Fitting In
By: Cyndi
RickPict
Somehow he just didn't fit in. He wanted everyone to like him. He wanted to be invited to the mall on Friday nights to hang out in the cool stores, eat ice cream and pizza and cause a little trouble. He just wondered what you had to do to get and invitation.
"Carlos? How do you get in with this crowd. I've got nothing to do on Friday nights. I hang with you guys at school. Come on man. What does it take?" he inquired
Carlos was the coolest guy in school. The girls liked the way he looked. The guys liked his car and the way he handled the girls. He wasn't especially nice, but that didn't seem to matter.
"Patrick. Man first of all -- you wanna hang with me on Friday night -- you gotta be initiated. You gotta show a little love to the gang."
"What do I do?"
"It's not hard to figure out. Just hang out with me today at school and maybe you'll find the answer you looking for."
Patrick followed Carlos around. The first thing he noticed were names. No one was actually called by their real name. Ryan was dubbed Rhino. Lawrence was LJ. Perry was LaPere. Jack was Jocko.
Patrick became RICO. It was cool.
The second thing he observed was the talk of initiating a new member. Should he do what Rhino did and steal the cow from the top of the dairy queen. LJ toilet papered Mrs. Johns front yard. LaPere stole every "For Sale" sign he could find and
placed them in the principal's front yard. Rico decided he would just spray paint the back wall of the gym by the parking lot. He could do it late at night. All he needed was a message that meant something - something cool.
He didn't tell the guys. Rico knew that once they saw the message they would definately know it was him.
Midnight rolled around. Rico had climbed out of the window of his house. He walked the five miles to school with a can of spray paint that he had nabbed from the garage in his back pocket.
As he approached the school he could feel his heart beating, and his breath was heavy in the night. He approached the wall, pushed off the cap on the can and began the spray!
He sprayed the logo Carlos' gang on the wall. Under it he wrote -- "da bomb"! He knew he would be accepted now.
He ran all the way home. Anxiety and excitement surrounded him. Glad he had not been caught he tossed the spray paint in the nearest ditch.
The next week at school everyone was buzzing about the gang symbol on the back wall. Rico knew he had done a good thing. The principal's were looking for the culprit.
When he saw Carlos and the guys in the hallway, they were angry. Fuming, Carlos said, "I can't believe somebody had the nerve to do it."
LJ nervously said, "Who would make fun of us like that? We ain't done nothin' to nobody."
"What are you talkin' about?" asked Rico.
"Haven't you seen our sign on the wall? Somebody is dissin' us bad." said RHino
"What? Somebody put you're sign on the wall?" asked Rico warily.
"So What's wrong with that?" he asked as he felt out the situation.
"Somebody sayin' we a bunch of sissies." screamed LaPere.
"What?"
"Ain't you seen it man?"
Rico ran to the back of the school building to view his art work. There he stood in utter awe.
It was his work alright. The gang symbol in bright hot pink!
Age:
City: Shelbyville
State or Province: KY
Country: USA
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