Keystone Outcasts

[buildingaspaceship]

"Can you blame him?" Lee mumbles under his breath. "I'll go talk to him." He stands up before walking in the direction that Robbie had just gone. He and Robbie had been friends a lot longer than he'd known Melanie and Joshua. Since they were kids, in fact. They were like brothers, their parents were good friends too. When they'd all found out about the cancer, Lee had been the one that Robbie had come to first, before Melanie and Joshua.


Melanie watches them go and turns to Chloe, "Sorry about him, he's usually in a much better mood and uh, Lee's the only one who can really calm him down." She explains, looking down at the table and taking a sip of her orange juice. She looks up at Joshua.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe smiles, "It's fine. Must be hard for him, you know.." She says with a smile glancing in the direction Lee went. She smiles at Mel and then drink more of her coke.


Joshua looks at Melanie and smiles, tapping the table gently with his hand. H

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"It's bad sometimes, yeah... Used to be great, y'know, before it all happened. Then obviously it all changed and... Well let's just say if you had been here a year ago, things would have been very different on this table. I mean, it isn't all bad now, but... Ah I dunno." Melanie shrugs her shoulders, "He used to be really happy, basically." She bites her lip and looks at Joshua.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe nods, "Things do that to people. Illness, people. If you'd seen me a year ago, you'd probably see me differently than you do now." She says quietly thinking to what happened. She looks around and becomes quiet.


Joshua smiles understandingly to her, not knowing what to say. He glances at Melanie and then the table.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"Sometimes the change is for the better though," Melanie mumbles, remembering what it had been like a year ago. "Look uh, I'm gonna head to science now, meet me outside school later and we'll head to the mystery spot. Lee will probably be a little late to science but I'm sure Josh can show you the way." She says, before standing up and throwing her rubbish in the bin. She begins to walk off to science.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe smiles looking at Josh, "To science." She says, standing and following him to class. She walks with him slowly before heading in and walking straight to the back. Joshua smiles back at her, sitting down in the corner, Chloe sitting next to him.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Melanie walked to science, sitting in the middle of the classroom and putting her bag in the seat next to her, saving it for Robbie. She wondered if he would be okay, she hoped he would. He wasn't having a panic attack, or actually being sick or anything, thankfully, he was just a little sad. Nothing Lee couldn't deal with.


Around fifteen minutes into the lesson, Lee walked into the lesson, he walked straight over to the teacher, and whispered to him why he was late. The teacher didn't yell at him, instead they nodded their head slowly and told him to go sit down. He put his stuff next to Chloe before standing in front of Joshua's desk. "He's gone home. I don't think he's coming tonight." He says, before sitting down and moving his bag away.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Joshua smiles weakly, "Is he okay?" He says quietly looking at Lee, he opens his book and then glances at Chloe. He starts the task they'd been given todo.


Chloe looks at Lee and continues to write in her book.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"He, uh... He's just sad. Or well, angry." Lee begins to write the title and the date before starting the task, he looks at Chloe's work as a guidance before getting the hang of it on his own. "His parents are worried, that he isn't fighting it. I asked him if he was and he just said, 'what's the point?' He doesn't care anymore..." Lee sighs.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Joshua smiles weakly, "So he's given up? What's the point in that?" He mutters looking around, he looks at his books continuing to work.


Chloe smiles, "You know what he needs guys? He needs to be shown that life is worth living. He needs his friends to show him that 'hey, life can be good." She says quietly looking at her book.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Lee nods his head and bites his lip, covering his eyes with his hands for a moment and taking a deep breath. Robbie was his best friend, he didnt' want to see him give up like that. "You know, you're right Canada. He needs to know why he should fight. Which is why I am going to drag him out tonight, even if it- Ahem." He felt a little bad about saying even if it kills him. "But uh, guys, how do we show him that?"

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe looks up and grins, "We need to do exciting things, have fun, show him that his friends care about him and that they won't just let him give up." She says with a smile.


Joshua smiles and nods, continuing to laugh.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"In which case, I'm going to bring a few things he may like to the mystery spot tonight..." Lee grins a little as he thinks of what he could do to show that he cared. "Josh, I'm gonna shirk the responsibility of making him come onto you, you have to go get him, I'll get the goods." He demands, before looking up at the teacher who was staring at them, it was understandable, Lee was being quite loud.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe smiles at them, "Good, we can do this guys. Show him that we aren't going to let him give up." She says quietly, continuing to work.


Joshua nods, "Okay, I'll go round his after school." He answers.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"Go through the back entrance Josh, not through the pub." He advises, while he continues to do his work. "If he gives up then I give up, and it isn't pretty when I give up, as you know, Josh." He laughs a little bit, closing his eyes and sighing, before continuing to do his work. He needed Robbie to be okay, for his own sake as well as his.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Joshua shakes his head, "No one is giving up. Not him, not you, no one." He comments looking at his book.


