Beach Festival

Legacy learns the truth about the Kings.

It was a beautiful day. I was meeting Callie at the beach festival so we could hang out at side show alley and watch the amateur bands that played throughout the day. I dressed in a bright summer blue bikini with yellow hibiscus flowers, beige shorts, a loose white singlet top, and a pair of beige sandals. I grabbed my beach bag which had a towel, my wallet, phone, sunscreen and picnic blanket. Dad had flown back to the states yesterday for another fortnight so I left a note for Rosa that I was heading out for the day and walked out the door.

It took me about 55 minutes to get to the entrance of the beach festival but I enjoyed the early morning walk. I walked up to the ticket booth and bought 6 all day passes. Things still weren’t great with Mitch or Mav but they seemed to tolerate me hanging around since I helped Callie with her morning session task and I really liked being friends with Callie. She was always great fun, and she didn’t seem to be like any girlfriends I had had before. She was different. She seemed more real. I don’t know if that was because her parents had died and we had that connection. I didn’t really care why, as long as we were friends. It was nice to be around someone who really understood me.

But, I figured the easier I made it on them to have me around, the easier it would be for Callie and I to spend time together. If me buying them all day passes for the beach festival did that, then I was happy to spend my allowance on them. I walked through sideshow ally through to the park on the other side where I told Callie I would meet her at 9am. I came to the nearest set of tables and chairs and sat down to wait. It was a rundown park. All the play equipment needed to be repaired or replaced. Litter was randomly strewn across the grounds and overflowing from the bins provided. The trees and shrubbery seemed lifeless and dull and the weeds strangling them didn’t seem to help. The music from sideshow ally started up behind me as the festival whirred into life. I didn’t have to wait much longer when I saw a very large group of about 30 guys and girls came walking through the park from the opposite side I had come from. I wasn’t surprised; I learnt very quickly the Kings always travelled with a "crew". Callie broke away once she saw me sitting and waiting and ran the distance between us. I almost didn’t recognise her, I tried to remember the last time I had seen her almost a week ago. Just a normal looking Callie in her school uniform, long brown mousy hair and white clean skin, she used to be quite shy but she was coming out of her shell more and more lately. It had helped her confidence that Mitch had given her a position in their ranks that was apparently very important. They all seemed to listen to what she said now and "obeyed".

 

The girl running towards me right now was wearing loose bootleg jeans that were ripped at the knee on one leg and just above the knee on the other with a black belt and huge buckle with something written on it that I couldn’t quite make out yet. She also wore a bright blue halter neck skin tight top that showed off her curves as well as the obvious newly inked body art on her toned stomach and well maintained arms. Along with the new tattoos Callie had dyed her hair black with occasional bright blue streaks and had it cut so short it was now difficult to remember her with longer hair. She had obviously spent a lot of her time in the sun this past week because her skin glowed a golden brown.   

“LEGACY” she sang as she neared closer to me. I was too stunned to even move. I think she sensed that. She stopped running and started to look around suspiciously as if looking for someone or something. “What’s wrong Lacy Jae? What has you looking like a fish outta water!?” But she was asking it more to herself than me and was still looking around. She walked closer and as she got to me gave me the biggest grin I had ever seen her give as she grabbed me and hugged me so hard it took the breath out of my lungs.

“You Callie!” I managed to reply still stunned as I recovered from her bear hug. “What the hell happened to you!? It was only a week ago we left school and you didn’t look this….” And before I managed to finish I saw her face fall and the shy insecure girl return.

“You don’t like it?”

“Oh Callie, you didn’t let me finish! You look HOT! But the tattoos! Didn’t it hurt? Why didn’t you tell me! I would have gone with you! And your hair! I am just surprised, that’s all, I wasn’t expecting it but you look absolutely amazing! And here you were, worried you wouldn’t get a date for the dance! You’re gonna have to beat them off with a stick now!” I gave her a nervous laugh and managed to match her now grinning face. I thought she was beautiful before, but for whatever reason it took for her to cut her hair and ink her skin to make herself feel beautiful. Her self-confidence was shattered before and I wasn’t about to break this new found confidence she seemed to have by telling her she didn’t need the changes and that I liked her as she was. I linked arms with her and started to walk slowly towards sideshow alley.

