At the same time Liz was out with some of the neighborhood teens. She wore the typical skinny jeans with laced up tennis shoes and a fading hoodie. Her jeans had red flowers up the side and her hoodie was black and plain. The other girl's also wore the same type of style but their clothes were much nicer and flared. Most of the teens were around 14 to 18 years old. They were all sitting around in about a group of ten smoking. They were loud and full of un-purposed energy.

To an observer looking in, the group looked chaotic even though nothing was being done in particular, but their total sum made it seem like a powder-keg ready to blow in every direction. Some of the youths were on skateboards just tooling around doing simple tricks. The girls were talking about the latest school rumors and who the hottest guys in school were. The rest of the guys teased the girls as a way to instigate interaction with them and excite them, their main goal being to asses which were most receptive to them. The more experienced girls were aware of this and played it up to get the most attention.

Liz not being too experienced or sure if she wanted this type of attention was hesitant and more reserved. This in turned caused more interest in some of the guys to be the first to loosen her up. It also caused distrust from some of the other girls who saw her silence as judgment. But these kids were not a serious threat to Liz. The real threats were the ones who saw her desire to belong as an opportunity to themselves. Those were the ones who saw past her stone face front and saw a vulnerability to exploit.

"Shut up!!! You stupid T.J.! OMG I don't look at him like that! I aint no slut" squealed out one of the girls to one of the guys in regards to a neighborhood kid she obviously had a crush on.

"Why not? He good looking, he got a tight little butt. I bet he knows how to move it real good too. I'd let him get between my thighs any time!" said one of the older girls.

"Damn Jo yous a hoe!" said T.J.

"What? Psh like you don't be talking and eying the girl's asses who too fine for your ugly self. I see how you be looking at my girl Liz butt." Jo said bluntly.

"Yeah I be looking at yo girl. She got a nice form to her walk. She know it too. Waz up baby girl," he said blowing a kiss on Liz's direction. Liz still didn't know how to respond. She still didn't feel comfortable with the spotlight of this group and this type of conversation was not comfortable to her.

"Fool she can do better that yo ugly face!" said Jo. Liz had been spared this time but it wouldn't be the case for ever.

"Uhh! Man she called your face ugly twice, putting you on blast son," teased the rest of the youths.

"You wasn't saying my face was ugly last night when I was pushing you up against the wall. Uh-uh," he teased as he thrusted his hips forward and back with his hands about waist level mimicking intercourse.

"Ohhhh!! Ahhhy my boi!! Ha haa" cheered his boys. Giving each other high fives. The older boys mocking the younger ones for now knowing what they were cheering about.

"I couldn't you was crying the entire time," responded Jo. Her better comeback receiving louder cheers and more ridicule to her target.

"You want a smoke?" asked a voice on Liz's side as joint being shared by the group was passed to her.

"No I can't my grandma will give me shit for it," Liz replied.

"One smoke. She won't know," countered the voice.

"Yeah, she'll smell it on me," Liz replied almost in anguish.

"What the fuck? She'll smell you?" taunted the rest of the group.

"Yes she's a bitch that way," Liz replied.

"She don't let me do anything. She wants me to be miserable just like her," she continued feeling this would be an acceptable topic for the group to sympathies with her.

"Man if she was my grams I'd tell her 'Bitch back off' and sock her in the face!" said some random kid, followed by everyone else stating their unique handle of the situation.

"Oh my gosh! It's late I gotta get back home," Liz said realizing the time.

"What? It's not even night yet? Don't be a little bitch" said one of the girls rather harsh.

Liz blushed a bit. She didn't like being talked to that way, but didn't have the confidence to speak up to these kids.

"No, you don't understand. She's a real hard-ass and she's gonna make me do all these chores if I come in late," Liz tried to explain.

"What? Like clean the toilet or something?" said one of the random teen.

"She's gonna make her clean her dirty Granny panties. Ha-ha!" mocked someone else.

"Ha-ha, here you can do mine too! They getting all crusty."

"Eww boy! You want your crusty undies with her Grammas panties? You's nasty!"

The group went back and forth with the joke as Liz got up and left.

"Hurry on home before the old woman put that belt to your ass! Ha-ha" the group sent Liz off.

"Damn Jo why you bring that lame ass chick around? She's too quiet, is she weird or something?" asked T.J.

"Boi, you was all derping when I meet you. Eating crust less sammiches because the crust scared you," Jo replied.

"Give her a minute. She'll be good for something, at least for a b.j. if you behave," she said realizing it was always an advantage to keep someone around who wants to impress you.

As Liz walked back home she couldn't help but think about T.J.'s comments towards her. T.J. was one of the older guys of the group. He was 17. He was tall and thin but not skinny. His facial hair was primed and his clothing was always new and fresh and he always smelled of sweet lotions and fancy products. He was very smooth and masculine and had a youthful bravado and careless attitude that was especially attractive to more confused and misguided minds. Liz and some of the other girls found his rebelliousness charming but it was his bravado and unpredictability that ultimately attracted them. It was also his most dangerous quality.

Rumors swirled that he had already gotten some girls pregnant but had forced them to have abortions. He was also rumored to be father to one or two of the local kids whose fathers were not known. But all of those were just rumors. Still they were rumors that grew his legend even further. What were not rumors though was his criminal record and violent streaks. He was prone to violence, hated authority and was primarily motivated by his urges. He loved money, women and power and he would do anything he needed to do to get them.

Liz wasn't downright aware of this. She heard the rumors and heard the whispers but she didn't know much more. As she figured people talked a lot as she herself knew too well, so she didn't put too much stock into what people said.