Chloe smiles slightly, continuing to work slowly.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"You got that right." He grins a little and continues to work. The teacher stands at the front explaining something to do with chemistry. Lee wasn't as bad at science as he was at other academic subjects, but he was still bad. Science sucked. It wasn't long though till the bell went, but every second felt like an eternity when Lee was looking forward to tonight. When it went, he stood up, packing up his things excitedly.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe smiles, packing away her stuff and standing up, she looks at Josh, "Okay, so you go and get Robbie and then we'll meet you there, I'll get Mel to text you or Robbie where we are okay?" She says with a grin. She was excited now.


Josh nods, standing quickly and slinging his bag over his shoulder, holding it with his hand.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"Get her to text me too," Lee asks, before grinning and running off to go and get whatever it was that he wanted to get for Robbie. He was going to get him some spray paint. Robbie's parents had confiscated his last can due to him being escorted home by the police for vandalism. The fine was hefty too. But, he thought Robbie could do with some vandalism at this point.


Melanie waited just outside of the school gates, a cigarette in her mouth. Now that she was off the school grounds, she could do what she wanted. She got her phone out and put one earphone in her ear, turning her music up loudly as she waited for the other outcasts. She obviously didn't know why Robbie hadn't come to science, or the plan for the evening.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe nods before walking to the school gates and heading over to Mel, "Robbie went home and we sent Josh to get him and Lee went to get some things for Robbie. He's giving up Mel, we can't let him give up." She says with a small smile, "We're going to that place you send was a mystery place and you need to text Robbie and Lee and Josh where they need to go." She says, "This is mission, Show Robbie that life can be good, get him fighting for it again." She adds, her face full of determination. She was happy to have seemed to fit in quite quickly.


Josh walks to Robbie house, climbing up the stepping that led to the back entrance. He knocks on the door to his home, waiting for an answer from either Robbie or one of his parents.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

Melanie sighs and takes a drag of her cigarette, "Operation SRTLCBG, GHFFIA?" She says, having to take a moment to figure out each letter. "Count me in!" She unlocks her phone and texts the mystery location to Lee and Josh, before turning to Chloe. "Now, in Ireland there aren't that many cool places that we can hang out. Obviously each of our little outcasts prefer different places, the den being our most favourite out of all of them. But there are other places all over town." She gestures for Chloe to follow her. "Robbie's is the graffiti wall, which is literally just full of his superhero's. Lee's is the train tracks, because he likes to throw things at the trains as they come past." She pauses for a moment, "Don't ask. I think Josh's is the rocks, but then there is mine. It's actually a building site. They abandoned the building a long time ago, and no one is really sure why, but I think it's because a lot of people died while they built it. Well, they only ever built half the building, so that's my favourite place." She grins.


Robbie's mother goes to the door, opening it and peering out. "Oh, Josh. It's great to see you? How're things?" She asks, opening the door and gesturing for him to come through into the kitchen. There was a bowl of chocolate cake mixture on the side, and she was wearing an apron. Scattered around the dining room table where self help books and pamphlets about how to deal with cancer.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe grins, listening to Melanie before smiling, "So we're going to an abandoned building site that people died at, sounds fun." She says with a small laugh.


Josh smiles, "I'm okay thanks yeah, how are you? Is Robbie home?" He asks heading inside and looking around. He smiles and it fades slightly as he sees the pamphlets.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"Yes, yes that's pretty much it." She laughs a little, "But first we're stopping by my house, just because I feel like it's going to be mega cold if we stay till later. You can borrow a jacket of mine, unless you want to go home and get one?" She asks, but she got the impression that Chloe didn't really want to. She was walking in the direction of her house, not so far from the school.


"Oh I'm good, thanks." She says, walking over to the bowl, "Yeah, he's in his room. Or well, he was last time I checked." She smiles and doesn't bother pointing him in the right direction. Robbie had had friends over enough times for them to remember where his room was. "Go ahead," she smiles, giving him permission to go.

 

[CrystalSmith]

Chloe smiles, "Yeah, a jacket would be good. Going home would mean I have to tell my mum where I'm going and then she'd worry and I'd probably shout and end up grounded." She murmurs, thinking about her mother. She looks at Melanie and smiles slightly.


Joshua smiles and nods, "Thanks," he comment before heading to his room, "Robbie?" He says quietly before heading into his room anyway, "You okay Mate?" He asks softly.

 

[buildingaspaceship]

"Ah, join the club. Except my parents just accept it now. Hanging around with the boys has become sort of a usual thing now, so my parents just let it go." She grins a little and walks up to her house. The garden was neatly trimmed, and her brothers car was outside. She unlocks the door and pushes it open, letting Chloe in.


Robbie was laying on his bed face down, his face buried in his pillows. His bag was on the floor, the contents spilling out of it, and his hat was on his floor next to it. He doesn't reply to Joshua, but he moves slightly so he can see him out of the corner of his eye.