the only one who saw me." Mia reasoned. "I think." They stopped before the other two. "Anyways," She said, stepping to the side. "Boys, this is my friend, May. May, these are the boys." She pointed to Benny. "This goofy guy is my partner in crime, Benny." Then she pointed to Chase. "The nerd in the glasses is Chase."

"Whoa." Benny said in obviously exaggerated surprise. "Some serious name calling going on here."

"Tell me about it." Chase added without looking up form his phone. "At this point I should be used to it."

May giggled at the exchange. "You three make quite the group." She said. She reigned herself in and took a breath. "It's nice to meet you both. I look forward to being with you guys."

"Likewise." Benny replied.

"Don't try to keep up with these two," Chase said. "You'll only burn yourself out."

May chuckled. "You forget I've been around Mia since we were kids." She said. "But still, thanks for the warning."

"Alright!" Mia cheered. "Now that the troops are assembled let's march!"

"Come comrades!" Benny gave them a dramatic wave. "Let us sally forth into this jungle of concrete and steel!" He pointed off towards the distance. "Market street ho!"

Mia thrust her fist into the air. "Ho!"

The pair turned and took off at full sprint down the street, bound of the train station at the end of the block. Chase simply started walking after them, his phone in hand.

"There's no need to run." He said, knowing full well the other two couldn't hear him. "The next train is still ten minutes out." Out of the corner of his eye he saw May run passed him, chasing after the others and after a brief pause, watching her as she went, Chase followed.

Just as Chase had said, the train arrived long after they had which made the more rambunctious pair of the group impatient. The train car was crowded and the four found themselves standing, facing out one of the windows, excitedly chatting to one another as the train began to move again.

Mia and Benny talked up a storm, telling May about all the things they were about to see in the downtown district and all the things they would show her as time went on. The train entered a tunnel and as May looked forward she saw something painted on the wall outside. It went by fast but she managed to make out the shape of a bold, red arrow pointing to the right and the word "east" painted in the middle. She watched it go by, turning her head, trying to see it better but it was long gone.

"What's up?" Mia asked, noticing her friend's diverted attention.

"I think it was just graffiti." May explained. "There was something painted on the wall back there."

"That would be the East gang marking their territory." Chase said, snagging her attention yet never looking up from his phone. "You'll see that a lot, especially in and around the business section of the city."

"East gang?" May repeated. "Who are they?"

"Some people you don't want to mixed up with." Mia said. "They're the largest of the Cardinal gangs and pretty rowdy too."

Benny noticed the confusion on the other girl's face. "The Cardinal gangs are four gangs in the city that hold territory in the four cardinal directions." He explained. "North, east, south and west. They're all different and never really had a name when they were first formed, it was civilians like us who gave them the names they have now."

May's attention went to Chase as he held out his phone for her to see, bearing a map of the city with thick black lines dividing it into four sections. "These are the territories of each gang." He explained. "East gang is the biggest of the four but as you can see their territory is pretty small compared to the others. East only has numbers on their side, the other three have something more." He tapped the northern part of the map. "North gang has the most land and is the second largest but unlike East gang who go out on patrols and cause us all kinds of headaches you won't see North gang members walking around.

"The West," he tapped the western end of the city, "Is the smallest gang by far but despite that their territory is about as large as the North. The West gang has something the other gangs don't and that's power, every member of West gang is said to be military trained and they're led by a man everyone calls the Demon King of the West. True, you don't want to pal around with East gang but you should also be careful around the West."

"Sounds pretty dangerous." May said, obvious concern in her voice.

"But so long as you stay away from them you'll be fine." Benny comforted her. "Kind of like how a bee won't bug you if you don't bug it."

Mia stifled a laugh. "Bee. Bug. I see what you did there."

Benny gave her a thumbs up. "Clever right?"

"What about the South?" May asked as Chase pulled away and resumed whatever it was he was doing on his phone.

"The South gang is the third largest with the third largest territory." He began explaining as their train came to a halt. "All I can really say about them is that they're a bunch of animals." The doors opened and the group of students carefully pushed passed the other passengers as they left. "Out of all the gangs," Chase continued, "The South is the most unpredictable."

Off the train May was greeted by a whirlwind of sounds and lights as they left the train station and stepped into the heart of market street. The sun had already sunk below the building tops which left the street glowing with electric signs and decorated light posts as an ocean of people filled the streets.

"This is the most popular place to be in the city." Mia said, placing a hand on May's shoulder. "Market street is just the name of the main street but really this entire district is referred to as Market Street."

"You can find anything you want here." Benny added. "Food, clothes, electronics, anything."

May didn't know which way to look first, everything seemed to be vying for her attention. "This place is awesome!" She shouted.

"Don't burn yourself out." Chase said, walking passed them, "We'll undoubtedly be coming here a lot so there's no need to try and see everything at once. Let's get something to eat, I'm hungry."

"I second that!" Mia cheered, jumping into stride behind her friend.

"Sure there are some dangerous stuff here." May looked to Benny as the taller boy spoke to her. "But you'll see there's a lot more fun and exciting stuff to do." He stepped around her as he began following the others. "Besides," he looked over his shoulder at her, "This place is not scary at all with friends. Hectic, maybe, but not scary."

May watched as the boy smiled at her, a big, goofy grin that reminded her of a cartoon character. She quickly fell into stride behind him, rejoining the rest of their group as a smile of her own spread across her lips.

Mia reached back and grabbed May by the wrists, pulling her forward and spinning her around. "Welcome to the big city!"