Chapter 1
Both of my brothers immediately stand up pulling guns out, looking alert. “What is it?!” Kurt yells.
“Jesus, put your guns away, I was looking at my phone, there’s obviously no actual threat.” I roll my eyes at them. I love them to death but they really can be quite dense.
They put their guns away and sit back down, waiting for me to tell them what’s happening. They both adore me and they’ll listen to anything I say. It’s not like I want to power trip over them, I love them just as much as they love me but between the three of us, I’m the one most fit to lead. We’re triplets and I know for a fact my father’s initial plan was to groom one of the boys to take over for him, but it became clear very early on that I was the most suited to the ruthless leader role. The boys are far too kind for their own good.
“They’re shutting down Bayshore High!”
“What? Why?” Hendrix says, eyes widening.
“Apparently the gym collapsed last week and a bunch of asbestos got released into the building so now they can’t send us there.”
“So where are we going? We start senior year next week.”
“Take a wild fucking guess,” I say, letting my disdain bleed into my tone.
Kurt gives me a look of disbelief. “No. It’s not-”
“Lancaster High.”
“Fuuuck,” They both groan at the same time.
“What’s the plan?” Hendrix asks me.
“I don’t know. I have to talk to Pete. He’s going to see this as an opportunity to take it over but it’s a stupid fucking idea. If we’re going to make it through senior year without starting all out war, I’ll need to barter some sort of a truce.”
“I agree. But do you really think the Black Sword guys are gonna go for it or are we about to walk into an all out bloodbath on day one of senior year?”
“They won’t start shit right off the bat if they’re smart. But we’ll be ready just in case. Make sure to spread the word that people are to behave and nobody strikes unless they do first. This is their territory and we have to be careful.”
They both nod and pull their phones out to spread the message just as our mom walks into the kitchen with her hair all dishevelled.
“I’m going to make some sandwiches for lunch. Do you guys want some?” Classic mom, the perfect housewife on the outside, weak-minded yes-woman on the inside.
“I’ll never turn down a sandwich,” Kurt says, maintaining a neutral tone. He’s not happy with her either but his love of food always softens him up. She turns back around to start making food just as Pete walks around the corner from the staircase and I fight to maintain my composure. My father has barely been in the ground for 2 months and already Pete has taken over both his position as president and his wife.
“So AJ, I assume you heard the good news?” he asks, plopping himself down beside me.
“All the news I heard today has been anything but good. What exactly are you referring to?”
“That y’all are going to Lancaster. It’s the perfect chance to move in on their turf.”
“No, it’s the perfect chance to start a fucking war that we won’t win. They have home turf advantage. You think I can get an entire district to turn just because I go to their highschool?”
“Please, home turf advantage means fuck all. We’re stronger than the Black Swords.”
“Yeah, maybe, but how much collateral are you willing to take? We start a war that causes countless deaths, not only in the ranks on both sides, but in our clientele. Do you really think they’re going to support us or pay for our supply? No, they’ll just go to another supplier. There’s definitely not a lack of them close by.”
“Well we lost Bayshore, which was a cut to our profit so we have to make it up somehow, little girl. Where exactly do you expect that to come from?”
“If losing one high school is going to fuck up our entire operation, maybe you’re not doing your job properly,” I say, surrounding myself with my favourite aura of cool arrogance.
“Don’t question me girl. It would do you well to remember your place in this organisation,” he says, going for an intimidating look, but he doesn’t scare me. Never has never will.
“I will question you as much as I deem necessary to guard our well-being. Just in case you forgot, you’re nothing more than a fucking placeholder. So it would do you well to remember your place.” I meet his angry glare with a deadly one of my own and when he tears his gaze away from mine, I look up to the boys narrowing their eyes on him, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. They wouldn’t hesitate to take out our president for me. Hell, they wouldn’t hesitate to take out the president of the United States for me.
“Fine, we leave Lancaster be. For now,” Pete says, pushing his chair back angrily and going to the fridge to snatch a beer, making a show of grabbing my mother’s ass on the way by. God he’s disgusting. My dad was kind of a ruthless piece of shit so I get why she cheated on him, but with Pete? What was she thinking?
Despite his ruthless, cruel, borderline emotionless personality, my father was a very attractive man, and my mother was definitely playing in her own league with him so I don’t get it.
She walks over and places a large tray of sandwiches in front of us and says, “Alice, be nicer to Pete, please, he’s my guest in this home.”
I grit my teeth. “Don’t call me that.” I fucking hate the name Alice. I’m not some little fairy princess traipsing around in wonderland. It does help a little to know that it’s not her I was actually named after, but Alice Cooper, though other people don’t know that and it makes me sound weak so I go by AJ, the J being for my middle name: Jett.
In case you haven’t noticed, my father was a tad bit obsessed with classic rock and we had the misfortune of bearing that truth. He named us Alice Jett, Hendrix Starr and Kurt Zappa. It’s as though he decided to torture us right from birth. It doesn’t help that our last name is Morrison either; just digging the knife in a little further on the whole rock idols theme.
It also didn’t help that all three of us inherited Mom’s golden blonde hair and Dad’s blue eyes and tanned skin. Take away the hard eyes, the scars and the thirst for blood and we were goddamn disney characters come to life. Most people might consider being attractive an asset, but in this world, it’s a fucking curse. You have to work twice as hard to get people to take you seriously.
When we finish eating, Kurt, Hendrix and I retreat to our rooms. I pick up my phone that had been intentionally switched to silent, not wanting to deal with the multiple people blowing it up begging me for directions on how to handle the school switch. I swear, without me, these sheeple wouldn’t know their head from their asshole.
I ignore every message except for the one from my best friend. Her Dad is also a Crimson Angel, he’s just not on the committee. He’s a lower echelon member, but Natalie and I were instant friends when we were little. She’s basically family at this point.
Natalie: Call me when you get this!
I grin a little and then dial her number. She answers right away.
“Babe, please tell me you have a plan.”
“Yeah, the plan is to form a truce. I have no desire to start a gang war over the piddly profits from the drug deals of one high school. I just wanna graduate and take my rightful place as president this year.”
“Do you really think those Black Sword boys are going to go for that? I mean, we’ve all heard how brutal they can be, AJ.”
The nearest territory to ours is run by a gang called the Black Swords. They’re size rivals ours but we’ve negotiated a bit of a truce when it comes to territory. The sons of the top four members all go to school at Lancaster and are being groomed to take over their fathers’ positions. It’s been said that they rule Lancaster with an iron fist and severe, borderline psychotic punishments for dissenters.
I snort into the phone. “Please, they’re only considered brutal because they haven’t met me yet.”
She laughs. “You make a good point. Those boys ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
“Exactly. I’m not worried. I do however, need to get the fuck outta my house for the night. Pete is here again. Wanna meet up somewhere?”
“As long as you’re not bringing your body guards. Those two sure know how to dampen the vibe during girl time.” She refers to them as that because they give off that impression: tall, extremely jacked, follow me around all the time and threaten anybody that gets close to me. It’s a little ridiculous when you think about it though because really, I’m the most dangerous one of the three of us.
“Don’t worry, I’ll slip out without them. Meet by the pier tonight?”
“Sounds good. I’ll text you when I’m on my way.”
“Perfect. Later Babes,” I reply and then hang up the phone.