“Oh, I know I should have told you Coop but I really didn’t want anyone trying to talk me out of it. I have had this picture in my head of what I have wanted to look like for so long and now that I have done it I am not the slightest bit sorry for it. I know it looks drastic and I know I look like a bit of a punk but I really love it! And how I looked before, well no one saw me as a King. Not really. Lots of people thought they could walk all over me. Well, not anymore. You have no idea how much more comfortable I am now, and my rep with the crew, it’s just…..it’s hard to explain but I finally feel like I belong!” She turned and looked at me. Her face was neutral but the pain in her eyes made my heart sink and the butterflies in my stomach stirred. What on earth could I say to that!?

“Calista Janelle King, I love you for who you are here and here” I said as I touched her chest and then her temple “not what you look like. But I understand why. You don’t have to try and explain it to me. I get it.” I matched her hug from earlier but I lingered a little longer to really cement what I had said and let her go when I heard the others had caught up to us.

“Hey Legacy!” Ritchie was walking alongside Mav, Mitch and Brax. He gave me his bright white toothed smile and waved. I smiled and waved back in return. I glanced at Maverick and Mitch who were both in conversation and looking over at me as well.

“Hi Guys. Beautiful weather for a day at the beach!” I sang positively as I held out the wristband passes. I wasn’t going to let Mitch’s moods bring me down today and decided there and then that I would just ignore him like he ignored me ninety nine per cent of the time.

“Hey Coop, what’s this?” Mav asked nodding toward the passes, obviously finishing his conversation with Mitch. I shrugged. I didn’t want it to seem like a big deal or Mitch would go off in a sulk claiming he didn’t need charity.

“My dad knows someone who knows someone and I mentioned I was going with some friends; he got us these passes for free”. Mav shrugged and took one of them and the others followed suite while the rest of them continued on to sideshow alley and the festival.

“So what do you think of Callie’s makeover?” Ritchie sniggered nodding in Callie’s direction.  She gave a swift kick in Ritchie’s direction but he moved and she missed so she poked her tongue out at him playfully.

“I love it!” I replied and smiled at them both, spinning Callie around and linking arms with her again so we could continue with the rest of them to the festival. We walked past sideshow alley where people were starting to come through in dribs and drabs. Some of the Kings crew heckled at the alley hawkers and gave them a hard time by picking up small pebbles or bits of rubbish and throwing them into the stalls and jumping up at the stuffed toys that hung from the tent trying to pull them down. One of them succeeded and threw the toy back at the stall owner. I felt embarrassed and my cheeks flushed red, I automatically tensed up. Callie noticed and whispered “don’t worry about them, their just being jerks. We’re not here to cause trouble. I made them promise to try and have a good day”. Then she squeezed my arm a little before singing out to the ones further in front “Oi! Knock it off you lot!” I felt a weight lift of my shoulders. I hadn’t realised until now but the tension I had felt was because they were all so unpredictable I never knew what to expect from them. They were always so out of control. That is partly what I liked about them but partly what I didn’t like too, they seemed to only answer to Mitch and his random fickle moods, but there had been a shift, a change, and I had just witnessed it firsthand. Callie had sensed my awkwardness with their disruptive behaviour and nipped it in the butt straight away. She would never have given that sort of order before without Mitch or Mav’s say so. And what’s more, they never questioned it or looked back to reprimand her. I smirked back at her as we continued. Her confidence with them was giving me confidence, and I liked it!

Callie giggled and looked at me as we showed our passes to a guy at the gate leading to centre stage on the beach. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked.

“Nothing, just you. You’re amazing, you know that? Don’t ever change”.  I hugged her closer.

