Lucy Gibbon's had her gang of girls since the seventh grade. For most of that time they never had a name nor had Lucy felt like they ever needed one. Some people, derisively, called them Lucy's Lesbos though those people usually ended up on their backs and swearing they'd never use it again. It wasn't until last year that the name Furies was finally settled on. It was cheesy and dumb and Lucy herself didn't care for it but a lot of the newer members said they'd needed a name so a name they now had.
Lucy can remember the formation clear as day. Swimming has always been one of the sports both Eastman and Westside had prided themselves, second only to basketball, on so naturally Schuyler has a swimming team to. Lucy, a natural athlete, had been a member of both teams and was practically their crown jewel. The only problem is that not everyone was happy with that.
Enter Madison Crawford. Madison was number two on the swim team but had always gunned for Lucy's spot. However, while Lucy had always viewed it as a simple rivalry Madison's resentment grew. It only got worse when a new girl joined the team. She wasn't as good as the other swimmers but was earnest and hard working. Lucy took her under her wing and worked with her daily. Madison absolutely hated the girl however and saw her as a weak link dragging the entire team down with her.
The bullying started quickly. Simple insults at practice blew up into full on harassment outside of it. Some times it was Madison, some times she'd get other members of the team to join in. It was during one school day when Lucy had been going over some things with the girl inbetween class. The girl wasn't watching where she was going and accidentally tripped Madison who was furious. Lucy tried to defuse the situation but nothing could calm it. Madison began shoving the girl and that's when Lucy finally stepped in. One punch laid Madison out.
Madison's parents got angry. There were threats to sue the school, the girl's family, Lucy's family... anyone who they felt was even the tiniest bit responsible for what happened to their precious daughter. Instead, to save face, Lucy and the girl were thrown off of the swim team and Lucy was also kicked off of the basketball team for good measure. Her sports career pretty much done and never having much of an interest in the academic side of school, Lucy fell into bad habits. Smoking, cutting class, petty robbery and vandalism.
Among most of the rest of the students she was just a thug. Someone who'd ruined her chance in a heated moment and was suffering the consequences of her actions. But Lucy didn't care; she'd did the right thing and would continue doing the right thing. Girls that were being bullied, girls she saw as headed down worse paths than she was. She did what she could to help them. Her group became a small gang. They'd do things outside the rules but Lucy did what she could to keep them in line and provide a place of belonging for the girls in the school who felt like they had no choice.
They were her team now and they became as devoted to her as she was to them. Through all of it two people remained the most loyal. One was Mickie Quinn, the girl Lucy had tried to save from Madison's bullying. The other was a foreign girl. She had been here for a few years but never quite fit in: too gawky, too foreign, too different.
As you park the truck in the parking lot of the Starbucks where Lucy had agreed to meet Paulina there's one emotion that bubbles up in Lucy's psyche: pride. Not for herself but for Paulina. It's nice to see, Lucy's thoughts echo, that she's finally been able to find her own thing.
* * * * *
"You showed up," Paulina says with a demure smile as you take a seat across from her. "I was kind of expecting you not to."
Paulina had been one of the first people that was recruited into Lucy's gang though recruiting makes it seem like a more active thing than it was. There were some girls that had been messing with her outside of school and Lucy stepped in. The fight, as usual, was nothing though Lucy would have plenty of run ins with the group's leader Leslie, the same Leslie that you and Evie had considered replacing, throughout the rest of middle school.
Lucy had asked Paulina about it. Paulina broke down in tears; every day she got it, if not from Leslie and her group then from other students. She'd been here for close to four years and was still treated as the weird foreign girl. That act had helped turn things around though and in the group's informal hierarchy Paulina was more or less on equal footing with Mickie though unlike Mickie and a lot of the members she kept her affiliation more low key.
It was early in ninth grade that Paulina had met Evie, though Lucy didn't know it was Evie specifically, and started growing into herself physically. Through Evie she'd met the rest of her friends and slowly drifted away from the gang before severing ties completely though with no hard feelings on Lucy's part.
"It's been a while since we hung out, just the two of us," you tell her. "Besides you sounded serious about me joining this morning."
"I'm always serious about you joining," she replies. "You're not the pariah you were."
"I know that," you mutter. "The swim team's been going after me pretty hard too but I've got no place there. Not while Madison's part of it."
"All the more reason to join us then," she says.
You grunt dismissively in that as you lean back in your chair. "Can't, I've told you that a thousand times. I've got a duty to the girls," you tell her. "Basketball is your group. You've got a few ex-members on the team anyway."
"Because you sent them my way," she says with a sly look. "Or so they've told me anyway. But that's why I want you on the team too. It's related to those girls. One of them anyway."
You sit up straight at that. "They're not causing any trouble are they," you ask. Your expression is deathly serious.
"Not them specifically," Paulina says while shaking her head. "But one of them, Karen Beecher? Dylan's been giving her trouble."
"What, like stalking," you ask. "He can't get over his girl ending it with him?"
"Not that, at least I not totally that," she answers. "She told me he's been bragging about dealing weed to people down in the sophomore and freshman classes and that he wants her to get back with him so they can do it together. From what she's said he's very insistent on it."
Your lip curls at that. Dylan Riley is a member of the JV soccer team and Karen's ex-boyfriend. He was always very bad for her as his wannabe gangbanger mentality gets him in over his head and often times got her dragged along with him. But Karen comes from a troubled home and has always been the type to get easily attached so it took Lucy a long time to finally pry her away from him and put her on the right path. So if he's skulking around...
"Ugh, fuck," you mutter as you place your head in your hands. "Karen's not going to do it is she? She should be above that shit."
"I honestly don't know," Paulina says with genuine worry. "I hope not but he's been talking big. Apparently he's been telling her he's getting his stuff from a guy who's looking to expand down here. I'm worried that if she says no he'll just continue hassling the other girls."
"And putting them all at risk for whatever would come," you sigh. "But a little shit like Dylan shouldn't give you any trouble. I told you, those are your girls and you should be able to handle it."
"I'm a year removed from that stuff," Paulina shifts nervously. "That's not my thing anymore. It's not like Evie and them know about it either and I want to keep it that way."
"So you'll feel better if I'm there to make sure things don't get out of hand," you state.
Paulina screws her face up. "I've gotten so soft. I feel pretty ashamed of it," she groans.
"Don't. Going soft's a good thing," you reassure her. "I wish all the girls would go soft. But I guess even when you do that doesn't mean shit. So if you want my help in dealing with Dylan then it's dealt with."
"So you'll join," Paulina asks. Her voice and expression are hopeful.
"I didn't say that," you say as you lower your eyes to shy away from the potential awkwardness of her giving you either the hopeful puppy look or the crestfallen puppy look. "But let me think it over and you'll have your answer in first period."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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