After her mother's murder and David being sent away to military academy and her being raised by her dad and the old woman, word spread that the dad was an alcoholic, that her mom was involved with someone else from another gang and that was why she was killed. Grams being and old fixture of the community got a kinder treatment but still having to take care of and alcoholic son and a now growing teenage girl just demonstrated poor values and a broken family that she was ultimately responsible for. As for Liz, what initially hurt the most were the rumors that David was sent away because he was crazy or that he was sent to an institution. Mainly because as a child she was taunted by the other kids about David since they were together most of the time growing up.

Liz walked through the neighborhood with the sun now setting, urging her to get home faster but she procrastinated in an effort to be rebellious. She also wanted to prolong her wait to the confrontation she knew awaited for her at home for her continual disappointment to her grandmother and now to this new stranger she didn't want to acknowledge aggravated her with his very presence. She wasn't actively trying to be bad; she was just trying to understand her world around her, and her place in it.

She walked more or less through the same path David did earlier, thought she had a different view of things. She grew up in these streets. She didn't notice the dilapidated buildings or dirty broken streets because she only knew this way of things. What she did feel was loneliness. She felt a sinking feeling that she was getting lost in the crow. She felt overlooked, wasting away and like she was disappearing by the minute. She was walking through the crowd streets being pushed and bumped around by people who didn't notice she was there and she wanted to scream just so that people would think she was crazy and step away from her so that maybe she could have a minute to herself and clear the mess of life that was in her head. But was so loud and people into themselves that nobody would listen. She could get mugged in the middle of the street and nobody would care.

The setting sun gave the house a blood setting tone to it as she approached it, making it even less desirable for her to go inside. She saw the flag waving in the air and she shook her head in annoyance.

"Ugh, what is this now."

She wasn't political or disappointed of the country. She was fifteen years old so she really had no opinion on it yet. But she was picking up everything that bothered her about the house for no real reason. She didn't like living there and didn't like people knowing she lived there and being the only home in the block now with a flag in a predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhood just called unwanted attention to her as she as she felt. Just like the stupid garden, and the stupid lawn and the stupid music her grandma played, or really anything that her grandma did. It didn't matter if she contradicted herself. Everything her grandma did was stupid and that was that.

Liz was anxious as she made her way in but didn't want to admit it to herself. She just wanted to quickly make her way to her room which was upstairs but just as with David grams caught her.

"Elizabeth! Nina so las 6 de la tarde, dode has estado? No trates de esconderte! (Girl, it's 6 in the afternoon, where have you been? Don't try to hide!'" Grams belted.

"I'm not hiding, I'm right here," Liz replied.

"I'm right here, I'm right here. Where!? School is out at 3 pm where were you? Not working because you don't work so where?" asked Grams.

"Ahh it's just three hours!" shouted Liz back as she stormed up the stairs.

"What do you mean 'just' three hours? Con quien estabas (Who were you with)!?" demanded to know grams.

"I was with my friends, why you always make a big deal!" protested Liz.

"With your friends, doing what? No estabas estudiando porque todos tus amigos son Buenos para nada y para ayi vas tu tambien (You weren't studying because all of your friends are good for nothings and you are headed in that directions too)," railed off grams shouting over Liz.

"Huh? I can't even understand what you are saying," replied Liz, though she clearly understood grams but was a vail attempt to insult her since English was not Gram's native language and had difficulty speaking it, especially when agitated.

"No mas cuando no te conbiene no me entiendes, pero aver si ahora si entiendes (Only when it's convenient you don't understand me, but let's see if you understand now), David!" shouted out grams as she furrowed her brow towards Liz having fully understood Liz's sly.

David had heard in his room wanting to stay out of the commotion. The shouts and stops echoing through the house were hard to ignore. He hadn't been part of any of this confrontation and he was already tense before Grams shouts for him broke through his door.

"LLa no puedo batallar con tigo, ayi que tu hermano se encarge de ti (I can't fight with you anymore. I'll let your brother deal with you)," said grams now walking to her room and past David who was emerging from his room. Gram's left talking mainly to herself now as she was no longer in the line of sight. Liz was in disbelief, almost insulted that grams would even suggest such a thing. Being passed down just like that. Who was he anyway to talk to her let alone try to discipline her?

She looked at him with her arms crossed around her chest leaning on one hip and with her head tilted in the opposite direction with one eye brow tilted up and an expression challenging him to say something. David felt awkward. He was a private person by nature and trying to "talk" to someone abut disciple and how they should behave outside of the military was not something he was too eager to do. Especially to a teenage girl who he had so little experience with. Besides he did know what it was like to get into a hostile environment and trying to tell people how to live their lives, not a very pretty outcome. Still he couldn't just walk away from her. She was his sister and he did feel some genuine affection for her.

"So what were you doing out this late?" inquired David.

"I don't have to answer you," was her reply as the cocked her head back.

"Just cuz you show up all older and shit don't mean you the man of the house. You aint the man of my house," she continued, perhaps not completely knowing what she was saying or meaning to say but just wanting to hear her voice. David was trying to process what she had just said and just was able to get out, "OK just relax," a phrase he had used many times before when talking down distressed civilians out on patrol.

"Excuse me? No you relax. I'm done with you," she said as she walked into her room and shut the door.

David was genuinely upset now. He wasn't used to being talked to like that and having a door shut in his face but he also wasn't used to arguing with girls. He wanted to kick open the door tell her what's what but he was also kind of impressed by her. So he just managed to get up to the door when Liz's music started blasting and said to himself.

"You'll only get this one."

He figured so long as she was home now everyone would be happy. Besides he had to go find a present to get for Sammy's sisters now that he had decided to go to the party after all.

X䴖h