“I could say the same thing about you Legacy Jane Cooper” she said as she pecked me on the cheek, released herself, took off on a jog backwards and said loud enough for everyone around us to hear “And as much as I really want to change it, I just can’t. I’m really sorry Coop, but you’re just not my type” she laughed to herself, turned around and took off to the rest of them that had started to claim their spots on the beach. The boys turned around to see my reaction. Ritchie smirked and raised an eyebrow as if to say “Are you really gonna let her get away with that?” I blushed and took off after her. “Oh really!? Well, you weren’t saying that last night Calista King!” I sang out when I was close enough. She had started to have a conversation with someone but when she looked up and saw me coming after her she grinned and took off again towards the water. “Gosh Legacy, usually it’s you being chased! You really need to lift your game!” She laughed again and dodged my attempt at snatching her. I dumped my bag and sprinted after her again. She had definitely been working out, I was having a hard time trying to keep up with her, she swerved again and again away from me at my every attempt to grab hold of her, her shirt, an arm, anything, but she was fast and slick. I was running out of energy just watching her! An idea formed in my mind and I started to make my moves to round her closer to the water. Watching her dash away from me gave me the advantage of seeing her moves. I faked an attempt to make a grab at her, pre-empted her dodge and met her half way which I could see surprised her but she was still giggling. She ran further into the water more, where I thought it was now or never. I made the leap toward her and pushed us both into the water. We both came up gasping for air laughing hysterically. “Well played Coop! Well played!” She grinned and playfully splashed me. “You ain’t seen nothin yet CK” I replied and returned the splash. The water was a beautiful temp, not too hot and not to cold. We started to walk out of the water together playfully punching and pushing each other. “Thanks for the passes too.” She said “I know your dad wouldn’t know ANYONE from this side of town. And I can tell when you’re lying.” She looked toward Mitch and frowned. “And I know why you did it. I really wish he’d grow up and stop acting like such a jerk sometimes”.

“Forget it Callie, I did it for us. I really want this to be a great day where we can just hang out relax and have fun. Please, just let it go. I don’t want to start anything with him today ok? …..Ok?” I pressured her to answer me by tugging at her elbow.

“Ok. But it aint always gonna be sunshine and roses Coop. He’s got it coming to him for acting all high and mighty around you and making you feel so unwelcome. It’s not up to him anymore, it hasn’t been for almost a year now, it’s done and it can’t be undone. He can’t do anything about it”. She looked at me with such hurt in her eyes. I knew how much she wanted to be close to him but he just kept pushing her away.

“What do you mean it’s done, that it’s not up to him anymore?” She broke eye contact with me and continued to walk back to our camp.

“I just mean he can’t go around in life expecting everyone to like the same people he does. That’s all. But your right…” I tried to look at her in the eye but she was averting her gaze from me now which only meant one thing. She was hiding something. “…let’s not let him ruin this glorious day!”

 

 

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The Kings crew had spread right out and had pretty much claimed more than half the beach. They all wore black & bright blue bandannas or a black and blue armband which apparently signified the “Kings” crew. I had only ever seen another crew once before where they all wore a different colour bandanna. It was one afternoon after school where I had gone over to Ritchie’s to get a replacement leg rope for my board. Malcolm had another boy who was wearing a red armband in a headlock. I was introduced to the Red Rogues that day. There were only about 6 of them to Malcolm’s 15 or so King crew members around him. They were all shouting at each other until Mitch calmly told Malcolm to drop it and let him go. Malcolm was so mad that day; I’ll never forget it or the blazing look in his eye. You couldn’t question their heritage. They all had the same fiery gaze whenever they were angry or upset, and that was a pretty good sign that you could tell things were about to get out of control and should steer clear for a while.

 

I looked around now and for the first time, I noticed about 20 Red Rogues sitting up on a grassy knoll doing exactly what we were; lazing around. They were outnumbered here today, and you could tell they weren’t about to let their guard down for even a second.  I noticed a girl get up and start to walk over to where we were sitting.  I was lying back on the sand with my head on Callie’s outstretched legs and nodded toward the girl “She looks like she’s on her way over here….” Callie turned her head around until she could get a better look and sniggered. “Oi Mav! Your skank is on her way over to give you an STD”. Mav stopped the conversation he was having with Mitch, Brax and Ritchie and looked over at the girl and then looked back at me. I sat up and leaned back on both elbows for a minute. I recognised her as the girl I had seen a few weeks ago kissing Mav and felt an instance glowing rush of jealousy and annoyance. It was Gemma. But this time she was wearing a red and black armband. “What’s the deal?” I asked Callie trying not to reveal my jealousy.

“That’s Gemma, Mav’s new f**k buddy.” She said as she eyed me suspiciously.

“But she’s a Rogue…?”

“Yea we know. We’re keepin an eye on it. No one is game enough to say anything just yet, in case he’s serious about her”,

“But how could he be? Don’t you guys hate the Rogues?”

