From Innocence to Arrogance

by Ezekiel King

Delma looked weird in my room. She looked like a footballer’s wife. She had on light brown boots that looked fresh as though she had only wore them today. Her jeans were dark-blue and skin tight. She had a pastel peach-coloured top on with short-sleeves and an expensive-looking watch. She looked far too pretty and well dressed to be sitting in the room she was. Her curly light brown hair was held up on the back of her head in a type of donut-shaped ball. It made her face bright and showed off her perfectly formed facial features. She had clear skin with big blue eyes bright and light, like the clearest morning sky.

  “Ssshhh,” I said as I knelt down in front of my big brown chest of drawers that was backed into the cupboard with no door in the back of my room. My Auntie Delma just sat watching what I was doing silently. I slid the bottom drawer out completely to expose the piles of money I had left in individual stacks underneath. Reaching inside, I grabbed the biggest pile—£7,500. This was the money for Jason and Jabber. I carefully slid my fingers between the carpet and the note at the bottom of the pile and pulled the stack of money out from under the drawers. I placed it on the bed next to my auntie. Her eyes were telling me that she wanted to say something, as she frowned slightly in disbelief. “One second,” I told her, letting her know I wasn’t ready to talk yet.

  I knelt back down in front of my missing bottom drawer and removed every note I had stashed under them. I had £4,200 that I had saved up over the last few weeks. In addition, I had the £1,200 that was my wages from mine and Chris’ ounces sales over the last six days. I took the two separate heaps of money out and sat on the bed next to my auntie to count my wages. “Delma, I’m going to give you this £7,500 to give Jason,” I said quietly.

  “Okay,” she whispered in reply.

  “And I want you to take this £5,000 and save it with the £5,000 that you already have saved for me, so that makes £10,000 you will have saved for me, okay?” I asked to make sure we were on the same page.

  “Yes, okay, Cyrus,” she whispered in reply once more, but now looking down at the stacks of notes that were now lying on their sides due to toppling due to their height.

  “Cyrus, what are you going to do with all this money?” Delma whispered as she looked at me like I was absolutely mental.

  “I don’t know,” I said now giggling at her. It was the truth. I didn’t know what I was going to do with all of this money. All I knew was I wanted it; and if need be, I was prepared to kill or die for it.

  “Let me go and get a carrier bag, because I can’t just carry that downstairs,” Delma whispered before getting up and going downstairs.

  Giving Delma all the money I had saved under my drawers with the money I had left from shopping didn’t leave me broke. I still had nearly £1,400 left, £1,400 that I didn’t exactly need for anything in particular; plus, my mother now had £10,000 for me, and so did my Auntie Delma. She was now filling a medium-sized carrier bag with more money than it was designed to hold. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and £80 for herself, which rounded the money I would have left to £1,300 exactly. “Cyrus, I’m okay, I don’t need any money,” Delma said adamantly as she tried to refuse taking any money from me.

  “Just take it, please, I want you to get yourself something from me for all the help that you have given me,” I said as I got up to go back downstairs.

  Chapter 9

  “I love you both!” I called through to my mother and auntie as I walked out of the back door of my house to meet Chris. He was already waiting for me. I noticed I was walking more upright as I approached Chris’ car. I didn’t know whether it was the new trainers I had on or just how I felt within myself, but I definitely felt a new demeanour.

  I was walking a lot prouder. My back was straight. It almost felt as though I was pushing my chest out slightly as I walked. “Yes, Cyrus, what do you look like then mate?” Chris said as I got into the passenger seat, and he scanned my attire from top to bottom.

  Trying not to smile and keep the composed ‘bad boy’ image I was now becoming accustomed to, I replied, “I don’t know. What do I look like, mate?” I replied looking a bit puzzled as I said it.

  “You look like a 16-year-old gangster,” Chris said smiling as he extended his fist-to-fist pump me.

  “Good, let’s hope these girls think the same then!” I said now smiling profusely.

  As we started to drive, Chris explained that his mum’s brother had friends with market stalls and shops that did a lot of buying and selling. He gave me £80 for the sleeves of cigarettes I had given him to show his uncle. “My uncle will either want £20,000 or £15,000 worth,” Chris said.

