The Gang:
Sixteenth Summer

Garland

"So you going to keep your promise?" I asked. LeeAnne and I had been sitting on the phone together for the last hour or so. Finally, as she was getting ready to leave, I conjured the nerve to ask her about it. "Remember a couple weeks ago at Six Flags - you said you'd go on a date with me if I went to the church with you."
I could hear her laughing - laughing like she was trying to keep me from hearing it, but was failing. "Of course I'll keep my promise, Garland," LeeAnne said teasingly. "But you have to hold up your end of it first."
I made a face. "Ah, no way, that's not fair. That's not the way I wrote the contract."
That taunting voice: "Well, then I guess you can just go on a date without me."
Women. "Fine," I conceded. "When? I'll go right now if you want."
An open laugh. "Two weeks from now there's going to be a youth lock- in - why don't we all go? The whole Gang."
I saw hope light up the horizon. I was going to be able to count a party with The Gang as my church trip? Excellent! "Sounds decent. I'll see you later, Lee."
"Bye, Garland."
I got off the phone, pumped. This wouldn't be so bad after all.

My mom lost her mind and actually let me take her car to the mall. I decided to spend the afternoon alone, hitting up the arcade and seeing a movie. The lazy days of summer - I could handle it. No problem.

I was just about out of quarters when I noticed them come into Tilt. It was just out of the corner of my eye, but alarming enough to make me lose my concentration. The guy on my game died, and I tried to back towards the door without being noticed. Wes Dawson, Chris Tannily. The two goons who my friend Jamie Mallory had gotten tangled up with last summer. Jamie had been busted for something stupid he did to try to impress those guys, and they'd jetted and laid low for a year. But there they were, in front of my eyes, as unbelievable and disquieting as seeing a pair of ghosts.
I thought I'd left undetected when I heard Wes's voice. I'd had a class with him some years ago, and he knew my name. "Eastwood. Long time no see."
I glanced back around. Dawson and Tannily were both stopped, staring at me. I offered a nervous wave and went to leave again when they started coming at me. I was unsure whether to stay or to run. My feet froze as they came near.
"Hanging out with your little club like last year, Eastwood?" asked Tannily, jeering at me. "Mallory told us all about it - sounded really sweet." He said this with the highest obtainable degree of sarcasm in his voice.
"That whole mess with Mallory, that was about this time last year, wasn't it?" Dawson asked me this as though he wasn't sure, but I could tell by his voice that he probably knew the exact date. "It was a shame to lose him like that - he was fitting in with our boys really nice. Then the stupid little dick had to go get himself caught. Put him in a world of trouble." Dawson rolled his eyes. "Little idiot."
I nodded, trying to keep my eyes on the both of them at the same time. My sightline also drifted over their heads to see if anyone with security was watching. "Yeah, well," I answered, laughing a little. "That was Jamie."
Tannily stepped up close to me. The bulk of his weight towered nearer and that's when the real discomfort began. The unspoken knowledge that these guys could kill me. Maybe would. "I know you and that little pussy were friends," he told me. "And I bet you also know that if they had gotten me and Wes instead of just that little twerp he would have been in a lot less trouble, and we would have been in a whole lot more. I want you to add to this collection of facts the idea that we know where you live, and we will act if you tell anyone you saw us today. Got it?"
Ah. There it was. They thought I'd run to the cops about seeing them. Actually, that had been my first idea. I nodded my head vigorously, holding my hands up. "Sure, sure, I got it," I replied. "Hey, let's let bygones be bygones, right? I mean, that was a really long time ago." I swallowed - I thought the lump would never get past my throat - and Dawson gave me a dismissing nod. However, that wasn't before he gestured to his belt, opening his shirt slightly. I read the message loud and clear - he had a gun right there, and he was willing to try to preserve his freedom if it meant permanently shutting me up.
I got the hell out of there.