“With a passion! They are our sworn enemy, but no one can challenge a partner. After the new rules were set a year ago, original Kings get to choose now, and only original Kings get to oppose. No one else has the authority. But the King bringing in the opposed needs to have good grounds and if there is fallout later on because of it, like enough to cause mayhem between both crews, they have to step down. So, none of it is taken lightly. If Mav really likes her and it goes to s**t, that’s his spot on the panel. It’s better to choose a fleshy or a crew member or a crew’s family member, less likely something is gonna happen then!”

“What’s a “fleshy”?”

She laughed at me. “Gosh Lacy Jae, you hang around us like a bad smell all day every day and you still don’t know what a fleshy is? It’s someone who isn’t gang affiliated or gang related by family. They haven’t been initiated into anything yet.”

“So I’m a fleshy then?” I asked. Smiling up at her.

Her eyes grew dark. She turned away from me and shrugged. “I spose”.

“You guys get to choose? So how does she get accepted? And why did he choose her?”

“It’s his call, his say so”. She replied as she nodded in Mav’s direction. “He’s pretty smart when it comes to business. He picked her cause she’s the Rogue leader’s youngest sister. She has her own following and could bring up to half with her if she jumps ship and still has enough cred.”

“So what, one day she’s a Rogue and the next she’s a King? What do the Rogues do while she’s over here conversing with the enemy?”

“There is eventually a rigorous initiation process but not until a long while after he chooses and after she proves herself worthy of being with a King. All business talk stops when she is around. Right now, until Mav makes up his mind, she’s in limbo. She’s neither here nor there. She isn’t included in anything on that side and definitely isn’t included in anything on this side. If anything gets leaked out while she’s hangin around, it’s not pretty. She gets punished by both crews. No one likes a snitch but being disloyal in either camp is completely unacceptable. No one will stand for that s**t. Sucks to be her! Either way, she’s screwed now cause she’s taken up with Mav. If he ditches her, after this she’ll have f**k all chance of getting a top dog Rogue now. Brother, or no brother, she’s tainted for life for being with a King. But she deserves it. She is lucky I don’t punch her f****n head in after last week and how she tried to get me into trouble with Mitch. She’s nothin but trouble. But Mav hasn’t seen it yet or he is choosing to ignore it” Callie caught me staring at Mav and held my gaze. “What’s up Lacy Jae? Are you jealous?” she asked quietly, so that only the 2 people next to us heard.

I blushed red with the thought of Mav or Mitch overhearing our conversation. “Don’t be ridiculous Callie, why on earth would I be jealous of her!?” I asked defensively and put my head back in her lap. Callie smiled cheekily and replied “I dunno. You just seem awfully interested in Mav’s new trophy.”

“Well I’m not.” I snapped “I’m just curious about how things work is all. He can choose to mount any w***e he likes. It makes no difference to me.” I shrugged “Her brother doesn’t look too keen on her coming over here though”. I said as I nodded in his direction, trying to change the subject.

“HA! Who would be? That’s like me goin over to them and hookin up with that Rogue dog. Wouldn’t f****n happen, but my bro’s wouldn’t be f****n happy about it either. It’s like your name Coop. This is our Legacy. The stronger and more powerful we are the longer we are gonna survive and with big crew numbers, it is less likely we would be challenged in the future. Mav thinks he’s killin two birds with one stone by bringin her in. We are more than just a crew who hang out together, we’re family. Everyone has a job to do and everyone knows the pecking order. Would you marry a dude who everyone you loved, hated?”

She caught me watching Maverick and Gemma together frolicking around on the sand. She was all over him, sitting on top of him and did not appear ashamed about her dry rooting actions in front of everyone. I turned away and looked at the surf. She continued “Well, it’s different for you. But I couldn’t do that. She’s a skank with no morals” she nodded at Gemma. “She just wants Mav’s status cause she knows she can’t get it in her own camp.”

I looked up at Callie. “Why can’t she get it over there?”