  “Yes, okay, sound. I’ve got them for him,” I replied.

  “But what will be my cut for providing the sale?” Chris asked with the same facial expression and tone he always used when asking for something.

  “If he buys £20,000 worth, I will give you £2,000; and if he buys 15 grand worth, I will give you £1,500, okay?” I replied as though he was lucky to get that much.

  “That’s fine with me,” Chris replied happily.

  We drove back in the direction of the city centre, the same way we had drove to go shopping. I knew we were going to some girl’s house that Chris had met through his cousin. Chris’ cousin had introduced Chris to the girls, and Chris had took one of their numbers and had arranged to meet the girl and her friends with me. Chris was 18 and almost 19, so he was two and a bit years older than me, that meant whoever these girls were, were also going to be older than me. Chris’ cousin wasn’t going to be at the house.

  “What are these girls like then, mate?” I asked trying to get some sort of insight into what I would be walking into.

  “They’re proper gorgeous girls, mate, about my age. Their mum and dad are on holiday, so there are three of them at a nice house on the edge of town, having a drink alone,” Chris explained like we were onto a winner. The part of town Chris referred to was the richest area in our city, I knew that much, I didn’t know one person from this area. As far as I knew, they were all posh people that would have probably went to private schools, and their mums and dads were probably doctors and barristers.

  “Sounds good to me, mate; at least we are dressed for the occasion,” I said as I fist pumped Chris. I was confident at least I wouldn’t look like a scruff from a council estate.

  The area in question is a few miles from the city centre, away from the built-up hustle and bustle of city life. “Cyrus, I’ve got some weed on me. Shall we stop to get a drink to take and cigarettes and rolling papers?” Chris asked.

  “Yes, of course, stop at a shop then,” I replied agreeing it was a good idea. Almost at the girl’s house, we stopped at a decent-sized shop.

  “Chris, you go in on your own. I can’t be bothered with some dickhead shopkeeper not serving you because I don’t have identification with me,” I said as the car stopped in the car park. I reached in my pocket and gave Chris £50 out of the £80 he had just given to me for the cigarettes. “I want change,” I said while smiling and giving him way more money than he was expecting. As I sat in the car park, I decided to call Jason. I figured out it was a good time to call him as Chris wasn’t with me. I didn’t want Chris to know who gave me my weed, so calling Jason in front of Chris would almost certainly lead to him asking questions.

  “Yes, Cyrus,” Jason said as he answered his phone.

  “Hi, mate, did you get your money from my Auntie Delma?” I asked trying to speak clearly, so he could hear me. It sounded like he was in a bar or restaurant.

  “Yes, I’ve got it. Thank you, mate, I will get the new batch to you tomorrow; and before you ask, it is better than the last stuff, so don’t worry!” Jason had spoken loudly, like he was talking into his phone so I could hear.

  “Okay, see you tomorrow, J,” I said before hanging up. He was right though; all week I had been so worried about the change of product that I would be selling. I had called him to talk about the new cannabis that I’d have to sell at least ten times; but since I had robbed th
e Kosovans/Turks, I hadn’t even given it a second thought. I was more interested in Chris’ uncle buying my cigarettes, and Jabber doing the same. If Jabber wanted to buy cigarettes, I’d get my next load of cannabis for free in theory, so that would be a major, major bonus.

  Chris joined me back in the car, bottles clanging against each other. Chris had a big cheesy grin as he passed me a fairly heavy double-bagged carrier bag that must have had at least four bottles inside. “I’ve got a bottle of expensive vodka, coke and lemonade; oh, and I got was a bottle of champagne… Each!” Chris said with a big smile.

  “Champagne?” I asked, not quite sure why he had brought champagne.

  “Yes, champagne, Cyrus, girls love that sort of shit… oh, and you owe me £20 because it came to £140” Chris said.

  “You spent £140 in a fucking off-licence?” I replied in disbelief.

  “No, I didn’t, we spent £140 in an off-licence, and you are the dumb one for buying cigarettes when you have already got one million for free, you fucking nutter!” Chris joked. I just smiled instead of replying—there was nothing I could say in reply to that. While driving, Chris took out his phone to start calling someone. “Hi,” Chris said in a soft and polite voice that told me he must be talking to the girls we were going to meet. He sped up as he started to take directions, turning left then straight, then right through little but expensive-looking residential streets. I felt the anxiety start to set in as I began to feel nervous. Just the area alone was enough to make me feel out of my depth. We turned left through a little gateway that led into a driveway; stones crunched under the tyres as we started up a tiny driveway towards a house that was humongous.

  The driveway was made of tiny yellow-looking stones. The driveway opened out into a big open area in front of the house. The garden around the house had perfectly trimmed grass with trees around the edges. You couldn’t tell what the house looked like or the size of the house from the road, but as soon as we turned off the road, Chris and I were speechless. To the left and right of the house was the lawn, with the trees at the back of it that made the house private. The building was easily the size of six or seven houses on my estate. “Chris, who lives here?” I asked remembering I had a voice.

  “Cyrus, this house is something else,” Chris replied, not answering my question, instead still scanning the building and landscape gardening around the house and driveway.

  “Whose house is it, mate?” I asked again.

  “Holly’s house; she is my cousin’s girlfriend’s friend,” Chris explained as he parked his car.

  “Why does Holly live in a house like this?” I asked; my brain was going ten to the dozen. I could have sat and asked him questions all night, but Chris isn’t the type of person to entertain that.

  “Let’s go find out,” Chris replied as he opened the car door to get out.

  “Who’s here?” I asked Chris as he knocked the front door.

  “This Holly chick and her mates,” Chris whispered realising he had already pressed the doorbell.

  The big oak front door opened, and a short blonde girl answered the door. She looked even smaller because of the size of the doorway. She was slim and about 5’5" or thereabouts. She had pretty green eyes and a cute smile. “Hi, I’m Charlie, follow me. Holly and Daisy are in the sitting room,” Charlie said in her very well spoken voice. Chris and I didn’t say anything; we just looked at each other as if to say ‘she’s cute, let’s follow her then.’ Inside the house, it was very spacious. The floor had shiny white tiling, as we turned left from the doorway was the best staircase I had ever seen in a house. The stairs had thick red carpet and a bright chrome handrail. We followed Charlie through to the living room to find two more girls that were dancing in front of a wall-sized TV that was playing music videos. As they saw Chris and me enter the room, they stopped dancing; and the girl I was looking at blushed as she turned to pick the remote control up from the sofa to turn the music down. The music was fairly loud; not that her neighbours would mind as she didn’t have any. She was probably an inch shorter than me, but her body was curvy. For her size, her chest was huge. As soon as I walked into the room, she had caught my eye. She was gorgeous.

  “Hi, nice to meet you,” the third girl said. Her friend had walked in the opposite direction to retrieve the remote.

  “Hi, nice to meet you too. I’m Cyrus, what’s your name?” I asked her more interested in talking to her friend.

  “I’m Daisy,” she replied as Chris and I smiled at her and gave her a slightly awkward hug. She was slimmer than the girl she had been dancing with. She had dark straight hair and wore jeans that were tight and came down to her ankles. She had on a white top that just covered her cleavage and came down to her waist; a type of vest top. The other girl joined Chris and me who were just standing in the middle of the living room where Charlie had left us. When we had seen the two girls dancing, we had stopped in our tracks. Charlie had gone over to a table on the other side of the room.

  “Hi, Chris, glad you could make it,” Holly said as she gave him a hug. “Who is your friend, Chris?” Holly asked as she gave me a once over looking at me from head to toe.

  “Oh, sorry, this is my friend, Cyrus. Cyrus; Holly, Holly; Cyrus,” Chris said as he made the introductions; as Holly looked at me, I felt an instant connection, like we were meant to be; staring Holly in the eyes made me feel warm inside.

  “You want a drink, we brought some champagne?” I asked. She had on grey shorts with a matching top. Her hair was light brown and curly.