“It’s the hierarchy Lace…she won’t get it unless she marries into it”. She saw my confused look and continued. “Ok, it’s like that book we had to read a while back for English. Back in the day, if a really important status figure had a girl, it wasn’t as important as if he were to have a boy. But he could marry his daughter into the most important family he could, right?” I nodded remembering the book. “But if he had a son, well the bloodline would continue and all the family possessions and expensive air looms, everything, is passed down through the son. The boys automatically have the status and get richer and were constantly being rewarded better titles. The girls get a good status when their born if their family was important but they get a better title if they marry well. There is no inheritance for the girls as such. It’s the same with us. I won’t ever gain complete control of this crew, even if all the boys died. It would be up to me to choose a partner well and he would run it. See? Inheritance through boys? It’s a little different at the moment cause the crew has never had three equal Kings running it before. It’s always been run by a first born boy. A set of triplets threw a spanner into the works. The Kings crew won’t always be run equally by all of us. Eventually it will just be one of them. Either they will choose who will run it, or the crew will choose for them. But whoever runs it is King, the head, the leader, top dog. And his partner will be the queen. That’s why we have to choose well. The queen can be almost just as powerful as the King and if we’re not careful, the queen could destroy the King and bring in her own people.” She was glaring at Gemma now as the two of them made their way over to us and sat down.

My head was swimming with all this new information. Mav was choosing Gemma because of what she could bring to his crew. Not because he loved her. I didn’t know how I felt about that. Maverick, who I always caught looking at me, and who would always then smile back at me, mischievously. Mav, with his amazingly hot toned body and clever wit and charm, would scare off anyone that showed the slightest interest in me. Mav, who always seemed to find a reason to be around me, and when he thought no one could hear, said some of the sweetest things to me and displayed some of the deepest emotion with more intensity than I had ever seen. Mav….who I more than liked and just hadn’t dared to say it or show it to anyone else yet. Who I thought liked me. Who I tried to get alone as much as possible to spend time with the guy that I thought no one else knew. Mav, who was choosing a girl for his future crew that wasn’t me. I felt angry and hurt.

“What’s up with you two?” Mav asked us cautiously, eying me off first and then Callie.

“I need a surf” I replied in a huff. I stood up and thought for a minute as if contemplating the surf. I smiled to myself as I peeled off my clothes. I’ll make him look as much as possible. If he wants to choose her, he can. I thought. I picked up my board making sure to bend over in front of Mav, and then ran off towards the water. I heard the distinct sound of a slap behind me and the words “What you lookin at her for?” from Gemma as she displayed her jealous annoyance. That felt good. Two can play at this game.

“Wait up Coop!” Ritchie sang out. But I wasn’t in the mood and needed to get into the water before I turned back and said something to Maverick I was going to regret. I dove onto my board and did a duck dive under a wave before I started paddling out. Once out there I sat upright on my board, past the break and splashed my face to cool off the red flush.

“What’s wrong?” Ritchie asked breathlessly as he finally caught up to me.

“Nothing” I replied sullenly.

“Nothing my a*s Lacy Jae, you’re like a window pane. We can all see right through you.”

“Then you should all just mind your own god damn business!” I retorted, no longer hiding my frustration now nobody else was in ear shot. I looked to the shore where Mav and Gemma were sitting. Callie must have gone off somewhere else, just as annoyed with them as I was.

“Arh, I see. CK told you about Gemma then huh?”

I turned my face to the sun so he couldn’t see how hurt and upset I really was. “Yea, she explained a few things. But none of it’s got to do with me so what does it matter.”

He moved closer. “It matters babe. Believe me! It’s just…”

“I know Ritchie! He needs to choose someone from a crew. I get it. I’m not in a crew and don’t have anything to bring with me even if he did choose me.”

“What? No, that’s not it at all. Listen Coop. For what it’s worth we all reckon he’s being a complete tosser. Mal, Brax & Mitch are the ones encouraging him to go with Gemma because….” I cut him off.

“Wait. What!? Mitch is the one who wants Mav with Gemma!?” I shook my head and skimmed the water with my hand. “Why am I not surprised? Well why isn’t Mitch the one going after her!? Why is he pushing her onto Mav?” I looked at Ritchie who’s expression also appeared hurt, but I wasn’t quite sure why.

“It’s complicated Lace. Just give me and Callie some time to work on him ok.”

“Work on him? Gee, thanks Ritch but I think I’ll pass. Not exactly the most romantic way to ask a girl out or letting her know he likes you by having his mates “work on him”. I wouldn’t go with him now after being with that skank w***e anyway!” I paddled into the break just in time to catch the next wave in.

“Legacy! Wait!” I faintly heard Ritchie yell but it was too late. I was already on my way back into the shore, and on my way to making Maverick just as jealous as he was making me.