  “Yes, of course, who is going to say no to champagne?” Holly replied as she smiled; she had dimples in her cheeks which made her even more appealing to me.

  The living room had a TV on the stand in front of you as you walk in. It was positioned in front of the slightly to the left. It had thick cream carpet which had a big black fluffy rug, probably half the size of my living room floor home. It had what must have been a black, seven-seater, corner leather sofa positioned in an ‘L’ shape. Holly and Daisy had been dancing on the rug in front of the TV. On the wall, further in the living room was a giant mirror. It was on the other side of the fireplace that was in the middle of the wall facing where the sofa finished, and in the back of the room was a glass table with black leather-covered chairs. The carpet stopped just before the table and a wooden floor started; they looked expensive like everything else about this house. Chris and I followed Holly over to the table at the back of the living room where her friends Daisy and Charlie were now sitting, having a kind of girly consultation.

  “Chris and his mate, Cyrus, have got us some champagne. Daisy, could you grab some champagne flutes from the kitchen, please?” Holly asked as I placed the bag on the table and started taking the bottles out.

  “You guys brought vodka as well?” Holly asked when she saw me pull out the expensive vodka from the bag.

  “We wasn’t sure if you girls liked champagne, so we got two bottles of champagne and a bottle of vodka just in case,” Chris added. “Holly, do you mind if Cyrus and I roll a joint?” Chris asked. Chris loved to smoke weed and must have spent half his adolescent life either eating or smoking weed.

  “You can roll it in here, but you have to smoke it in the back garden,” Holly replied.

  Chris and I sat down to take in our new surroundings and roll a joint; just behind the glass table were some glass doors leading into the back garden. “That stuff stinks,” Holly said, practically as soon as Chris opened the bag of weed he had. Holly had a matching tiny top to her shorts. Both had the emblem of a famous French designer on them in little shiny sequins that looked like diamonds. Daisy returned with five champagne flutes and placed them on the glass table.

  “Help yourselves to some champagne. We are just going to pop outside to smoke a joint; come outside if any of you girls want some,” Chris said before he opened the glass doors behind the table, and we stepped outside into the garden.

  It was late evening. The sun was starting its retreat in the sky,
and the air was now cool. I stepped out to look at Holly’s garden—it was ridiculous. There was a hot tub to the right. It was a big square tub with a giant leather-looking cover on top of it. There were trees in the distance, and a soothing sound of water trickling coming from a water feature that was in the middle of a small pool-sized pond. We sat down on two of the five garden chairs that were around a wooden garden table on the pavement outside the back door. “Chris, this house is fucking amazing, mate,” I said. It was the first thing I had said feeling relaxed since we had pulled onto Holly’s driveway.

  “I know, mate; the girls are really sexy as well, aren’t they?” Chris replied.

  “Which one do you like?” I asked Chris as I had a big pull on the joint, hoping to relax my nerves further.

  “Well, I’ve been texting Holly, but I only met her once when her friend and she came to my cousin’s house. This is the first time I’ve met her properly. Which one do you like?” Chris asked realising where this conversation was going.

  “I am not going to lie to you, but I think Holly is gorgeous, mate,” I said. I was not going to lie or beat around the bush. Chris sighed as I gave him back his joint.

  “They are all sexy, Cyrus; what’s wrong with the other two?” Chris asked hoping I would change my mind, but my mind was already made up. I was not even going to waste my time answering the question.

  “Chris, here’s what to do; text Holly and ask her which one of us she likes. If she says you, I will just chat up one of the other two girls? Okay?” I asked Chris trying to find a solution that would benefit me and not piss him off at the same time.

  I watched attentively as Chris took out his phone and began to send the message. I stood enjoying the view of Holly’s garden—perfectly trimmed grass, little garden lights illuminated a path that ran through the garden; and along the perimeter, the hot tub and the statue of the angel in the middle of the pond pouring water constantly into the pond from its mouth; everything was appeasing to the eye. Chris put his phone back into his pocket. “I have sent the message,” Chris said as the door behind us opened; we turned to see Holly standing there with two glasses of champagne in her hands.